The problem with the CNN Don Lemon & Nas interview

(Props to The Hood Nerd for his original post.)

CNN, we have a problem.

By now most people have heard of Derrion Albert, the 16 year old Chicago honor student killed in the middle of a gang brawl last week. The incident was caught on video and has sparked all the moral outrage, tears and calls to action such tragedies are known to inspire.

It’s a terrible situation any way you slice it and in situations like these there are always loads of valid questions, anger and finger pointing-merited or otherwise. People are hurt and looking for culprits, some unwavering boogie man to pin the issue on before burning them at the stake.  And it’s here that CNN steps in with the reporting equivalent of a sucker punch, landing a two piece right on the jaw of the hip hop community.

Over the weekend, CNN’s Don Lemon did a story package that included an emotional interview with Albert’s mother, a Q&A with a couple of Chi-town community activists and a sit down with the rapper Nas, who had penned a letter entitled “An Open Letter to Young Warriors” that addresses the violence and calls for young cats to rethink priorities, drop some of the stupid shit and and make more positive choices. All in all not a bad look, and so far it’s the most action taken by anyone from the mainstream urban entertainment community.

Filed under: Activism, Hip Hop, Media

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

Red Clay and Bukowski are better artists than you

If you don’t have to make art, don’t.  This shit is difficult and the hourly pay sucks.

I remember when I was in college one of my poetry profs would regularly deliver the one two reality punch of encouraging students  to write as much as possible, right before stressing that you should only make it a career if you had no choice.   The ones that had no choice knew who they were.  We were the ones with that far off look in our eyes and wandering gaze, the ones who walked into class on clouds and talked sestinas and sentence structure till 3 in the morning clutching a jug of wine and chain smoking hand rolled cigarrettes.  We’re all broke now.

But of course, it’s what we do.  No regrets over here.  Especially when you run across a work that changes the way you look at life, offers a new vantage point, or gives you hope regarldless of the stupid shit that happens on the day to day.  There’s that old saying that “hearts speak to each other” and while I’m not ready to get on The Secret Metaphysical, I do believe that you can spot a true artist a mile away, someone who does it because they have to, cuz there is no other option.  Who, even if they were down to their last dime, dumpster diving they’d find a top to bang on, a pencil to write with or a song to sing.

Filed under: Art, Hip Hop, Music, Poetry , Art, Charles Bukowski, Hip Hop, Music, Poetry, Red Clay

It’s Tricia. Dr. Rose If You’re Nasty

My god I think I love this woman.

I read Dr. Tricia Rose’s first book, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, a couple years out of high school and it was one of the first pieces of critical text to really make the hard connections between Hip Hop, black inner city culture, technology and social justice.

Judging from this video , recorded at the Columbia College a few months back, it looks like Dr. Rose is still dropping jewels on the sometimes staid halls of academia.  Here she discusses the idea of a post racial America in the time of President B-Rock.

Props to The Black Report for the link.

Filed under: Activism, Authors, Books, Hip Hop, Politics

Photolicious: Rock the Bells

All was good at the Shoreline Amphitheater this past Saturday: the Bells were Rocked, although a little softer than last year, the Low End Theory was there, they wrecked shop, Pharcyde proved they are still the niggas in charge, Meth got his crowd surf on, Nas got a bit of rock star swagger and Naeem Juwan has earned a spot on my coveted Freaky Black People I Fuck Wit list.  Overall, the people were pleased.  Check the pics below and more over on the Oakbook website.

Filed under: Hip Hop, Music, Photos, Reviews , De La Soul, Hip Hop, Method man, Mos Def, Nas, Photography, Photos, Redman, Rock the Bells, Tribe Called Quest

B-Rock the Vote!

Alright we all love Obama, and rappers far and wide have been throwing their support behind the future Mr. President for the last year, but this video is officially the best Hip Hop for Obama video ever. Really. EVER.

Created by Keith From Up The Block, a comedian and actor out of Philly, the vid jacks George Kranz’s Din Daa Daa and flips the fuck out of it with B-Rock Obama, Illery Clinton and crew in an all out B-Boy battle with McPain and his folk. There are nods to Beat Street, Purple Rain and early Hip Hop culture all throughout this piece and dude’s BRRRAACK beat boxing is friggin’ genius.

And for all you newbies, here’s the original song and the clip that made it famous. From Breakin 2 Electric Boogalo:

Filed under: Activism, Hip Hop, Politics , Barack Obama, Hip Hop, Keith From Up The Block

The Scraper Bike Movement

“Oakland is a mobile kind of town. Way beyond the “whatever gets me from point A to point B” mentality, folks here seem to take a special kind of pride in their rides while eschewing conventional transportation ideas with an almost religious zeal. We’ve got Scrapers and Choppers and Hybrids. We’ve got Fixed Gears and Art Cars and Rat Bikes. We run on pedal power and vegetable oil just as much as good old petrol, and are just as likely to be spearheading the next big transport trend in an abandoned warehouse as we are to be tricking out an old Impala in our front yard. When it comes to our wheels, Oakland definitely goes.

So it’s not surprising that the latest mobility craze to gain worldwide fame had its genesis in the Town. World, take note: Oakland is the home of the Scraper Bike Movement. And Tyrone Stevenson Jr., aka “Baby Champ,” is the Scraper Bike King.”

Filed under: Features, Hip Hop , Scraper Bikes

Sage Francis will b-boy all over your ass.

In keeping with the dance theme, I offer this gem. Apparently Sage was at the Epitath Records HQ, probably drinking bub and smackin bitches-like any proper hip hop star-when somebody challenged somebody else to a dance battle.

 

This hilarious mess is the result.

 

I dug Sage Francis a lot during the spoken word years when he running around as part of the Non Prophets. He dropped an album earlier this year and this vid makes me want to see what he’s been up to. Looks like he’s still being…creative.

Do your dance dude.  Do your muthafuckin’ dance:

Filed under: Dance, Hip Hop, Video , Breakdance, Dance, Epitath Records, Hip Hop, Sage Francis