By Jaylyn Burns

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Rap artist Mac Reem from West Oakland is an up and coming artist with T-Rex productions, and he is becoming popular throught out the Bay Area. He just won a KMEL.com contest with his song, "Quit Lyin In Your Raps." He has an album coming out on March 16th called, "Successful Failure." The album has 14 tracks on it that feature various artists including Fabolous, Scarface, and other artists. Mac Reem's real name is Karamon Harbin, and he is 35 years of age.

Something that makes Mac Reem unique is that he is using music as a pathway to reach his overall goal of making movies. Also, he doesn't confine himself to rap - he experiments with other types of music. He is currently working on a rock song. It's something new for him, but he is excited about the anticipated outcome. Listen to a Youth Radio interview with Mac Reem above.

As you all know, there are many great rap artists in the world. Lupe Wayne, drake, snoop, I could go on. And, as you also know, there are even more weak ones. You know those artists you listen to and wonder….”Who signed them?” I could name at least 20 whack rappers, but I’m just going to award the top 3. Let’s start with number three, the best of the worst. Now, this award was going to show to someone like Gucci mane or OJ the juice man, (who, over their careers, showed no signs of improvement), but yes, there are worse. I’m going to recognize this rapper, who over the years actually has gotten worse, 50 cent! The award goes to you with this famous quote from “just a lil bit”. “Baby, all I need is a little bit, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, get it crackin’ in the club when you hear that. Drop it like it’s hot, get to whipping that back” yea. I think he forgot, about rhyming’ on the track. He talks like he doesn’t want to say his words. How are you going to be a rapper that’s too lazy to talk? That’s what rapping is; talking!!! Anyway, this next one goes to my favorite rapper to laugh at when he performs onstage. Sorry, soulja boy, this is not for you.

By Molly Adams

Molly Adams is an uninsured recent college graduate who sent us these thoughts on the health care debate. Originally broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition. For a related lesson plan, check out PBS Teachers.

 "So what do you do?” is a question people ask a lot when you're
  fresh out of college. I’m a freelancer, doing all kinds of broadcast
  production jobs. But that doesn’t cover my rent.

  So I’m also a bartender.

None of these jobs come with health insurance.

I was lucky growing up. My parents were always steadily employed, sometimes by the government, so I always had health care. I remember trying to argue my mom out of a wisdom tooth extraction in high school. I said, "I bet it's really expensive! It can’t be worth it."

"Honey. It's $70," she said back. "We have insurance."

Photo by teresia.