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An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the 50 U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the U.S.^[1] They are called "insular" from the Latin word insula ("island") because they were once administered by the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs, now the Office of Insular Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The term insular possession is also sometimes used.

Because those insular areas that are inhabited are unincorporated territories, their native-born inhabitants are not constitutionally entitled to United States citizenship, under the Citizenship Clause.^{[citation needed]} However, Congress has extended citizenship rights to all inhabited territories except American Samoa, and these citizens may vote and run for office in any U.S. jurisdiction in which they are residents. The people of American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens; they are free to move around and seek employment within the whole United States without immigration restrictions, but cannot vote or hold office outside of American Samoa.^{[citation needed]}

Residents of insular areas do not pay U.S. federal income taxes, but are required to pay other U.S. federal taxes such as import/export taxes,^[2] federal commodity taxes,^[3] social security taxes, etc. Individuals working for the federal government pay federal income taxes while all residents are required to pay federal payroll taxes (Social Security^[4] and Medicare).

The U.S. State Department uses the term insular area to refer not only to these territories under the sovereignty of the United States, but also those independent nations that have signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States. While these nations participate in many otherwise domestic programs, they are legally distinct from the United States and their inhabitants are not United States citizens or nationals.^{[citation needed]}

U.S. insular areas can be incorporated territories (i.e., incorporated within all provisions of the U.S. Constitution) or unincorporated (areas in which the U.S. Constitution applies partially). From the organization of the Northwest Territory in 1789, all areas not admitted as States were under the direct control of Congress as organized incorporated territories, with some political autonomy at the local level. Since the admission of Hawaii to the Union in 1959, there have been no incorporated territories other than the uninhabited Palmyra Atoll (formerly part of the Hawaii Territory, it was excluded from the act of admission). Several overseas unincorporated territories are now independent countries, such as Cuba, the Philippines, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau.

Unlike within the states, sovereignty over insular areas rests not with the local people, but in Congress. In most areas, Congress has granted considerable self-rule through an Organic Act, which functions as a local constitution. The Northwest Ordinance grants territories the right to send a non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress.

The United States government is part of several international disputes over the disposition of certain maritime and insular sovereignties some of which would be considered territories. See International territorial disputes of the United States.

List and status of insular areas[link]

Locations of the insular areas of the United States

Several islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific are considered insular areas of the United States.

Incorporated (integral part of United States)[link]

Inhabited[link]

• none

Uninhabited[link]

•  Palmyra Atoll (uninhabited, mostly owned by The Nature Conservancy but administered by the Office of Insular Affairs; part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands)

Unincorporated (United States' possessions)[link]

Inhabited[link]

•  American Samoa (officially unorganized, although self-governing under authority of the U.S. Department of the Interior)
•  Guam (organized under Organic Act of 1950)
•  Northern Mariana Islands (commonwealth, organized under 1977 Covenant)
•  Puerto Rico (territory with commonwealth status, organized under terms of Puerto Rico-Federal Relations Act)
•  United States Virgin Islands (organized under Revised Organic Act of 1954)

Uninhabited[link]

Along with Palmyra Atoll, these form the United States Minor Outlying Islands:

•  Baker Island
•  Howland Island
•  Jarvis Island
•  Johnston Atoll
•  Kingman Reef
•  Midway Atoll (administered as a National Wildlife Refuge)
•  Navassa Island (disputed with Haiti)
•  Wake Island (disputed with Marshall Islands)
• Serranilla Bank (disputed with Colombia)
• Bajo Nuevo Bank (disputed with Colombia)

From July 18, 1947 until October 1, 1994, the U.S. administered the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, but later entered into a new political relationship with all four political units (one of which is the Northern Mariana Islands listed above, the others being the three freely associated states noted below).

Freely associated states[link]

The freely associated states are the three sovereign states with which the United States has entered into a Compact of Free Association.

•  Marshall Islands
•  Federated States of Micronesia
•  Palau

Former territories[link]

•  Philippines, granted to U.S. through the Treaty of Paris in 1898, achieved independence on July 4, 1946.
•  Cuba, granted to U.S. through the Treaty of Paris in 1898, achieved independence on May 20, 1902.
•  Panama Canal Zone, under effective joint Panama-U.S. control under provisions of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty from 1903 to 1979.

See also[link]

• Commonwealth (United States insular area)
• Dependent territory
• Guano Islands Act
• Guantanamo Bay
• Insular Cases
• Political divisions of the United States
• Territorial acquisitions of the United States
• Territories of the United States
• Unorganized territory

References[link]

External links[link]

• Office of Insular Affairs
• Department of the Interior Definitions of Insular Area Political Types
• Rubin, Richard, "The Lost Islands", The Atlantic Monthly, February 2001
• Chapter 7: Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas, U.S. Census Bureau, Geographic Areas Reference Manual

v t e Political divisions of the United States States Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Federal district Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) Insular areas American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands Outlying islands Bajo Nuevo Bank Baker Island Howland Island Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kingman Reef Midway Atoll Navassa Island Palmyra Atoll Serranilla Bank Wake Island

Coordinates: 18°15′N 66°30′W / 18.25°N 66.5°W / 18.25; -66.5

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2008)

Mac Mall, (born Jamal Rocker in Vallejo, California) is a West Coast rapper who became known in the mid/late 1990s as one of the local artists putting the Bay Area on the hip hop map. Mac Mall was signed to Young Black Brotha Records.^[1]

One of Mac Mall's first singles was a song called "Ghetto Theme", of which had a music video directed by Tupac Shakur in 1994. He was also longtime friends with Mac Dre, who was his mentor early on in his career. The two repaired their friendship a couple of years before Dre's death.^{[clarification needed]} He is also cousins to E-40 and B-Legit.

Career[link]

In 1993, Mac Mall released his debut album Illegal Business? on Young Black Brotha records. Entirely produced by Khayree Shaheed, the album featured Ray Luv, Mac Dre and The Mac. Illegal Business? moved over 200,000 units independently, a major feat for an independent artist and record label. He met Tupac Shakur shortly after the albums release, who after praising Mac's music offered to direct a video for the single "Ghetto Theme". In 1995 he contributed a verse to E-40's "Dusted and Disgusted" and Eightball & MJG's "Friend or Foe". In 1996 he signed a record deal with Relativity Records, which released his second, and most commercially successful album, Untouchable.^[1][2]

In 1996, he appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as "a masterpiece" by The Source magazine.

In 1999, he started his own Sessed Out label, the first release being the compilation Mac Mall Presents the Mallennium, followed by his first solo album on the label and third overall, Illegal Business? 2000 a year later. Though no longer on a major label, he still managed to achieve success on Illegal Business? 2000, which spawned what is perhaps his most well known single, "Wide Open".^[1][2] Immaculate followed in 2001, which would find him once again reuniting with longtime collaborator Khayree Shaheed. After 2002's Mackin Speaks Louder Than Words, he took a 4 year hiatus from solo albums, instead focusing on collaborative efforts with JT the Bigga Figga and Mac Dre. He began work on an album with Mac Dre, which would be called Da U.S. Open. Unfortunately, Dre passed before the album was released, and it ended up being some of Dre's final recordings. ^[3]

In 2006, Mac Mall returned with his first solo album on Thizz Entertainment, Thizziana Stoned and the Temple of Shrooms. "Perfect Poison", a song off of the album, was featured in the video game SKATE. He followed up Thizziana with Mac To The Future in 2009, becoming his second solo album with Thizz.

In 2011 Mac Mall announced that he will release an album in November called The Rebellion Against All There Is.^[4] It will be a joint release with his own label Thizzlamic Records, and Young Black Brotha Records. The Rebellion Against All There Is will include 17 tracks, with features from Ray Luv, Shima, Boss Hogg, Luiyo La Musico and Latriece Love.^[5] The first single from the album is "To Live In The Bay".^[6] Moreover, Mac reunites with producer Khayree, who is said to be producing the whole effort. Seventeen years ago, Khayree produced Mac's Young Black Brotha Records debut, Illegal Business?. It has been 12 years since the Bay Area pair worked together. ^[7] Though initially planned for Novermber 2011, The Rebellion Against All There Is is now scheduled for release on February 21, 2012. A music video for his next single, "The Rebellion Against All There Is", will be released shortly before the album hits stores.

Mac Mall also collaborated with fellow west coast rapper Daniel Jordan and Detroit rapper/Producer Esham on Jordan's 2011 album The Stranger, on the song "Sad Clown".

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1993: Illegal Business?
• 1996: Untouchable
• 1999: Illegal Business? 2000
• 1999: Mallennium
• 2000: Beware of Those (with JT the Bigga Figga)
• 2001: Immaculate
• 2002: Mackin Speaks Louder Than Words
• 2004: Illegal Game (with JT the Bigga Figga)
• 2004: The Macuscripts, Vol. 1
• 2005: The Macuscripts, Vol. 2
• 2005: The Macuscripts, Vol. 3
• 2005: The Macuscripts, Vol. 4
• 2005: Da U.S. Open (with Mac Dre)
• 2006: Thizziana Stoned and the Temple of Shrooms
• 2009: Mac to the Future
• 2011: The Rebellion Against All There Is (November)^[4][7]

Singles & EPs[link]

• 1994: Sic Wit Tis
• 1994: Ghetto Theme
• 1996: Get Right
• 1999: Wide Open (CD/Cassette Single)

External links[link]

• Mac Mall at Allmusic
• Mac Mall on Twitter

References[link]