Quick News on Remy Ma, Q-Tip and the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Remy Ma will release an independent album on Sure Shot Records this summer entitled The BX Files. The LP will feature 13 new songs and guest appearances from Papoose, Murda Mook, T-Rex, Jae Millz and Maino. The Heatmakerz and Ron Browz will provide the production. “Remy is an incredibly talented MC who can battle anybody, male or female,” says Chris Landry, CEO of Sure Shot Recordings. “She continues to carry the legacy of her protégé Big Pun and we are excited about releasing one of the best female MCs in the game.” The BX Files will be released on August 28.

A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-tip is set to participate in the 2nd Annual "Jazz in the Hip Hop Generation" Symposium at the Hampton Jazz Festival this weekend. The rapper will participate in a panel discussion covering a range of topics including, the intimate relationship between jazz and hip hop music, the tools necessary to sample music, legal ramifications for sampling without permission and the importance of collaborations between the two genres. The Festival, which takes place on the campus of Hampton University in Virginia, is organized by the The World Famous Lessons in Jazz Series. The Symposium itself will be held in Hampton’s Ogden Hall and begins at 2:00 on June 23 and is free to students and $10.00 for the general public.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is introducing a new hip-hop related summer program. According to The Capital Times, the UW’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives is organizing with Urban World NYC and the Hip-Hop Association to teach spoken word and hip-hop in the classroom. The program, which is called the Spoken Word and Hip-Hop Teacher and Community Leader Training Institute, will run from Next Monday to Friday. It’s a three-credit course that teaches the history and culture of hip-hop and spoken word. “It’s the number one curriculum-instruction program in the United States,” Willie Ney, director of OMAI, tells The Capital Times. “What we’re doing is tapping into something that’s already organically tied to the youth culture in the world. If you don’t teach in a way that’s dynamic and interactive, you are going to lose these kids.”