Tag Archives: New York City

14Aug/23

Hip-hop at 50: how the sights, sounds and moves of the music spread across the world

August 14, 2023MusicAdam de Paor-Evans, African-American culture, Afrika Bambaataa, Break, Chuck D, Cindy, Creative Commons, Disc jockey, Disco, DJ Kool Herc, DJ Mean Gene, Electronic dance music, Grandmaster Flash, GrandWizzard Theodore, HERC, Hip hop, Hip hop production, Kendrick Lamar, Kool Herc, Kurtis Blow, Louis Farrakhan, M.C. G.L.O.B.E., Malcolm McLaren, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Melle Mel, New York, New York City, Rapping, Sedgwick Avenue, Street dance, Sugarhill Gang, Tim III, Travis Scott, United States, Worms Aliadmin

Adam de Paor-Evans, University of Plymouth

On August 11 1973, DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy threw the now legendary Back To School jam in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgewick Avenue in The Bronx, New York.

Herc’s party represented a coming together of music and the start of something new. The Bronx crowd did not want the dancehall sounds Herc had begun to play. They wanted soul and the tough percussion of funk. So, Herc changed up the sound and used the main switch for the lights like a strobe-light to add atmosphere. Little did they know, that his event would be commonly accepted by the hip-hop fraternity worldwide as the starting point of what was to become one of the most important creative movements of the last century.

Continue reading →

26Jul/23

São Paulo fights facial recognition

July 26, 2023SecurityAmazon, Automatic identification and data capture, Brazil, Closed-circuit television, Facial recognition system, Folha de S.Paulo, Grupo Folha, New York City, Ring, Sampa, São Paulo, Smart Sampa, Surveillance, United States, Video surveillanceadmin

By Diana Baptista | Data Journalist

Digital rights groups in Brazil protested against Smart Sampa, a government program seeking to install 20,000 security cameras with facial recognition technology in São Paulo by 2024.

Using drones, the groups projected slogans like “No More Invasive Surveillance” and “Respect our Rights” on building walls. Continue reading →

27Jun/23

Is zambia under Hakainde Hichilema ready or even able to handle the influx of global investments?

June 27, 2023PoliticsEconomy of Zambia, New York City, United States, Zambiaadmin

June 27, 2023 /Politics/ — Spin City was a satirical television show about a fictional New York City mayor who relied on an inept and dysfunctional cult following. The show ran for six seasons from 1996 to 2002 and was a critical and commercial success.

There are a few lessons that Zambians can learn from Spin City: Continue reading →

26Jun/23

UK Choir Libera to Tour U.S.

June 26, 2023MusicD.C., Japan, Libera, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, United States, Washington, Washington, D.C.admin

The internationally known Libera choir from London will be touring the United States this summer, going coast-to-coast performing in Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The group recently toured of Korea and will be touring Japan in the fall. Continue reading

30May/23

London is the capital of the world

May 30, 2023TravelAfrican-American people, Beyoncé, Businesspeople, Capitals in Europe, Caput Mundi, Financial centre, Glastonbury, Greater London, London, Musicians, New York City, Southern England, Tokyoadmin

May 30, 2023 /Lifestyle/ — Whether or not London is the capital of the world is a matter of opinion, but there is no doubt that it is a city with a lot to offer. It is a major financial center, a cultural hub, and a popular tourist destination. In the summer of 2023, London will host a number of world-class events, including the FA Cup Final, Beyoncé’s live tour, and Glastonbury Festival. These events will only add to London’s already vibrant atmosphere. Continue reading →

05May/23

Turbo played with a broom in a dance, how epic is that?

May 5, 2023MusicAdolfo, African-American dance, Bobby Brown, Breakdancing, Breakin', English-language films, Entertainers, Films, Jeffrey Daniel, Lucinda Dickey, Michael Chambers, Michael Jackson, Milo, Moonwalk, Musicians, New York City, Ollie Jerry, Sam McMurray, Shabba Doo, Street dance, Toni Basiladmin

There is no definitive answer to the question of who taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk. Jeffrey Daniel, a member of the R&B group Shalamar, claims to have taught Jackson the move in 1982. However, Jackson himself has said that he learned the moonwalk from several different people, including Daniel, Bobby Brown, and Turbo from the movie “Breakin’.” Continue reading →

05May/23

What is going on with Ed Sheeran?

May 5, 2023LegalAlbums, Copyright, Copyright infringement, Copyright law of the United States, Ed Sheeran, File sharing, Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye, Musicians, New York City, Songs, Thinking Out Loud, Xadmin

Ed Sheeran has won a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the family of Marvin Gaye. The lawsuit alleged that Sheeran’s 2014 hit song “Thinking Out Loud” copied elements of Gaye’s 1973 song “Let’s Get It On.”

A jury in New York City deliberated for about three hours before finding Sheeran not liable for copyright infringement. Sheeran testified during the trial that he did not copy Gaye’s song and that any similarities between the two songs were coincidental. Continue reading →

25Apr/23

Harry Belafonte has died at 96.

April 25, 2023EntertainmentCalypso, Carmen Jones, Day-O, Entertainers, Harry Belafonte, Jamaica Farewell, Martin, Martin Luther King Jr, Musicians, New York City, Sidney Poitier, Songs, World music musiciansadmin

April 25, 2023 /Entertainment/ — Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and activist. He was born in New York City on March 1, 1927, and died on April 25, 2023. He was one of the most successful Caribbean-American pop stars, and he popularized the Trinbagonian Calypso musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist. Continue reading →

16Apr/23

Practical examples of combining Search Results with the Power of NLP (Natural Language Processing) and Semantic Knowledge

April 16, 2023InnovationAcademic disciplines, Alexa, Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Artificial intelligence, Computational linguistics, Computational science, History of chatbots, Natural language processing, Neuro-linguistic programming, New York City, Science software, Siri, Speech recognitionadmin

April 16, 2023 /Technology/ — We’ve all had that frustrating experience of trying to search for something and not finding the results we are after. By building systems that leverage NLP, we can infuse our systems with semantic knowledge and minimize this frustration for end users of our systems.
Free-text search can be limiting, requiring us to search using the exact set of keywords that have been indexed. To go beyond simple text matching requires an understanding of both the search intent and the semantic meaning of the words being searched.

Here are a few practical examples of combining search results with the power of NLP and semantic knowledge: Continue reading →

28Dec/22

#buyblackart – Harlem Fine Arts Show Announces 15th Anniversary

December 28, 2022ArtAfrican diaspora, New York City, Slavery in South Americaadmin

Harlem Fine Arts Show (HFAS) will celebrate their 15th year of being the largest traveling arts show featuring Artists from the African Diaspora. This show will feature up to 100 artists of African, Caribbean, and Black descent over a monumental three-day cultural experience and festival at the end of Black History Month, 2023, in New York City. Continue reading