Nice and Smooth

NYC's series of free ”It's Time for Hip Hop in NYC” shows began on Monday at Orchard Beach in The Bronx with Busy Bee, Furious 5 featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel and Scorpio, Kid Capri, Nice & Smooth, Kool Moe Dee, and more.

’Yo! MTV Raps’ is being reinvented for " for a new generation" and the 30th anniversary show at Barclays on June 1 includes Big Daddy Kane, Eric B & Rakim, Doug E. Fresh, KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions, EPMD, Brand Nubian, Young Black Teenagers, and many more.

There's also the Duck Down BBQ, Talib Kweli/OSHUN, EPMD, Jungle Brothers, Pete Rock & The Soul Brothers, a 'Wild Style' 35th anniversary, and more.

Also: McCoy Tyner, Indigo Girls, Mbongwana Star, the Rock Steady Crew anniversary, La Femme, KING, Orlando Julius, Rodrigo Amarante, Boogarins, GoldLink, and still many more.

Also: Neon Indian, psychedelic soul legends Cymande with KING, DJ Kool Herc, the annual Duck Down BBQ, Kamasi Washington, Blonde Redhead, Chairlift, Just Blaze and many more.

The energy and atmosphere was so Hip-Hop in every way! The crowd roared as the legends of the game hit the stage. A top memorable moment of the event was the LOX reunion...

Rakim @ Rock the Bells 2010 (more by Brook Bobbins) Talib Kweli is not the only hip hop great scheduled to play a free NYC show as part of Summerstage this summer...

"Three years away from the rap game is a potentially career killing lifetime for most rappers. For Prodigy, one half of the legendary New York mainstays Mobb Deep, the time off from rap has not been entirely fruitless as he's been officialy released from Mid-State Correctional Facility after serving a three-year prison stint...

In the Stretch & Bobbito world, mainstream was a four-letter word. ...For the eight years it ran, from 1 to 5 in the early hours of Friday morning, "The Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito Show" gave early exposure to artists like Jay-Z, Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan, who eventually went on to mainstream stardom...

"Wht a fckin day! Was a 90s hipHop reunion backstge DAMN! Nice & smooth, dela soul, group home, primo, pete rck& cl smooth, large prof, craig g" -MastaAce "Damn Pete Rock and CL Smooth rockin under the Brooklyn Bridge...