Archive for the ‘T.O.N.Y.’ Category

Industry Rule #4,080…

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

ATCQ

This year’s VH-1 Hip-Hop Honors will give some shine to a group of artists from Queens that created the lane in rap music now occupied by DeLa Soul, The Roots, OutKast, BlackStar’s Mos Def and TALIB KWELI, the Neptunes and to a large degree KANYE WEST.

A Tribe Called Quest was more than simply a groundbreaking music group. In my opinion they were the modern expression for post-African Black culture. From a social standpoint when you look at ATCQ you can clearly see the myriad artistic influences that Black Americans employ in the creation of their own art. ATCQ represented with a collage of jazz, soul and classical music along with a healthy sprinkling of pop culture. ATCQ and the Native Tongue movement was a healthy and spiritual antidote to the gangsta image gimmickry that was becoming the Hip-Hop industry’s prevailing iconography.

In a few short years after the formation of ATCQ there almost wouldn’t be any oxygen available in rap music for those that didn’t breathe and breed self-destruction. Thankfully, A Tribe Called Quest’s influence extended past their own artistry. Hip-Hop’s underground scene continues to thrive for artists who appreciate the complexity and dexterity of lyrical expression and the textures and context of beatmaking. Hip-Hop lives on and even with the awards and honors bestowed from VH-1, A Tribe Called Quest never needed a statue to tell you how nice they were.

If you are on the planet of Brooklyn next Saturday 10.6.2007 I invite you to come to this event…

Brooklyn Bodega & The Hip Hop Institute, in conjunction with VH1 Hip Hop Honors and powerHouse Arena present
• HIP-HOP HONORS PANELS 2007 •
Saturday, October 6, 2007 – 12-2pm
powerHouse Arena
37 Main Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn
F Train to York Street, A/C to High Street

PANEL #1: A Tribe Called Quest, The Birth and Evolution of a Legend: A Tribe Called Quest is one of the few universally respected groups in the history of Hip-Hop. Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Phife (and sometimes Jarobi) crafted five outstanding albums over a 10 year period that defined what is know referred to as the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. Their music has influenced artists from Kanye West to T.I. to J Dilla and many more. Come join us as we discuss the group’s genesis, evolution and legacy. Let’s separate fact from fiction and why this group holds such a special place in Hip Hop.

Panelists: Jeff Sledge, Senior Director, Jive Records
Brian Coleman, author, Check The Technique
Eskay, writer, Nahright.com
Dallas Penn, Dallaspenn.com, Internet Celebrities
Lynn Johnson, Senior Editor, Fast Company
Buttahman, Director of Music & Talent, MTV

GO DALLAS! IT’s YA’ BERFDAY!

Friday, September 28th, 2007

blu cheez mister met

And you know Mr. Met don’t give a fuck if it’s ya’ birthday!

My little treat to myself to jump off my New Year (yes Rosh Hasha’anah) was to go to the big ballpark in my old ‘hood in Queens. It’s kind of how I reconnect to my parents who are no longer taking me to the cheap seats, and how I replenish my energies and return my focus. Plus, it’s beisbol bitches.

And beisbol has benn berry, berry good to me (yes Chico Escuela).

The only catch right now is that my azz is broke as fuck. Well, I’m not broken, since I am in one single piece. Okay, okay, one BIG, single piece, but my azz still ain’t got no money in the bank.

This is when I look up to the heavens and I ask my great-grandma for some help. She used to come all the way from Co-Op City on the QBX-1 bus down to her old house in Corona where my mother and I lived in order to babysit me. If you have ever had a grandmother then understand that having a great-grandma is like putting the little 2 symbol next to the word grandmother. It’s like grandmother squared. The power of love gets all exponential and shit.

Well what do you know? PEDRO MARTINEZ is on the hill for what might be his final game of the season and I just happen to have a few ‘Vote For Pedro’ t-shirts left to bump off. GOD helps those that help themselves so I packed my little bag with t-shirts and made myself a sammy to smuggle into the game.

There’s nothing better than a pumpernickel bagel with Nova lox, cream cheese, tomatoes and a slice of red onion. That my friends is good eating.

There’s also nothing better than having a birthday party with 50,000 festive people. I don’t know how many people actually showed up for the game, but it was way more folks than I could afford to buy drinks for to toast me. Even a few celebrities showed up too. Like this foine little cub reporter from channel 9 news. I forget ol’ girl’s name, and she had a little fatty too. She told her cameraman to take some pics of us because she didn’t trust my skills. Typical for a Black woman not to trust a brother just because he’s a sloppy, fat bum with flat pockets.

nicole johnson

Kiss me, I’m an iNternets Celebrity.

Just as an aside, BRENDA BLACKMON would have let me stick my tongue down her throat. And it was my birthday for crissakes!

nicole johnson

nicole johnson

Enough hi-jinks with the real world news celebrities I had t-shirts to bump if I was gonna be able to buy myself a ducat to get up in this piece. Time for me to get my true school hustle steez on.

People are whizzing by me at lightning speed. While flatfoots are on the patrol to knock anyone moving that illicit contraband (read: unlicensed merchandise that MLB isn’t getting a cut off). I’m smooth though because this is some shit that I did when the heat was really on. R.I.P. BAR-KIM and 101st and Northern Boulevard. Take a look for yourself…


So after my work was all sold I put my paper right back into the community by hitting off a scalper for a one-piece.

At first I was like “Hell no!” since the date on the ticket said June 28, 2007 but then dude reminded me how his shit was 100 because the game tonight was a makeup joint from earlier in the summer. Yeah, he was right.

The St. Louis Cardinals were in town for a one night stand. Maybe we could get us a little get-back from last years’ NLCS, although even a win tonight can’t deny the Cards their World Championship so whatever.

My seat was supposed to be in the upper deck of Shea Stadium and I will tell you a true story in that I haven’t sat up there since my homey ViceGrip’s moms took us to a game when DAVE KINGMAN was still on the team.

Fuck what my ticket says, I’m sitting on the field level in a box seat behind the Mets dugout because that is how I enterprise my lifestyle. Y’all should do the same too. Ghetto Big Mac your lifestyle nah’mean?!? Don’t just settle for ketchup. Put some special sauce on your shit. I politicked myself through the security at the field level and then found an open seat, and when these Italian niggas sitting next to me looked at me funny I looked right back at them. Indignant ignorance is a DP trademark.

pedrocito

Besides, the Mets needed me up front for encouragement and support, and as you might imagine I am one of the greatest hecklers of all time who can keep it funny and keep it G-Rated for the ladies and the kids. BLU CHEEZ is for the childrens.

No amount of encouragement would save the Mets on this evening however, and I unfortunately made more noise than the home teams’ bats could. I was even tempted to start the wave in the latter half of the game, and the final two frames found me wearing my OG fitted in rally cap mode all to no avail. At the end of the game St. Louis had once again bested my beloved Mets (yes eff you BYRON CRAWFORD), but at least I placed my vote on the only candidate that I believe in.

Myself.

pedrocito

FISTY SCENT To Marry The DIRT ANGEL…

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

odd couple

Trust me, a diamond ring was given.

Read all bout rap music’s latest marriage over on BILLY SUNDAY’s column at XXL Mag Dot Com.

Oh yeah, Harris Publishing paid their light bill so their shit is back on and popping.

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE EVANGELIZED…

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

ttbod

An overdue shout goes to Brooklyn Bodega and the Room Service Group for sending me to see this play a few weeks ago. The playwrite, DANNY HOCH, is a favorite of mine for his spoken word creativity. HOCH has written several plays that have been featured through Hip-Hop Project’s theatre works productions. I’m sure that you folks are familiar with his landmark piece ‘Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop’. DANNY HOCH is a true Hip-Hop voice and I was anxious to see his latest work.

‘Till The Break Of Dawn’ is the story of Hip-Hop heads that try to understand what the value of activism is within the artform and culture that they undeniably love to def. The play is set in the summer of 1991 and a group of Hip-Hop activists are making a trip to Cuba for a Hip-Hop festival. They imagine that there will be a great manifestaion of Hip-Hop’s true essence within the confines of a republic that has single-mindedly(and some say foolishly) rebuked the capitalist ideal that America espouses.

Bear in mind that I rarely define Hip-Hop as a culture because I believe it exists within the culture of American capitalism. As a result of being exploited by American capitalism Hip-Hop was borne, and today Hip-Hop exists hand in hand with American capitalism in the service of selling two dollars bottles of quarter water, car accessories, and whatever else the machine fabricates.

The group winds up on Cuban soil and to their dismay they realize that the strained relationship with the United States and the embargo imposed upon this tiny island are responsible for a quality of life that leaves much to be desired. The romantic aspect of communism quickly evaporates in front of these young people’s eyes. Nothing is more profound than when our protagonist has the fortune to meet with one of the many American dissidents living in Cuba. In a search for ASSATA SHAKUR the group turns up another woman who also came to Cuba after narrowly escaping her captivity here in the States.

It’s through the life experiences of this real freedom fighter that the group comes to realize the revolution wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Between the negative propaganda perpetuated by the U.S., and the revolutionary romanticsm retailed by the sellers of CHE GUAVARA t-shirts the group had an idealized imaginary Cuba. What the group eventually came to see is that Cuba was a waystation for people who only wanted to return to the U.S., their families and their former way of life. Cuba was not the final destination and now these folks were feeling the desperation of being trapped in their limbo.

The play was very active and from the gate it flowed like a Fu-Schnickens track. The characters were perfect stereotypical archetypes. Everyone played their roles well enough, but no one spoke to me as much as Dana, the character of the former escaped convict freedom fighting revolutionary. Towards the end of the play she delivered a monologue that essentially encapsulated the purpose of revolution. Love and work. Work is love. Love is hard work. Finally someone expresses the true nature of revolution. Wash, rinse and repeat.

The play could use a little editing in some areas to trim the fat as we say in the entertainment business, but essentially the work is enjoyable and refreshing. Hip-Hop needs us to support the alternative voices that speak against the commodification of the artform. DANNY HOCH’s play is one of those voices.

TILL THE BREAK OF DAWN
written and directed by DANNY HOCH
The Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street

GAME REBELLION ROCKS RESTORATION PLAZA…

Monday, September 17th, 2007

game restoration

GAME REBELLION is the future!

Saturday was like a homecoming party for Brooklyn’s ghetto metal rebel funk punk rock rap band when they played inside Bed-Stuy’s Restoration Plaza.

The band was once housed in a tenement on New York and Atlantic Avenues right around the corner. Now they’re in Bushwick which in some ways isn’t a move upwards, but they continue to rock for crowds large and small and bigger than everything else, GAME REBELLION is for the children.

game restoration

Teach the youth the truth!

game restoration

‘NETIC

game restoration

YO
game restoration

MALIK

game restoration

EMI AUGUSTIN

game restoration

new drummer dude

My apologies to CHIEF ‘MED who I don’t have a good pic of in this drop. Yo, for real, stop sleeping on GAME REBELLION. When these cats are part of the Black August concert next year I don’t want to see y’all trying to look familiar if you just got on the bandwagon.

FREE THE LAND!


‘Save Me’


‘The Sun’