One fan now has a piece of Hip-Hop royalty within their reach.

Have you ever been hanging out, and suddenly the dance floor got slightly “excited?” This likely could’ve happened when you heard the sounds of will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas. From songs like “Let’s Get It Started” to “My Humps,” the eclectic group has music that helps define moments and keeps the party going. However, the group’s musical prowess is not by happenstance. Arguably, much of the group’s success can be credited to its leader. Born William James Adams, Jr., the Los Angeles, CA native, has early childhood roots in music stemming from his early beginnings in the Estrada Courts housing projects. During these early times, he found inspiration from legendary Hip-Hop acts like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. In fact, the “I Like To Move It” rapper found so much inspiration from those groups that he doesn’t even have an answer for the age-old rap question: Biggie or Tupac? In a recent interview with Skillz on the Hip-Hop Confessions podcast, the Black Eyed Peas leader...

Universal Music Group is currently in a legal battle after posting a photo of Tupac. Billboard reports that the estate of the legendary Hip-Hop photographer Chi Modu is suing the music company for using one of his photos of the late rapper on its website without proper credit.

Childhood memorabilia of Tupac has been placed on the online market. Forbes reports that the rare “Haiku” is one of the late rapper’s “earliest pieces of writing ever recorded, and is the first of his manuscripts to come to market outside of his already rare personal correspondence.” On March 23, his early body of work from the age of 11-years-old went up for auction on Sotheby’s with bids looking to reach about $300,000. The sale is their second Hip-Hop themed auction, which includes collected items from late rapper Biz Markie and DJ Jazzy Jay.

In the 1970s, Hip-Hop was a safe haven for kids coming up in New York City and its boroughs — which were a much different place than they are today. Today, Hip-Hop music is a global music sound heard in nearly every corner of the world, and a pop culture phenomenon that has influenced everything from the way we talk and dress to the way we interact with each other on social media. Black and LatinX kids in New York City had a golden opportunity to create something out of the ashes of economic devastation. The “white flight” from the cities to the suburbs left rows and rows of abandoned buildings, which allowed for “street kids” to host parties with their portable “Sound Systems” in what would become thriving clubs. When the sounds of the Caribbean, Africa, and soul combined to get the party started, Hip-Hop — as it would eventually become known — was born. Today, it’s a multi- billion dollar industry that provides a better way of life for countless men and women that wouldn’t have...