World hip-hop questions US rap

BBC NEWS : "A recent international hip-hop festival which brought together rap artists from around the world has raised the question of why non-US rap is so political - whereas mainstream American rap appears frivolous. Many of the performers at the three-day Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival in Hartford, Connecticut, were critical of the way that US rap - which is by far the best-selling - appears concerned mostly with money, drugs and sex, and has little to do with its roots in the angry political expression of groups like Public Enemy or KRS One. 'There's this negative perception of hip-hop as being a criminal artform, as being the home of the uneducated and non-thinking people,' said Nigerian MC Oke. 'When you go across the continents of the Earth, people are embracing hip-hop as the force to change and transform the world.' "They don't really want to hear about your opposition to George Bush - they'd much rather hear about what you want to do with George Bush's wife," she said."

Blaine plans underwater challenge

BBC NEWS: "Magician David Blaine has announced plans to spend seven days submerged in a water-filled container in New York. The illusionist, who spent 44 days in a glass box for a starvation stunt in London in 2003, will use lines giving nutrition and air to stay alive. After one week, he will remove his air supply and attempt to break the world record for holding breath. Blaine, 33, endured a 62-hour stint sealed in an ice block in New York's Times Square in 2003. The magician will enter an 8ft (2.5m) high water-filled sphere on 1 May and remain submerged for a week. Organisers say they want fans and well-wishers 'to visit, touch the sphere and offer words of support'"