Hip Hop

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.

Just as winter begins to bum everyone out with its dropping temperatures and dark-by-4:30-p.m. routine, the newly liberated Coachella lineup has us daydreaming of spring and a weekend trip to the west coast. Seemingly every year, Coachella sets the standard for Important Music Festivals, and 2012 is no exception. There's a lot of talking points but here's a quick run-down: Underappreciated and surprisingly influential bands are reuniting (Refused, At the Drive-In), Radiohead will play, David Guetta and the Shins are listed next to each other on the poster (exemplifying the festival's continued steps toward sonic diversity)

Michael Ian Black facetiously named his stand-up special "Very Famous" — but it's true, depending on whom you ask. Black, the snarky comedian best known for his pop-culture takedowns on VH1, is a cult-hero for his work on MTV's '90s sketch-comedy show "The State," playing McKinley in "Wet Hot American Summer" and as a strange bowling alley manager on the NBC show "Ed. " He's currently headlining his "Black is White" comedy tour (which stops...

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.

Years ago, a 7-year-old Indya Streams was riding in the back of her aunt's car when she burst into a spontaneous freestyle rap. Streams' aunt, Tracy Wilkins, turned down the car stereo to listen. When Streams was finished, Wilkins tested her, making her repeat her rhymes, and was impressed with what she heard. "She just spit it out," Wilkins said. "I was like, ‘Wow. Do you want to do that?' She said, ‘Yeah.' " Most 7-year-olds dream big, but Streams followed through.

MUSIC VH1 HIP HOP HONORS TOUR / / Tonight, doors open at 7, concert at 8:30. Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place. $35 general admission; $75 for the loft. 410-244-1131 and ramsheadlive.com ....................... The 2 1 / 2 -hour show features the classic hip-hop sounds of MC Lyte and Big Daddy Kane, backed by the Roots. Each performer has a connection to VH1's Hip Hop Honors show: Lyte and Kane are both former honorees and Roots' drummer and focal point, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, has served as the program's musical director.

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")

Fifteen freshmen from the Maryland Institute College of Art went out last fall looking for Baltimore. What they found has been distilled into a four-panel wheeled mural, which is being displayed at Penn Station through this month. In the process, the students, many of whom were new to the area, not only became comfortable in their adopted city, but were charmed by it. They spent hours tramping through neighborhoods and talking to the people they met. "I'm surprised that people who live here don't appreciate Baltimore more," says MICA freshman Emily Wooten, who worked on the third panel of the mural.

Results show! When they're down to this few couples, there's more time for filler. Yay! Filler! I don't even like DoubleStuf Oreos, y'all. What this means is we get a troupe performance right off the bat, that isn't even themed to anything, other than, "Hey, we need to fill time. " Highlights from last night -- let's see if they show us anything we didn't see last night. Ok, I don't remember seeing Zendaya's parents' reaction to her perfect score. They are up on their feet and cheering.

There's the guy who did drugs, did time and fathered a bunch of kids with a bunch of women before going straight. And there's the guy who nearly became a priest. His biggest bad-boy moment: saying some not-nice things about his homeboy, George W. Bush. Which one of these U.S. Senate candidates wins the hip-hop vote? If Russell Simmons is right, the seminary beats the street.