I met Short-e in 2004 at the Red Bull Music Academy. She is an incredible DJ and an excellent teacher. Check her out:

Forward Scratch Tutorial by DJ Short-e.
Short-e teaches you how to do the Forward scratch.
Beat # 8546 used in this clip is available here:
http://studioscratches.myshopify.com/…

For more info visit: http://www.studioscratches.com

Join the author in a reading, discussion, and signing of The People’s History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Busboys & Poets – The Langston Room
2021 14th St NW (at the corner of 14th and V Street NW)
Washington, DC

**SUPPORT THE LIVELIHOODS OF DC INDIE ARTISTS!**

Thursday, November 5th 2009 – Tip the Band 7: “V”

performing live…
GODISHEUS
Violet Says 5

Hosted by: Kymone Freeman… Black L.U.V Festival

Dinner show! 8:30pm-11:30pm | 21 & Up!

Almaz Ethiopian Restaurant | 1212 U St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 462-1212

No Door Cover | Tip the Band

Got the heads up from 2Tuff Andy. I’m really feeling this record – DOPE

NNEKA MAKES HER US DEBUT WITH CONCRETE JUNGLE – SET FOR FEBRUARY 2010 RELEASE!

Nneka has gained a large following in Europe and her native Nigeria over the past few years but has set her sights on the US. Concrete Jungle, set for release in February 2010, is her third album but is the first to be released in the US. She draws upon both her African roots as well as her formal training in Germany to produce a unique, soulful sound. Nneka will tour for the first time in the US this November to promote Concrete Jungle.

11/14: Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java with See-I

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/event.php?eid=197116201170&index=1

I know there’s no video of this, but still one of the 90s underground classics.

When I moved to DC, Nick B (State of the Union, Soul Baby) took me to 12-Inch to buy records. He pulled this from the wall like you need this. Jamal was like yeah, you need that. Chris Stiles was like – cop 2! 1997 FLASHBACK!

Nov 4th at Lounge of Three – 1013 U St NW Washington, DC

Hosted by Flex Mathews – Soundscapes by DJ Undadog & Nick da 1nda

Produced by Just Blaze – Radio Rip.

INCREDIBLE

The term “DMV,” brought to you by the hard work of local rappers. And phone cards.

Posted by Sarah Godfrey on Oct. 28, 2009, at 12:50 pm

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.”

Capital City Music Tour

Presented by:
Beam UP Ent., Inner Loop Records, Studio 43 & BetaRaz Entertainment
Performers:
K-Beta, Kingpen Slim & X.O.
P Stew (93.9 WKYS) will be the Host for the whole Tour

Details after the Jump:

****Friday 11/13/09 Jammin Java All Ages, 9pm-2am 21 to Drink $10 Pre-sale Tickets, $12 Cover Charge
227 Maple Ave East, Vienna, VA 22180
DJ J Buttah
The Main 3 Acts
4. Ra The MC
5. Likeblood
6.Whitefolkz
7.Phil Ade
8. Frayz

****Tuesday 11/17/09 Eyebar 21&Up , 9pm-2am, Open Bar 9pm-11pm, FREE SHOW, Dress to Impress
DJ Alizay
The Main 3 Acts

****Friday 11/25/09 Liv, Beatdown, 9pm-2am, Cover Charge $10, 18 & Up
DJ J-$crilla
DJ Mark Nfinit

****Monday 12/7/09 Pure, 10pm Features, 8pm-12pm, $5 Cover, 21 & Up
DJ Jus Lissen

****Friday 12/11/09 Velocity 5, 9pm-2am, 21&Up, Cover Charge $10 for guys, $5 for Ladies, DJ J Buttah
8111 Lee Highway Falls Church, VA 22042

****Tuesday 12/15/09 Lotus, 8pm-2am, 21 & Up, FREE SHOW, No Hats, No Sneakers
DJ Money