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If you don’t know, maybe you should track down the album… KRS-One & Marley Marl “Hip Hop Lives”

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Thankfully though, some of our favorite artists are still creating them. And they’re doing so with a message attached more times than not. Whether the music video goes hand-in-hand with the song itself, or brings a new perspective to the viewer, the cinematic quality of videos old and new should be celebrated for the masterpieces they are. And you best believe we’ll be celebrating our favorites, from all genres, from here on out…

• Eminem – “3 A.M.” – Maybe its the initial shock of it, but this is mad impressive. I was absolutely uniterested in Eminem’s comeback album and after hearing this song previously I was like “eh..” But this video is dope as fuck. The imagery is so incredible that I just had to keep playing it over and over after I first saw it. – Dank Lucas

• Ice Cube – “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” – Seeing the kids being brainwashed (and the distributing of blame) in the classroom is not very different from the way we grew up ourselves. The history books, the churches, the ideals our parents passed down as the “right way” to live our lives, should all be subject to questioning should some confusion arise. Cube’s lyrics and the familiar images in this video are powerful. – J.C.

• El-P – “Deep Space 9mm” – I never enjoyed NYC as much as I do when it’s portrayed in rap videos. Whether it’s the neighborhood of angry looking ruff-ryders popping wheelies on ATV’s, or the less than glamorous everyday feel of this video… this is as independent as the music itself.  So low-budget you say to yourself “I could’ve done better,” but guess what? You aren’t creative or cool enough, so you didn’t. – TimS

• Madvillain – “All Caps” – Hip Hop and Comic books. Need I say more? – TimS

• KRS-One and Marley Marl – “Hip Hop Lives” – Back when Nas declared “Hip Hop Is Dead” there were too many people that misunderstood what he was trying to say, which was that the Johnny-come-lately-on-the-radio garbage won’t stand the test of time. Since then former adversaries KRS-One and Marly Marl joined forces a few years back to create a criminally overlooked album that spawned this old school video, to help remind the young heads what it means to last forever. – J.C.

• Nas – “Be a Nigger Too” – This is the reason i fell in love with hip hop… uncensored expression, fly shit, and the denouncement of hate. Plus we get the sick spoken piece at the beginning! Nasty Nas at his finest. Oh yeah, and Rik Cordero owns music videos right now like Lebron’s gonna own the Magic next round! (Sorry Hawks and Celtics fans.) – Dank Lucas

If you haven’t already seen this documentary on Big Daddy Kane via Okayplayer then today is your lucky day. Anthony Marshall follows the living legend over 17 minutes on video during BDK’s return to his Brooklyn neighborhood, where he provides some insights along the way as part of the Scion Easy 10 series.

Over the course of 10 minutes there are 34 old school hip-hop tracks mixed together by DJ McCoy using Serato Scratch Live. Among the offerings are songs from Boogie Down Productions, NWA, LL Cool J, Marley Marl, Eric B and Rakim, as well as many more from the early 1990′s.

Ever heard of Run-DMC (and Jam Master Jay)? I thought so. Respect your forefathers. Eminem did.

Run-DMC followed Grand Master Flash into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a month ago when they were inducted at a ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio. Todd Williams at Rolling Out did a pretty damn good job of capturing their story.

Tear down boundaries. That’s what the Tow Away Zone does every Wednesday morning from 10 am-12 noon in the basement of 91.5 FM (www.WPRKDJ.org) at the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, FL. As 2009 approaches and the one-year anniversary of the show nears, host J. Charles sheds light on the past 11 months…

Why Call It Tow Away Zone? – On Jan. 28, 2008, without a name for my new radio show, I drove in circles around Rollins College in search of a place to park. Running behind schedule (as usual), I made a questionable decision to park alongside a curb that appeared to be out of harms way. Security tried to send me a warning via cell phone. I figured it was about 43 minutes into the show when it happened. I made my way out to the parking lot afterwards to find my car was gone. A $20 cab ride and $100 to get my bucket from the tow yard and I was back in the driver seat once again. So became the name of the show.

Backbone Each Week - Instrumentals and Interludes have been a staple since the show began. For the sake of keeping that element of surprise somewhat intact I offer only the minds behind those sounds (in no particular order)… Wax Tailor, Blockhead, The Budos Band, Omega One, J Dilla, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Jel, RJD2, DJ Shadow.

Most Called Upon, Most Requested – (In no particular order) – Johnny Cash “The Time of the Preacher”; Kid Beyond “I Shall Be Free”; Azeem “Bush Is A Gangsta”; DJ Revelution (w/ Iriscience) “The Revolution”; Spoon “The Underdog”; Murs “Everything”; Bob Marley “Mr. Brown (DJ Spooky remix)”; Mr. Dibbs “Blind Loyalty”; Menomena “Weird”; Flowers Forever “American Dream”; Why? “These Few Presidents”; Q-tip “Shaka”; Black Sabbath “Who Are You”; El-P (w/ Suzanne Venzina) “Constellation (remix)”; South “Wasted”; The Foreign Exchange “Daykeeper”; Tim Fite “All I Need”; Psycho Realm And Street Platoon “The Beginning”; Brother Ali “Here”; Skillz “Pastor Skillz”; Skillz (w/ Common, Talib Kweili) ”So Far So Good (remix)”; Coldplay “Lost”; Radiohead “All I need”; Elbow “Grounds For Divorce”; Vast Aire “Shu (The God of Aire)”; Blur “Brothers and Sisters”; Saul Williams (w/ Zach De La Rocha) “Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare)”; Baba “Xperience”; Devotchka “Along The Way”; The Helio Sequence “Halleluhah”.

The Usual Suspects – Along with those bands mentioned above were the likes of (once again, in no particular order)… Beck, The Flaming Lips, Atmosphere, Clinic, John Lennon, The Roots, Mos Def, Ghostface Killah, Digital Underground, Rakim, Nas, Cee-Lo, Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Iggy Pop, Buck 65, Jean Grae, The Beastie Boys, J-live, Jane’s Addiction, Erykah Badu, Modest Mouse, The Beatles, Big Daddy Kane, The Toadies, James Brown, KRS-ONE, MF Doom, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Parliament, Gil Scott-Heron, Presto, Gorillaz, RZA, Shape Of Broad Minds, The Black Keys, Shortstack, Nine Inch Nails, Glue, Gang Starr, Slick Rick, Sage Francis, Lupe Fiasco, Morphine, P.O.S., Primus, David Bowie.

Local Orlando/Florida Connection – On average there have been two songs with local flavor played each week by the likes of Solillaquists Of Sound, X:144 And SPS, DJ Kittybat, Sincere Vega, The Black Hammock Band, All Good Funk Alliance, Kap, Alias The @ikt.

Can’t Forget Back Home – In an effort to never forget where I came from there have been a smaller number of additions to the playlist… AMC “Dun Dun Dunno”; Ryan Weaver “We Dream Tomorrow” and “Long Long Long”; Flux “River Dog”; Vic Freeze “Senora”.

By no means does this cover the whole gamut but it does provide some insight into what the show has evolved into. Tune in to find out where it goes from here.