An emerging radio-personality and established hip-hop DJ, Peter Rosenberg earned his stripes at WMUC while a student at the University of Maryland. After brief stints at WPGC and WHFS, Peter found a home at WJFK hosting an experimental talk radio show that fused discussions of hip-hop, sports, and politics. Already an edgy proposition for the stodgy WJFK, The Peter Rosenberg show was canceled after one too many run-ins with local talk radio darlings Don and Mike.

A media maven in the making, Peter quickly packed up and relocated to New York - landing a spot on the weekend graveyard shift at Hot97. His show brings a mix of underground hip hop both new and old, interviews, freestyles, an odd fascination with pro wrestling and Rick Ric Flair, and something that has long been missing from NYC corporate radio—D.C. Hip Hop.

Check out last week’s show, which features all new material from Wale, Tabi Bonney, Oddisee, Kev Brown, Kaimber, The Package and others.

Real Late with Peter Rosenberg airs Sunday nights in New York City from 1-3 AM on 97.1 FM. MP3s are available at RosenbergRadio.com

Also: check out his videos on YouTube!

Stacy Willyard, a graduate student a George Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution has spearheaded the organization of the first annual Hip Hop & Peacebuilding Frestival. This six day festival brings together an international coalition of artists and peacemakers and looks to define the roll hip hop can play in empowering youth to obtain a future of peace.

Its a pretty lofty idea, but one that is certainly welcome when violence seems to be increasing and hip-hop’s relevance as an agent of social change seems to be decreasing. Stacy and her co-organizers have put together a full schedule of events definitely worth checking out.

Full schedule inside…
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WASHINGTON, DC:

Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Roots & Friends
Gov’t Mule
Toots & The Maytals
Thievery Corporation (DJ Set)
Warren Haynes Solo Acoustic
Umphreys McGee
DC Boys Choir
CityDance

If the weather cooperates on the National Mall, this has the potential to be a great way to kick off the festival season: It’s family-friendly and you don’t even have to skip work. Given the lineup, the sound is going to be proper. Oh and it’s FREE. Details at the official event page.

Poet Saul Williams will be performing tonight, Monday, April 7th with his band at the 930 Club. Tickets are $15 - more info at 930.com.

D.C. has consistently been on Saul’s cosmic orbit, and he captured the feel of the district in the 1998 film Slam. A visionary artist, his most recent album, Niggy Tardust, was released online a la Radiohead last Novemeber.

Nike has licensed his new song “List of Demands” for use in a new ad campaign. Not everyone thinks its such a good idea. Some fans are even questioning if he has sold out. A student asked him about it and he breaks down his vision in this video. What do you think? When he says “we need to upgrade our idea of revolution and how it occurs,” is he right? Discuss.

Also worth checking: this interview with KRS-One on corporate cultural cash connections.

Hip-hop super-blogger Eskay over at NahRight.com is linking to a leaked track from the forthcoming album by The Roots featuring up and coming R&B star Chrisette Michele and D.C.’s Wale over a crankin’ go-go via Philly backbeat courtesy of QuestLove. (Looks like all those shows in DC finally rubbed off on him!)

In the past, Wale has credited the Roots’ Black Thought as one of his influences as an MC, and the admiration is definitely mutual–Black Thought has stated that “Wale is the only new artist he is feeling.” The execs at Def Jam are lining this up to be the lead single for the new Roots album and Wale’s buzz may give them the boost they need. Not to mention that go-go influenced songs by non-DC artists have a great track record. (See Jill Scott, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Salt N Pepa, Heavy-D, LL Cool J…)

Wale layers his in-the-pocket flow about nothing to Quest’s go-go influenced drumming with a tight 16 bar verse that compliments the vocal work of Black Thought and Ms. Michele. Like many a great song by the Roots, Rising Up seems to lament the mainstream hip hop media’s refusal to support their brand of good music and their efforts to correct that.

Here’s to the Roots finally achieving the multi-platinum records sales and radio success that they have been angling for their whole career. Only time will tell, but they may have just lucked up on one of this summer’s D.C. anthems - at least once it gets covered by a real go-go band or two.

Kev Brown, who is a featured producer at Friday’s BeatDown producer showcase at Club Five, breaks down the secrets to his production style in this great video:

One of the region’s production stars, Kev has worked with the likes of De La Soul, Marley Marl, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Raheem Devaughn, Biz Markie, and a number of local hip-hop artists. With his process firmly rooted in the MPC based technique of beat making, he has forged a unique sound that pays homage to such greats as Pete Rock and the late J-Dilla. Definitely check him out on Friday–it should be a great event with a number of talented producers and hip hop acts on the bill.

Also: Kev and Los Angeles’ LMNO have just released a collaborative project entitled ‘Selective Hearing’ on Up Above Records. Support that real hip hop!

Double Bonus: Kev Brown and Kaimber at last month’s J-Dilla Tribute at XM performing a cover of “The Official”

Arizona DJ Ruthless Ramsey is featured in this YouTube video ’scratching’ tapes on two commercial boomboxes hooked up via a DJ mixer. An aspiring DJ since his younger days, he wound up as a tape jockey when he was on welfare and couldn’t afford a pair of turntables.

It’s nice to see someone bring this level of innovation back to the field of DJing. After all, this is where hip-hop comes from–taking what you have and making it fresh. While the horde of hunched-over laptop DJs have reformatted the artform by clicking and dragging their way into the future, it’s nice to see someone rewind the game back to its essence.

More on tape scratching:

Grammy-winning hip-hop legends De La Soul will be at MCCXXIII on Thursday, March 20th. Special DJ set by 9th Wonder–the original producer/DJ from Little Brother who has also worked with Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige and a number of underground hip hop acts.

Thursday at MCCXXIII is usually an 18-and-over hip-hop/dance night called Spank, which leads me to wonder how this show will go over with the millenials. Especially given the fact that De La is about as old school you can get while still being relevant and 9th Wonder tends to spin a hip-hop set that relies heavily on golden era nostalgia. Interesting, this will all be very interesting…

Thursday @ MCCXXIII
1223 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC
March 20, 2008
Doors open @ 8:30PM
FREE WITH PASS/TICKET