NOE - Deal Or NOE Deal (DJ Daa One) My review of NOE's latest mixtape is in this week's City Paper. It's got a bunch of songs with Jim Jones and other Byrd Gang dudes, including that "Swagga From Us" song that I already voiced my opinion about a while back, and there's a good track of him freestylin...

Ogun - Checkmate (Architects Recording Studio/Real On Purpose Ent.) This week in the City Paper I reviewed Ogun's new mixtape, although really it's been out for a few weeks already so you should already have it. Last year we named him the best male MC in our Best Of Baltimore issue and I really feel...

(Wikipedia) - Countee Cullen (May 30, 1903–January 9, 1946) was an American Romantic poet. Cullen was one of the leading African American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Countee Cullen on his lis...

Born King as...Killa Fifth - The Secret Order (Mad Thinkah Productions) This week in the City Paper I reviewed the new album by Born King, or I guess technically it's by his alias Killa Fifth, but to be honest I can't really tell the difference. He released two albums in the past year before this on...

(Examiner) - Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, attended a segregated elementary school at 1315 Division St. in Baltimore, but people would never know today.The abandoned building’s historical significance is masked among the brick homes and boarded-up doorways that surround...

(Julie Scharper, Baltimore Sun) - ... A bill that President Bush recently signed into law to create a $2 million War of 1812 tourism trail omits North Point from a preliminary plan because the sites are hard to reach and poorly preserved.To supporters, this was another in a long series of slights. I...

My latest show reviews for Noise at http://noise.citypaper.com: Dru Hill auditioning for, and choosing, their new 4th member @ Suite (a happy ending to that whole YouTube mess), Ab-Rock and E Major's joint release party @ Fletcher's, Wye Oak/Deer Tick/Musee Mecanique @ the G-Spot, Enon/Squaaks/Impos...

(Wikipedia) - Hugh Ambrose Jennings (April 2, 1869 – February 1, 1928) was a Major League Baseball player and manager from 1891-1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won National League championships in 1894, 1895, and 1896. During ...

Briefly, my latest stuff up on http://noise.citypaper.com: a new Baltimore club music column with with DJ Pierre, a wrap-up of my experiences judging at the Show Me What You Got battle @ Fletcher's (congrats to the winner, A-Class), and reviews of the Best Buy in-store event for Beyond Hamsterdam: B...

If you haven't seen the infamous YouTube footage yet of Dru Hill reuniting (and breaking up again) live on 92Q yesterday, I posted it on Idolator and it's also over on the City Paper's Noise blog. Shit is disgraceful, y'all. And how funny is it that Woody, who was just on a Baltimore club track a ye...