CNN's Soledad O'Brien has staked her career on reporting breaking news from domestic disasters like Hurricane Katrina as well as on location at international hotspots ... She was gracious enough to grant me an exclusive interview from the midst of the disaster, checking in by cell to share her eyewitness perspective of the state of affairs in the crippled region.

Check out our playlist to see: the best of Nate Dogg; Michigan v Duke when the Fab Five were up against Grant Hill; Lauren Hill; interviews with Wiz Khalifa and NeYo; Chicago Hip Hop; Asians in the Library and much more…

Critically acclaimed poets Lawson Inada and Emmett Wheatfall will be performing some of their works to music in April for "A Celebration of Poetry in Jazz."

In between a tour in the United Kingdom and shows this week at the Austin, Texas-based music festival  SXSW, Portland hip hop legend Cool Nutz sat down with The Skanner News to talk about his music, an upcoming album and the difficulty of marketing in Europe.

Trombonist, producer and composer Delfeayo Marsalis has released his first album in years, a re-imagining of the classic Duke Ellington suite, "Such Sweet Thunder." Here, Delfeayo talks with The Skanner News about pairing literature with music, stepping back into the limelight and why he wants to give his brothers some real competition.

Before undertaking this daunting project, Carla Peterson was aware of precious little about her roots. In fact, although she's African-American, the only 19th Century ancestor she really knew anything about was a Caucasian great-grandfather from Haiti named Philip Augustus White (1823-1891).

While the clouds and rain may be here to stay for a few more months, it's never too early to be thinking about the 2011 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival.

Luck-One has released "Monotheism" -- the first video off his upcoming album "True Theory" due out on March 22. The video features Gen. Erik and Braille in a historical hip hop breakdown of religion as it's been under the belief of one God. The track was produced and mixed by Terminill. The video was directed by Kevin Hasenkopf of v1Creative.

The first official leaked video for the upcoming Cool Nutz album, "COOL NUTZ ='S DOPE" is available to view on The Skanner's YouTube channel.

Grammy-winning soul singer India.Arie talks about collaborating with Israeli musician Idan Raichel on her upcoming fifth album, 'Open Door,' which will feature songs in English and Hebrew.