HIP HOP & POLITICS: FROM THE BEAT TO THE BALLOT Kicks Off 6/14

TheGrio.com and AllHipHop.com, in partnership with NBC News, will debut "Hip Hop & Politics: From The Beat to The Ballot" starting June 14. The weeklong series will run on both websites as part of Black Music Month.

Throughout the week, theGrio and AllHipHop will feature original interviews, articles and editorials highlighting some of leading forces in hip-hop and politics - past and present - from The Last Poets to Jay-Z. The series will also include video interviews with prominent hip hop and political figures such as Russell Simmons, Talib Kweli, Al Sharpton, Questlove, and Kevin Powell. The series will explore the evolution of hip hop as an avenue for political speech , the genre's impact on legislation, and the connection between hip hop artists and mainstream politicians - including President Obama, who many have called ‘the first hip hop president'.

TheGrio and AllHipHop will chart the evolution of hip hop and politics by highlighting the best political hip hop songs - from Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" to KRS-One's "Stop the Violence" - and will address some of the key issues including censorship, sexuality, religion and racial discrimination, that hip hop has raised through the years. The series will also look forward at who will carry the torch of activism in the world of political hip hop in the future .

About theGrio.com:
TheGrio.com is NBC News' video-centric news community devoted to covering stories and perspectives that affect and reflect the many African-American experiences. TheGrio features original video packages, news articles, and blogs on topics from breaking news, politics, health, business, and entertainment, thatconcern its audience.

About AllHipHop.com:
AllHipHop.com was founded in 1998 and is now the most widely read Hip Hop entity in the world, reaching millions of unique visitors each month. A valuable resource for hip-hop on the Internet, AllHipHop.com features daily news, interviews, reviews, multimedia, and delivers daily news alerts to music industry tastemakers and hip-hop lovers.