KMEL ONLINE / HIP HOP NEWS TODAY

There's a well known rapper in Oakland named Kofy Brown who is mad as hell and ain't gonna take it no more. The source of her anger is another Koffee Brown 3000 miles away in New Jersey. Folks around the country know them for their smoothed out club anthem 'After Party' . Unfortunately a lot of that has to do with the fire power Koffee Brown brings to the table in addition to their talents. They are produced by KG, former dj for Naughty By Nature and they are on a major record label-Arista. The Kofy Brown from Oakland has been doing her thing for at least 10 years. She's put out 3 albums independently on her own label Simba music and tours the world frequently. She is always going overseas and perfforming at all the hot coffee houses and small intimate clubs. Her rap style is conscious and is complimented by her live band. She would undoubtly fall into that category of alternative Hip Hop or New Soul..

In any case home girl over the years has made a nice name for herself. Folks in Oakland were a bit confused when they first heard the Koffee Brown single being played on the radio. I know I was. In fact I was about to give Oakland Kofy a call because I thought she had a new record out and had not given me a copy. I play her music all the time. In fact her band once did a live performance during our Friday Night Vibe Hip Hop show.. I like everyone else initially thought 'After Party' was done by Oakland Kofy Brown because she will frequently sing as well as rap. Unfortunately it wasn't..

Now Kofy Brown from Oakland is fighting back..She sent out a letter letting her fans know that she has issued a cease and desist letter to the other Koffee Brown's lawyers.. "It seems clear to them that our trademark and usage predates theirs. We have been Kofy Brown since 1992 when Kofy Brown and Simba Music released the ep "She's Butter". Their attorneys are deciding what they are going to do and both attorney's are trying to reach a solution.
(Whatever, we're not giving up the fight... Bump that)" Is what her letter stated..

Its interesting to note that for some reason or other that Bay Area artists frequently run into this problem.. The reggae band Common Sense which forced the rapper Common to drop the sense his name is from the Bay Area. Producer Diamond D was forced to be Diamond because of a rapper named Diamond D from the Bay.. Of course we all know about the drama Luther Campbell went through when film maker George Lucas, another Bay Area resident came after him for naming his record label after his popular Star Wars character..Luke Skywalker. Hopefully the Oakland Kofy Brown and the New Jersey Koffee Brown work it out. I don't think anyone thought the confusion was intentional. And both groups are enormously talented.

In the meantime folks may wanna look out for Oakland Kofy Brown's latest releases. They are finishing up an album called AREA 32. The first single will be out in April and is called 'Lost and Looking' For you folks in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are doing a funk and soul series at the Paradise Lounge three consecutive Wednesday featuring Kofy Brown and special guest like *The Subterraneanz & The Infamous MC. Feb 14, Feb 21, and Feb 28. The following day the other Koffee Brown comes to the Bay Area to perform at a special party for a the Baka Boyz..

San Francisco, CA, Feb. 5, 2001-Ritche Desuasido, President and co-founder of Thud Rumble Ltd., is pleased to announce that Wave Twisters: The Movie will have a special free presentation February 18th at UCLA. Wave Twisters: The Movie is the first full-length animated Hip-Hop film in history and the brainchild of internationally renowned turntablism pioneer DJ Qbert. The movie is based on DJ Qbert's first album, "Wave Twisters," which first hit record stores in 1998 and became an underground smash across the globe.

Wave Twisters: The Movie is an "inner space" fantasy that takes place on the tip of a record needle, which twirls on a quest to reestablish the "Lost Arts" (DJ'ing, MC'ing, Breaking and Graffiti). Yet the road to the lost arts is a hard one paved with cosmic assassins, dangerous inner planetary explorations and an inner galactic showdown.
"It was a great achievement to have Wave Twisters: The Movie be a part of Sundance," said DJ Qbert. " But I also wanted people from the Hip Hop community, as well as people who just could not make it to Sundance, to see it. The LA showing will be open to the general public, and it's free. It's my sincere hope that Wave Twisters: The Movie, although one-of-kind today, will inspire Hip-Hoppers, animators, gamers and movie studios alike to continue to push their creative limits."

From its inception, DJ Qbert's goal was to make Wave Twisters: The Movie a musical and cinematic journey unlike anything the world had seen. He created its entire soundtrack by way of skratch music, from the beats and melodies to the sound effects and dialogue. Character illustrator and Bay Area graffiti legend Doug "Dug 1" Cunningham; video creator of Marilyn Manson's original version of "Lunch Box," Syd Garon; and award winning digital motion picture developer Eric Henry joined forces to create a truly innovative project. The film's clever combination of traditional cell animation, 3D CGI, live action footage and photo collage makes the quality of Wave Twisters: The Movie something that would be expect of a major movie studio.
"Having Wave Twisters: The Movie accepted into the Sundance Film Festival is a monumental event not only for Qbert and our animation team, but for the entire Hip-Hop community. We are excited to be sharing our film with the greater Hip-Hop culture keepers in LA and we look forward to seeing the turnout, said Mr.
Desuasido, President of Thud Rumble Ltd.

The LA showing will be taking place on Feb 18th UCLA Ackerman Ballroom from 6-9 pm. It will be hosted by DJ Qbert and there will be special B-boy performances as well!! For more information on private screenings and interviews with DJ Qbert or the animation team contact Adisa Banjoko at (408)247-9804
on the West Coast or Stacy Chaloeicheep at (917) 334-8018 on the East Coast. Also be sure to visit
www.wavetwisters-themovie.com.

WPHI Philly 103.9 FM has hired Cherry Bomb Martinez to fill its "vacant" 10 AM- 2 PM mid-day shift. The former Power 99 jock is set to hit the air on Valentine's Day.

No diss to Cherry Bomb (and we wish her the best of luck) but where does that leave Lady B? Out in the cold. Those of y'all that were getting used to Lady B holding down lunchtime for the past several weeks better get over it cause she's out. "Used up and kicked to the curb" is how one industry vet described it to me this afternoon. While we respect Philly 103.9's right to make whatever choices they see fit, those of us in the Philly Hip Hop community just don't understand the treatment that our queen receives!!! WPHI insiders have confirmed to PhillyHipHop.com that while no explicit promise was made to Lady B, the understanding was that her interim fill-in in the wake of LA Day's departure was simply a prelude to her long service to the station finally being acknowledged with a full time position.

What we question is why a station that promotes itself as PHILLY would look elsewhere when a certified Philly legend and Philly Hip Hop Hall of Fame charter member is already in place and rocking the OLD SCHOOL hour with increased ratings? Lady B has parlayed her old school Street Beat program into an internationally known brand. They had an old school pioneer repping old school on the daily. What could be a better fit than that? Preliminary returns showed that Lady B consistently raised the time slot's ratings to the point where it pulled even with market giant WUSL. Keep in mind that in her two years in the slot, LA Day never accomplished this (no diss to her).

Lady B is so much more than a two hour a week novelty show host. Those of us who are her fans have always recognized that. The sad part is that the decision makers haven't caught on.

I encourage all true Philly Hip Hop heads to voice your feelings on the Lady B decision to the management of WPHI by calling them at 215-884-9400. We are their constituents and they deserve to know what we're thinking. If you chose to do so, please be positive and professional as you'll be representing the Philly Hip Hop community. Positive actions can only equal positive returns. Additionally, I encourage you to e-mail me your comments about this situation so that I can post them here to share with our community. Peace.

Today we should all take time out and reflect on the passing of Big Pun. His untimely demise which took place last year February 7th due to health complications, shook the Hip Hop community. He will surely be missed. Yesterday [February 6th] a mural was created by the TATS CRU in his memory. They white washed the original mural which is located on 163rd and Westchester Ave in the Bronx and repaint another one. Pun's Terror Squad Family including Fat Joe, Cuban Linz, Tony Sunshine and others were on hand... Finally, folks may wanna look out for the release of the Pun's second posthumous album 'Endangered Species' which will include, liner notes written by Fat Joe as well as pictures taken from Pun's private collection...

This story comes courtesy of Rob Gill Detroit Hip Hop Coalition

It was a sad night for concert go-ers last Friday night at Detroit's St. Andrews Hall. The all-ages crowd of about one thousand was hyped to see former House of Pain front man Everlast perform tracks from his new album, Eat At Whitey's, only to be disappointed when the show was canceled after only 5 songs. About halfway through Everlast's performance, 10 unidentified men wearing D-12 shirts rushed into the building, pushed their way through the crowd and went straight to the stage. The men proceeded to beat upseveral of Everlast's band members and sent three people to the hospital.The venue's management states that Everlast was able to sneak away unharmed. The men were gone by the time police arrived and Detroit Police Sgt. Ricardo Moore confirmed that no arrests were made following the event. When asked about the situation he had this to say, "I guess you could say trash talking took place and some people in crowd didn't like it."

In case you are unfamiliar with the events leading up to the concert brawl, Everlast and Eminem have been "dissing" each other in interviews and on record for almost a year now. In a verse on the Dilated Peoples' "Ear Drums Pop", Everlast claims that he "he'll buck a .380 on those that act shady" in reference to Eminem, also known as Slim Shady. Eminem then recorded the songs "I Remember" and "Quitter" featuring his crew the Dirty Dozen to further the battle between himself and Everlast. In the song "Quitter", Eminem tells his fans "If you ever see Everlast, whoop his ass. Hit him with sticks, bricks, rocks, throw sh-t at him. Kick him, spit on him, treat him like a ho". Everlast also recorded the track "Whitey's Revenge" (dedicated to Eminem's mother) in which he makes comments about Eminem's wife and daughter and tells him, "You better check your kid for your dna"and "You wanna talk some sh-t money, come and talk it with the hands".

Everlast was very vocal Friday night about his attitude towards Eminem and everyone else he feels is trying "to make money off of my music". He had things to say about the popular potato chip company Pringles, who is currently running commercials using House of Pain track "Jump Around". "Limp Bizkit used my blueprint. I did that sh-t back in '92. F-ck them. Let them make all the money they want," he told the crowd. He then called Smash Mouth a bunch of "faggots" for covering "Jump Around" in concert, but then took back the remark saying he didn't want to offend homosexuals. Everlast continued his rant, laying into Eminem and D-12. "D-12 is 6 people not a dozen, you f-cking morons," Everlast said. "The mike is open if there's someone from Eminem's camp who is here." After no one took him up on the offer he said, "Didn't think so," and then began to perform his diss to Eminem "Whitey's Revenge". At this moment, someone in the crowd apparently called in the goon squad as the men stormed into the concert hall. A scuffle then ensued between the three of the men and St. Andrew's Hall security, which was unusually tight for the show. One of the men made his way to the stage, grabbed the microphone and yelled, "Are you going to let this motherf-cker come to Detroit and disrespect Eminem?" As he began to speak again, the power to the stage was cut. Enraged, the man grabbed the mike stand and began swinging it, as a chair was thrown from the upper balcony.Fans then threw bottles and rushed out of the venue as members of the St.Andrew's security staff lay bloody on the stage.

One frightened Everlast fan stated "I was in the front row center when this happened. Some girls around me started yelling, "F-ck Eminem" so some people up on stage started throwing beer bottles and chairs at us. One guy two feet away from me got cut with some of the glass." Another fan claims he was struck in the head with a chair thrown by one of the goons. "I saw one of the guys hit a security guard and start throwing things like the mic stand and chairs. I was waiting inside to see if anything else happened and one of the security guards had this huge gash on the side of his head," said an 18 year old concert go-er. She added, "After the scene on Friday I lost all respect for Eminem. People could have been hurt very badly Friday night and we all got basically scammed out of something we paid money for. It's not fair. I just feel if Eminem is supposed to be representing Detroit he made us look bad and made a complete fool out of himself." Another fan at the concert, Jennifer Balog told me that she is embarrassed and outraged that these artists allowed this "beef" to escalate to violence "This thing should have remained a lyrical battle, not a violent one. It's one thing to talk about things, say this or that, but to have had this happen it is frightening. I was glad to see that Everlast was willing to stand his ground, willing to express the way he feels in Eminem's hometown."

Several of the men were wearing D-12 hats and T-shirts, but none of them were members of the group as Detroit mainstream media and the Associated Press reported Saturday. Friday night Eminem and his group D-12 were at the Hamburg Sportshalle in Hamburg, Germany for the opening night of his European tour. When asked about the incident, he denied any involvement.

Davey D adds this to Rob Gills report: I got a letter from Truly OdD who is Everlast's DJ..

the "associated press" has it all wrong. (in requards to the everlast/eminem incident)

--nobody jumped on stage (people got on only after the stage was cleared)
--it wasn't member of the crowd (no fans)--it was guys that came in a group
of 15-20 and bullied past the door and caused the encounter with security
(security were the people who were hurt and taken to the hospital...props
goes to security
--no members of the Everlast camp were involved in any encounter.

Truly OdD (everlast's dj)

We also got reports from other industry sources close to the scene who noted that the group that attacked Everlast has a history of doing this...

That brawl was planned!!!!!! The crew who did it went with the intentions of beating Everlast's ass. It was all planned. They were gonna rush the stage if Everlast said something or not. This is the same crew that beat up Trick Daddy last year. Don't know if ya heard this, but Trick Daddy got a proper beat down from this crew last year. These guys are about 80 deep and always roll like that. So, that's the story in a nut.

Congratulations to Big Boi of the group Outkast. Last week he became a proud father when his girlfriend gave birth. As a result the group which had been touring in Europe with Eminem left the tour for the occassion. There are plans to get them back for the last leg of the tour.. In the meantime, Outkast is also gearing up for their domestic tour which will include felow ATL rapper Ludacris. That is scheduled to kick off in at the end of the month in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Amadou Diallo was murdered on Feb 4th 1999.
I Guess he is now part of BLACK HISTORY

Today I woke up to the unmitigated sting of devalued Black Life, the reality of love usurped by hate, the truth of American denial, and the resonating injustice of centuries manifested in the death of yet another Black
"American".

The murder of Amadou Diallo was not an isolated incident, it was not an event that took place outside of time. Rather it was part of a historical continuum that has forced me to cope with the unspeakable pain one feels when one realizes that America depends on the oppression of Black people.And that a black person still has no rights a white man, or 4 white men need respect. What recourse does one have when justice is truly blind to reality and cops, seeing ethnic notions in the night, kill human beings and walk with no consequences for their actions?

I wonder if I'll even wake up tomorrow.
Amadou Diallo

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