Akon will be recording in South Africa as well as perform on the 29th December at Westridge Tennis Stadium.  "One of America’ s biggest selling rappers, Akon, will be making his way to South Africa next week. And his mission? To record a song with Grammy Award-winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and sign one of our local hip hop acts under Konvict, his record label."  Read the rest of the article here.

Going to see your favourite artist live is risky. That’s what I thought as I sat washing my hair, doing my nails and purchasing a new outfit (not all at once and with my man’s money!). Tonight Cola Brown was going to see John Legend…

African Battle Cry # 8 2005 will take place at Joseph Stone Auditorium on the 21st December 2005. As usual it will host workshops in DJing, MCing, Graff, Music Industry, B-boying & Capoeira. The workshops are from 17H00 – 20H00. Then the 2 on 2 b-boy battles happen, followed by a beatbox battle, MC battle, B-boy Crew battles, popping battles, New Skool Battle. Cash and prizes to be won. Tickets are R30 pre-sold/ pre-booked & R40 at the door. For info or tickets call 082 3958125 or 082 4744750. Emile can also be emailed at emiley@mweb.co.za or emileyx@hotmail.com or blacknoisesouthafrica@hotmail.com.

FL Studio, Image-Line’s all-in-one software music production suite for PC, has received a major upgrade to version 6. FL Studio 6 is an exciting combination of core enhancements and new plugins. FL Studio is a complete and versatile virtual music studio for creating songs from any genre, as well as backing tracks, loops and realistic drum loops.

"His laughter is like the clanging of cymbals: boisterous, infectious but brief. No sooner has it begun than it has ended. His voice is deep, rich and furious like the rush of the wind through a cornfield. It carries a hollow metallic ring that is so reminiscent of the smooth and enticing delivery of rap master, Big Daddy K. But my friend and colleague Mike Jimoh has a different opinion." Read the rest of the article here.

"The ashes of convicted murderer and Crips gang founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams will be scattered in South Africa after a large funeral planned early next week in Los Angeles, the co-author of his anti-gang books has revealed."  Read the rest of the article here.

The Young Nations album titled "Nations Uprising" is out now!  It features production by Megahertz and Draztik and is available on both CD and Cassette.  It Features the hits "Zwakala Emzansi", "Mr Hustla", "Syeke Ngey Ndaba", "Win" and "Rock On!".  The album is 14 tracks deep and is available in most retail outlets or if you want to purchase online check out Kalahari or Musica’s websites.

Grammy Award winning producer Rockwilder is not stopping at giving away hot new beats to up and coming Artists at the price of $10.00. He is now on a mission to make the “hood” or the less fortunate hip-hop community wealthy.

‘Respect It Cause You Ain’t Gon Check It’ is the Title of the future multi-platinum 1st Album release of Hot 50 Productions now being distributed through: Tower Records, Apple iTunes, music net, Rhapsody, MP3Tunes, MSN Music, Napster, Sony Connect, Best Buy, CD BABY; and several other digital distributors.

Today marks the debut of StreetandIndustry.com, the brand new website that takes the general public, entertainment, business and cultural media deep inside the underexplored world of Urban music, and Black talk radio. Focusing on Hip-Hop and R&B record labels, Urban music and Black talk radio format stations – on AM, FM and satellite radio – StreetandIndustry.com breaks news heard first and only on the streets, and Wall Street; analyzes radio ratings, record sales and spins; and removes the veil that hides who brokers power, what’s next in popular demand, and how business models and politics collide in the world of music and broadcasting.

Bling – Consequences and Repercussions tackle the issues behind Hip Hop’s obsession with diamonds and the continued illegal diamond trade in Africa. Kanye West’s music video, Diamonds from Sierra Leone, introduced the topic of conflict diamonds to the urban communities. Bling looks to further educate the Hip Hop generation about the murder and carnage caused by the world’s greed for diamonds…

“A 20-track album with a combination of hip hop, poetry and reggae has been put together by Botswana- born artist Nomadic (Tebogo Mapile), who also produced it. The artist, who was accompanied by his manager Ricardo Mathebula, was in the country last week to promote the project titled Soul Aqua. They visited different media houses before proceeding to House On Fire, where Nomadic was offered a slot during the coming show by Ready D.” Read the rest of the article here.

Ill Literate Skill is a crew defined by Macho, Uno and Macav. The tricky name consisting of multiple syllables is very apt, yet confusing. This though has come to work in their favour with a lot of people to catch on to the buzz they’ve created since their conception in December 2004. Individually, they were solo artists with the exception of Macho who was part of Control Panel. This contributes a lot of growth of this crew in a sense that it guides them their path. Joined by forces of mutual interest, these youths shared a vision that has come to establish them in the underground music scene. Evoking and provoking thought through articulate Ill-Literate-Skill and entertaining with wit and character. Social circles embrace not only in the hip-hop community but also their charisma in general…

In 2001, a Cape Town township – Guguletu gave birth to a trio and it was called Driemanskap. In no time they took over by rhyming in their mother tongue, isiXhosa. A rhyme dialect labeled Spaza (vernacular). This trio has shared stages with Cape Town’s biggest underground crews such as Unic, Archetypes and Chronic Clan. They also pride themselves in sharing stages with some of Mzantsi’s big time muso’s such as Simphiwe Dana, Pitch Black Afro, Afro Zee, Ntando and Stompie Mava…

Buttabing Entertainment recording artist Slikour is in stores nationwide, with Ventilation Mixtape Vol. 1. Slikour is one of the key founding members of Skwatta Kamp. The concept behind the project is to capture a moment in the world of hiphop annually by uniting the most prominent hiphop artists and entertainers of the time to partake in the making of an album that will be a collector’s item but yet also affirms the relevance of youth culture to itself…