Weekly World News: Mobb Deep, Singapore, Hip-Hop Sweeps New Zealand

Queens duo Mobb Deep are set to tour in the UK with renowned DJ/producer Alchemist from January 31 February 2, 2005. Havoc and Prodigy will perform songs off their latest album Amerikaz Nightmare as well as classics from Murda Muzik and The Infamous. Following their sold out July concert in London, the duo and their […]

Queens duo Mobb Deep

are set to tour in the UK with renowned DJ/producer Alchemist from January 31

February 2, 2005. Havoc and Prodigy will perform songs off their latest album

Amerikaz Nightmare as well as classics from Murda Muzik and The Infamous.

Following their sold out July concert in London, the duo and their DJ The Alchemist

are prepared to take on London, performing for the first time in Manchester and

Bristol.

The Speaker’s

Corner in Hong Lim Park hosted the Singapore Hip-Hop Festival for the first

time last week. The event attracted one of the largest crowds ever, bringing

over 2,000 Hip-Hop lovers together. Local Hip-Hop acts, DJ’s, graffiti

artists and breakdancers took part in the event. "We felt the scene in

Singapore was quite matured already, and we could actually help them to go up

to another level,” said Daniel Cheok, Singapore Hip-Hop Festival organizer.

‘A lot of the times they were doing things on a platform level, which

are small scale events. With this event we can help them to grow."

New Zealand youngsters

have apparently caught on to the Health Ministry’s national "No Rubba,

No Hubba Hubba" campaign, which uses A Hip-Hop song to promote decreasing

high rates of sexually transmitted diseases amongst teens. "The image just

suits them and they relate to it really well," said Whangarei Family Planning

Association Sexuality and Relationships educator Wendy Baker. She added that

the campaign created "healthy dialogue" on safe sex amongst teenagers,

who sing the memorable campaign song with friends and at social events. "I’d

absolutely put my life on it that the message [to wear condoms] is getting across."

"Hubba Joe" serves as the spokesman/emcee for the television and radio

campaigns, which feature him at a party rapping about the importance of wearing

condoms. The ministry organized the $2.2 million campaign to target Maori and

Pacific teens between 15 and 19, who reportedly have the highest rate of sexually

transmitted diseases in New Zealand.

In related news,

New Zealand researchers have found that a local Hip-Hop slang common amongst

most New Zealand rappers is infiltrating conversations between Hip-Hop fans,

according to a university study. Radio and television have reportedly embraced

the Hip-Hop accents, which combine American and Maori vernacular, to attract

a younger audience. One reported instance of Hip-Hop lingo in local speech was

the use of "d" instead of "th" in words like "this".

"It’s not necessarily faking the American accent. It’s absorbing it, emulating

and re-using it," said Otis Frizzell, a veteran rapper, TV and radio host

and commercial voice actor who has been criticized in New Zealand for faking

an accent. "There is an American aspect to rappers’ voices, but it’s an

assimilated musical form," Frizzell continued. Telecom’s Boost Mobile cell

phone brand has reportedly increased its customer base by 400% this year since

using Auckland rapper Marek’s

American-inflected tones in commercials.