Nikole Hannah-Jones

Nikole Hannah-Jones joined ProPublica in late 2011 and covers civil rights with a focus on segregation and discrimination in housing and schools. Her 2012 coverage of federal failures to enforce the landmark 1968 Fair Housing Act won several awards, including Columbia University’s Tobenkin Award for distinguished coverage of racial or religious discrimination.

Prior to coming to ProPublica, Hannah-Jones worked at The Oregonian and The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. She has won the Society of Professional Journalists Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Award three times and the Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism. She has also gone on reporting fellowships to Cuba and Barbados where she wrote about race and education.

Rhymes: X Clan “Heed the Word of the Brother,” 2Pac “Keep Ya Head Up,” and Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige “All I Need”

Reasons:

Click here to download Nikole’s Interview

More Info on Nikole:

NikoleHannahJones.com

Pro Publica

@NHannahJones

Songs from this Interview:

 

Queen GodIs

Queen GodIs – an international (Poet, Performance Artist, Artistic Director & Performance Art Therapist) whose work serves a host of communities seeking transformation through art. With a holistic approach to content & development, her inter-disciplinary work engages audiences in dialogue and activism that extend beyond the page and stage. As An Artist, Queen is a provocative lyricist with a penchant for Spirited Spoken Word, Hip Hop, Story-Telling, Movement and Soul. She has written and performed three off-Broadway shows including Birth of Power U (2007), directed by Tamilla Woodard of Launch Worldwide, Untitled #69: To Huemen (2008) directed by Una Osato & presented in conjunction with the Hip Hop Theater Festival, and Project Power U Revisited: A Choreopoem (2009) choreographed by director Nicco Annan & commissioned by New York Live Artsʼ Studio Residency Series. Queen’s celebrated debut album Power U! highlights her distinct vocal style and marries musical abstractions with straightforward social commentary. Her poetry is published in several international anthologies including a book-cd entitled Echos: Nubian Voyager, produced by Grammy-nominated duo, Les Nubians and the most recent CHORUS : A Literary Mixtape curated by Saul Williams.

Rhymes: Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige “All I Need,” Janet Jackson “Rhythm Nation,” and Stop the Violence (Various Artists) “Self Destruction,”

Reasons:

Click here to download Queen’s Interview

[audio https://archive.org/download/RhymesReasons-QueenGodis/RhymesReasons-QueenGodisFinal.mp3]

More Info on Queen:

@QueenGodIs

QueenGodIsUniversity.com

Queen GodIs on Facebook

Songs from this Interview:

Rapsody

Rapsody

Rapsody is a North Carolina emcee signed with super producer 9th Wonder for Jamla Records.  With the release of four projects in just a year and a half and a critically acclaimed debut album in August of 2012, she is slowly establishing herself as a major player in today’s rap game.  The Idea of Beautiful was her debut album and XXL quoted that “it might just be on of the best Hip-Hop debuts of late”.

Rhymes: MC Lyte “Poor Georgie”, Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige “All I Need (Remix)”, and the Fugees “Ready or Not”

Reasons:

Click here to download Rapsody’s interview

[audio https://archive.org/download/RhymesReasons-Rapsody/RhymesReasons-Rapsody.mp3]

More Info on Rapsody:

Rapsody Online

Jamla Records

@rapsodymusic

Songs from this Interview:

MC Lyte “Poor Georgie”

MC Lyte ft. Missy Elliot “Cold Rock A Party (Bad Boy Remix)”

Luther Vandross “Any Love”

Tina Turner “Private Dancer”

Eminem ft. Royce Da 5’9″ “Bad Meets Evil”

Bubba Sparxxx “Deliverance”

Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige “All I Need (Remix)”

Little Brother “The Listening”

Little Brother “Lovin’ It”

The Fugees “Ready or Not”

The Fugees “Fu- Gee- La”

Lauryn Hill “Tell Him”

Rapsody feat. Childish Gambino and GQ “Beautiful Music”

Jay-Z “A Million and One Questions”

MC Lyte “I Cram to Understand U (Sam)”

Nas ft. Anthony Hamilton “World’s An Addiction”

Jacinda Bullie

An activist by temperament, sixteen years ago with the idea to use “Edutainement” (KRS1) as a tool to inspire activism and collective healing”, Jacinda Bullie co founded Kuumba Lynx (KL) and is a wife and mother of three young warriors.

Rhymes: Roxanne Shante “Roxanne’s Revenge,” Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige “All I Need”

Reasons:

Click here to download Jacinda’s interview

[audio https://archive.org/download/RhymesReasons-JacindaBullie/RhymesReasons-JacindaBullie.mp3]

More Info on Jacinda:

Kuumba Lynx

@JacindaBullie

Facebook

Songs from this Interview:

Roxanne Shante “Roxanne’s Revenge”

Doug E. Fresh and Biz Markie Beatboxing

Doug E. Fresh “Where Da Party At?”

Gang Starr “Tonz ‘O’ Gunz”

Jungle Brothers “I’ll House You”

Paris “The Devil Made Me Do It”

Poor Righteous Teachers “Shakiyla”

Ice T “New Jack Hustle”

Boogie Down Productions “Love’s Gonna Get’cha”

Boogie Down Productions “Why Is That”

FM Supreme ft Prince Talent “No Turning Back”

Common ft. D’Angelo “Geto Heaven Part II”

3rd Bass “Product of the Environment”

MC Juice “Sincerely”

Eric B. & Rakim “Don’t Sweat the Technique”

Poor Righteous Teachers “Holy Intellect”

Brand Nubian “Allah U Akbar”

Brother Ali “Shadows on the Sun”

Lupe Fiasco “American Terrorist”

Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige “All I Need”