The homie Tunji just dropped a new video for his group Inverse, which appears on his So Far EP that they dropped earlier this year. Go cop that. The video is also up for MTVu’s Freshmen contest, so if you’re feeling it, go vote. You can vote as many times as you like, so vote like 7000 times. Word.

Tash from one of my favorite westcoast rap groups of all time, Tha Alkaholiks, drops the first video of his solo album, Control Freak. Coincidentally, it’s in stores today. Shout out to Todd A. on the video direct. You can’t really front on bikinis and water balloon fights.

Mondays are all about the ladies here at Hip Hop Official. Today, in honor of MJ, I offer up one of my favorite Janet jams of all time. Perfect Monday morning music. Thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Jackson family.

Pretty fresh animation.

Featuring Harvey Keitel, LeBron James, and explosions. I can’t get over how banging this track is. No I.D., you’re a fool for that one.

Styles P and Sheek Louch kill it at the 2009 BK Hip Hop Festival. if you missed it, keep in tune with HHO for video clips and wrap ups. We stay in the mix.

Ann Arbor’s Buff1 links with DJ Rhettmatic of the World Famous Beat Junkies to form Crown Royale. The duo fell through the studio to debut one of the new bangers from their upcoming collaboration project exclusively for Hip Hop Official. This shit knocks. Contagious as fuck. Word.

There’s no denying Michael Jackson’s impact on music. He influenced so many musicians across so many genres, it’s hard to even quantify his impact. So I wanted highlight some of the greatest hip hop songs that took inspiration from the King of Pop, by sampling his music. There are some CLASSIC hip hop songs in here. Here they are, in no particular order:

 

Nas - “It Ain’t Hard To Tell”
SAMPLE: Michael Jackson - “Human Nature”

De La Soul - “Breakadawn”
SAMPLE: Michael Jackson - “I Can’t Help It”

 

Naughty By Nature - “O.P.P.”
SAMPLE: Jackson 5 - “ABC”

Ghostface (ft. Mary J. Blige) - “All That I Got Is You”
SAMPLE: Jackson 5 - “Maybe Tomorrow”

Q-Tip - “Move”
SAMPLE: Jackson 5 - “Dancing Machine”

Kanye West - “Good Life”
SAMPLE: Michael Jackson - P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

Jay-Z - “IZZO” (Hova)
SAMPLE: Jackson 5 - “I Want You”

Bawse.

This is very cool. On Father’s Day, Nike, the LA84 Foundation and the City of Los Angeles joined forces with Nike pro-skater Paul Rodriquez junior to open up his very own skateboard park. And it all went down on “Go Skateboarding Day.” P-Rod’s father, comedian Paul Rodriquez Sr. was on hand to emcee the day’s festivities. All you skaters go out there and get your grind on a the new park, located at Ritchie Valens Recreation Center in Pacoima.

Constructed in an area of Los Angeles near where Paul Rodriguez grew up, this new skate park’s design pushes current standards by recreating famous Southern California skate spots and incorporating them into the natural fabric of the park. This skate park has no fences or traditional skate park elements, just natural, skate-able architecture as skaters would find in any neighborhood.

“I wish I was 15 again so that I could grow up with such amazing terrain nearby,” said Rodriguez, Jr. “If you wanted to, you could film here—there is no difference between this park and a real spot. For example, the ditch at the end of the path is a re-creation of the Griffith Park run-off ditch, and the blue handrails in the plaza are replicas of the nearby Sylmar rails that are no longer skate-able.”

The park’s inauguration coincides with Go Skateboarding Day and is part of a partnership and commitment between Nike and the LA84 Foundation to build and/or refurbish sports surfaces throughout Los Angeles to benefit young sports enthusiasts in Los Angeles. The new play surfaces will help rejuvenate the community by creating spaces for the youth of L.A. to play so they can be healthy and live active lives.