For every 999 stories of bad publicity resonating from the streets of Chicago, there’s a video like this which reminds us all there are people in The Chi fighting to preserve the beauty that is one of America’s most historic cities.

In this case, it comes in the form of third grader Asean Johnson. The young’n put his school and hood on his back and took the city’s politicians – most notably Rahm Emanuel – to the woodshed with an impassioned three minute speech about why his school, Marcus Garvey Elementary, should not be shut down.

Without ruining too much of the clip, Asean’s speech hits home due to the fact it’s essentially a young kid pleading with his own city, “Don’t do this to me. You know what happens to kids in this city. I need this.” At some point over the past 150+ years, however, politics became less about doing what’s right for the masses and more about giving reach-arounds to the “important” people padding their bank accounts for personal gain.

Better yet, that’s how things have been since the beginning of time. Don’t tell that to Young Asean, though. He’s coming for the establishment’s neck! Fight on, young gawd! Fight on!

Update: Don’t ever let anyone say kids’ voices don’t hold on weight. Not only are kids the product of instant classic AT&T commercials, but let’s go on and give young Asean at least 5% of the credit on this. From the reports, it appears as if his school will not be closed. Now someone tell me where to get my “Asean 4 Prez 2050″ sticker.

[PolicyMic]

In March the “Magical Properties 4″ tour made a Seattle stop and Ryan Hemsworth afforded us a few minutes of conversation before his set. While the “Remix Ryan Gosling aka Mr. Steal Your Wifi” has made a strong name for himself as a DJ and producer, he wasn’t without a plan in case being a performer didn’t work out. In his own words, Hemsworth shared with us how music was always a part of his future, except he could’ve been writing about the people on stage instead of being up there himself.

Some people might not know this, but I used to be a journalist. But here’s the thing: music has always been number one to me and it’s always been my focus. I only went into journalism so I could write about music or musicians, and I definitely have more fun making music, playing shows and being able to tour.

And I know I made the right choice when I end up at places like South By Southwest. One of the cooler things that happened to me was when I played the Hype Hotel. I finished my set and this really suave dude walked right up to me. I was thinking that I knew this guy before he came up to me and said, “I’m Nicolas Jaar, and I really enjoyed what you did with that Ja Rule song.”

That sentence just blew my mind. I mixed that track with a Chrono Trigger song, and he was really down with it. So I was like, “that’s amazing. Can we, like, talk by the poolside right now?” Which happened, and was completely crazy to me because Nicolas Jaar is one of my favorite producers.

Or here’s another thing from when I was recently in Portland. Some dude brought me a Craig David CD, which was the best gift that I’ve ever been given. For a while I was obsessed with Craig David and I made it publicly known. And you could tell that this dude was an all-out fan–that he listens–because he noticed. People are starting to recognize me as a musician and my stuff.

Don’t get me wrong: writing is rewarding in its own way, and interviewing people is fun, too. Even though I never felt like I was that good of a journalist, it did help me realize when someone is starting up a blog and is desperate to get someone who was just posted on Pitchfork or something. They usually have really boring questions, and I can recognize those moments of beginning journalism.

But now I’m just rambling. That should be the title of this: “Ryan Hemsworth: Rambling And Mumbling.”

Follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanhemsworth.

Morgan Freeman is currently on the promo run for his upcoming caper film, Now You See Me. However, the 75-year-old iconic actor may want to slow it down a bit because during a morning interview with Seattle’s Q13 Fox News, Freeman dozed off as co-star Michael Caine chatted up the flick.

Maybe it was the timbre of Caine’s voice that lulled Freeman to sleep or maybe he did some hard partying the night before. Whatever the reason, no f*cks were given as everyone continued to act as if nothing was wrong while the legendary actor nodded off, even when he looked like he was about to keel over.

Now You See Me opens up in theatres May 31. Hopefully, it’s not the snoozefest Freeman makes us think it is.

Ciara’s latest club banger featuring Nicki Minaj. “I’m Out” is the song your ex will be drunkenly singing when you break up with her before Memorial Day Weekend.

Ciara drops July 9.

The Charlotte Hornets will indeed be back, which is great for ’90s babies and jersey aficionados because there’s a chance the old teal-and-purple uniforms will reappear. When? It could be 18 months from now, but who knows.

But what is known is the interesting story behind the Charlotte Hornets’ cartoonish mascot and regal colors. BuzzFeed Sports discovered that upscale men’s fashion designer Alexander Julian created the colors and uniforms while Jim Henson’s daughter Cheryl developed the mascot, Hugo the Hornet.

Here are two of the more interesting anecdotes from the story.

On the misunderstanding that lead to fans thinking the Hornets’ uniforms would be pink:

“‘Way before there was any talk about involving me in the design, the fashion editor of the Charlotte Observer asked George if they knew what kind of colors they were going to use,’ Julian said. ‘He said he didn’t know but that they’d try to use the same ones chosen by the architect of the stadium, and when they mentioned that pink was one of them, she jumped. She had an artist design a pink uniform and ran it in the newspaper, and the reaction from radio shock jocks was horrific. I wasn’t there, but what I can tell you is when we had the press conference to announce that I was going to design the uniforms, the first 14 questions I took from the press were about whether or not I was going to use pink.’”

On how Julian wanted to be compensated for his work:

“His compensation from the Hornets came in the form of an alternative currency. ‘In North Carolina, ‘barbecue’ is a noun — pork shoulder, slow-cooked over a fire. It’s always been one of my favorite things,’ he said. ‘So I said to George that he could have the uniform design for free if he FedExed five pounds of Carolina barbeque to my Connecticut home each month. An extra hundred grand didn’t mean anything to me in those days, and barbecue did.’”

Also, initiative alert, recent college grads: Cheryl Henson landed the mascot gig after pestering Julian about a job, even though he wasn’t hiring at the time. BOOTSTRAP PULLING.

Check out the rest of the article here.

And for a true flashback, WCNC-TV’s footage from 1988, as the Hornets unveil their new uniforms with then-owner George Shinn, star forward Kelly Tripucka and designer Julian on stage together.

THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY CONVEY HOW HYPED “PESO” WILL GET YOU IS BY TYPING IN CAPS-F*CKIN-LOCK. SERIOUSLY. YOU MUST NOT HAVE A SOUL IF THIS DOESN’T MAKE YOU WANT TO KICK A DOOR.

Jokes aside, it would appear that Machine Gun Kelly has a hit with his latest cut. Thumping bass and a kinetic piano loop create the perfect kind of helter-skelter environment for MGK and pals Pusha-T and Meek Mills to spit over. If you’re looking for an alternate to coffee to start your morning, look no further. And be on the look out for MGK’s Black Flag, set to drop soon.

MGK Ft. Pusha T & Meek Mill – “Peso” (Prod. by BurdnKeyz)

Jay goes by Hov, Kanye has Yeezus now, but I’m ready to subscribe to the religion of Kevin Gates and whatever play on some type of religion that might entail. As usual, the Baton Rouge rapper’s melodic mix of rapping and singing is displayed in “Counting on You,” the latest song to spawn a visual from The Luca Brasi Story. With each subsequent video from the project, the Baton Rouge rapper moves my dream – that all 22 tracks will be given a visual – that much closer to becoming a reality.

So, LeBron James is pretty damn good or something. The Miami Heat defeated Indiana 103-102 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, King James sinking the game’s final dagger into the Pacers with an incredible game-winning layup with 2.2 seconds left on the clock. James was his typical legendary self, finishing with a stat line of 30 points (12-24 shooting), 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Just another triple-double. Nothing to see here, people.

Since LeBron’s excellence needs little more trumpeting, let’s talk about the ineptitude of Indiana’s coaching staff. Paul George (27 points, five assists, four rebounds) was playing the game of his life, hitting a game-tying three to bring everything to overtime, then drawing a foul on a three at the overtime’s conclusion. He hit all three free throws to give Indiana a 102-101 lead.

With 2.2 seconds to go, one could reasonably assume that Pacers Coach Frank Vogel would put all of his teams’ best defenders on the court. That’d be the logical thing to do, right? Right?

We don’t really know why Vogel would opt to keep great defender Roy Hibbert on the bench. Maybe he was assuming that the Heat would panic and heave a desperation three. Maybe he doubted that LeBron would be able to drive to the basket in 2.2 seconds.

But whatever the case, King James ate Indiana’s perimeter defense for breakfast, driving to the lane for a virtually uncontested, game-winning layup. Would Hibbert have changed the game had he been on the floor? Hard to say, but Indiana would have fared a hell of a lot better with their best big than without.

Whatever logic Vogel seems to have been following, at least he acknowledges the error of his ways:

MY BAD, GUYS. YOU’RE RIGHT. SHOULD’VE KEPT ONE OF MY BEST DEFENDERS IN THERE. THAT’S ON ME.

Frank Vogel owes his players a dinner or something for that one. Hopefully he can stay out of his own way come Game 2.

10 Awful Pick-Up Lines Only Rappers Can Get Away With [Guy Code]

Richard Hamilton Got A Few Pairs Of “Black Toe” Jordan Is [Complex]

In World of Wrestling, Trying to Keep It Real [NY Times]

Accidental Find Shows Vitamin C Kills Tuberculosis [AFP]

Samsung Says It’s Ok To Stalk With The Galaxy S4 [Giant]

In Pictures: Curren$y Does Dallas [Chan-Lo]

Do Twitter-Friendly Song Titles Make a #Difference? [Billboard]

5 Reasons David Stern Is On Suicide Watch [The Urban Daily]

Why The Internet Was Created: Edition 5.20 [Crunktastical]

Wolf Blitzer Asked An Atheist Tornado Survivor If She Thanked The Lord [Warming Glow]

Damon Lindelof Finally Opens Up About Alice Eve’s Panties [Film Drunk]

Enough Already With The Manti Te’o Jokes [With Leather]

‘TMNT’ Movie Set Pics: Well, This Does Not Look Promising [Unreality]

Bluegrass Cover of Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ Is Rather Excellent [Brobible]

Original, Vintage & Retro Sneakers, The Hypebeasts & OG’s That Love Them [TSFJ]

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