Sac State's Union Ballroom was transformed for Cap City Culture on Thursday night. Some of the highlights of the evening were a DJ scratchfest with some of the top local DJs, a performance by the Beatbox world champion, Butterscotch, sets from the top 3 finalists of "America's Got Talent,"  and a break dance competition.                         

United State Clothing, a Sacramento-based, hip hop-inspired clothing vendor, opened its doors at a new location Saturday. Workers finished the move from 1014 24th St. to 2318 J St. with a grand opening celebration Saturday, and an in-store signing with legendary Oakland rapper Del The Funky Homosapien Sunday. Store owner Paul Brizuela said he could not be happier about the move. "Our previous neighbors did not want the kind of music events we support," Brizuela said, "and J Street is a lot easier for our customers to remember than 24th." United State is an alternative clothing source for men and women, carrying brands that are usually only found online or in the hip hop fashion Meccas o

Over the last few years, the term "hip hop is dead," has been thrown around more than the neighborhood football. In an age of technology where making a simple beat with a bootlegged audio production application and altering your voice with Auto-Tune in order to sound like T-Pain is enough to get "bedroom rappers/producers/djs" signed, it's no wonder people are beginning to feel like the art is lost. While most people are tossing around this insult to hip hop, few are offering any sort of solution. I say few, because there are some purists out there who are putting in the effort, energy and time to study where hip hop started, where it has been and where it is going. He calls for somethin

When it comes to a showcase of events from Sacramento’s black community there is only one event that stands out and that is the annual Sacramento Black Expo exhibit held at the Convention Center this weekend from February 19-21. From people shopping to vendors selling goods it’s a chance to experience a lot of what the culture of African-Americans is all about. Whether its business, health, spiritual, finance, fashion, music, food, and education there is something for everyone. Among special events include a “Youth Talent Show”, “Glory Awards”, Soul Food and Exhibitors”, and “Gospel Sunday Program”. There will be a host celebrities and personalities in attendance. Major sponsors include S

Chuck D is a rebel without a pause. The co-founder of seminal hip-hop group Public Enemy is a rapper, author and activist. He refers to himself as a "raptivist," and "an ambassador for hip-hop." Thursday night, D will give a free speech at Sacramento State, where he'll be talking about rap, race, technology and communication. The event will also be a celebration of Black History Month. D likes to talk. Given that he writes a blog, tours the world on speaking gigs, and owns the SLAMjams music label, which recently threw together an iTunes album for Haiti, he is surprisingly available. He called me for an unscheduled interview, just a few minutes after I e-mailed him. "You can't go throug

What do a Sac State student, an entrepreneur, an emcee, a visual artist, a photographer and a sound technician have in common? They're all part of Leverage Sacramento, a new arts organization seeking to expose untapped local talent. The group threw a launch party Monday night at Tré Nightclub with several local spoken word performers, comedians, and hip-hop, soul and R&B performers. Hosting the event was The CUF emcee Marc "Crush" Hayes, who also sits on the seven-member Leverage board of directors. The party, which was only expected to draw 50 people, drew an estimated audience of 200. The idea of creating an arts promotion company began when 24-year-old entrepreneur Justin Eve was ask

Looking to dance to the beat of a different drummer? Sacramento's DJ Rock Bottom strives to enable you to do just that. The first and third Friday of every month, Rock Bottom spins a dance party called "Hot Pants" at Level Up Lounge. Whether it's Prince, Black Star or remixes of old-school Motown, Rock Bottom said his goal is to "challenge people to push the envelope, get outside of their box and let go musically." Rock Bottom, born John Word, grew up in Gary, Ind., about 25 miles from downtown Chicago. He recalls as a child listening religiously to Common Sense (now Common), perhaps Chicago's most innovative emcee. He also emulated a cousin's musical taste by listening to Afrika Bambaat

Dennis Weaver Jr., better known as Rapper Monotone, has opened for Michael Franti and Spearhead, Talib Kweli and De La Soul. But the 34-year-old West Sacramento resident doesn't usually perform in the big shows that hit the area. However, people who love the music of Monotone's group, MLS, can hear the musicians play Saturday when they release their EP "Target Practice" at Capitol Garage. Local hip hop acts Mahtie Bush, Tribe of Levi, Izreal, 2-4-1 and Torrance the Poet also will perform. Those in the know can recite the double meanings behind the initials MLS: "Monotone and Lou Slugga" and "Major League Spittaz." Monotone's a valley guy. He was born in Fresno and moved to Sacramento whe

With six full-length solo albums, a founding role in seminal Oakland hip-hop crew Hieroglyphics and too many side projects and one-offs to count in his two decades in the game, Teren Delvon Jones, aka Del tha Funky Homosapien (or whatever variation of that spelling he feels like using on any given week), has long presided as the gateway between the independent and mainstream. Del’s first two albums were recorded for Elektra, one of the larger labels in the early 90s, who terminated his contract in 1998 without warning before the release of his third LP, Future Development. Undaunted, Del instead pushed further underground, choosing to put all subsequent material out on Hiero Imperium, a l

While the skateboarding and hip-hop worlds have crossed paths many times before, the mix will hit locally Saturday when Oakland underground star Del tha Funky Homosapien headlines a show at the 28th and B Skatepark Hangar. Tion Torrence, aka Bukue One, is Del's manager, as well as a skater and emcee himself. "I work with Rich, our main promoter in Sacramento, and I told him that Del and myself were down to do a free event — skate related — and he put it all together for us," Torrence said via e-mail. "We have been working directly with lots of skate brands to further strengthen the bridge between hip-hop and skateboarding, so [they've] been doing a lot of skate events lately." Balancin

Local hip-hop artists performed to a packed house at the Silk Bar & Cafe Friday night. The show was a promotion of local artists in the hip-hop community. They came with original beats and rhymes to showcase themselves for a chance to open for Bay Area rapper E-40 during a performance later this year. The performers will be contacted by the club managers with the details for the show and if they are performing. It was unclear how the judging was taking place. R&B singer Adam Aldama aka Sizzle, who has been around the Sacramento hip-hop scene for about three years, sang two of his newest songs while the dance floor let loose. "It's a pretty cool show," Sizzle said. "Cool artists too. I'm

You may know 5th Ave from the Neighborhood Watch collective (State Cap, Dahlak, Random Abiladeze) or from seeing one of his live shows at Press Club, Second Saturday, or at Empire. His latest album No More Heroes was released in mid-July as part of his new group Delorean. Jon Reyes produced the album and is the other half of the group. No More Heroes offers a heavy blend of hi-fi and hip hop blends, with some funk and unusual samples. One of the standout tracks is "Chillin" featuring C-Plus and Dahlak, who are also local emcees. In the song they trade verses over a cow-bell-heavy beat. Another stand out track "My Most Favorite Emcee" is inspired by Kanye West's "Street Lights" but does a

This past July a new recording studio popped up on Sacramento's radar.  Sanctuary Recording Studios was founded by DJ Reason & Mr. Blap to provide musicians of all types with a very exclusive and private recording studio experience. Loaded with talent and all the gear to feed it these guys are in a prime position to take Sacramento by storm. When you walk in you insantly walk up some stairs to the Penthouse Suites of an office building/business park just outside of Downtown Sacramento.  As you reach the second floor you are faced with 1700 square feet of creative space.  At the far end of the hall you'll find their isolation booth...a comfortable 130 square feet and comes with an "in-boo

Social worker, event planner, and occasional singer/rapper Aria Des Jardins scheduled KRS-One to perform a benefit concert Monday night when she heard that the Washington Neighborhood Center was facing total closure. The center has been supportive of Sacramento's hip hop community and had held many hip hop concerts, she explained. "Hip hop is about people, things that don't have anything to do with entertainment," said Eric Duran, associate advocate for the Temple of Hiphop. The organization was formed by emcee and peace advocate KRS-One, who is known for his Stop the Violence campaign as well as his efforts pioneering hip hop culture. Sacramento's young people proved that they would hav

Renowned hip hop icon Too $hort, known by many as the "Godfather" of Bay Area hip hop, will be performing at Chris Webber’s Center Court Friday night in Natomas. The show was arranged by Everett Hunter Presents and will include appearances by guest DJs MP 3, Reese Roundtree and Steve DTrix. The multi-platinum artist began his career on the streets of East Oakland during his early teens, selling $5 cassette recordings of his work. He gained widespread acclaim in the hip hop scene with the success of Born to Mack, released in 1986 on his independent label Dangerous Music. The album was later re-released on the Jive Records label and went gold, selling more than 500,000 copies. He has relea

This Friday, Shakedown is scheduled to headline a Concert in the Park that includes The Kinetics, a traditional Jamaican Rocksteady group, and Syncro, a "Surf/Dutch pop/Shoegaze" band (click on any band's name to visit its MySpace page). Shakedown has won "Best Sacramento Band of 2007" from former alternative rock radio station KWOD 106.5, and the single "Love to Get Love" has been featured on a GEICO commercial. "We released the last record (New Sound Delivery, 2007) in haste because we had a lineup change, and wanted to show people what we had," said Shakedown lead singer Mark Kinyon. Twelve years, four albums and several lineup changes since their debut, the members of the Sacramento

Friday Night Concerts in the Park have filled Cesar Chavez Park on 10th and J Streets with jammin' bands since the beginning of May and will continue every Friday night from 5-9 p.m. until August 14. In this storyline, The Sacramento Press will preview the concerts and help provide additional information on the artists and their music. Friday, June 5 Bucho will headline the concert, with Righteous Movement and Happy Mayfield opening (click each band's name for a link to their MySpace page with music samples). Bucho consists of singer and guitar player Gerald Pease, bass player Josh Lippi, Ben Schweir on the Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes keyboards and Derek Taylor on percussion, as well a

The hip-hop and jazz group Crown City Rockers will be playing an all-ages show at Beatnik Studios on Friday. The doors open at 8 p.m. and the band begins at 9 p.m. The five-piece band is self-described as a "genre-blending collective whose music is all together original, powerful and provocative," mixing an "organic blend of lush, funk-drenched grooves, riveting classic soul samples, sharp live instrumentation and old-school rhymes." Originally formed in Boston in the late '90s, the band later relocated to Oakland, Calif. where they currently reside. The band is scheduled for an album release this fall. Beatnik Studios is located at 1724 17th St. in Midtown Sacramento. Admission is $10

Watching the MC with the dreadlocks, the interracial couple, kids younger than 12, asians, blacks, whites and Hispanics congregated in the Washington Neighborhood Center all listening to the same music was a rare and inspiring sight. Today was the third and final day of the first Sacramento Hip Hop Congress Awareness Festival. The day was dedicated to a showcase of performances by open-mic artists, b-boys, DJs and street, conscious and hip hop MCs from Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as art displays. Bay Area musician Rahman Jahmaal and local musicians such as Skurge riled the crowd with their inspirational words. Jahmaal broke down the beauty in the art of hip hop. "

Want to learn about hip hop or the hip hop music industry? This weekend provides a perfect opportunity--the Sacramento Chapter of the Hip Hop Congress will be holding its first awareness festival May 22 through May 24 at the Washington Neighborhood Center at 400 16th Street in midtown Sacramento. Hip Hop Congress is a nonprofit organization that identifies itself as "an international grassroots network that educates, empowers, and unites individuals...preserv[ing] and evolv[ing] hip hop by inspiring social action and cultural creativity within the community." The organization claims more than 50 chapters nationwide, in addition to chapters in Europe and Africa. Vanessa Amarro, co-chair