Download: J. Cole – Who Dat (prod. J. Cole & Elite)

J. Cole & director BBGun shot scenes for the “Who Dat” music video yesterday, down in Cole’s hometown of Fayetteville, NC. They also plan to shoot in Miami & New York.

via J. Cole Fans

Related: Cole spoke to the Fayetteville Observer

Track list and download link after the jump.

1. Diddy Intro (Produced by Infamous)
2. MC Hammer (Produced by Lex Luger)
3. Blowin Money Fast (B.M.F.) (feat. Styles P) (Produced by Lex Luger)
4. Money Maker (Produced by Boi-1da)
5. Gotti Family (feat. Yo Gotti)
6. Fire Hazard (Produced by The Runners)
7. All I Need (feat. Birdman & Trey Songz)
8. Sweet Life (feat. John Legend) (Produced by Philly Phatboi)
9. Super High (feat. Ne-Yo) (Produced by Clark Kent & The Remedy) | Music Video (starring Stacey Dash)
10. Knife Fight (feat. Kool G. Rap)
11. White Sand Part 2 (feat. Triple C’s)
12. 300 Soldier (Produced by L-Don)
13. Nasty (feat. Masspike Miles)

Download: Rick Ross – The Albert Anastasia EP

Off Millz’ The Flood Continues.

Immigration peaked during the 1990s in the U.S. while the rates of robberies and murders dropped. Coincidence? We think not and neither does Tim Wadsworth, a University of Colorado professor, who—using Census data and FBI crime reports—found that in 459 large cities nationwide crime rates dipped as more immigrants made home there. The study is published in the Social Science Quarterly’s June edition.

Wadsworth told WSJ’s Metropolis blog: “The reality of it is that if you go into most immigrant enclaves — whether they be Italian or Mexican or any other — if there is a lot of homogeneity in terms of ethnic background, these places tend to be some with the lowest crime rates.”

But just how much lower? Controlling for other factors, Wadsworth found a 9.3 percent drop in homicide rates and 22.2 percent decline in robbery rates.

This research is new but not the idea behind it.

In the 1930s, Pres. Hoover put together the Wickersham Commission to look into crime. “What they found was immigrants were actually committing less crime than their native-born counterparts,” Wadsworth says. And in the late 90s sociologist Robert J. Sampson and his team looked at people in Chicago where they found that the newly arrived were 45 percent less likely to commit violence than those who had been here for three generations.

For anyone who whines, “But what about Arizona? They got crime…” talk to the FBI. According to their reports, violence on the border is flat and rates of violent crimes are also down throughout the state. Now if only Pres. “Supposedly Prudent” Obama would bother reading those reports before he makes decisions on where to send troops.

Jeffrey Conroy, the 19-year-old Long Island teen convicted of murdering Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero in 2008, received 25 years in prison yesterday, the maximum sentence for his crimes.

Last month Conroy was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and gang assault for stabbing Lucero to death outside a Patchogue, Long Island, train station when he and six other friends decided to go beat up Latinos in their neighborhood, a sport they called “beaner-hopping.”

The six other teens were indicted along with Conroy, but he was the only one who was charged with both murder and manslaughter.

The AP reported that Conroy was contrite when he was read his sentence. “I’m really sorry for what happened to Mr. Lucero,” he said. “I’m really sorry for the whole situation. I feel really bad for what his whole family is going through right now.”

Meanwhile, the murder trial of Jose Sucuzhanay, another Ecuadorean immigrant murdered just a month after Lucero, ended in a mistrial. Jurors could not agree that Sucuzhanay’s death was a hate crime. Lucero’s murder prompted many Latinos in Long Island to come forward about the racialized attacks they endured. The Department of Justice opened an investigation last fall into the reports of Suffolk County’s negligent police response.

When President Obama announced his plan on Monday to send 1200 National Guard troops to ’secure’ the US-Mexico border, he no doubt thought he was putting money down on immigration reform. The problem is that thus far in our soiled immigration history, attempts to trade tough enforcement tactics for votes on an immigration reform bill have saddled us with the terrible system we’ve got: a massively disproportionate immigration enforcement apparatus and no way for undocumented immigrants to get papers. Obama’s decision to “secure the border first” may leave us with nothing good at all and a whole lot more hardship for immigrants.

We’ve never had a more robust set of laws, policies and practices dedicated to apprehending, detaining and deporting immigrants. Last year, the US government deported almost about 390,000 people, more than ever before in US history. We’re on track to deport even more this year.

We also continued to pour money into the border. In Obama’s first year, the budget for border patrol was larger than it’s ever been. Indeed, last year we spent 10.1 billion on border patrol–an 82 percent increase from just 5 years earlier, according to a report released by the Migration Policy Institute. And the number of border patrol officers increased at a similarly fast rate. We’ve so heavily invested in the border that Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security who is no progressive when it comes to immigration policy, said the border is “as safe as it’s ever been.”

Obama’s commitment to appearing tough on immigration, cynically, is meant to get us closer to a law that will open a pathway to status for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the US. The problem with this approach though is that there’s simply no guarantee that we’ll get that law–indeed, it’s all but dead this session–and if an immigration law does not pass, all we’ll have is the stick without the carrot.

This is exactly what happened last time lawmakers and advocates attempted to trade enforcement for an immigration bill, back in 2007. The mounting crisis that immigrant communities are now confronted by–arrest, deportation, increased local enforcement, racial profiling and denial of workplace rights–is a direct result of an attempt three years ago by Democrats and liberal advocates to pass an immigration bill by agreeing to crack down on undocumented workers and “criminals.” The workplace raids that scoured communities under Bush and the mass deportations that continue today, the growing 287g and Secure Communities programs that give local cops the power to enforce immigration laws and the relegation of millions to work and live in the shadows: these are all happening because liberals and progressives let it happen; because it was believed that the only way to pass comprehensive immigration reform was to look tough.

Here’s the thing: conservatives want an enforcement-only approach to immigration. They’d like to see us round everyone up and deport them. They’d like to see the border militarized even further, they’d like to deny citizenship to the US citizen children of immigrants. Liberals, on the other hand, want an immigration bill that opens a pathway for undocumented folks to gain status. But they’re convinced that the only way to get there is to give in to conservative demands and succumb to conservative frames. As Gabriel Arana over at the American Prospect has shown, even “progressive” players like the Center for American Progress argue that we need to first secure the border and then move on to a making a better immigration policy.

But by moving in this direction, those who want a more just immigration policy feed into the racial xenophobia and fear that makes the uphill battle of passing an immigration law into a climb up a near sheer cliff. As long as immigrants are a deemed a problem and demonized as criminals and leaches and as long as immigration is talked about like it’s a matter of national security rather than an economic and social fact that requires ethical and realistic policy, we’re unlikely to see an immigration bill passed at all.

In announcing his decision to send 1200 soldiers to the border, Obama is making clear he’s chosen to continue down this failed path.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Previously: Knockout ft. Nicki Minaj (Preview) | Da Da Da (Preview)

Evil Empire tags, shouts to Splash. Last track we’re posting from TML. June 15th.

Drake feat. Jay-Z – Light Up (Tags) | Mediafire

Produced by Noah “40″ Shebib and Tone Mason.

Previously: Drake feat. Lil Wayne – Miss Me (Mastered) | Drake – 9 AM in Dallas Freestyle

Cube talks to Angie about his son rapping and how wack it is to be inside doing promo for his new Negro Sitcom on such a beautiful day.