This might be the weekend that you need to land on the planet of Brooklyn.
For the panel discussion on Thursday the event is free but the space in the auditorium is limited to 200 seats so please RSVP here if you plan on attending. I’ll be there by 6pm for the art exhibit beforehand. Holla at the kid when you see him on the streets and we will chop it up for a minute.
All these events PLUS a KeiStar party on Saturday night.
KeiStar Productions: SOUL SUPREME (III) – 50 Years Of MOTOWN
SPIKE LEE was a sneaker fiend even before we knew what sneaker fiends were. The character Mars Blackmon was like one the freshest bike messengers evar in his crispy Air Jordan 1’s. He even rocked the joints the NBA had banned because there wasn’t enough “white” on the shoe (true story). If you haven’t seen ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ then you don’t know about the scene where Mars refuses to take off his Jordans during sex. That is the true essence of a sneaker fiend.
SPIKE LEE goes a step further to describe the relationship between Black men and their kicks in this scene from ‘Do The Right Thing’ where Buggin’ Out has his brand new Air Jordan 4’s scuffed by a careless white wearing a Larry Bird t-shirt. Hilarity ensues.
The Mars Blackmon x Air Jordan commercials are funny even today, and they are legendary ad spots. Back in 2006 the Jordan brand collaborated with SPIKE LEE again not only for visual media promotions, but for the release of the Spiz’zike shoe which mashed up several different elements from previous Air Jordan releases.
I can see the classic 6 tongue with the 4 lacestays, along with the 5 upper ventilation and laces toggle. The shoes have elephant skin print on the toebox and heels and in some freaky cases I think they have a glow in the dark outsole. Let’s not forget the 40 Acres and A Mule logo and the Mars Blackmon icon on the achilles’ support.
Spiz’zikes are that hypebeast shit and therefore typically outside of my usual pricepoints but since I was invited to participate in a panel discussing the overall legacy of SPIKE LEE on cinema, social and sneaker culture I thought I might treat myself to a pair. Let’s be honest and recognize that a 20th anniversary for a film like ‘Do The Right Thing’ can only happen once. Keep in mind this was a film that almost wasn’t even released at all.
Where’s Mars?
Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee
The Man and the Brand: Spike Lee Panel
Spike Lee Screening Room
Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University
DeKalb Avenue @ Flatbush Ave Extension
Thursday, June 25, 2009, 7PM
Featured panelists…
Nelson George
Michaela angela Davis
Kevin Powell
Roger Guenveur Smith
Danny Simmons
Dallas Penn (hells chea!)
Moikgantsi Kgama
My peeps from 215 Magazine kept me in the loop all weekend while I was in Philly. On my last night in the city they invited me to join them for a ?uestlove DJ set on the other side of town. The location was called Liberties Walk and it was a funky little community that has arisen from the industrial blight.
How funky is Liberties Walk? So funky and that it has a MySpace page. Okay, not hip enough yet for a Twitter page, but still… Female? And 29yrs old? Holla!
Liberties Walk is some of the best urban planning I have encountered EVAR. It reminded me of a college campus for adults. The layout was open but not overwhelming. It was perfect for walking and browsing and shopping. In a word I would say simply living. The commercial establishments at the ground level were all inviting and the central courtyard would be great for a Sunday afternoon of relaxing.
Kids jumped rope and played with their hula hoops while the big kids sipped beer and enjoyed the music.
Liberties Walk didn’t feel forced to me either. It felt organic and natural as if this neighborhood had been here for the last twenty years. I wondered what the residency component was comprised of because the apartments looked like some major money duplex condominiums. They certainly got the mixed use aspect down pat. I wonder if the mixed income component was left out?
We’ve been trying to figure out how to accompolish this same type of community here in NYC. The Atlantic Yards project has had fits of starting and stopping because it can’t seem to blend the need for the developer to have a return on his investment while keeping the context of the downtown Brooklyn neighborhood. Maybe BRUCE RATNER ought to hire ?usetlove?
^ Where are you Yeezy?!?
?uesto spun the entire afternoon up until the evening. He treated us to all kinds of great music from classic soul and R-n-B to new wave and rock favorites. ?uestlove surprised me with his house music set which was deeper than I imagined he could go [ll]. I was reminded of years back when I would visit Philly for the Greek picnic in Fairmont Park. Good times…
^ Colt 45. It works everytime.
^ ?uestlove made everyone do the electric slide! LMAO
We partied until sundown and before my chariot back to NYC turned into a pumpkin. I’m definitely on the Bolt Bus coming back to Philly in a few weeks because the hospitality and culture were what I always envisioned this town could deliver.
Philadelphia is one of the hardest working cities in America. They are blue-collar through and through so when they party they know how to have a good time. Thanks to 215 Magazine and the Roots crew for giving me an unforgettable, legendary weekend.
From the very beginnings of rap we have loved the groups that have graced the microphone. Do you remember that scene in ‘Wild Style’ when the Cold Crush Brothers battled the Fantastic Five on the basketball court. The group is the essence of Hip-Hop. Several emcees all rhyming over the same beat trying to find ways to verbally outdo the person who held the microphone before them. As each rapper steps in the cipher the lyrics become more acute and the flows pick up their intensity. This is that REAL rap shit.
And this is why the SlaughterHouse collective wins time and time again. They are practicing the very foundation of rap music. I’m just amazed that these four emcees can unify themselves in a culture that is notoriously selfish and ego driven. You haven’t seen this many good spitters together on the same page since the mythical 4 Horsemen but they had too many difficulties in producing music. There was an early union between Jay-Z, Ja Rule and DMX that fizzled away because these three were too full of themselves and too crazy (in DMX’s case).
Joe Budden, who might be the most hated rapper in the game right now, told me that the origin of SlaughterHouse was simply the ability of he and Royce Da’ 5-9 to squash a simmering feud between the two of them. That is the first and hardest principle in forming the group. Can you imagine what it must be like to ask a rapper to put aside their ego? Rappers need their ego, especially in this day and age, when so many people have become art critiques instead of fans. The rapper’s ego protects them from the comment threads that tell them they suck. So to put down your armor is actually more hardbody than to keep it on. You are vulnerable to attack, but somehow you are now stronger than you were before.
SlaughterHouse bugs me the fuck out because not one of these emcees even shares the same homestate. This means that they will each have their own definitive state of mind. In the short time I have been around them I can sense they have this incredible respect for one another like a band of brothers. They will fight amongst one another, but will instantly flip on anyone who tries to come at one of their brothers. When emcees assume that ‘Ride Or Die’ mentality with their teammates no one holds back any energy or material. They spur each other to leave everything in the booth.
This is why I was scared at first for SlaughterHouse because each of these artists is an individually minded person who has survived in the music industry for at least ten years. All of these dudes came into the business in their late teens and have been thrashed about by label politricks, artist backbiting and the constant fuckery that is the music industrial complex. They are all survivors in one way or another, and the SlaughterHouse collective is their best last chance to tel all the haters and the nay-sayers to go kill themselves.
That theme was evident in the track ‘Move On’ where each of the emcees recounted their angst and the solution they had for dealing with those issues. ‘Move On’ was an epic song for me because I envisioned myself in that same position several years back writing for a magazine that wasn’t paying me shit. I wanted the exposure, and the publisher knew that much, so I traded my labor for that means to an end. We all make those similar decisions in our lives, but instead of living with regret or remorse we shoukd just move on. With that track SlaughterHouse doesn’t just make good music, they made real life music.
SlaughterHouse and Koch, er, E-1 Records invited me to listen to a preview of their upcoming album. Along with some of the people that you have come to see on the internets as the folks that bring info to you live and non-stop. Eskay was in the building so you know that shit is big. Nah’Right Dre came up from his mom’s basement too. Oh shit! I just realized that n8tion had the bridge to starship Enterprise all to himself. Niiiice. Global Grind’s BlogXilla came through and reminded me that we have politicked previously. I am gonna stop puffing because I can’t remember a damn thing. The dudes from ItsThe Real, Eric and Jeff, also showed up. I didn’t see Hoffa from OnSmash but I left the session at 3am and that is usually when Hof appears.
The tracks they played for us were all good and their intensity picked up with the replays. Everything you thought they would be doing on the mic like Crooked spitting his crack verses, Joell Ortiz bringing his energy, Royce providing the structural stability to songs and Budden throwing lyrical shots at your favorite rapper is all in there. SlaughterHouse only previewed seven(7) tracks to us and then we got a cameo from the legendary super-producer Showbiz who brought some HEAT! I’m gonna say this shit right here so it goes on the record. The best music from Dr. Dre comes from when he is digging in the crates.
One of the criticisms that has dogged SlaughterHouse would be their ability to craft songs. I still don’t understand where this comes from though. Maybe it is the perception from fans that these emcees are only freestyle caliber rappers. That is far from the truth though. On the tracks that SlaughterHouse previewed they all showed that they have some incredible range as far as content and concepts. Wait until you hear this track called ‘Cuckoo’. There was also this emo rap joint that I want to say was called ‘Rain Tears’ or some shit like that. When SlaughterHouse pours out their heart like they did with ‘Move On’ you can’t help but be riveted to the music. These emcees are all fans of Hip-Hop before anything else. Don’t get it twisted by wheat you may have heard. If there was a RAP SAT these dudes would be in the top 5 percentile.
If you weren’t fuxing with the SlaughterHouse collective after the joints they have already released then you aren’t a fan of Hip-Hop. You might listen to rap, but you aren’t a fan of Hip-Hop music. Rap groups are the essence of Hip-Hop culture. Just like writer and breaker crews. The fact that SlaughterHouse finds themselves unified from points all over the counter is some Black superhero shit.
So effin’ amazing is the only description that comes to my mind to describe the Roots picnic here in Philadelphia this weekend. I can’t even run off all the acts that blessed the two stages inside of the venue, but I will try to give credit to all of those that made the event the best concert I have ever been to. The show was so epic that I have to place it above the twentieth anniversary of the Mothership Connection which was held in Central Park and featured GEORGE CLINTON, BOOTSY COLLINS, BERNIE WORRELL, Parliament, Funkadelic, Parlet, De La Soul, Q-Tip and I was high off a mushroom button.
Yeah, it was THAT good.
My homeys TERRENCE and TAHIR made the trek from BK with their lovely ladies as well. So even though I was with Chocolate Snowflake I managed to still dip off and get my mind right. Shouts to OKayPlayer who has held me down at all the Roots Jam Sessions at the Highline Ballroom. Through those folks I was introduced to the people from 215 Magazine who rep Philly all day every way. 215 Mag got me the media credentials.
*Internets, press credentials kick ass. Writing is one of the worst paying jobs in the history of bad paying jobs, but every now and again you get a press credential and the world of craft services is at your fingertips. You will need the free food to power you through the entire day. Cargo pants are for stuffing cold cuts in the pockets.*
The Roots opened the entire concert with a mini-set. How sick are these dudes that they even open up for… THEMSELVES?!?
I’ve never seen Santigold before and she fucking rocks.
Asher Roth was pretty good also. Quiet as its kept, but this was the first time I saw Asher Roth perform live. Asher had the West Chester cargo shorts mob riding with him hardbody through his whole set.
Son went for his in a LARRY BIRD jersey and a pair of flip-flops. I had to laugh at that. Asher keeps his stoner steez on 100.
Plain Pat what up?
Kid Cudi brought the heat for his set also. Literally and figuratively. He was rocking a pair of black Air Yeezys.
I fux with that track off the Man On The Moon mixtape ‘Is There Any Love’. That shit is a banger. The ‘Day N Nite’ OG track and the Crookers remix had everyone bouncing.
No shots because Asher Roth is my dude, but Cudi’s set was tighter [ll]. They both had the right energy though. I’m gonna catch them again when their tour blows through my town. Going on the road for a stretch should get their stage weight up.
Amanda Diva is pretty and smart. She should do something in the music industry. Amanda, can I haz ur potato salad?
Antibalas is this jazzy, soulful, worldbeat, almost orchestra. I don’t want to tell you that they rock because what they do is deeper than rock. Antibalas rocks though with guitars, horns, percussion and this insane African dude out front.
I missed the Black Keys because I took a deuce in the Port-a-potties. Hard fucking body. When I came out of the toilet DJ Cash Money was doing a Wu-Tang tribute. I dare you to say that you don’t get batshit crazy when ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’ comes on over the speakers. That track is the most official license to ill.
Public Enemy, backed by the Roots and Antibalas performed their album ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’. Two words… Str8 insanity.
The Roots picnic is a tremendous bellwether for so many things. Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, and Santigold are that next-next shit. I think all three of them will be in the business of making music for a good long time.
The Roots picnic also gave me a chance to see Philadelphia again in a new and different light. That city is once again rebuilding itself with a signature sound played by musicians who have dedicated their lives to their craft.
Why haven’t you seen the Roots perform live? What do you have against Hip-Hop? As usual, white people have to save Hip-Hop for the rest of the people that don’t truly believe in Black superheroes.
