J.PERIOD recently dropped Rage is Back, a mixtape inspired by bestselling author Adam Mansbach’s novel of the same title. You might recall that the two took part in a PopRally event last month about narrative constructions and its connection to graffiti. Rage Is Back, J.Period’s hip-hop storybook, features rhymes from the Root’s Black Thought, Common, the Kid Daytona, Blu, Homeboy Sandman, and Shad–among others.
Check out Jon Naar‘s latest interview with State of the Arts about his exhibition at the New Jersey State Museum, which is currently on view through May 5, 2013. Like fellow photojournalists Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper, Naar, 92, is credited for helping to document New York’s street art movement of the ’70s. His 1973 book, The Faith of Graffiti, features some of those images. 
The Gagosian Gallery will be presenting the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat starting Feb.7.
“theothr.knxwusp[TWRK]” is a new track off the ever so prolific beatmaker knxwledge’s new tape Hexual.Sealings.Pt.4.b-side.
If the cover art of Da Rocinha isn’t revealing enough, here’s some background info that might suffice: Sango‘s experimental project Da Rocinha refers to the largest favela or slum in Rio De Janeiro.
On Da Rocinha, Sango submerges the listener into Rio’s baile funk or “funk caricoa”music—but his gritty hip-hop beats can’t help but steal some of the spotlight. If you’re craving for some more addictive loops, there’s also a solid set of outtakes and remixes that somehow didn’t make the cut.
Los Angeles Graffiti artist/painter Saber sits down with Thrash Lab for their “Profiles” series. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:
Art gets a bad rep because it’s considered something that’s elite and something that only an elite person can understand when that’s not true because every single kid in the world picked up a crayon once and had that little spark and to me that’s what’s the most important thing..that little spark. And I couldn’t have been part of that spark without the people before me and without some of the hard lessons that I learned along that road. So if you have a dream or a wish, you need to do it and you need to fight for it. And if you lose doing it, at least you tried.
The Beauty In The Dark 