Hip-Hop Inaugural Events Start TONIGHT (1/14/09)…Ludicras Co-Hosting “Urban Ball”

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Hey, guess what’s starting today??  The first of a week-long series of HIP-HOP Inaugural events!

I happened to get onto this when I visited The Black Agenda Report, saw a graphic and clicked on it.

As it turns out, there are at least TWO hip-hop groups running events.  Tonight, January 14, the “Hip-Hop Caucus…Politics for a New Generation” holds its “kick-off” party.

By Saturday (January 17), the schedule begins to rev up as the Congressional Black Caucus gets involved in a “roundtable” discussion of hip-hop and politics; that evening, Mary J. Blige is featured in a nighttime event.

Hip Hop & Politics Roundtable

Return soon more information, or sign up here for Inauguration updates.  The Source Mind Squad, Chuck D, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. and Members of the Congressional Black Caucus
Time: 1pm-4pm

Venue: TBD

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Then on the 19th there’s an event to honor MLK  being held in partnership with the Presidential Inaugural Committee….

Mon. Jan 19th

National Day of Service in Honor of Dr. King

In partnership with the Presidential Inaugural Committee the Hip Hop Caucus will organize community service efforts nationally and in Washington, DC.
Return soon more information, or sign up here for Inauguration updates.

There’s also a pricey “scholars” party being held during the week titled “Dreams from My Father” after Obama’s bio mostly made-up life story:

Sun. Jan 18th

“Dreams from My Father” American Scholars Inaugural Ball @ The “5 Diamond” Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown

Hosted By the National Intellectual Property Institute, the Hip Hop Caucus, Dave & Ray Ent., with The Source Magazine Time: 8pm – 2am Cost: Doctorate Level – $550 ($1000 for Couples) | Graduate Level – $350 ($600 for Couples) | Bachelor Level – Student Discounts Available (visit www.americanscholarsball.org) Venue Address: 2800 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20007

Then there’s THIS action being held by another Hip-Hop organization: the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball.

The event has big name sponsors, Heineken and Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. HSAN’s mission statement:

Mission Statement:

Founded in 2001, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) is dedicated to harnessing the cultural relevance of Hip-Hop music to serve as a catalyst for education advocacy and other societal concerns fundamental to the empowerment of youth. HSAN is a non-profit, non-partisan national coalition of Hip-Hop artists, entertainment industry leaders, education advocates, civil rights proponents, and youth leaders united in the belief that Hip-Hop is an enormously influential agent for social change which must be responsibly and proactively utilized to fight the war on poverty and injustice.

(“Social change”–like we’ve seen in Ludacris’ enlightened view of women??)

This event has big ticket prices, too…The “cheap” seats at $250 are sold out, but tickets at $500, $1000 General) , and $2500 (VIP) are still available!!!  ( I guess the VIPs get to drink more…)

CELEBRATING THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA…

(If you can’t see it, the banner reads: ” And the Hip-Hop Community for Inspiring the Transformation of America“)

Now, you might be wondering if Ludacris will be showing up! Oh, yeah, he’ll be in D.C.  Back in December the plans were set to have 2 American Music Inaugural Balls: one will be hosted by Dionne Warwicke (the one for the older crowd) and the other will feature our FAVORITE hip-hopper Ludacris along with OutKast’s Big Boi. From MTV:

On January 20, D.C.’s Marriott Wardman Park Hotel will hold two American Music events. Luda and Big Boi will co-host the Urban Ball, which is reportedly slated to include appearances from David Banner, Bobby Valentino, Lil Jon, T-Pain, Cedric the Entertainer, the Cheetah Girls, Fantasia and Monica. A number of former NBA players will also reportedly be on hand, including Jalen Rose, Kenny Smith and Alonzo Mourning. Tickets for the ball will run you $350. Spokespeople for Luda and Big Boi could not be reached for comment at press time.

The lineup for the Legends Ball, co-hosted by Dionne Warwick and Yolanda Adams, is slated to feature appearances by Chaka Khan, George Clinton, Kirk Franklin, Harold Melvin & Blue Notes, the Temptations with Dennis Edwards, Isaiah Washington and Reggie Miller. Tickets for this event will cost $450.

Here are our guys!!

Big Boi (L) and Ludacris (R)

MTV will be hosting its own ball…

One thing is for sure: MTV will be hosting its own “Be the Change Inaugural Ball,” co-hosted by ServiceNation, to celebrate the massive youth-voter turnout in this year’s presidential election.

I’m getting chills all over, aren’t you?  Somehow, I’m getting the feeling that all this is ONE aspect of the Obama-JFK “connection” made by Caroline Kennedy that is not quite on a par with what Jackie-O would have signed on for.  Ain’t no Pablo Casals in sight…

And what about all those poorer Obama supporters who can’t cough up all the money and/or don’t have “black tie”?  Well, there will be plenty of bars  open, of course. Although the original plan to let bars stay open for extended hours has been scaled back by one hour, there’s a lot of apprehension  about law enforcement personnel being stretched too thin.    You have to wonder if we’re going to see the scary stuff we saw on election night in Philly(see video of Election Night in Philly here).

From the Washington Post:

Inaugural ‘Last Call’ Moved Up

David Nakamura

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 17, 2008; Page B01

D.C. bars and nightclubs will be allowed to serve alcohol until 4 a.m., not 5 a.m., during inauguration week after the D.C. Council voted last night to modestly scale back the emergency legislation it approved two weeks ago.

Under the revised rules, nightlife establishments will still be allowed to remain open for food service round-the-clock from Jan. 17 to 21.

(SNIP)

Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, an ecumenical association, said his members strongly oppose allowing nightlife establishments to stay open later than normal.

Pointing to recent violence in Adams Morgan, Lynch said: “It just doesn’t make sense, given the situation we’re currently facing. There is a lack adequate police currently, and add to that the overwhelming nature of duties they’re going to face during the inaugural.”

If anything happens in the street on January 20, I doubt you’ll see it.  The “news” organizations are already drunk on Obama and won’t be paying attention to anything that might spoil THEIR ratings party…

In Kenya, Struggle for Parliament is Happening Now–Odinga’s Party Issues Warning (Sounds Like Cousin Obama)

UPDATE, 5 pm MDT: The election seems to be on NEXT Wednesday, June 18. The writing in some of these stories from the foreign press is sometimes difficult to follow. I happened to come across a story from The Daily Nation in Kenya, dated June 11, which says the ballots are safely “sleeping” in the voting districts while awaiting the election. So, from that, I gather that the election will be NEXT Wednesday! Sorry for the confusion! I’ll keep track of developments over the next week…and especially those “sleeping” ballots!

NOTE: The election DID happen on June 11. See later posts on the results. GRL)

Five seats in Parliament are up for grabs in Kenya’s by-elections being held today (Wednesday, June 11. As reported by Afrol News:

KENYA SET FOR CRUCIAL BY-ELECTIONS

afrol News, 10 June – Kenyans will once again return to the polls on Wednesday to elect five members of parliament in what has been dubbed crucial by-elections.

The elections will allow the Grand Coalition partners – Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Party of National Unity (PNU) – to battle control over parliament.

Bi-elections will also be held in 52 civic awards whose results had been challenged. The deadline for all political campaigns expired on Monday.

A dispute over Kenya’s presidential election results in December soon snowballed into “ethnic cleansing” that claimed several lives, including two elected MPs in Embakasi and Ainamoi, Melitus Were and David Too. Both MPs were shot dead at the height of the political violence.

Due to the violence that claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced tens of thousands, results of some constituencies could not be announced.

The upcoming elections have already taken tribal connotation, with some tribes rejecting nominated candidates in areas they considered their ancestral land. For instance, the nomination of ODM’s Jonathan Ngéno, who hailed from the Kipsigis community, had forced the Maasais to rally behind the PNU sponsored candidate, Gideon Konchella.

The ugly scenario is a complete deviation from Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s belief that “I want to see a Kenya where people are not judged on their tribal affiliations but on the content of their character.”