Can anyone openly state that America’s relationship with Turkey matters more than its relationship with Israel without being labeled, ‘Anti-Semitic’?

With all due respect to the conspiracy theorists and groupies on one hand, and the established Hip-Hop and mainstream media on the other – in 2010, anyone’s analysis or critique of Jay-Z’s career has little credibility with me if it does not factor in the role that John Meneilly – his business manager and adviser has played in it. It is actually a supreme compliment to Jay-Z and John Meneilly and a discredit to the journalism profession that the most talked about celebrity in the history of the Hip-Hop culture and industry has the least talked about business manager.

(Cedricmuhammad.com) This week’s issue edition of the Africa PreBrief economic newsletter looks at South Africa’s publicly traded MTN Group; the business monopolies of Tunisia and Cameroon; the continued political stuttered steps of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai; and our suspicions of the excitement over ‘economic growth’ as measured in West Africa. In ‘Markets and Movements’ [...]

Keeping those 5 ways in which we all learn in mind and are taught, I believe that while many others may have more overtly conscious or political content than Jay-Z none express it lyrically in more diverse, articulate, subtle, or penetrating ways.

The perplexed, incredulous, hyper-sensitive and even defensive reaction of many to the frank admission and insight of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed yesterday in London, regarding Turkey, highlights the enormous dilemma the West now faces in figuring out how to handle the nation-state that has rapidly, perhaps overnight, become the geopolitical proxy of the entire Islamic World.

Until the African electorate and especially its entrepreneurs are entrusted with the fulfillment of this responsibility and given the incentive of a stake in the continent’s vast wealth, powerful kinship system identities (tribe, ethnicity, racial, religious and even ‘gang’) will prevent a gamble on the still fragile idea of nationhood and a common market.

How do you handle the loss of fame and fortune, and regain your magnetic attraction, inside of the industry and outside of it?

In 2001 I wrote that the Muslim world would continue to grope in the darkness until 1) it produced an Islamic core state with enough credibility to be trusted with its aspirations, grievances, and strategic interests 2) the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) emerged as a formidable forum by which the Muslim world could formulate these grievances, aspirations, and interests and 3) an Islamic leader was recognized as its representative – a khalifa of sorts – an individual whom the most learned Islamic scholars (Ulama) and community (Ummah) would accept as best having the grasp of the interpretation and meaning (Tafsir) of the Holy Qur’an, following and embodying the best of the manner and practice (Sunnah) of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

In terms of talent, mass appeal, consciousness, and the potential for social influence, Nas is now the most dangerous MC in the world.

And even if we don’t recognize him, J. Edgar Hoover – from the grave – still does.

(CedricMuhammad.com) This week’s AfricaPrebrief newsletter covers action around AngloGold Ashanti’s market activity; more evidence that Egypt will eventually join the Maghreb Union; the heat up in Zambia’s election dynamics; the likely outcome of Kenya’s constitutional referendum (which is weighing on the Nairobi Stock Exchange); the ‘rise’ of Guinea?; and a reminder from Tanzania about why [...]