Back up! film explores female harrasment and activism. Free tonight

Hey Baby…Hey Sexy..Wit’ yo fine self…Come ‘er girl…Damn, can I get summa that?

Just for the record, “Damn, can I get summa that?” is never a good introduction.

A few years ago I was walking with a female friend and she was striding ahead about 10 feet in front of me, which I supposed, was enough distance for people to assume we were’nt together.  During the course of our 10 block walk she was hit on no less than 5 times, by dudes who not only had no game but who were overall kinda lame and disrespectful, enough to make me up the pace and make sure our connection was a lot more clear to any other potential wack romeos.

When I told her how shocked I was all I got a shrug, and a “whatev, that’s the way it always is.” Now of course I knew about the inequalities women go through on the reg, but this was the 1st time I had seen it so crudely and repeatedly.

Unfortunately, fimmakers Nijlan Mu’min and Monique Hazeur, along with, well, just about every other woman on the planet, knows about this kind of on the street harassment pretty damn well.  

Filed under: Uncategorized , Activism, Back Up, documentary, Film, Monique Hazeur, Nijlan Mu'min, sexaul harrasment

B-more club, MIA, Kuduru: It ain’t where you from it’s how you Bang

Start your week with a Bang:

This vid is a perfect example of some of the greatness that’s been coming out of the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area in the last couple of years.  Rye Rye’s been making her name on the Bmore club scene for a hot minute and has recently been touring with everyone’s favorite ruddie-MIA-bringing the B-mo’ club to a worldwide audience.

I’ll write more about this later, but the last few years have seen some interesting international club music collabs.  Bmore Club, Portugal’s Kuduro and MIA’s brash outernationalisms all share a street energy, this primal funk that apparantly transcends geographies.  This is hood music, no matter the country, continent or context.

Filed under: Music , B more club, Buruka Som Sistema, Kuduro, MIA, Music, Rye Rye

This weekend-Raw Sugar and Erotic Photos

Image by Mike Butler

“Its not every day that I get the chance to share my inspiration and passion in this manner. Sensuous curves, tasty nipples & creamy delights.”-Julie K.
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Yes indeed, sensuous curves and tasty nipples, life’s simple pleasures. From munches to masochism, polyamory to play parties you really can’t get much more sex positive and simply pleasurable than the Bay Area. But after a while it’s hard not to notice that the kink rainbow is often missing a few shades, even in this sea of diverse debauchery.

This is one of the reasons that Nenna, the Oakland based director, producer and sex education activist behind Sugar in the Raw, began the annual visual art show last year.

Filed under: Art, Kink, Photos, Promotions , Alameda, Art, Erotica, Kink, Oakland, Photography

And God said let there be Fire!

For the next few days West O’s gonna be a lot hotter than normal as the Crucible’s 9th annual Fire Arts Festival ignites the nights around West Grand Ave.

As if the field across from the Crucible’s digs on 7th wasn’t huge enough, this year the festival’s migrated a few blocks East  to abandoned lot even more appropriate to set shit on fire.

At $85-95 tix are a litte steep for the average broke ass artist, but it’s all for a good cause-the Crucible’s youth workshops and scholaship programs.  So you get to see some awesome as fuck flaming art and feel like a bug wig arts patron for the night.  Flame on Bitches!

Filed under: Art, Oakland , Fire Arts, Fire Arts Festival, Oakland, the Crucible, Warehouse Art

White people dance like this, black people dance like that

Yes, I shamelessly and unapologetically jacked the idea for this post from that TAN dude, but it’s a fuggin brilliant idea, so there. Imitation=flattery and all that…

So dig it: this little slice of minimal excellence is straight  from the Berlin based mind of  electro producer Squarespace. A little B-boy, a little modern, a little Fosse, a couple pencil skirts and some skinny ties.   So clean and sharp, with a controlled boogie and bubbly aftertaste.

Then we have this.

Filed under: Dance, Video , b-boy, Dance, fosse, House Music, squarespace

Michael Jackson Memorial tonight in Oakland

Anyone in the Bay Area looking for some Michael Jackson communion tonight should head over to the Black Dot Cafe,

1195 Pine st in West Oakland from 7pm-10pm. Folks will be reading memorials, poems, playing music (bring your axe) and watching the CNN memorial. call 510-594-4340 for more info.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Michael Jackson, Oakland

Death of Autotune or Death of Hip Hop?

Alright, I’ve been thinking about this for the last few weeks as I’ve been rewinding the hell out of Jay Z’s latest and I want to get a couple things out of the way from the jump. 1) Autotune is hella overused and kind of annoying after the 50th listen. 2) In a sea of catchy hooks and brain dead verses, Jay Z’s DOA is like a Super Lyrical life preserver. Granted, Jay’s call for an end to all things Autotuned isn’t on par with that original Big Pun joint but still, as my man DKing says- “That dude there, he raps. That’s what you call RAPPING.”

So for the first 15 or so spins of Death of Autotune I had to geek out on the head nod. Of course there are mad underground heads making dope songs but I’ve still got a soft spot for old school terrestrial radio, so to hear a mainstream cat going in like this touched off some back in the days nostalgia. It almost felt like the mid 90’s again.

But with all that being said, once I took off the hip hop cheerleader’s helmet and picked up my critic’s notebook my opinions shifted a bit. Where once DOA sounded like a breath of fresh air and a rallying cry for “Real Hip Hop” (does anyone even seriously have this debate anymore?) it was now beginning to sound like the last swan song of a style past it’s prime. A damned fine swan song, but still one that signals the beginnings of a march out the Exit door.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Art, chuck palahniuk, Death of Autotune, DOA, essay, fight club, Hip Hop, hipster rap, Jay Z, Kid Cudi, Music, T Pain, Wale

There’s deep house, then there’s Thunderbolts

This, good people, is house music.

I’ve been hearing this joint for a hot second.  I never knew the producer but the cut is fire.  Some serious dancefloor deepness.  Turns out it’s called “Thunderbolts” and it’s by a young cat by the name of Ezel, an NY by way of Puerto Rico house head recently signed to Carlos Mena’s Oakland based Ocha Records.  

Filed under: Music , Carlos Mena, Ezel, House Music, Nina Simone, Oakland, Ocha Records, See line woman

First MJ, now Vibe. But Vibe kinda sucked.

Although I’ve gotta say that while I’m sincerely sad about the first, the second is a pure nostaligiac respect based on three things:

1. Vibe was the 1st mag I ever bought a subscription to with my own hard  earned yout’ money (The only thing I had to show after a high school at Taco Hell, save a longstanding and unhealthy obsession with 7 layer burritos).
2. Quincy Jones  has always been, and will continue to be The Fucking Man.  Anybody who can roll with Miles and Sinatra’s gotta command a little respect.
3. Eff what ya heard, Daniel Smith was the best editor of any Hip Hop mag ever. EH-vah.  When I heard she was going to be back at the helm I actually considered subscribing again, for like 3 whole seconds.  Ah well, maybe this means she’ll have time to get back to blogging (her kaleidoscopic  didact rants on entertainment, politics and sports are still an inspiration. )

Filed under: Hip Hop, Media, Music