Yayo's lawyer: Convict admits teen slap

NEW YORK (AP) - A lawyer for G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo, who is accused of slapping a 14-year-old boy on a Manhattan street, wants the charges dropped after prosecutors revealed Thursday that another man has confessed.


Yayo, 29, whose real name is Marvin Bernard, has pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor assault, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child. The boy is the son of Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond, who co-founded Czar Entertainment and manages Yayo's rival rapper The Game.

A Yayo acquaintance, Lowell Fletcher, told police during an unrelated jailhouse interview that he had slapped the youth in March and Yayo pulled him away, said the rapper's attorney, Scott Leemon.

"They disclosed it today, and we plan to file a motion for dismissal," Leemon said of Assistant District Attorney Daryl Reed who told the court his office learned about Fletcher's statement last week.

According to the statement, "Fletcher saw a young boy wearing a Czar Entertainment T-shirt. Fletcher further stated that he slapped the boy across the face and began to grab the boy's shirt. At this point Marvin Bernard (Yayo) exited the vehicle, tried to restrain him (Fletcher) and get him back in the vehicle."

"Although the statement is harmful to my client," Fletcher's lawyer, Robert Macedonio said, "it seems that Tony Yayo really didn't do anything but pull him (Fletcher) off this kid."

The lawyer said the statement taken in August was "in violation of his constitutional rights" because police were not supposed to question him without his lawyer being present.

Macedonio said his client is serving a 2 1/2-year sentence for drug possession.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil E. Ross set a tentative trial date for March 31 but told both sides to file motions regarding the statement before then. AP

The Importance Of The Hip Hop Mixtape

There isn’t a hip hop fan in the world that doesn’t own some sort of a hip hop mixtape. Whether it’s homemade or professional, whether it’s got underground hip hop, gangsta rap, abstract hip hop or old school, there’s got to be at least one somewhere in there (if not dozens) and its presence alone confirms the existence of a tendency that has spanned over four decades and that doesn’t seem to decrease in popularity at all. On the contrary: as the number of tech feats increase, the means of perpetuating this activity also grow.

In any case, ever since the eighties, it became a common practice for an emerging underground hip hop artist or group to use a hip hop mixtape in order to gain appreciation from record companies or simply popularity among potential fans. In this case, the hip hop mixtape in itself would vary slightly from the original mixtape concept, as it could contain tracks from the same artists (even if they’re a mix of some sort), so it became difficult to draw the line between this and an actual album. A way of drawing that line would probably be generated by the necessary production costs, as the tracks on an underground hip hop mixtape would probably be demo versions, without the usual mixing and mastering that come with the normal production of an album. However, just like albums, they would have a large number of collaborations (something common for hip hop in general, for that matter) as well as freestyles and interludes.

Such a mixtape would wither be send to a record company or given away for free at a concert, although they can also be sold, in a less expensive case than the one albums usually come in. Recently, however, the practice of releasing them in mp3 format over the Internet has also become extremely widespread. If they must be sold, this usually goes on in the street or through mail order. Artists often rely on friends and fans to spread the word about the mixtape, as advertising costs are generally as low as production costs, also as compared to a normal retail album. Sometimes, an underground hip hop group may release a mixtape in order to become more widely known, while an artist with an existing deal may do the same thing with a different purpose, namely that of promoting fresh material.

The importance of this practice is so high that it’s been the subject of a documentary, as well as included in several others with a subject somehow related to underground hip hop. Although it’s essential for the industry on the overall, large record companies regard it as bootleg or pirated material.



Author: Ken Wilson

Hip Hop Begining

Beginning of hip hop

There's been much controversy around the actual beginning of hip hop and rap. Being able to tell where it all began is quite tricky business. Phrases like "It all started with Dr. Dre" or "It all began with 2Pac" are extremely common. Although the contribution of these colossal artists to hip hop and rap is definitely indubitable, the answer goes to a point further back in time.
A brief incursion into a series of pertinent material on underground hip hop will soon prove that such affirmations, although somewhat excusable, can only refer to two things: either something not meant to describe the actual beginning of the genre, but a simple remark of utter enthusiasm and respect towards the artist, or simply a line coming from someone who is far from being experienced. A slightly wiser fan of underground hip hop (although not necessarily - perhaps of hip hop in general) may claim that the first hip hop tune ever recorded was "Rappers Delight" by Sugarhill Gang.

This, although not completely precise (but then again, when can one be completely precise?), would be far closer to the truth. It goes as follows. Although this too is arguable, it's generally believed that the substance of hip hop music is contained in the verses, while the beat is but a secondary element. Implicitly, in the beginning, artists used to deliver rhymes while the DJ played records in order to provide the suitable background. This, of course, evolved - in time, turntables appeared, as the art of producing distinct sounds instead of simply reproducing, and this tendency gave birth to whole generations of extremely skilled hip hop DJs. It soon became common for a group within underground hip hop and beyond to have several rhyming members and generally one, but sometimes two DJs who specialized in turntables. That, however, is another story.

Getting back to the root of the issue - the nature of the records initially played as background have had a huge influence on the development of underground hip hop as well as on the more commercial side of the genre. Well established, pre-existing genres such as reggae, dancehall, soul and many others brought their contribution. The most prominent precursor of hip hop and rap is, however, funk music. This is the reason why the second affirmation was almost correct: the song in question is a revolutionary fusion between the funk of the time and what we all know nowadays as hip hop and rap, together with the work of other contemporary artists. Although the scale leaned towards rapping more and more over the years, funk influences are still present as late as 90's artists such as Dr. Dre and even later than that.

Author: Ken Wilson

Come to our website and listen to all the hip hop and rap music you want. If you are an artist trying to make a breakthrough, feel free to post some of your music and let others know what underground hip hop truly means!

Hip-Hop News

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