HBO's brand new series, How To Make It In America, starts next week. Created by the producers of Entourage (yep, Marky Mark and company!) and starring Kid Cudi, the series follows twenty-something Brooklynites as they strive in pursuit of the "American Dream". It'l be interesting to see how How To Make It... re-imagines the concept considering how the idea of "the American Dream" has widely declared to be dead. 

If you're as curious as we are about the new series, there's an exclusive screening of the new show tomorrow—Tuesday, February, 9th 2010—at The Violet Hour. It's hosted by Nicholas Scimeca of We Can't Stop Thinking and there'll be free food and hosted drinks. 

We've got an exclusive prize package for one lucky UR reader that includes:

• 1Gb flash drive
• 1 DVD copy of Entourage Season 5
• 1 DVD copy of Flight of the Concords Season 2
• 1 Pint glass
• 2 person entry into the Chicago screening party

Sound like your cup of tea? Follow UR Chicago on Twitter for your chance to win!  

Last Sunday night young activists and hip-hop lovers stood in the sub-freezing cold on Chicago’s South side waiting to get inside Reggie’s Rock Club to support Haiti and its peoples' most fundamental need; water. The newly founded Every Drop Counts organization threw a fundraising concert of epic proportions, with a stacked line up featuring The Cool Kids, Fred Hampton Jr., Rhymefest and many more.

UR Chicago teamed up with HYSTK to bring you this mini-documentary of the night. We warn you that these images are startling, but when you’re dealing with death and famine at the scale we’re seeing in Haiti, this video is only the tip of the iceberg. All the money collected from Every Drop Counts goes to buying a $5,000 water filtration pump that will go to the Haitian people through the World Water Relief organization.

Every Drop Counts plans on continuing the  effort for clean water in Haiti, so check them out at EveryDropCounts.blogspot.com and show your support to the Haitian people in dire need, even if all you can afford to spare is your time. -Wilson

Pharoahe Monch at Pitchfork Music Festival 2009. 

A heads up: Tickets for Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 went on sale today. Single-day tickets cost $40, three-day passes go for $90.  You can purchase tickets online at PitchforkMusicFestival.com. 

This year, festival organizers are beginning earlier on Friday so concertgoers can enjoy even more music throughout the weekend, from bands like Pavement, Modest Mouse, LCD Soundsystem, St. Vincent, Raekwon and more. 

Pitchfork Music Festival is July 16 -18, 2010 at Union Park (1501 W. Randolph St.). 

In the Back To The Future series, Marty McFly takes a DeLorean for the wildest, most mind-blowing ride of his life, driving thirty years back in time.  If the video flyer above is to be believed, the first installment of Members Only AV's Delorean Nites at Lincoln Hall will be just as exhilarating, crazy and fun as being rocketed through time and space. 

This Saturday, February 6th, special guests Designer Drugs join Midnight Conspiracy, Skyler, Broken Disco 1980 and Punky Fresh for an 18+ rager that, if Facebook RSVPs are any indication, will be wall-to-wall packed. Our advice is to buy your tickets in advance and get excited for Saturday by downloading the Delorean Nites mixtape via SoundCloud below: 

Midnight Conspiracy - Delorean Nites (Mix Tape) by Midnight Conspiracy

The first Delorean Nites is Saturday, February 6th at Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln). 18+ to enter, 21+ to drink. 

I think it’s pretty well accepted by this point that Winter madness has seeped into most Chicagoans’ brains, and with that comes a healthy dose of paranoia. Now that we’re on the same page, and agree “they’re” coming for you, we here over at UR have stumbled across the best way to protect yourself. Say hello to the Home Defender, the answer for every shotgun lovers that never quite got over his Nerf phase. Shoot home invaders, knock ‘em out cold, and forget dealing with the bloody bodies that we’ve all gotten so used to. Who could ask for more?—Wilson

Remember Northern State? Well, if you don’t, they were decently bad-ass. They had just as much in common with The Roots as they did with Luscious Jackson and any Kathleen Hanna project you feel like naming.

LISTEN UP || Hesta Prynn - Can We Go Wrong || DOWNLOAD


Since the Northern State girls staying on the DL as a collective for the moment, Hesta Prynn has decided to branch out on her own . . . and what gorgeous pastiche of sound she weaves! Anyone can tell from the track, “Can We Go Wrong” that Prynn is drawing influence from all the right places. With a vocal delivery that rivals the aforementioned Kathleen Hanna at her sultriest; Hesta Prynn juggles some Gang Of Four riffage with fuzzed out bass lines that recall anything from the DFA Records repertoire.

Little is known about the upcoming album which is due out this year. What is known, though, is that Chuck Brody (who’s worked with everyone from Lykke Li to J.Lo and Wu Tang Clan) produced it with some input from one Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara. If ‘Can We Go Wrong’ is any indication of the album’s sound, then it seems we can expect a full blown dance party from Hesta Prynn – I’d hope for nothing less from one of the Northern State girls, though.—Neil Miller Jr.  

The final season premiere of LOST is tonight at 7:00 PM CST on ABC. If you're a die-hard LOST fan–like so many of us are—you're probably pretty excited to tune in and get some answers to all of the twentygazillion unanswered questions the series has set up over the past five seasons.  

While you watch the clock tick down and get excited for the premiere, give Bald E.'s LOST inspired edit: "While You Wait For The Answers" a listen. His Michael McDonald/Grizzly Bear mashup couldn't be more appropriately titled, and when combined with Hey! Cliche!! Video Club's favorite LOST scenes, it's the perfect thing to watch to as you ponder what, if anything, that "Last Supper" themed promotional poster meant. —Katherine

Fraternity winners Alpha Phi Alpha perform. Photo/video by Jessica Cohn.

On January 23rd, the SOLD OUT Regional Finals of Sprite Step Off came to south side's Regal Theater borrowing the MC skills of Power 92's Hot Boyz. Qualifying Fraternity and Sorority chapters from the Central region, which stretches from Wyoming to Ohio, competed to win their share of a $1.5 million prize pool.


the Alpha Kappa Alphas

Alpha Kappa Alpha of Indiana University and Alpha Phi Alpha of Central State University- after winning a tense two minute tie-breaker- will move on to the national finals in Atlanta on February 20. This leg of the Sprite Step Off rounded out the one-night experience with a crowd pleasing, three-way DJ battle won by DJ Sundance and performances from hip-hop stars, Wale & Ludacris. —Nick Williams     

UPDATE: In case you missed the Central Regionals in Chicago, you can follow along the competition with MTV2's "True Life"esque docu-series, "Sprite Step Off." It follows six fraternity and sorority step teams as they stomp their way to win Nationals. Hosted by Ludacris and shot on location, the series airs on Sundays at 2PM. Watch last week's premiere here!