Hip Hop

Outkast remains arguably the greatest rap duo of all time, even though its members - Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 - haven't released an album together since 2006's "Idlewild" soundtrack. While Big Boi continues to release solo albums, Andre has mostly flirted with hip-hop, appearing on guest verses with high-profile artists when he pleases. Last November, Andre made headlines for his contribution to T.I.'s self-reflecting "Sorry. " On it, Andre apologizes to his longtime partner for slowing Outkast down, declining tours and, subsequently, walking away from significant paydays.

Outkast remains arguably the greatest rap duo of all time, even though its members - Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000 - haven't released an album together since 2006's "Idlewild" soundtrack. While Big Boi continues to release solo albums, Andre has mostly flirted with hip-hop, appearing on guest verses with high-profile artists when he pleases. Last November, Andre made headlines for his contribution to T.I.'s self-reflecting "Sorry. " On it, Andre apologizes to his longtime partner for slowing Outkast down, declining tours and, subsequently, walking away from significant paydays.

The British rock trio Keane performed and recorded in obscurity for years, but as soon as they released their debut album, "Hopes and Fears," they were stars. Based on songs like "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Everybody's Changing," some rock critics ranked Keane right up there with the Beatles and Oasis. Keane doesn't have a guitarist, which sets the trio apart from most mainstream rock bands. Instead, Tim Rice-Oxley's piano work and singer Tom Chaplin's soft, aching voice anchor most of Keane's music.

The Dance Conservatory of Maryland will hold its annual Contemporary Showcase this month, with proceeds being donated to Center for the Arts. The future Center for the Arts will serve Harford County as a facility, accessible to all, to nurture art, artists and the community in the disciplines of music, dance, theater and the visual and literary arts and Dance Conservatory of Maryland is excited to be able to support such a wonderful cause. The Contemporary Showcase will provide an offering of works from several classes at Dance Conservatory of Maryland, including jazz, tap, hip hop and modern.

There's a language slip in the online description of the Baltimore Mixtape Project, an effort to inspire young people to express their views about the sorry state of juvenile justice through hip-hop. Describing the project's first contest — called "Battle: Bar None" — the organizers refer to the school-to-prison pipeline that sends thousands of troubled kids out of classrooms and into juvie-jails. "Many of Baltimore's youth are intimately failure with these dynamics," the website says.

THE GOOD: Similar to last year's lineup, there's a lot to like, especially if you take pride in keeping up with music just-outside the Top 40. TV on the Radio, Black Keys and a set from LCD Soundsystem head honcho James Murphy are the big names committed. Dance-enthusiasts Cut Copy and Empire of the Sun will sound particularly fitting in the sexual heat (Sept. 10, Merriweather Post Pavilion). Prepare to sweat it all out. Also, an obvious good: the price.   THE BAD: No glaring mistakes here.

Last year, while working on the independent film "LUV" in Baltimore, Common received the type of treatment typical for a celebrity of his stature. He met the mayor in her office. He played basketball at Carmelo Anthony's gym. But now, reflecting more than a year later, the 40-year-old Chicago-native born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. says it was meeting the people in their communities that made his brief time in Baltimore "one of the best experiences" the rapper and actor ever had. "I was in the heart and soul of Baltimore," said Common, who returns to the area Saturday for the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion . "I definitely felt a connection to the people.

One day in 2007, Tim Sommers was fooling around on his keyboard when he came up with a poignant, dramatic chord progression. Sommers and his friend, rapper Jeremy Dussolliet, sat in Sommers' college dorm room and worked through a melody and a few lyrics for the tune: "Can we pretend that airplanes / in the night sky / are like shooting stars? / I could really use a wish right now." The song, "Airplanes," has since gone on to dominate pop radio this summer, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Wa-aay behind in the polls, the Republican who's trying to unseat Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski has resorted to a most unusual Hail Mary pass. Dr. Eric Wargotz has posted a video of his three kids — Jacob, 13; Samuel, 11; and Leila, 9 — singing a campaign rap song. ( See it on YouTube under "Wargotz-Mikulski Rap. " ) Here's a snippet: "Yo, what's up now, my brothers and sisters / Let me tell you 'bout a very smart mister / His name is Eric Wargotz and he's running for Senate / U.S., that is. And he's in it to win it. " Maybe this is part of that hip-hop makeover RNC chief and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele vowed to bring the GOP. It is certainly, as Steele promised, "off the hook.

Alex Hill's hip-hop Web site takes up all of his spare time and doesn't make money. But like so many who have come to love hip-hop, he brings a passion to his hobby. "It's more than something I just do -- it's all I am," says the 36-year-old Sacramento, Calif., programmer who created www.mrblunt.com, an online collection of essays, lyrics, graffiti and other artifacts of hip-hop culture. Hill is a new media artist in the culture of hip-hop, on the leading edge of a musical genre that has virtually exploded online.

The Kennedy Center plans to shake up the Foggy Bottom hood next season. As part of its 2013-2014 lineup, the center will showcase a global pop music phenomenon. Really? Shizzle, man. A week-long festival, "One Mic: Hip-Hop Culture Worldwide," will feature MCing, DJing, B-Boying and more. The National Symphony will even get in the act, performing with the rapper Nas. And you thought the Kennedy Center didn't have game. On a more traditional front, Washington's premiere culture palace will offer the International Theater Festival 2014, with such productions as “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by the Bristol Old Vic from England and South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company.

Many English words derive from Latin. Others from Spanish, American Indian, Norwegian. You name a country, an English word probably came from there. But in the grand history of William Shakespeare, some words are invented by brilliant minds. Derrick E. Vaughan, the president of Dunkadelic Sports Marketing, is one of those modern-day wordsmiths. He said he created the term "dunkadelic" in 1997 in order to find a one-word term that would combine the basketball and hip-hop culture fusion (coincidentally, he's also the creator of National Basketball & Hip-Hop Culture Month)

After Brandy Norwood gave birth to her daughter, Sy'rai, 10 years ago, she was exhausted and ready to leave the entertainment world behind. "I was like, 'I'm good, y'all. I'm good on the music industry,' " Brandy said in a recent interview. "I didn't know who I was, but my daughter was a savior for me. " Motherhood may have eventually refocused her, but the music industry requires hit songs. Although she released two more albums after Sy'rai's birth (2004's "Afrodisiac" and 2008's "Human")

Calling Wendel Patrick multi-talented is an understatement. The 39-year-old Baltimore resident usually has a Fender Rhodes keyboard, two turntables, effects processors and a microphone for beat boxing and vocal percussion at his shows. When Patrick bumped into Erik Spangler (aka: DJ Dubble8) after a closing performance at last year's Artscape, they talked about creating an improv-based hip-hop series. Last November, they created the Baltimore Boom Bap Society, which now performs monthly shows around the city.

Last year, while working on the independent film "LUV" in Baltimore, Common received the type of treatment typical for a celebrity of his stature. He met the mayor in her office. He played basketball at Carmelo Anthony's gym. But now, reflecting more than a year later, the 40-year-old Chicago-native born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. says it was meeting the people in their communities that made his brief time in Baltimore "one of the best experiences" the rapper and actor ever had. "I was in the heart and soul of Baltimore," said Common, who returns to the area Saturday for the Summer Spirit Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion . "I definitely felt a connection to the people.

Cat's looking even more beautiful than usual (which I didn't think was possible) as she welcomes us to tonight's episode with 16 dancers still left in the competition. The opening number has all the dancers dressed like Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp and they're using a weird filter to make most of the picture black and white while leaving the open umbrella red. It reminds me of a precious greeting card your grandmother might send you. The routine is a little meh overall, with music that never seems to rise and fall.

CHICAGO -- Byron Hurt takes pains to say that he is a fan of hip-hop, but over time, says Hurt, a 36-year-old filmmaker, dreadlocks hanging below his shoulders, "I began to become very conflicted about the music I love." A new documentary by Hurt, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, questions the violence, degradation of women and homophobia in much of rap music. Scheduled to go on the air in February as part of the PBS series Independent Lens, the documentary is being shown now at high schools, colleges and Boys and Girls Clubs, and in other forums, as part of an unusual public campaign sponsored by the Independent Television Service, which is based in San Francisco and helped finance the film.

Mac Miller isn't the only person in hip-hop making money on his own. Here are five other acts that created their buzz without a major label's help. 1 The Weeknd Abel Tresfaye, aka the Weeknd, is Toronto's enigmatic R&B crooner-on-a-bender whose two free albums from this year, "House of Balloons" and "Thursday," will end up on many best-of-the-year lists. Labels are desperate to sign him, but he's doing just fine thanks to haunting songs and a public friendship with Drake.

Twelve area bands, specializing in styles ranging from reggae to hip-hop, will be playing Artscape 2012, The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts announced Monday. The winnings bands are 7IghQ and Bumpin Uglies (reggae), Brooks Long (blues), Cloud 9 (rock/hip-hop), Condor (rock), Drumfish (modern rock), Reality Band/BJR (neo-soul), Team Flex (hip-hop), This Is the Rescue (rock) and Lion Turf, Stars and The Sea and Turtle Tongue (alternative). The winning bands will perform on the Wells Fargo and Festival stages during the 31 s t Artscape, which runs July 20-22 on and around the intersection of Mount Royal and Charles streets.

When Baltimore rapper DDm began writing the songs for his new mixtape, he looked to Omar Little, the ruthless-yet-honorable stickup man from "The Wire," for inspiration. Omar, like DDm, was raw, aggressive — and gay. DDm saw enough in common with Omar that he named his mixtape, which drops next month, "The Omar Tape. " "Omar was, of course, homosexual — but was respected and feared in a lot of cases, and I feel such a correlation in terms of that," said DDm, who performs on the main stage at the Baltimore Pride Block Party on Saturday.