WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

King Louie, a rising star of Chicago rap, talks about his upcoming CD, Dope & Shrimp.

From the very beginning, the members of Chicago hip hop group BBU have been passionate activists: both in community organizing and in their music. Combining danceable beats with social commentary, the group has been generating buzz in underground circles and dance clubs alike.

Vell Mullens and Rich Harris met up and started jamming on Chicago's South Side in 1989.Inspired by rock and grunge of the era, the two formed The Moses Gun in 1995 - a rock group with heavy guitars, thick bass lines and poignant lyrics.

It's been a while since Chicago rapper Psalm One's acclaimed Rhymesayers Entertainment debut, The Death of Frequent Flyer — "My record label wants The Miseducation of Psalm One, and we're going to make it for them," she says —  but in the meantime there's been no shortage

With Pitchfork this weekend, a lot of the attention has been been on shock rappers Odd Future performing, but Das Racist is the fest's rap group that would be on my must-see list (they perform tonight at 6:30 p.m.) if I didn't have to spend the evening saying, "No, you can't have/do that" to my

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco grew up in rough neighborhoods in and around Chicago, where crack addicts would pass out on his front stoop. But, while his friends were drifting in and out of jail, he joined the chess club and the academic decathlon at high school.