It is no secret that American public education needs reforming. While schools in wealthy areas still offer world class educations, schools in poorer areas do not; too often in fact, these schools offer little at all in the way of education.

For three decades the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has been home to the Sakura Matsuri festival, a two-day festival comprised of both traditional and contemporary Japanese arts and culture, including dance, costume play (“cosplay”), workshops, demonstrations, and guided tours of the Garden’s Japanese plant collections.

Talib Kweli is on a roll. Just six months after the release of his much anticipated Reflection Eternal sequel Kweli is back banging on your eardrum with a new solo record titled Gutter Rainbows. It’s a breath of fresh air hearing Kweli rap in an age where mediocre pop rappers saturate the market with average sounding albums.

He sports an old school style of rap reminiscent of lyrical geniuses such as Kool G Rap, Rakim, and KRS-One, and on a chilly saturday night in New York City the Man from the City of Wind blew the roof off Highline Ballroom to promote his new movie Just Wright, starring himself alongside veteran actor/rapper Queen Latifah

Vampire Weekend is back with their sophomore album, Contra. The four-piece indie rock band met at Columbia University before producing their debut album in 2008. The band has said that their influences are drawn from popular African music and western classical music. Give one of their songs a listen and you’ll quickly realize how true this is – and indeed, how great it sounds.

If her music is uncommon, so is Maiysha’s back story. Born to an attorney father and a TV journalist mother, Maiysha grew up as a self-described “Cosby kid-I have no shame about it,” she says, “to the extent that my parents even nicknamed me Denise, because I was a little quirky, with weird outfits and big hair.”

Most recently, Matty released his sophomore album, Life Commercials, a unique blend of funky drums and bass, scorching rock/pop guitars and honest lyrics. Everyone can find something to relate to on this collection of tracks.

They say that in the worst of times, in the most dire of situations that often the most important, most miraculous people can arise from the ashes. Coming off of a year in which the art of hip-hop was accused of being deceased and done with, this Brooklyn born emcee has come to stake a claim….

Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow jumped at the chance to be the first-ever headlining turntablists at the legendary 16,500 capacity venue, the site of infamous concerts by everyone from John Williams to the Beatles to the Doors.

Over two decades have passed since Rock and Rap music first collided when a young Run DMC covered Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” off their 1975 album, Toys In The Attic. At the time, Rock music was flourishing; whereas, Rap music was still trying to make a name for itself in the music industry. The two [...]

The Ecstatic is the fourth solo album from New York MC, Mos Def. It features collaborations with Slick Rick, Talib Kweli and Georgia Anne Muldrow, as well as production by Mr. Flash and the late J Dilla.