1. LeETHE BIBLE OF HIP·HOP mUSIC, CULTURE &POLITICS
'BOUT iiiY iDATHSchool dutrictA pay .AtudentA for good performance.A.
WORDS_ LULAINE COMPERE
n a move to boost the academic
performance of schools with poor
performance and attendance, sev-
eral school boards are now paying
students as an incentive to do well.
Adults can also cash in. Parents and
guardians can earn $150 a month for keep-
ing a full-time job and $50 a month for
having health insurance. Families will also
receive as much as $50 per month per child
for good attendance rates, as well as $25
for attending parent-teacher conferences.
The groundbreaking idea is already
~1 • spreading. Cities with
~ ! education problems
Like Tuscon, AZ are
implementing similar
~ programs. More than
-~• 20,000 Arizona teens
~,..·4<i . dropped out of the class
, of 2006. As a result, 175
~ students from area high
schools were picked for
~ a new program where
,,1; students will get $25 a
/}fi week as an incentive to
~ stay in school. Other cit-
~~;~. ies are following suit. a
217_ETTS_12:17
T11APPEDMulti-platinum rapper T.I. arreAtedfor gun po.MeAAion.
WORDS_SIDIK FOFANA
n October 13th, federal authori-
ties arrested rap star Clifford
"T.I." Harris. The rapper was
ch a rged
w ith possession of
unregistered machine
guns and silencers,
as well as posses-
sion of firearms by a
convicted felon after
he allegedly was set
to purchase auto-
matic weapons and
silencers t hrough a
bodyguard.
The arrest came
when a bodyguard of
Harris' was arrested
after he attempted
to purchase machine
guns w ithout properly
registering them as
required by law. The
bod yguard, whose
#217_JANUARY 2008 Hip-Hop MW>ic, Culture&. Politic.&
name is yet to be released, then cooper-
ated with authorities in building a case
against Harris, a convicted felon, who the
bodyguard claimed
to be purchasing the
weapons for.
Harris was alleg-
edly caught w ith
three machine guns
and two silencers
on the day of his
arrest. His home was
also raided w here
authorities claim to
have discovered six
more guns.
After entering a
plea of innocence,
Harris was released
on a $3 million dollar
bond. Now on house
arrest until his trial,
he faces ten years
on each count. a
217_ETTS_11:17
.:gI.U
NPEACEHoW;ton pioneer Big Moe pa;,;,e;,
after heart attack.
WORDS_SIDIK FOFANA
n October 14th, 2007, recording
artist Kenneth "Big Moe" Moore
died due to complications from a
heart attack. Moore was the vic-
tim of a heart attack a week earlier and was
in a coma until his passing.
Moore was best known as one of the orig·
inal members of Houston's famed Screwed
Up Click. Big Moe loved to rap/sing about
his drink of choice: codeine laced cough
syrup. In fact his biggest hit was an ode to
the concoction entitled "Purple Stuff" from
his album Purple World. The album debuted
at #3 on Billboard's Hip-Hop/R&Balbum chart
in 2002. While some suspect that it was this
very drink that may have played a role in his
untimely passing, Moe himself had voiced a
desire to eventually "put down the cup" on
his song "Leave Drank Alone " from his most
recent offering, 2003's Moe Life.
Unfortunately, Moe now joins Screwed
Up Click namesake Robert " D) Screw" Davis,
Jr., who died of a heart attack in 2000 at
the age of twenty-nine. "We have to take
a realistic look at our [culture], " says Crisco
Kid, another member of Screwed Up Click. "It
may be time to put down that cup." Moore
was only thirty-three years old at the time
of his death. a