Hip Hop

The 76ers are creating a mascot to replace Hip-Hop after relieving him of his duties. Adam Aron, the Sixers' chief executive officer, said the team's next mascot almost certainly would have a colonial theme to reflect the city's heritage. The Sixers are working with Jim Henson's Creature Shop and Raymond Entertainment Group, whose founder, Dave Raymond, spent more than 15 years as the Phillie Phanatic. Aron said the new ownership group has evaluated a "number of drawings of possible successors" for Hip-Hop.

Coffee-table books are supposed to be heavy, on photos and in pounds. This latest history of black life in America by Henry Louis Gates Jr. is both, with more than 750 photos on nearly 500 pages. But it offers something more: The distinguished Harvard University professor packs intellectual heft around the pictures. His book updates black history with recent scholarly research, from detailed estimates of the human cargo during the Atlantic slave trade to the DNA test proving almost conclusively that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one child by his slave Sally Hemings.

Boyz II Men have always straddled two generations: Twenty years ago, the Grammy-winning teenage quartet crooned with the passion of old-school swooners. Dressed in urban-preppy ice-blue jeans and letter jackets, the young boys of R&B kept their sounds fresh with a new jack swing baseline. These days Boyz II Men are a trio: Wanya Morris, Nathan Morris (no relation), and Shawn Stockman. (Former baritone Michael McCrary has been in a running dispute with the group.) They are the older cats in a cyber-driven industry dominated by electronic beats.

HALLOWEEN BUG OFF Raab Himself, of "Jackass" fame, hits Six Flags Great Adventure for a gross-out Halloween event that should be avoided by katsaridaphobics. (Not up on your Latin? That's fear of cockroaches.) Fright Fest wraps up this weekend with a Mouthful of Misery cockroach-eating contest. The first 20 guests to consume a Madagascar hissing cockroach will get free entry to the Mortuary Manor terror trail. FYI: The Madagascar hissing cockroach is one of the largest species of'roach, growing about 2 to 4 inches in length.

There are only a handful of well-known circuses in the United States: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Cirque du Soleil, Big Apple, and UniverSoul. Cedric Walker, 58, owns one of them, the one that features first-rate performers from all over the world. Hint: It's not Cirque du Soleil. Walker is the chief executive officer and founder of UniverSoul Circus. Once considered a "black circus," UniverSoul has outgrown that categorization. Walker wants everyone to know that UniverSoul has far more to offer than just hip-hop under the big top. "UniverSoul originated as an idea to present family entertainment relevant to the urban experience," Walker explained in an interview from his hotel room in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

New Sixers ownership has ever-dyspepsic Philly fans hoping for all sorts of changes - including axing Hip-Hop. Even if a league website calls him "the coolest mascot in the NBA. " This morning, WIP (94 FM) host Angelo Cataldi, appearing on CBS3, held up a bowl to illustrate what the big-eared bunny's next role should be: "Rabbit stew!" he bellowed. "Lame and stale, like the mascot version of planking," wrote Comcast SportsNet's John Gonzalez, declaring even no replacement would be an improvement.

Lupe Fiasco is quite the anomaly in present-day hip-hop. The lyricist is as concerned with subtleties and smart humor as he is with societal concerns and politics. His music is as underground as it is contagiously mainstream. And when he isn't busy with philanthropic enterprises and appearances, Fiasco fights his record label and fronts a tech-punk band, Japanese Cartoon, under his real name, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. A black-clad Fiasco showed all those sides on a chilly Saturday night at the Mann.

I'm still laughing. "What's the wherefore? / Every why got a wherefore. " And here's the wherefore of my laughing: The Bomb-itty of Errors , an Off-Broadway hit, then a Philly hit four years ago (nominated for seven Barrymores), is being reprised by 11th Hour Theatre Company. Written by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum, Jeffrey Qaiyum and Erik Weiner (well, you didn't expect one guy to come up with two hours worth of rhymes, did you?), the show is directed by Megan Nicole O'Brien with hilarious precision, and DJ'ed by Mark Valenzuela.

'Don't wanna spend another fall in Philadelphia," Hall & Oates sang on their first album, way back in 1972. This fall - when Daryl Hall is releasing a solo album, Laughing Down Crying , on Sept. 27 - there are abundant musical reasons to do exactly that. Among them: the opening of Union Transfer, a spiffy rock club in the old Spaghetti Warehouse space on Spring Garden Street, whose shows start with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on Sept. 21. And the madness during the weekend of Sept.