Audioscope Magazine Feb. 13th 2009heff Releases New Single From Upcoming Album!
Okay, so for those of you that read this blog regularly and pay attention to the comments, you’ll notice that Milo Sheff, whom we’ve interviewed prior, offered to give us, Audioscope Mag the exclusive first preview of his new single “I Sport Fly Sh*t” off the album Table of Contents. I’ve got to let it be known, since we last talked to him, it seems like Milo has been in the studio bustin his ass. This song is pretty sick. First, let’s talk about the beat… I’m not sure if this was made by RL and RD, whom I know he’s teamed up with in the past, but it is pretty legit. Really dirty, crunchy, street, however you want to put it. The beat sounds, and I’m going to hate myself for saying this, like some of the tracks off of 50’s first commercially successful album. I know, I know, Milo prides himself on being original and from beating his own drum, but it has the same venom and anger in the bassline and drumline that you could feel on Get Rich or Die Tryin’. I’ve really got to hand it to Milo on this one… This is not an easy beat to flow over, but the way the lyrics are laid, it sounds masterful. I’m not sure who the guest vocals are on the song (there was very limited info in the song info that came with the mp3) but the ebb and flow of Sheff and his accomplice work perfectly together. I guess at the possibilty of giving too much away I’ll end this blog here, but for those of you in the Connecticut area, I can almost guarantee that this song will be one of the most requested on HOT 93.7 and Mr. Sheff will most likely extend his currently held record of “Most Songs on the Hot 8 at 8″ and get his 13th track to be featured on it!
Hartford Courant Feb. 7th 2009
Hartford rapper Milo Sheff offers new track.
Milo Sheff, Hartford's hardest working hip-hop underachiever, returns with a new joint that aims high: "I should win the Espy," he declares on "I Sport Fly Shit," which features Springfield rapper Trouble T (and a brief snippet of Jay-Z) on the hook.
Cameos aside, slashing beats, thrumming organ and old-school record scratching help make it the most interesting track yet from Sheff, who's probably best known for the Sheff v. O'Neill schools desegregation lawsuit filed 20 years ago on behalf of him and 17 other Hartford-area students.
His website promises a new album soon; in the meantime, enjoy his latest song for free.
New York Times April 5th 2008
New Agreement Is Reached in Hartford Desegregation
New York times
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: April 5, 2008
STAMFORD, Conn. — Schools in Hartford and 22 of its suburbs would be encouraged to open more classroom seats to children from outside their neighborhoods in order to increase racial diversity, under a tentative settlement reached Friday in a decades-old desegregation case.
The settlement, which still requires the approval of Connecticut legislators and the state court handling the dispute, outlines a five-year plan whose goal is to get at least 41 percent of Hartford’s minority students into schools where enrollments are no more than three-quarters minority.
In the first year, the goal would be at least 19 percent. Approximately 94 percent of the 22,000 students now enrolled in Hartford’s 40 public schools are minority — defined by the settlement as black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian or Pacific islander. Achieving the goals depends on students crossing district lines in a region where students, over all, are about 45 percent minority.
The tentative deal, confirmed in separate interviews with state officials and the people who filed the lawsuit in 1989, opens the possibility of resolving a case that has outlasted three governors but has yet to bring sweeping changes to the composition of Hartford’s public schools. The case is known as Sheff v. O’Neill, for the original lead plaintiff, Milo Sheff, who was 10 when the lawsuit began, and former Gov. William A. O’Neill, who died in November.
“We knew a long time ago, from the start of the whole case, that this stuff wouldn’t impact my life but future generations, and hopefully would be a platform for other states to use,” Mr. Sheff said in an interview on Friday. He said he was often approached by Hartford students excited about landing a spot in one of the 11 magnet schools that have been created to attract white students from the suburbs. “At least it’s a start,” he said.
But he is realistic about whether true change may take longer. “It will be 40 years before something notable happens,” he said.
Friday’s tentative settlement, much like the ones that have preceded it without permanent success, relies entirely on voluntary incentives. They are intended to encourage suburban schools to build, with state help, interdistrict, thematic magnet schools to attract students from Hartford, and open up more slots in their regular schools under a program known as Project Choice.
Hartford’s school system, meanwhile, would have incentives and penalties to ensure that it improves its magnet schools and does a better job of promoting them to attract children from neighboring districts.
People on both sides said the latest settlement goes beyond past efforts to settle the case by giving the State Department of Education more power to administer programs aimed at increasing the diversity of schools in the Hartford area so parents have one place to consult and unified deadlines for applying. “It was all very confusing,” said Dennis Parker, director of the racial justice program at the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, which joined in the suit. “Now that will all be brought under one umbrella and people can apply in one place.”
It also changes the way the state and the plaintiffs will ultimately judge the success of the plan. While the goal would remain having 41 percent of Hartford’s minority students in schools that are at least one-quarter white, the program could also pass muster if it satisfied at least 80 percent of the demand among minority students seeking placements in such schools.
Without putting a price tag on the plan, the settlement requires the state to “provide sufficient resources” and compels it to reduce the time children spend on buses going from one municipality to another. Previous efforts at desegregation have faltered because families were unwilling to send children to schools in other districts voluntarily when it meant children as young as 7 were traveling three hours a day.
“There’s not a lot of distance between the state and the plaintiffs,” said Andrew M. Fleischmann, a state representative from West Hartford who is co-chairman of the legislature’s Joint Education Committee. His committee received the proposed settlement Friday and will be holding a public hearing on it. After that, the Assembly can either vote to accept or reject the proposal or allow it to remain on the calendar for 30 days, after which it would be enacted by default.
The Hip-hop Press March 3rd 2006
Hip hop press
(March 3, 2006), Hartford, CT--Morales Records U.S. and Milo Sheff announced the release date for Sheff's long awaited album SHAPESHIFTER. Sheff wrote and was the executive producer of the album that will hit record stores across the globe this April. SHAPESHIFTER is characterized with Sheff's catchy hooks, smooth beats, and philosophical lyrics.
Sheff who is born and raised in Hartford brings a fresh new perspective to Hip Hop music and his amazing ability to "switch up styles" has music industry veterans and fans on the edge of their seats.
Along with Morales Records U.S., many believe Sheff's music could be the catalyst for the rebirth of Hip Hop music which has faded because it's abandoned it's roots.
Morales Records, U.S., LLC, CEO Eddy Morales is highly confident his company is on the right track. "We've prepared long and hard for this moment and poured a lot of energy into releasing a high quality product ", he says." Nothing is more important than a great first impression, especially for a record label. We know thousands of Milo's fans ranging from teenagers to their early fifties who've been eagerly awaiting this album.
SHAPESHIFTER contains twenty tracks ranging from a song called "Hot Fish" to "In the Hartbeat" that expresses his critical views of The State Capital, and a sexy rendition of "Love Jones" reminiscent of a classic 70's soul ballad. Morales believes SHAPESHIFTER and Sheff's future album Chewable will be a disruptive force to the Hip Hop industry as it explodes onto the scene.
The New York Times July 22nd 1990
CONNECTICUT Q&A: MILO SHEFF;
A Young Crusader Fights for Integration
New York Times
By CHARLOTTE LIBOV
LEAD: MILO SHEFF is one of the 17 public school students who are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that has focused attention on the problems of racial isolation in Connecticut's schools.
MILO SHEFF is one of the 17 public school students who are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that has focused attention on the problems of racial isolation in Connecticut's schools.
The suit, filed in April 1989 by a coalition of civil rights organizations, contends that the concentration of white children in suburban schools and of minority-group children in city schools, even though not deliberate, violates the State Constitution's guarantee of equal educational opportunity.
The 10 defendants are all state officials, headed by Gov. William A. O'Neill and the Education Commissioner, Gerald N. Tirozzi. The children named as plaintiffs are from Hartford and its suburbs.
Six of the 17 plaintiffs are white children who are said by the suit to have had their constitutional rights curtailed as a result of being placed in all-white schools and to have been denied the educational and cultural experience of integration.
Six of the children are Puerto Rican, and five are black, including 11-year-old Milo, a sixth grader at the Annie Fisher School in Hartford, where 91 percent of the children are black and 7 percent are Hispanic. Milo is listed first among the plaintiffs and thus gives his name to the case, Sheff v. O'Neill. No trial date has yet been set.
In May, Milo was named the outstanding youth of the Greater Hartford N.A.A.C.P.'s youth council by a 25-member panel of young council members.
He was selected because ''he is a young person who is very articulate and is making a difference, even though he's a young boy,'' said the group's adviser, Ula Dodson.
In an interview at his home in Hartford, where he lives with his mother, Elizabeth, a 37-year-old community organizer for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, and a sister, Tanya, 18, a senior at Bulkeley High School in Hartford, Milo discussed his involvement in the lawsuit. Here are some excerpts from the conversation.
Q. How did you become involved in the lawsuit?
A. My mom told me about it, and I thought about it. I would like to have more races in my school, so I said O.K.
Q. What sorts of things did your mother talk to you about when you were deciding whether to become involved?
A. We went to a couple of meetings, and I listened to the lawyers, and they were great. The way the lawyers talked amazed me. They used all these words I didn't know about, so I had a lot to learn about.
At that time, we had just started learning about desegregation in school, and I was beginning to understand. This helped me upgrade myself about what we were studying in school.
I also asked myself a lot of questions about whether I should or shouldn't become involved. Finally, I decided that by being in the lawsuit, I would make new friends. And I also asked myself whether I could make a difference. Finally, I decided I could, so I decided to go with it.
Q. Were there any things about being in the lawsuit that concerned you?
A. One thing that I was frightened about was the television cameras. But the good thing about it is I get to talk to people around the state about the lawsuit. It's exciting to meet people. You don't know people from the outside, but if you talk to them, you get to know them better.
Q. Why do you think it is wrong for schools to be racially segregated?
A. Because people don't get to know each other, and then they just judge each other according to the color of their skin. I don't like the way people say, ''I don't like any white people,'' or any Hispanic people, or any black people, because every person is not the same.
I also think that schools should be mixed because I know I do not want my children to be racist, and I do not want to become a racist. The best way not to become a racist is to learn to talk to different people.
Q. Who is your role model?
A. Martin Luther King. I read about him a lot, and I admire the way he lived his life, because he fought with words, not fists. That's the way to solve problems. If you fight with your fists, you just end up in jail. He had a powerful fist, but it was his words.
Q. This is a lawsuit that may not be settled for many years. How do you feel about being involved in a lawsuit for so long?
A. Whether it's short or long, I'll still be happy. If it takes months, I'll spend months. If it takes years, I'll spend years. I know that I have achieved some personal goals. I've made new friends, like Mr. Horton and Mr. Brittain [Wesley Horton and John Brittain, lawyers representing the plaintiffs] . I've learned how a lawsuit works, and I've helped people understand more about racism.
Q. If you win the lawsuit, what do you think that will achieve?
A. If we win the case, it will help schools become more mixed, and then people can learn about one another, and children around the state will learn that just because someone of another color does something bad to you, everybody of that color is not a bad or an evil person.
I also think it will improve education, because it will help everyone have an equal education.
Q. What do you mean by an equal education?
A. Before I got involved in the lawsuit, I wasn't paying any attention to a lot of things. I was studying a lot for exams and trying to pass. After I got involved, I became aware that there were plenty of noncolored teachers in my school, but there weren't many colored teachers. It would be good to have more black teachers as role models. That is important, because then colored children could see that teachers could be colored, and they might consider becoming teachers, too.
Also, I have pen pals in suburban schools who have more resources than we have. They have more computers. They have smaller classes, maybe 10 to 15 in the class, where we have 30. One of the things about the lawsuit is trying to show that suburban schools have more resources, so this lawsuit might make a difference there.
Q. There are some people who think that school districts should not be changed. What would you say to them?
A. I think what I'm doing is right. I'd tell them to think about it. We need to change. Someday we're going to have to face up to the fact that this world isn't a very pretty place any more.
Q. What other concerns do you have about society?
A. I'm concerned about the billboards in my neighborhood. In the inner city, where I live, the billboards tell you to buy liquor and cigarettes, while in the suburban areas, they have billboards telling you where to get your dresses made or where to buy your car.
Down here, they encourage us to buy liquor and cigarettes. Liquor and cigarettes destroy your mind. Liquor is just like drugs: you have it, you want more. And cigarettes are just like drugs, too. They will hurt you. I think we should be encouraged to buy cars and new dresses, instead of buying liquor and cigarettes.
Q. What other problems have you noticed?
A. Well, zoning, that's a big problem, too, when you have black neighborhoods and white neighborhoods. I think the neighborhood should have people of all different colors, like a rainbow. Black, white, Hispanic, red, yellow - everyone together.
I'm also concerned about the environment. Without a safe environment, that would be the end of the human race. People should stop littering and be concerned about the air and the water.
Q. If you could wave a magic wand and change whatever you want, what would you change?
A. I would make the whole world nonracist, and I would like everything to be peaceful. You would meet someone before you judged them.
If I had a magic wand, the schools would be mixed, the neighborhoods would be mixed. There'd be no zoning laws, no racism. You could live anywhere you wanted, and you wouldn't be denied loans or a job because of the color of your skin. If I had a magic wand, I would make everything bad disappear.
Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. I want to be an artist and a basketball player. A basketball player full time, and when I'm on vacation, I'll paint.
Q. Do you think you'll always be working against racism?
A. I'll always be working against it. I get that from my mother. I don't know exactly what I'll be doing about it when I grow up, but I'll be doing something.