This Thanksgiving was a LOT better than expected, especially with Lupe dropping this mixtape...
Pumpkin pie? Spshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'd rather give me earbuds a taste of "Enemy of the State: A Love Story" instead!
Classic, pre-digital era, mixtape graphic. I would have loved the photo looked more like a casset, with a piece of beige tape and shapie handwriting, but thats just me.
CH teamed up with REVOK, legendary L.A. graffiti artist, and put together this promotional video.
The beats EPIC, while CH is still CH (If you know about CH then you understand, HOWEVER REVOK's piece in this promo video is SO TOUGH that I kinda wish I was CH right about now... NOT!
You're favorite Turf Hop rapper Blee just dropped his new music video for "The General." I used to watch Bay Area Hip Hop videos wondering where they were shot, on what streets and which neighborhoods... and I caught myself naming almost every single one in this music video... it's truly repping the 916.
N.A.S.A. has been known for being out there... intergallactic and shit... and at least "orbital," but I HAVE to say whoever produced the visuals for this video has found the way to express his hallucinogenic trips from whatever drugs he's taking and I love it...
Tell me you didn't want to grab your 3-D glasses and catch those transitions *POP* as the song progressed. If you don't know what I'm talking about it's time to watch that video again and pay closer attention!!!
A good friend of mine Nick Kova has been into film and photography for years. He's pretty raw at it too...
We used to do a little acoustic guitar and spoken word set titled "Giraffes in Business Socks" back at CSU Monterey Bay, however his guitar skills were better than my writing skills! (lol)
It's been a minute since we've had the pleasure of catching up, but he just released this short film with Dominic Parisi and it's all things worth watching...
Not only is this video captivating and intriguing, but the score sets the mood perfectly. Dominic did a great job of building up the ending scenes and Nick's direction really brought the whole story together.
This short film was directed in Monterey, California and I recognize the streets which it was shot in. Never have I seen those streets so deserted so I know how much time the two must have put in!
Damn, this is my new favorite collaboration project... These two new songs prove my point. People talk about super-groups and collaborations, but this is by far one of the better ones out there; It's like a good version of Slaughterhouse! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
If you know me you know how much I love my bike and going on night rides!
Thanks to the dope girl over at HrrrThrrr I came across this Missed Connections blog whose purpose is "Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down."
How dope is that?
Here's one of my favorites so far...
"Thursday, August 27, 2009 sorry your bike got stolen. its beautiful. when some guy offered it to me for 40 bucks, i didnt even think twice. i was drunk, missing my bike and figured if not me, someone else would buy it anyways. also, my bike got stolen last week. who knows, maybe you bought it for 40 bucks from some guy on the street. so if you see me riding it, feel free to say hey. maybe we could trade back. if not, you can buy it from me for 40 bucks. id buy my old bike back for 40 bucks. it was way more comfortable than this one."
If my bike was stolen, again, I'd be so pissed!!! But I'd love to find a missed connection on Craigslist with a story about my bike like this... at least knowing that someone's getting good use out of it and offering to sell it back to me for 40 bucks! However, I like my seat. =P
Sacramento/Bay-Area bred Hip-Hop/Spoken-Word group Ill-Literacy just dropped their first EP and I have to say this is a must DL.
If you don't know, Ill-Lit recently moved out to New York City, where they felt they had the best chance of getting their music out and progressing artistically. A lot of us out here on the Left Coast, whether were friends or fans, have been patiently waiting for this first release... and it was well worth it.
While this exhibit is not new (2007), I was just introduced to Columbian installation artist Doris Salcedo! I have to say she's pretty dope... completely original and the stories behind her artwork are powerful.
Tate Modern had this to say about her exhibit in 2007:
"Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth is the first work to intervene directly in the fabric of the Turbine Hall. Rather than fill this iconic space with a conventional sculpture or installation, Salcedo has created a subterranean chasm that stretches the length of the Turbine Hall. The concrete walls of the crevice are ruptured by a steel mesh fence, creating a tension between these elements that resist yet depend on one another. By making the floor the principal focus of her project, Salcedo dramatically shifts our perception of the Turbine Hall’s architecture, subtly subverting its claims to monumentality and grandeur. Shibboleth asks questions about the interaction of sculpture and space, about architecture and the values it enshrines, and about the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built.
In particular, Salcedo is addressing a long legacy of racism and colonialism that underlies the modern world. A ‘shibboleth’ is a custom, phrase or use of language that acts as a test of belonging to a particular social group or class. By definition, it is used to exclude those deemed unsuitable to join this group.
‘The history of racism’, Salcedo writes, ‘runs parallel to the history of modernity, and is its untold dark side’. For hundreds of years, Western ideas of progress and prosperity have been underpinned by colonial exploitation and the withdrawal of basic rights from others. Our own time, Salcedo is keen to remind us, remains defined by the existence of a huge socially excluded underclass, in Western as well as post-colonial societies.
In breaking open the floor of the museum, Salcedo is exposing a fracture in modernity itself. Her work encourages us to confront uncomfortable truths about our history and about ourselves with absolute candidness, and without self-deception."
New Gameboy & C-Plus song "Capsize" off their upcoming "Prologue: The Pretape" coming early Christmas time.
I actually listened to this song about five times before I switched to another song. The over all production value and content of this song shits on most out right now...
Famous Stencil Graffitist Logan Hicks teamed up with C215 for his latest showing.
Hicks style incorporates architectural elements that incorporates the details of human emotion and being. This is my favorite picture from the recent showing...
What is Hip Hop? And How Does it Relate to The Concept of Revolution?
Hip Hop is a culture that manifested itself in the late 1970's and 80's in the African-American communities within NYC.
Hip Hop takes its immediate roots from Raggae. New York City in the late 1970's had a DJ named Kool Herc, who used to improvise rhymes over the raggae beats he'd play, eventually evolving into looping sounds from popular songs, creating the first production of Hip Hop.
As he continued to perform in NYC people from all over the 5 boroughs began to come around his parties and clubs. Rhyming, or Emceeing, at the time commanded so much attention because it was seen as an accessible art form by the masses. Emceeing had no requirements for participation, it didn't require money and could be practiced on ones own at any time they chose.
People from all different groups and communities began to participate in the early years of Hip Hop, growing the movement through a collaborative effort, putting behind differences of class, what neighborhood they lived in and became a way for people to express themselves and the different social, political or economic issues that they were surrounded by everyday.
As it has grown, it has been used in many ways, most notably as a profession in which to get rich and acquire fame, but in many ways it has become an outlet for social change, incorporating revolutionary concepts and tendencies that have shaped the political climate of our society.
The purpose of this workshop is to demysitify Hip Hop, from the different elements of the artform, how it relates to the concept of revolution and how we can all participate in Hip Hop, whether for a purpose or just for fun!
To begin there are four, original elements of Hip Hop, with a debated, unofficial 5th. The elements are Emceeing, Djaying, Break Dancing & Graffiti, with the 5th being the catalyst for constant progression in Hip Hop, Knowledge, Culture & Overstanding.\
To begin...
"Emceeing"
Emceeing was what drew people to the social movement that is Hip Hop. As I mentioned above, Emceeing was started by DJ Kool Herc, rhyming over instrumental beats. As Hip Hop grew, people began freestyling, or rhyming off the top of the head and naturally cyphers, or groups of emcees coming together to freestyle or perform previously written rhymes. It was in this way that people began to create reputations for themselves through emceeing.
As Hip Hop evolved you had numerous emcees who began to take on not only social issues, but political issues as well through their rhymes. Without going through the individual history of revolutionary rap, one modern day Hip Hop revolutionary is Immortal Technique, out of Harlem, New York.
Immortal Technique is Peruvian, being born in his native country of Peru, immigrating to New York City because of the political turmoil Peru was facing at the time. As he grew up he racked up multiple assault charges, eventually leading to him facing 5-10 years in prison, but only recieving 2. While in prison he began to write down his revolutionary ideas, stemming from the racism and ignorance middle class America had of the Latino culture, but more importantly the racism and ignorance the Latino community expressed internally.
When Immortal Technique was released from prison in 1999, he became a battle rapper, freestyling and getting involved in neighborhood cyphers. He created a reputation for himself and decided to use his talent to educate the Latino community throughout the world through his rhymes. (source http://viperrecords.com/imtech/bio.shtml)
Here is a song by Immortal Technique that enlightens the listener to injustices the American Government has gotten away with domestically and internationally.
Immortal Technique "Harlem Streets"
"Djaying"
Again, DJaying in Hip Hop began with DJ Kool Herc. DJ Kool Herc introduced the concept of "Break-Beat DJaying," using funk songs and adding percussion to the music. As this evolved, scratching, or the movement of a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the cross-fader switch, began to become popular.
One of the greatest DJ's of all time is DJ QBERT, out of the Bay Area, who has mastered the art of scratching. Through his DJaying, Qbert has been able to use his art form to reach millions of people across the world, creating a musical revolution in itself.
"Breakdancing"
Breakdancing wasn't always called breakdancing, it was originally known as "The Good Foot," then became B-Boying or B-Girling, eventually becoming just break dancing. Like the first two elements of Hip Hop, breakdancing began in Harlem as a high energy form of dance. It evolved similarly to the way emceeing evolved, into breakdance battles, the equivalent to an emcee's cypher!
With us today is a local B-Girl, or breakdancer, named Shasta. She is going to perform for us!
Here's a video from the movie "Beat Street" that focuses on what breakdancing was originally like:
"Graffiti"
Graffiti was originally used for revolutionary efforts by political activists to make statements, or by gangs to mark territory. It wasn't until the late 1960's that graffiti began to be used as a form of individual expression and as a way to gain fame. The first two original writers were CORNBREAD and COOL EARL, who wrote their names all over NYC, making them infamous and spawning a new generation of street artists. As writers from the different boroughs of NYC began to "get up" or write their names across town, it bred a form of competition to see whose name could be seen most, as well as a sense of pride from the neighborhood you lived in.
This competition breeded bigger and bolder "tags," eventually creating "top-to-bottoms" or the top-to-bottom graffiti piece of a subway car. As the artform grew it became something more than just getting your name up, but grew into a social and political movement all its own, coming full circle to its original intent. Graffiti as a form of street art, evolved into urban street art like stenciling, wheat-pasting and installation pieces. While there are many world famous urban artists, one of the most famous is Shepard Fairey, the creator of the clothing brand "Obey."
As a teenager Shepard Fairey was a legendary graffiti writter, making his way all over the West Coast, getting up and creating fame for himself. As his art evolved he got into stenciling and then wheat pasting. Shepard put his famous "Andre The Giant Has A Posse" poster all over America, making him famous in the underground art scene. However, it was his clothing line that really made him famous and he used this fame to create politically conscious artwork. If you remember the Obama Presidential Campaign and the artwork he had done for his famous red, blue and white poster of himself it was created by Shepard Fairey. Through graffiti and urban art Shepard Fairey used his talent to help progress one of the greatest revolutions this country has ever seen, the first Black President, Barack Obama.
"Andre the Giant Has a Posse"
"Hope"
"Knowledge, Culture & Overstanding"
Originally coined by the famous emcee Afrika Bambaataa, Knowledge, Culture & Overstanding, is the 5th element of Hip Hop.
Again, I introduce Shasta to cover this element of Hip Hop.
Conclusion:
Throughout this workshop, I hope it is not just us emphasizing the revolutionary concepts and ideas that is Hip Hop, but that you internally see the connections between social and political issues and the artform itself.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have:
"Blu is one of those street artists that always makes an effort to create pieces that are socially relevant to the area he is working in (ie Milan and Taranto). Combine this with superior artistic skills, his flair for black humor, and an imagination that knows no limits, it’s no surprise he has become the superstar that he is today.
Here we see his newest piece put up in Bogota, Columbia for “Memoria Canalla.” Don’t you love the imagery of a credit card getting a line of “cocaine” ready made from human skulls?"
Here's some more pictures
Coffins as bullets... or is it that bullets create coffins?
I love that Citibank card cutting up skulls into lines of coke. That shits so vivid!
Thanks to my homie Dom aka "Ocho Siete" reppin Omega Delta Phi, I didn't miss the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street!
I know you've been wondering why Google's been using them for the past week for their daily artwork and this is why!
In highschool I picked up the nickname Bert, after my first name Robert and that shit always reminded me of Sesame Street. In college we called one of my best friends Ernie, a variation of Erin.
Shout outs to Bert & Ernie, THE Big Bird, The Cookie Monster, Oscar The Fucking Grouch, The Count, & Snuffaluffagus.
Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, was quoted once saying "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them." Thanks Sesame Street for educating me in the alphabet and language formation, simple problem solving skills and how to fucking COUNT. A dedication tee is in order!
In class again, I just can't focus when brands like The Hundreds '09 Winter Collection is so fresh.
The Hundreds is so eye catching that they're '09 Winter line caught my third eye, forcing me to put my Political Thought teacher on mute, open up my laptop and visit The Hundreds online shop.
Here's a little of what I'm feeling for the '09 Winter Collection:
"Half Tone Adam Crew" I'm feelin the crew neck sweaters this Winter, been wearing a hoodie for too long. "Furry Long Sleeve" Knit FEELIN IT! "Repel Tee" Knit "Mash Pit" Tee Personally I think this is the freshest tee in the whole '09 Winter Collection, but thats just me! "Vista Denim"
If you don't know about The Hundreds yet, who the fuck are you!?
So I'm in my 9 am class just now, checking the blogs as a way to wake up (as usual), and I came across this DOPE video of Omar Salizar, putting fear into San Francisco's notorious streets...
