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Public Enemy producer/co-founder Hank Shocklee has crafted the score for "YE! A Jagun Story," the new film from Nigerian-American director John Oluwole Adekoje. Using cutting-edge spatial, surround sound technology from Dolby Atmos, Shocklee provides an immersive experience from the film's start to end. In additional to the score, he also curated the film’s soundtrack, which features emerging Pan-African artists from the U.S, Nigeria and South Africa. 

Starring Dakore Akande and longtime DJ for "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Tony Okungbowa, "YE!" is the origin story of Stellar, the future leader of the Ajumose, a covert, celestial league of brilliant women who use ancestral memory to reconstruct the colonized minds of Black people throughout the diaspora. 

The lead singl

Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner is calling on the Hip Hop community to "step up" in the wake of Takeoff's senseless murder. The Migos rapper was fatally shot at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston on Tuesday (November 1) around 2:34 a.m. local time following some kind of argument. Finner held a press conference later that afternoon and said he'd spoken to Takeoff's mother who'd flown in from Atlanta. 

"Every brother and sister in the neighborhoods, I’m calling you to action to step up,” Finner said. “There was 40 people at least at this event and people left possibly out of fear. I ask you one thing and want this to resonate with everybody, what if it was your brother or your son? You would want somebody to step up, so please step up and get the in

Atlanta-based DJ/producer Sol Messiah released his debut album "GOD CMPLX" (Rhymesayers Entertainment) on September 30 with a roster of notable names, including longtime collaborator/partner Sa-Roc, KXNG Crooked, Atmosphere's Slug, Aesop Rock and dead prez MC stic.man. 

In support of the project, Sol Messiah has just dropped a new video for the track "“Grand” featuring Da BackWudz. Directed by Tommy Nova, the visual is a straightforward affair, with Sol Messiah and his associates kicking back at the studio while they reflect on their blessings. 

Sol Messiah and Sa-Roc kick off The Mother Tongue Tour on November 9 at The Pour House in Raleigh, North Carolina, then head to Europe to finish out the year. Watch the "Grand" video below and keep scrolling for tour dates.

Migos rapper Takeoff was shot and killed during a private party in Houston early Tuesday morning (November 1), bringing the rap community to its collective knees. His death arrives less than two months after PnB Rock's shocking murder at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in Los Angeles and nearly a year after Young Dolph was fatally shot at Madeka's Homemade Cookies in his hometown of Memphis. Takeoff's killing once again shines a light on the seemingly never-ending string of violent deaths. 

Of course, social media has exploded with reactions to Takeoff's murder. The D.O.C. shared his thoughts on Twitter with a post that read, "Gotta stop killing ourselves. Gotta stop this shit. We wasting all that money and power on nothing. Need a new woke that says we not doing it. Gotta sta