Do the Right Thing: Celebration Continued Part II ---> The Music Part I

It's a twitter music monday yall. Catch my tunes.

Today's extra hot. I was in the emergency room and saw too many heatstroked seniors. Guess that means its time for another installment about Do the Right Thing, set on the hottest day of the year.

Now any die hard Spike Lee fan will tell you about Joe's Bedstuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, Spike Lee's 1983 thesis and how that launched Spike's career and yada yada yada. That's your Spike Lee fact for the day. Instead I'm going to focus on Spike and music.

The same year Lee was filming his thesis, hiphop was still in its infant stage and rap was forming a personality of sorts. In 1983, Grandmaster Melle Mel (and possibly Grandmaster Flash..there's some sketchiness with the credits) came out with White Lines. The unofficial music video starred Laurence Fishburne and was directed by none other than Spike Lee.

Grandmaster Flash White Lines
Uploaded by papafonk - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Immersed in the politics of the day and all the characteristics of hip hop culture: innovation, rebellion, political dissatisfaction and the excited emergence of a new voice for an underclass, Lee merged his art with hip hop music and Do the Right Thing earned its place in hip hop history.

From directing the Public Enemy video which served as the movie's theme:


to the opening sequence:


to the costuming, language, and of course Radio Raheem and that big ol music box blasting hip hop


Lee incorporated hip hop into his work in a manner that had not been done before, epitomizing it as a form of black expression and often contrasting and comparing it to jazz sensibilities with its own culture of innovation, signifying and protesting.

Do the Right Thing isn't the only movie in which Spike has used the dynamics of music to emphasize his point, but the movie and its writer-director have left a clear mark in the hip hop community inspiring pieces such as
UNI-K.R.E.A.M.


and whatever Jermaine Dupri, Ciara and Nelly cooked up for this.

Nelly ft Jermaine Dupri & Ciara - Stepped On My J's (New)
by foxysoul

Following my Do the Right Thing Tribute?
Part One: Scary Do the Right Thing Muppets

Old School Friday: If I Were A Boy

So of course, if I were a boy I'd want to be Theo Huxtable or Dwayne Wayne. Alas, they aren't real ppl. And as much as I love Shad Moss, he is also not my choice out of fear that I'd suffer from short man syndrome. But this was hard, because there are quite a artists I'd emulate if I were a boy. Sean Combs almost made it on, but I spared you. I'm not sure if I'd be funk like Prince, a crooner like Gerald Levert, or rock out like Lenny. And I also didn't include anyone who has passed away...because if I were a boy, I'd like to be alive.

My Boy Choices Pre-1999:
Nas... Yes, even during Snaggle Tooth Era. He tee-totals through different genres of rap, but is always himself and you'd be hard pressed not to find a message through most of his music (note I said most. Oochie Wallie is obviously not included...but that's a perk of being a guy, isn't it?). And while he hasn't diversified his act, is prone to antics like naming his album N*gger, he remains sharp in what he does and is married to Kelis.



Jamie Foxx. This man oozes talent...even when he wasn't a recording artist. Go ahead Wanda!



Sigh, if only Theo's rap career took off:



Join in on the Old School Friday Fun!
Anyone can join in on the OSF fun. Check out the rules here and peep other participants below. HAPPY Old School Friday!

AJ - BklynQueen’86 - Bria - CC Groovy - Chocl8t - Cooper - Shawn - Danielle Vyas - Dee - DP - Fresh and Fab - Hagar’s Daughters - Invisible Woman - John - Keith - Kevin - Kim - LaKeisha - LaShonda - Lil Creole Pimp - Lisa C - Mahogany - Malcolm - Marcus - Martin - MarvalusOne - Mike - Mrs. Grapevine - MsLadyDeborah - Pjazzypar - Pop Art Diva - Quick - Regina - Revvy Rev - Shae-Shae - Sharon - SJP - Staci - Tami - Tha Connoisseur - Thembi - Vérité Parlant - Villager - Vivrant Thang - Wheneva Whateva - Zenobia -

My President is Black? MICHELLE IS TOO!

Way back when I started blogging, one of my first posts was an acknowledgment of a family hobby-rewriting song lyrics to fit whatever we felt like. So yes, as a recent college grad I penned "Bouncing" the broke girl's version to Jim Jones's "Balling." Unfortunately I'm still Bouncing since I said forget a job and went back to school, but that doesn't mean I have lost my ability to make awful remakes of current rap blockbusters.

I bring you the beginning of my latest opus: "My President is Black....And Michelle is Too." These songs tend to get written on the train, and this one was born as I crossed the Manhattan Bridge two days after the inauguration. I have to print the lyrics to the actual song so I can match the rhyme scheme and include some of Michelle's other traits (i.e....her education, career, overall flyness).

My President is BLACK/ AND so is his BOO/ She's the new "M.O." with a fly hair do/Italian Leather Gloves/ and silk shifts in navy blue/ Forget the Gap we all shop at J. Crew...- Me, expressing my love of Michelle Obama

--Original Version: "My President is Black " Young Jeezy
Remix with Nas
Jay-Z Take

My President is Black-Vanity Dark
In case you haven't realized: I'm kind of a joker and not aspiring to be a real rapper...ever. This also isn't an endorsement of Young Jeezy, even though this song is ridiculously catchy.If someone wants to get me real video editing software, I can get high tech like this dude.





HAUL,
Kim

Old School Friday: The Year I Graduated High School

This Friday I have no choice but to break the rules. I graduated H.S. in 2003, so the music may not be that old school. Actually it's a little sad to remember that at my high school prom we got hype to Cam'ron songs. Yes my senior year saw the emergence of Dipset into mainstream music, reggae getting it's millennial shine from Sean Paul and Shaggy, people beefing over Jay-Z vs. Nas....vs. DMX(yea you read correctly), Matchbox 20 and Linkin Park still holding relevance and the best American Idol fight ever: Ruben Studdard vs. Clay Aiken. This also is not to mention the emergence of the R. Kelly scandal and The Chocolate Factory which made everyone believe they could be a Chicago stepper. The Midwest /South also became even bigger on the East Coast with all sorts of names coming out for one dance which Sean P.Diddy Combs ran with, and taught us all how to shake our tailfeather. Of couse, Kirk Franklin emerged with yet another choir under a different name.

I'm defining year by the school year calendar- September 2002-June 2003. For the inspirational joint of that year I present Nas, "I Can." I remember using this in juxtaposition to Fifty Cent lyrics from "In da Club" for a Black History speech I gave at my church. I spoke about having "many black men in the big house, but not undermining the power of Condi and Colin in the White House." To think that we've elected a black president since then is mind boggling.



My senior year did have its share of good movies. I remember having to go to different movietheaters because of lines to see Barbershop and also watching Brown Sugar and wondering whey they didn't just name it Love and Hip Hop. Still one of my fave songs, comes from that soundtrack.




And for a senior year tv clip only I can appreciate: Kim Possible a show that was obviously named after yours truly. Lol.



Happy OSF! Check out other Old School Friday participants here:http://www.themarvalusview.com/osf/

HAUL,
Kim

N.E.R.D. Plays Carling Brixton Academy over a month ago

and I'm finally going to provide my bad video from the night. Overall it was a pretty good show. N.E.R.D. tends to have something akin to a cultish fan base, but the Londoners were ready and psyched for the concert. I am convinced that 1/2 of the people in attendance purposely went out and got Billionaire Boys Club outfits and BAPES just for that night. According to many people in the neighborhood, N.E.R.D. also generated the largest crowd at the Carling Academy in a while. It was a one night only performance at thirty pounds a pop. Apparently Glow in the Dark makes it way over to Europe in the fall, so if you missed it, don't feel too bad.

So after some random Irish band opened, the crowd was ready and hyped for the show. The band came out first, and I'm certain half of the audience thought the drummer was Pharell. But as Pharell and Shay took the stage, the roars became even louder. The backdrop came down and it had dizzying patterns going by on it. It kind of looks like those backgrounds you can choose on a Windows PC for the Jukebox player. I don't know if that was supposed to be an allusion to "Seeing Sounds" or if I was just thinking too hard about the way that the show came together. But in reality, it was a pretty gimmickless show. Now I missed the Glow in the Dark tour, which seemed to be full of sets and really worked as a concept show. This was just straight performances and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed. I guess you don't need all the condiments when you're hungry. Hit after hit was performed and people sang along. Some girl got to go onstage because it was her birthday. My highlight of the night was when they performed "Maybe." That song has my favorite N.E.R.D. video. They also covered the White Stripes "Seven Nation Army." If you don't remember that song, get reacquainted as it has one of the best beats of all times.

At the end of the night, Pharell came back out and performed "Frontin." He acknowledged that it wasn't a N.E.R.D. song, and said he wasn't going to perform it, because he had retired the song from concerts. He also yelled at the crowd that it was a N.E.R.D. concert, and so they should appreciate N.E.R.D. songs. Whatever. I mean I do see the logical and professional dilemma...but he performed the song anyway. It was enjoyed.

I guess that does raise some other interesting questions. If Destiny's Child has a reunited concert do we get to hear Beyonce songs? They do have way more songs than N.E.R.D. to choose from but its a question. When New Edition reunited did BBD or Bobby Brown or Johnny Gill get to do their own songs? Were they all even in the reunited group? Does anyone want to hear grown men sing Mr. Telephone Man?

My new observations from that night: Pharell is even more skinny than I thought he was. Anti-Matter from the latest album, Seeing Sounds is one of my new favorites songs. The Brits live for this kind of music.

Below I've uploaded some clips from the show. The sound is kind of bad and the video is nothing to write home about. I can't even remember what they were singing at some points (It was the weekend of June 14th after all).

He Came Classy With It

Way back when, Noel Gallagher of Oasis stated his dismay at a rap artist being chosen to headline the Glastonbury festival out her in the jolly ole'. Glastonbury was supposed to remain for guitar based rock music (even if Amy Winehouse was performing as well, but not going there). It was plastered all over the free newspapers of London, but I heard nothing of a retort by Jay-Z, which you have to admit is a bit unusual for a rapper.

This is perhaps the classiest comeback. As reported by Spinner, Jay -Z simply acquiesed to Gallagher, performing classic Oasis song, "Wonderwall" at the show as part of his set.

On the Street|Cinched: Why the New York Times need a clue?

It was the New York times that started the fist bump foolishness. In perhaps the cutest article ever about Barack Obama and his assistant, Reggie Love they spoke of "closed-fist high-fives" to which my friends and I laughed, knowing that they had to be talking about a "pound" or "dap." That was alright New York Times. You just needed a way to express the imagery of the action to the public. Little did you know Michelle and Barack would do it a few days on tv, making the public aware of something they were already aware of (Even the Dalai Lama gives pounds. I've seen pics.)

There was also that random Style article about chipped nail polish that discussed how it was now acceptable to have chipped nails. I convened with friends again. We decided it wasn't and that the article was silly. But then again, London girls think black tights or stocking with holes in the summer is acceptable, so I just may be old fashioned like that.

This past weekend we were graced with Bill Cunningham's "On the Street|Cinhed" audio visual feature. Check it out here.
Now I'm just concerned about my hometown paper.

Things I wonder:
1. Where did they find so many shirtless guys? Sure people go shirtless on their block, and NYC did just have a heatwave, but those dudes were passing a Zara making it one of 4 or 5 locations(that I can think of), and the shirtless is just not that normal. It had to all be at the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

2. Really NY Times? One, this is not new. As Mr. Cunningham pointed out, guys have been wearing baggy jeans for quite some time now. Contrary to popular belief, they often did wear belts with them. There had to be away for the jeans not to completely fall off. Also, I've seen this ridiculousness in Brooklyn for quite some time from baggy to fitted jeans. Top Shottas are Top Shottas everywhere.

3. I'm a fan of relating history to everything. After all I was a history concentrator. The depression connection was a little weak. I'm somewhat doubting that super low rise jeans will come in fashion for men as a way of rationing fabric. It's supposedly going out for women though, so who knows. That along with the graffiti connection and the relevance to hip hop culture should have been developed more. Really, my history tf would have graded you worse than they graded me.

4. White kids do live in the city, not just Long Island, Westchester and the UES (which may as well not be the city). They also adapt to and contribute to these fashion musings. But they are not top shottas. Sorry.

Gawker agrees this is ridiculous.

Hey, New York Times. See how I knew this was all bogus. I could be a real help. Hire me!

H.A.U.L.

My Favorite Scenes: Guest Singers Part I

This is a topic that has no ending. Every show has repeatedly used guest musical stars as a method of cross promotion. However some episodes will remain with you forever. This will obviously have to be part one of the series, because really I could place every episode of New York Undercover under this title and at least one special episode from every season of The Cosby Show. So let's get the party started. As usual, clips at the end if they can be found. There are also several little Michael Jacksons in here.

Of course there are my requisite A Different World references (of which I probably won't be able to find an online clip). But for me three guest star episodes stand out. One of them is of course the En Vogue episode where the talented girl group are incorporated into the script as Mr. Vernon Gaines's nieces that Ron then uses in his night club performance. Then there is the Gladys, Gladys Knight episode. Whatever happened to the opera singer, she could blow? The third is when Kriss Kross performed in yet another classic episode concerning youth violence following on the give back to your community theme propagated by Sinbad's community center. The episode name is "Original Teacher" and yes at one point in my life I considered wearing my clothing backwards "because inside out is wiggedy wiggedy wiggedy wack."


Fresh Prince also had its share of stars even though they didn't always sing. It also is the number one example of lets ignore my career outside of this show. So besides for the fact that it starred Will Smith, Jazzy Jeff and little MJ #1 Alfonso Ribiero, the show produced by Quincy Jones also brought in a few characters. Who can forget the episode where Tevin Campbell comes and sings for Ashley Banks' birthday. She swoons, faints and then ended up in half of his videos afterwards. Then good ol' Philly boy Will of course knows all of Boyz II Men because everyone in Philly knows each other. Vanessa Williams was also on an episode. She mentioned Saving the Best for Last and gave birth to a baby. There was no singing. Sadness. Of course Tatyana Ali's singing career began on the show as well. Sigh, that boy was playing with her mind.


Then there was Family Matters. The place for relatively unknown stars to go and remain relatively unknown. Besides for their constant references to current musicians like Bobby Brown and their 10 second rendition of My Perogrative (which made the show relevant then, but super dated now), I remember two distinct performances. One was by Seal and another was by Portrait. The Seal episode deserves its own, My Favorite Scenes reference: the I'm a teenager sneaking out to a really cool club/music performance even though my parents already told me no. The Portrait episode is also a recurring theme: performance at a school concert. We also can't forget the many times that Eddie Winslow and Aunt Rachel (of Tony and Dawn fame) got an opportunity to sang and Urkel did something like singing and Carl and his friends did a rendition of old jammy jams (it was his h.s. reunion episode that taught me the intricacies of the Mash Potato). There was also that time that Shanice and Eddie had something strange ocurring. So that brings the count up to three. Should also be pointed out that little Ricky was a scary miniature little MJ and I think probably looks just as creepy now.

Sister Sister, with its bevy of shows dedicated to Roger, Tia and Tamera's singing abilities also had its fair share of singing guests. Of these three stand out in my mind. The Brian McKnight Episode, where Tia develops a crush on him as he plays her teaching assistant. Maybe not as much singing as it was playing his song in the background. Tia and Tamera, always open about their faith, also did an episode using Kirk Franklin. Of course they were in the choir, but we can't blame them. There's also another favorite scene reference that emerged with the prevalence of 90s stars having dual careers: the let's forget I have a job outside of the show. Roger, also known as Marques Houston, f.k.a. Batman of Immature/IMX fame outside of the show performs on the show as part of his teenage boy band group. The girls swoon. No one admits that Roger and Batman look exactly the same. It also serves to note that this was probably one of the few jobs that Kid could get post House Party (also serves to note that Immature was in the last installment of House Party ..the black 90s is all one big 6 degrees, which yes starred Will Smith). Sister Sister also took both sides of the rap game showcasing some man that disrespected women in one early episode and then the Goodie Mob/Cee-Lo in another episode. They also went to Freak-nik...not what you generally think of your wholesome teen show.


Following his older sisters, Tahj Mowry also had his own vehicle: Smart Guy. While this show had its fill of never to be realized potential (Omar Gooding, Essence Atkins, Tahj Mowry, and Jason Weaver) it also had its singing moments. How could you not let little MJ (Jason Weaver was in The Jackson Five movie as little MJ) sing? There's also the Destiny's Child episode where they do their rendition of Amazing Grace and Beyonce explains to Marcus (Jason Weaver) that she spent Thanksgiving in a airport eating a turkey sandwich. I failed to shed crocodile tears.
A DIFFERENT WORLD

(Go here for full episode: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oYW5f6JVSrY)


I didnt reference this one of The Boys, but since I can't find Kriss Kross I'll supplement.

Family Matters



And I can't find the Seal episode, so here's New Edition. I think they had a love affair with the group and its fall out:


and the Tracy Spencer Episode:


FRESH PRINCE


Tatiana Ali in TC vid


Sister Sister
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Smart Guy




So yes, this episode of My Favorite Scenes is far from over. There will be plenty more, including more My Favorite Scenes cross references. We haven't even gotten to Queen Latifah/Khadijah and Living Single of the horrible nature of Joey Lawrence and Blossom yet or Moesha. How could we be done?

And now for some more six degrees: Thelma Hopkins (Aunt Rachel) of Family Matters would later play Essence Atkin's father's baby mama on Half and Half. The new (and wacker) Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince is married to Ray from Sister, Sister in Real Life. Of course Tia, Tamera, and Tajh have all starred on each others shows, and were all on Full House. About half of these people are going to be in the greatest resurrection of the black 90s sitcom in soem movie about stepping that I swear me and my friend dreamed up back when drumline came out. If only we wrote a script.

"Because like cockroaches and taxes, Lil Kim isn't going anywhere":A Clotel Reference

This definitely has to be one of my new favorite blogs. The rant is a bit close to typical, but oh so necessary. I'm not even a feminist/womanist and I did the head nod a lot.

And there's a Clotel reference. If you don't know, go look it up. I won't even hyperlink this one for you ( it's not so much that its standard knowledge, but more that I'm lazy. While you're at it look on One Blood). Reliving my Af-Am lit course in my head.

http://blacksnob.blogspot.com/2008/05/hip-hop-hedonism-in-p-power-era.html

I'm Still Here: The Miller Boys

So I know, I say I'm going to bring the freshness for Black History Month, and what do I go and do...get a job. I did have exciting posts planned. I was going to revisist last year's historic superbowl featuring black coaches and forever immortalized by Kanye and Common in their song South Side on Superbowl Sunday. I was also going to look at past black runners for the Democratic Nomination on Super Tuesday (Shirley Chisolm, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Mosley Braun and any others I may have inadvertently left out of this list). The plans were great, but the month is only half past, so do look out.

Shameless. I've been a bit ghost, kind of like The Miller Boys, but I wanted to share some of their latest work with you.

All truth, Master P and Romeo are of an era past, but these videos reaching out to the past are worth taking a little watch. You can fast forward Romeo's part, but the cartoon version would make a good showing for some second graders. Okie dokes, thats it for now.

Cartoon Version "Black History"


Official Video

Talib's Genius

So, I'm sitting, working with my internet disconnected listening to Talib Kweli's " Happy Home" featuring Candice Anderson off his MySpace album with Madlib, called Liberation. "Happy Home" is a pretty cool song that tells the story of Kweli's family going back to his grandparents and how his parents met. This is my umpteenth and a gazillionth time listening to this song, and it is pretty high up in my most played I Tunes list. This time, I caught something else in the lyrics "Back in the day it was hard for black actors/ They had to lighten their skin with Max Factor/ But my grandfather Stan wasn't Nothing But a Man,"when discussing his paternal grandfather. I've usually paused on the Max Factor part, in sheer amazement at their hold on the entertainment history in that time period (watch the credits of an I Love Lucy episode) but this time my ears picked up something different. He slipped in the great and oft-forgotten Ivan Dixon movie "Nothing But a Man."
"Nothing But a Man" is a great 1960s movie about black people, directed by and starring the great black actor Ivan Dixon. Admittedly its a little rough, but it was a budget movie in the 60s, what do you want???? Unfortunately Discon became most famous for being an assembly line worker/Sgt. in Hogan's Heroes. However, he was also involved in awesome projects that are Vanity Dark recommended like the movie version of "The Spook Who Sat By The Door" and "A Raisin in the Sun." For a Wiki on Dixon click here and for information on "Nothing But A Man" click here. Get up on that history.

But back to Talib...

So I do a little research. Talib Kweli's last name is Greene and according to IMDB, there is a Stanley Greene in the movie who played quite the prominent role as the Reverend.

This is an exciting find and indeed a great moment in pop culture history. Talib has quite family tree. NYU educated parents, actors, and afros all settled down in Brooklyn. Hot [Thing]. I really appreciate how he wove that bit of pop culture history into the story line. For me, that's genius. It also makes more sense now that Talib was at NYU studying theater (you must hear him joke about him being the one with the education and Mos Def being the one with all the movie roles...lol).



Sigh, I'm too excited about this and not excited enough about the symbiotic yet disadvantageous relationship between social movements and the media.

HAUL,
The Queen

British Grime Artist Bashy and The Cool Kids REDUX

BLACK BOYS, GRIME, RIDICULOUSITY

My cousin put me on to the fact that this Grime artist, Bashy, and his song and video Black Boys that was banned by OFCOM. My rant on OFCOM, a British media regulatory system will come at another point...after I finish my 11,000 words of paper writing and do the original reading I was supposed to do on the organization. Anyone check out the video below and read more about the controversy here. Am I the only one missing the racist message? This is like when Michael Powell and the FCC blocked Sarah Jones and her "Your Revolution" which only spun the hypersexual lyrics already out in hip hop into a positive reaffirming message for women. *kisses teeth*




THE COOL KIDS
So I've blogged about The Cool Kids 2x before. You can read my original amazement here
and then my feeling justified that I wasn't completely off base here. Because somehow in my warped mind: Vibe writing about them is more important than the amazing Sasha Frere Jones covering them or even the Status Ain't Hood bloggers of The Village Voice and that first blog on which I read about them Beats and Rants. (It's a weird thing media hierarchy isn't it...)

Since then, they've gotten their cameo in the Rhapsody commercial and have continued to make raves. Now one of my favorite blogs, Honorable Media, has written about their debut album. Since I surely will not be sitting down, listening to each song and then sharing my thoughts ( I have about 11,000 words in paper writing to do in a day), I thought I'd share their views with you. Yes, that's me with a crazy long comment under their hood-because that's what I tend to do on that site. They don't know me, so I can be as silly and young as I want to be.

Anyways, check it out here: http://hmblog.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/the-cool-kids-totally-flossed-out-ep-review/.

Now I must just wait for Kelefa Sanneh to release his brilliant thoughts on the group and all will be right in the world.

(Oh and stay on the lookout for the next single from The Broke Girl Chronicles. It didn't stop with Bouncin'...oh no, I'm still broke, no joke...you know this.)

That's Okay With Me ....

That's where they made me at.

GET IT.

in this shirt:


Rocking it with Gold Doorknockers is optional. Take it Janet Jackson style and loop your housekey around a hoop. At least you won't get locked out.
found at:http://www.karmaloop.com/products.asp?ProductID=27608&VendorCode=BEP&utm_source=mybuysweb&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=27608&mybuyscid=849380216&

Brooklyn Art Space

Out on Main Street in Dumbo is a neat exhibitions space called the Powerhouse Arena. Note, I've never actually been there (well I've been to Dumbo and I've even worked on Main street...but never been to this arena), but was put on to them just now by Around The Way Girls blog and am impressed with what I see. So many good exhibits are ending today, but some pics are up so you can get a taste of what you missed. Visit the Powerhouse website here.

A few missed exhibits

Black in White America: From what I can tell its a collection of black and white portraits dedicated to portraying a sample of the black experience in America, but on a real level. The pictures don't immediately shock or anger, but is reality on a day to day basis. There are kids playing in hydrants, ladies with rollers in their hair, and the such. Still through it all you get a sense of what life is : the highs and the lows, and injustices that occurred. I wish I could tell you more but I don't have much to go by. The photos are from Leonard Freed, a prolific photographer and artist.

Partnered with Black in White America is Jamel Shabazz's Seconds of My Life. I can't lie, I'm feeling the photo with the Nike Jackets and the parts in the hair( These are the same jackets Kanye blogged about on his blog, tho he didn't mention the book Seconds of My Life...I also think there's a pic of Ye in the book with Johnny, either its them or all black people look the same to me). This is another day to day exhibit and it goes far beyond the materialism of Nike and their hold on the black community (I'm taking Spike on for that one day...but that should be an exhibit in and of itself...Nike and the Urban Community). He also captures performances, ceremonies, a girl with a scary cat and a Sistah Souljah book, and what appears to be The Nation of Islam along with Israelites (well not in the same picture). The pictures also range over time, from people rocking fades and using Nynex pay phones to murals of Dipset. You can also check out the book and more images there from one of the links on the URL that is linked above.


Another two exhibits that are partnered together are The Breaks: Stylin and Profilin 1982-1990 and Born in the Bronx. These two exhibits take two different but complementary looks at Hip Hop culture in the early years. The Breaks, photographed by Janette Beckman showcases the B-Boy stance and shows a lot of images of both male and female artists, crews, djs...etc. It's EastCoast/NY centered and captures some of the more influential folk of the Period. Born in the Bronx examines hip hop as originating from the Bronx (even tho Run DMC sneaks there way in there) and was done by Joe Conzo. Looking at the Bronx, the Hispanic influence and participation receives more of a focus, but not an overpowering one. It's something that makes sense since it is the Bronx/NYC (and we all know NuYoricans are a huge part of the culture and its all jumbled anyway), but not something that's thought about (at least I never thought about it) that much: so a history lesson for all. They were in there before Big Pun and Fat Joe.

And according to the PowerHouse website, the Smithsonian is now taking on a Hip Hop exhibit...so brace yourself.

All in all, a neat exhibition space and someplace to keep in mind for the future. Brooklyn has so much to offer...if you can take it in, don't let it pass you by.

The Cool Kids

Around the same time I heard about U-N-I and one of my new favorite songs K.R.E.A.M., I also heard about this group called The Cool Kids. There is some buzz going out about them at the moment, and from what I've read around the net their performance at CMJ music festival was pretty ill. They're music is out on the indy scene, but their core is hip hop...Smurf ...Whop ..they bringing 88 back (a nice lil NASty shout out). Someone needs to talk about the flyness that was 86 tho. I'm just saying...

props to beats and rants and Sasha Frere Jones of the New Yorker for putting me on...

HAUL,
The Queen

"Hip Hoppers Don't Do That...

..they shoot and move on to kill again." I've never heard of this radio commentator, John Gibson, but thanks to Young Turks on AOL, I had the pleasure of listening to his commentary on a recent school shooting in Ohio and then the differences between white and black kids shooting, after incorrectly assuming that the shooter was a black student (...the school is 85% black and all the pictures had black kids). Is there a witch hunt for fools after the whole Imus thing? I'm not sure anyone is going after this guy or if its worth it, but its at least worth the chuckle to listen to the characteristics of when "hip hoppers" or "you people" kill versus other groups. See the AOL post below. Also read about it on Media Matters, where you can learn about some of Johnny's other offenses.


Haul,
The Queen

Another Fox News Host with Another Racist Tirade

Posted Oct 13th 2007 5:35PM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Young Turks, Video, Fox News, Race Relations

This time it's John Gibson on his radio show talking about how he knew the school shooting in Ohio was done by a black kid who listened to hip hop music! Except it was a white kid. Oooops.

Then he was certain that the kid at least listened to hip-hop music (which, by the way, is not the same as gangster rap, in case Gibson is interested in knowing anything before he speaks; it's also not jazz, I know it comes as surprise to Fox News hosts when all black entertainers do not immediately break out in rap). Except the kid was a Marilyn Manson fan. Oooops.

So, Gibson desperately tried to pin this shooting on blacks or black culture, ignoring the fact that almost all school shootings in America are committed by young, white males (which also doesn't prove anything), including this one. Then, at the end, he unbelievably turns it around and tries to make the shooting seem more classy because the kid shot himself at the end. According to John Gibson, "hip-hoppers" are so cold blooded they they walk away from a shooting and do it again. Is his implication that white murderers have the decency to kill themselves afterward? Does that make it better?

It seems hard to believe he'd say these things, right? Listen for yourself:



I am not for seeing racism everywhere (I even defended Don Imus), but for those of you who refuse to see it anywhere, please tell me why Gibson went into this rant against black folks before he knew any of the facts of the case and kept it up even when it turned out it was a white kid who listened to "white" music who did the shooting?

Wyclef Jean- Sweetest Girl (Official music video)

New Wyclef joint...nice to know that everyone from the Fugees didn't have their weed laced with quack.

HAUL,

The Queen