Rapper 20 Bello; Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Thanks to the hard work of both hip-hop pioneers and young upstarts throughout D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, the DMV is now officially on the map. It’s also in the dictionary. The Urban Dictionary—but still.

Most regions with thriving hip-hop scenes have catchy nicknames, but before the whole DMV acronym caught on in the mid-aughts, the greater nation’s capital lacked one. Chocolate City, popularized decades ago, was starting to get a little moldy, and it ignores both the all-important suburbs and the fact that D.C. is becoming more cream-filled by the day. There have been valiant efforts to make “The Middle East” (for middle East Coast, get it?) stick, but it didn’t happen. Ditto for “Tri-State,” which failed not only because it’s already taken but because, technically, only two states are involved.

So where’d the acronym come from? In an informal poll of area hip-hop luminaries—from Judah to Kokayi, Head-Roc to Overok—the same three names came up over and over: Wale, DJ Rob AKA Mista DMV, and 20Bello.

Actually, there was one other contender, too: MC-turntablist-producer DJ Eurok maintains the first use of the DMV to mean D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (rather than a certain dysfunctional city agency), was on local corner store phone cards emblazoned with phrases such as “Excellent DMV local access.” He may be right, but in terms of making the term hot, credit definitely goes to the hip-hop community.

“Since I was a kid we always said ‘DC, Maryland, Virginia’ area in that order,” writes Tyrone Norris of Rosetta Stoned in an e-mail. “I think I hear DMV used most when describing the hip-hop scene in the area. If anyone really pushed that phrase, it was the rappers.”

Wale certainly took “DMV” global—thanks to his major-label deal and increasingly high profile, he has been able to sprinkle the term in countless interviews and performances all over the country, but his manager says he didn’t coin the term and doesn’t claim to. “When I started managing him in 06 it was already becoming ubiquitous in the area,” Dan Weisman writes in an e-mail.

DJ Rob has the distinction of being the first person to use the term on national TV: He was on MTV’s Sucka Free in 2006 and said he was representing “the DMV.” And when host DJ Cipha Sounds made a dumb joke about long lines, DJ Rob quickly checked him: “Naw, D.C., Maryland, and V-A—get it right,” he said.

Rich, the owner of the Target Squad empire, says his crew, and Rob in particular, are the originators of the DMV movement—he recalls that DJ Rob and Target Squad introduced the term to former WKYS radio jock II Face the Wild Boy, who in turn popularized it with on-air personalities. “After II Face started saying it on the radio hard, then [WPGC] 95 started jumping on it,” he says. “And then it was like domino effect, it started jumping, jumping—everybody started saying it.”

But Rich stops just short of saying Target Squad actually made up the acronym: “DMV is Department of Motor Vehicles, so of course we didn’t invent it. We wanted to copyright it, but our lawyers said, ‘No, are you crazy? That’s the Department of Motor Vehicles.’”

Rapper 20Bello, on the other hand, says he was the first to call this area the DMV and has been using the term since 2003. He offers compelling evidence. 20 possesses a flier from that year, and although a date isn’t listed, he can convincingly authenticate it.

“At the end of ’03, I started letting hair grow,” he says. “That’s when me and [fellow rapper] Hevewae did the promo flier. In ’04, ’05 I had cornrows—that was before I started growing my ’locks in ’06, when I was on the cover of City Paper. Before ’04, ’05, my hair wasn’t long, and that’s my picture on the DMV fliers.”

In fact, 20 says his former partner Katt Galloway coined the abbreviation during a recording session for a song they did back in ’03, and from then on, 20 decided to put it on everything he did: T-shirts, Web sites such as DMV Undaground, open mic nights. He also recorded a track called “DMV” back in ’05. “I never wanted nothing out of it—I did it because I loved the music, the whole scene. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t waste my time saying I did—I don’t get no royalty check every time somebody says ‘DMV’—I get no benefit.”

Both the Target Squad camp and 20Bello and crew have people to back up their claims; both also agree that while there are certain bragging rights that come with christening this area the “DMV,” the most important thing is that it has brought some unity to a formerly fragmented region and music scene.

“Now you can’t rep D.C. without repping V-A or MD,” says Rich. “This area will be like the bext ATL, the next MIA—we can go platinum in this area,” says Rich.

“The main reason I did it was because of unity,” says 20.  “Nobody was supporting nobody, people weren’t coming out to the open mics…D.C. wouldn’t support V-A, Baltimore wouldn’t support D.C.…we had to get it under one banner. Now, if you’re rappin’, you’re part of the DMV.”

We at Arts Desk have mentioned before that the DMV’s own Wale is maybe probably kind of dating Beyonce’s little sister Solange. Now, the gossip site Mediatakeout.com, (say what you want about ‘em, but they very often get these things right) is reporting that Solange and Wale are house-hunting in Brooklyn. Or at least that Solange is house-hunting and Wale is tagging along. Or he’s been spotted in the general area of her house hunt or something. Whatever—the couple has been seen together in Brooklyn and apparently some kind of real estate is involved, and it sounds like things between them are getting serious.

This is a very troubling turn of events.

Solange is a nice enough woman, and we’re sure Wale would feel at home in Brooklyn, a borough awash in tight jeans and nerd raps. But as he gets closer to Solange, it’s almost inevitable that he’ll become chummy with Jay-Z and, as many young rappers on the cusp of stardom know, that is not the move.

So, Wale, if you’re reading this, here are a few reasons why you should stay far, far away from one Shawn Carter. (Hanging out with Bun B is still perfectly acceptable, though).

• You don’t want to become the next Memph Bleek

Yes, your album Attention Deficit is finally coming out on Nov. 10 and everyone is very excited about it! Right now. But we were also excited about Memphis Bleek’s debut album Coming of Age. For some reason, being associated with Jay-Z is deadly for up-and-coming rappers.  So much as brush up against Jay at a club and you can kiss your rap aspirations goodbye.  And it’s even worse if Jay actually decides to have a hand in your career development. Remember Diamonds in Da Rough? Peedi Peedi? Amil? Yeah, neither do we.

• He will outshine you

You could go from D.C.’s  “hip-hop break-out star” to “brother-in-law of Jay-Z and Beyonce” in the blink of an eye, and no one wants that to happen. No matter how dope you are or how great your debut album turns out to be (fingers-crossed), Jay-Z’s star power will extinguish yours. If you befriend him, you are totally on your way to being listed as an “unidentified friend of Jay-Z” in some candid picture in Us Weekly.

• If you mess over Solange, you could be the next victim on that Summer Jam stage

Jay-Z is known for calling people out during Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam concert, and if you don’t treat his wife’s sister right, I imagine he’d make it his business to similarly humiliate you. If there are any unflattering pictures from your past, hide them NOW.

• He’s going to make you an outlet for his umlaut fetish

Jay-Z loves a good piece of unnecessary punctuation—see the umlauts over the “y” in his name on the cover of the CD single for “Dead Presidents.” Wale, you have managed to teach an entire nation—an entire planet!—of hip-hop lovers to pronounce your name without resorting to so much as an accent, but there’s a chance Jay-Z could convince you to use one. Don’t do it.

Kevin “Kato” Hammond is in the process of selling his Take Me Out to the Go-Go Website.

Since 1997, Hammond has shared his encyclopedic knowledge of go-go via TMOTTGOGO.com, which at various times has included a monthly online magazine, a blog, an active message board, and a weekly online radio show that allowed Kato to share music from his deep go-go archives. Typically, any go-go news—everything from D Floyd leaving Rare Essence to Big G joining the cast of The Wire—was broken on the site, either by Hammond himself or members of the boards.

Hammond tells CP that he’s selling the site because he is “looking to do something new,” but adds that he’s currently negotiating a deal that will involve him continuing to have a hand in TMOTT’s content.

Recently, Hammond expanded the scope of TMOTT to include local news and national entertainment stories, and he hopes the sale will partner him with a buyer interesting in further broadening TMOTT’s scope and attracting new readers.  Hammond says ” continued growth towards a wider audience as we enter into the next era of Web 3.0″ is the  goal.

Hammond also says that national attention received by go-go (and go-go-influenced) artists such as Wale and UCB have inspired him to extend his reach.

“[W]hat go-go can no longer do is stifle itself…and then continue to cry that it isn’t being accepted. That just doesn’t make any sense to me,” he wrote in an e-mail. “As certain elements in go-go continue to open their doors and make strides (i.e., Wale, UCB, Anwan “Big G” Glover, etc.) stepping into the view of wider audiences, I would like for TMOTT to do the same thing.

“[Y]ou have to bring them in… diversify yourself… If we’re going to talk about Chuck Brown, why can’t we also talk about P.Diddy? If we’re going to showcase TCB, why can’t we also showcase Lil Wayne? That’s basically the direction that I foresee TMOTT going into.”

Maxwell’s BLACKsummers’night tour hits the Verizon Center tonight, and if you’re attending, you’re almost guaranteed to hear all of your favorite Maxwell hits: “Fortunate” and “Til We Become the Sun” from the old albums; “Bad Habits” and “Pretty Wings” from his comeback disc.  In fact, you may even get an extended version of  “Pretty Wings!” And don’t worry—if it looks like the show is over and you haven’t yet heard “Pretty Wings,” odds are that Maxwell is just faking you out, so don’t get all agitated, because he’s totally going to sing it.  And in the highly unlikely event that Maxwell doesn’t sing “Pretty Wings,” you can hear it on the radio on the car ride home at least 15 times.

But, there is one song that you probably won’t hear tonight, as it rarely, if ever, gets play at a Maxwell show:

“Eachhoureachsecondeachminuteeachday: Of My Life” from 1998’s Embrya. Yes, the title is deeply obnoxious, but it’s one of Maxwell’s best tracks ever.

See, “Eachhoureachsecond…” incorporates elements of all of Maxwell’s finest songs: The knocking percussion of “Sumthin’ Sumthin,” the excellent high notes of “This Woman’s Work,” the funky bassline of “Get to Know Ya.”

So, with all of that going for it, why wasn’t this song a hit? Perhaps it’s  just too much Maxwell goodness and overwhelms people? Or, maybe it needed a  cool video featuring Terrence Howard and Morris Chestnut, to really sell it?

At any rate, if Maxwell asks for requests tonight, don’t strain your lungs screaming out “…Til the Cops Come Knockin’” or some other song that he’s already sure to sing.  Shout “Eachhoureachsecondeachminuteeachday!” Or try to, at least.

Maxwell performs with at 7:30 p.m. at the Verizon Center, 601 F Street, NW. $68-$178. (202) 628-3200.

It’s so filthy that many of Ghostface’s lines are indistinguishable from the dialogue spoken by some of today’s finest porn stars. In fact, if porn actors ever start rhyming, Ghost is in trouble.

To really nail (haha—nail!) the point, here’s a little quiz:  Below are four XXX-rated phrases—you decide whether they are quotes from Ghost’s “Stapleton Sex” or a porno flick. Think you can tell the difference between the words of Ironman and Lex Steele? It’s harder than you think.

Questions and answers after the jump:

1. “From behind I’m a mastermind”

2. “I’m ’bout to get balls deep!”

3. “Your pussy’s the bomb”

4. “Uuuuuh, uuuuh, UHHHH!”

Answer key:

1. That’s Ghost

2. That’s  international porn star Wesley Pipes

3. That’s Ghost, but it’s almost certain that someone has uttered that exact phrase in an adult film before, so pretty much any answer here is acceptable.

4.  Trick question—that grunting sound can be heard both on Ghost’s album and in porno—actually, in every porno.

Yesterday I received a preview copy of The Tao of Wu, a “spiritual memoir” in which Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA offers up pearls of wisdom. Actually, since we’re talking about an icon of ‘90s hip-hop here, I should probably say he is dropping gem or blessing us with jewelz or some such thing.

The press materials call the book a “nonfiction Siddhartha for the hip-hop generation.”  And if Siddhartha had been into kung-fu flicks and the Five Percent Nation and his trusty companion Govinda had been a small-time weed dealer, that comparison would be spot on.

If you’re  seeking a little bit of enlightenment Wu-Tang style, the book holds plenty of lessons and what RZA calls his “pillars of wisdom.” There’s actually some really touching stuff about RZA’s mother, and his time in jail, and his friendships.

But if you’re just looking for scoop on everyone’s favorite hip-hop supergroup, there’s plenty of that, too. The book is slated for an  Oct. 20 15 release, but here are a few nuggets to tide you over.

*RZA says that in 1991, Ghost was very into trying rip off a Brinks truck.

*Ghost used to call Old English “Wu juice,” and RZA used to call Ballantine Ale “Shaolin.”

*In 1989, RZA showed some of his friends Eight-Diagram and says some of them started crying because it’s so real.

*RZA used to ride the subway wearing a Big Daddy Kane-style gold cable, a book of 120 lessons, and a .38 revolver.

*If you see Method Man on the street and yell out “Shaquan!” he’ll probably turn around.

*A sampling of  RZA’s early production tools: 1982, Technics SL-6 turntable; 1985, Roland 606 drum machine; 1988, Casio sampler.

*RZA used to live in a basement below some family members of Prince Po from Organized Konfusion; Po used to come visit him and watch him make beats.

*RZA once hung out with Leonardo DiCaprio, right after Titanic came out. They smoked cuban cigars together and Leo recited some Wu-Tang lyrics.

*RZA holed up at Trump Tower while working on the Bobby Digital album; for fun, he used to hang out on the front stoop of The Plaza, drinking 40s, smoking weed, and watching the celebrities come and go.

Nu’ The Mayor is a pretty proactive rapper. Instead of just claiming to run D.C., he decided to take the title of “mayor.” When media outlets don’t cover him, he interviews himself.  And rather than merely rhyming about his financial fitness, Nu’ has pronounced himself a “dollartician” and named his latest album Now or Never: Diary of a Dollartician.

“A dollartician is someone who is focused on their money, but won’t sell out,” the rapper explains. “I’m not going to just do or say anything to make a hit.”

Nu says that sonically the new album is a mix of hard-core beats and funk that he calls ” soul-hop.”  Lyrically, it’s “a little more adult—I’ve stepped into the adult box,” he says. “The younger crowd can get into it, but it’s more for [ages] 25 and up.”

Naturally,  Nu’Man isn’t waiting around to hear what the public has to say about Now or Never: Diary of a Dollartician—he says it’s a classic.

But exactly how good is it? For a bit of context, Washington City Paper decided to ask Nu’ how his latest project stacks up against some other hip-hop albums that are about getting, making, and taking money.

1) 50 Cent, Power of the Dollar

“This was his first album, sort of the culmination of his entire life story—I approached this album the same way, even though it’s not my first album, because it’s my first album with national distribution” Nu says. “He’s on some gangsta shit, and I’m not doing that, but the vibe and the passion are the same. Even though my album is better.”

2) Ace Hood, Cash Flow

“He has some anthemic songs, but I don’t know too much about him—just what I’ve heard on the radio.”

3) Common Sense, Can I Borrow A Dollar?

“This was Common before Erykah, before the fishnet wifebeaters. This is what I want to be–just a regular nigga who can spit and ain’t on no bamma shit. But maybe there’s just an evolution[that rappers go through]—maybe five years from now I’ll have on the fishnet wifebeater.”

4) Charli Baltimore, Money

“I don’t really see a relation.”

5) Capone-N-Noreaga, Money

“I like C-N-N. I didn’t get into this too much, but the “WHAT WHAT WHAT” always got me hype.  Actually, Nore is crazy and wild like me, so maybe there are some similarities…”

6)MC Breed, Dollar

“It’s  a little similar…he’s from the Bay, and they’re all about game in the Bay, and my label is G.A.M.E. And Breed spits game, and that’s what I’m on.”

7) T.I., Paper Trail

“King of the South! I think people feel about his albums the way they feel about my albums–they’re [always] the best album that comes out that year.”

Now or Never: Diary of a Dollartician drops Tuesday, Sept. 22; album release party goes down at Ibiza on Friday, Sept. 25

50 Cent has been forcing interviewers to listen to him yammer on about Robert Greene’s book, The 48 Laws of Power, for years. Now, he has taken his obsession with Greene’s guide to crushing foes and annihilating people one step further.

50 has written a book with Greene called The 50th Law, and he’s just announced that he’ll stop off at Howard University on September 9 to plug it.

The 50th Law is an “urban” take on The 48 Laws of Power. The tactical manual (read: self-help book for tough guys) outlines rules for surviving the cutthroat business world, and living a rich, successful life.  Topics include “intense realism” (Ha!), “depth” (Haha!), and forging an empire (OK, we’ll give him that one).

The release for the book claims that Greene’s writings  helped 50 “indentify[sic] friend from foe, opportunity from opposition, and ultimately triumph in a dog eat dog industry.” Sadly, it did not teach him how to make a solid third album, unload unwanted real estate, or avoid pissing off the Game.

No word yet on whether he’ll actually perform when he appears at H.U., or if he’ll pass out free Vitamin Water.

Looks like Dave Nuttycombe wasn’t the only DJ inspired by the cover of last week’s City Paper.

DJ Torkaveli claims to produce “the most controversial mixtape series in the Washington D.C. area,” so it makes sense that he’d take inspiration from the now infamous issue.

The work features the Marion Barry voicemail clips interspersed with “some new underground tracks from some of the DMV’s hottest rappers!”

Whitefolkz, Cal Cutta, Landova Dappa, and many other DMV all-stars appear.

Check it out here.

There will be no shortage of entertainment options for rap fans this weekend, with both the D.C. Hip-Hop Theater Festival and Rock the Bells happening. But, if you want to avoid big-venue crows and still get your fix, check out the Circus at Expo on Saturday night. Rosetta Stoned’s Tyrone Norris organizes the bi-monthly showcase of MCs, poets, bands, and DJs. This week, Bomani Armah of Read A Book fame performs, and with a 9 p.m. start, you can still be home in plenty of time to get a full night’s rest before heading out to Merriweather the next day.

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