Okay, so I don’t totally feel a kind of way about missing the ‘Rock The Bells’ show this past weekend. That was my fault anyhoo for not securing my tickets months ago.
I wasn’t really pressed though because I knew I was going to see ‘Ye Tudda at Madison Square Garden for the NYC leg of his ‘Glow In The Dark’ tour. I’m sure that ‘RTB’ was definitely some historic shit too, but after seeing Cons 2 The Quence, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D. and Mr.West all put it down I am ready to buy a ticket to the encore performance tonight. It was that good. KanYe was that good. [ll].
Before I recap the impressions I got from the show I wanted to do a drop with some of my favorite pics from the night. I can’t remember the last time I was at the Garden and the energy was this sky high. It was like a Knicks playoff game, except there were hell’a more sexy women, including the lovely C.S. I usually take her out on Tuesday nights to the free movie that her Optimum Rewards card gets us. We sneak some Chipotle into the theater and watch some shit like ‘Step Brothers’ or whatever. Last night I took my lady to a first class show. Complete with front row tickets courtesy of Universal Island Def Jam Roc-A-Fella. Did I say Interscope too?
Really real front row sonn!
A whole lot of folks were in the building to catch this concert which has been buzzed about as one of the greatest Hip-Hop shows of all time. Whenever I hear someone give something that extra hyperbole I always get skeptical. I’ve seen a whole lot of Hip-Hop shows and for a show to be the greatest it has to bring that shit from the beginning to the end.
This show brought it. And then some.
Okay, okay, let me show you some pics first…
The original Retro Kids. Yeah, that’s an oxymoron, but you get my point I hope. Props to the high top fades a/k/a the Negro Mullet.
Mr. Bentley gets slowed down a bit at the Will Call window. If only Fonsworth had fucked with the iNternets Celebrities concert etiquette video he would have known Concert Rule #1: Make sure your shit is on the list.
Hipster rap douchebag phenomenon Double-O a/k/a “I ain’t dead motherfuckers!” a/k/a Ferrrrrrnando. Dub-O is a funny dude who loves Hip-Hop and doesn’t take his stardom too seriously. His group, Kidz In The Hall, is poised to be the next thing blowing up from the Chi.
Oh Shit Alert! Maxwell cut off his damn hair.
Wale is my nigga. He just returned from a quick tour overseas. I asked him how he liked it and he said, “over-rated”. I have to ask him more about that since he is Nigerian and there is a shiiteload of folks from Lagos living in London. I wonder if his countrymen didn’t have no love for the kid. No matter, I fucks with Wale [ll].
Guess who got himself a new sippie cup for those long hours of blogging in his mom’s basement? It’s me bitches!
The Air Max Griffey in the Blu Cheez colorway. Still only my second favorite sneaker at the concert. ‘Ye Tudda sported two different colorways of the Air Yeezy. After I copp those I will officially retire from the sneaker game.
My second favorite picture from the concert is of Skateboard P’s earring. That shit cost more money than the car I drive.
My favorite moment of the night… During the N.E.R.D. set I tried to get in a pic with Bussa Bus. Dude gave me the “SHHHH” sound and told me to “pay attention to the show”. Busta is truly out of his mind so I took the pic anyhoo. Then Busta realized that it only takes a second to make a new fan.
Come back here in the afternoon for my concert recap.
Shout out to the ‘Nova Cats and my main man ROLLIE MASSIMINO. Illadelph flavor from 1985.
Speaking of Philly, the BADU show at Wingate was kind of meh.
I don’t blame ERYKAH totally although she did hit the stage nearly two hours after the posted showtime. By the time she came out most of the peoples were baked. It’s hard to get excited after working eight hours, waiting in line for two hours and then waiting two more hours for that bitch to sing. I say bitch in only the most loving, endearing manner. I fucks with BADU. I paid good money to see her sweet brown booty at Radio City Music Hall.
I splashed off with a pair of navy Dunk Highs in the classic Villanova colorway. ‘Nova actually won the NCAA’s wearing these in 1985. Word to ED PINCKNEY.
The flash pink laces were courtesy of NIKE iD @ 255 Elizabeth.
Heads ain’t ready, but that is the story of my existence.
Editor’s note: I just copied and pasted this drop from JOELL ORTIZ’ website. He goes a little deeper than I have to discuss his discontent with the folks at Brooklyn Bodega over the annual Bklyn Hip-Hop Festival that they produce. This isn’t the definitive story for this misunderstanding, but it does shed some light on the passion and understanding that JOELL lives his life by. I hope the dialogue becomes increased by this drop of real talk…
2008 marks the 4th year anniversary of the so called “Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival” It also marks the fourth year I’ve been snubbed by the folks at ‘Brooklyn Bodega’. I was scheduled to do a show for the Puerto Rican day Parade in Bridgeport CT that weekend (shout to Block Royal) so I could not have done a full set at the BHHF. However, I did want an opportunity to promote the 2@atime project I am a part of. Our aim is to provide computers to underprivileged kids in my neighborhood and I thought the festival would be a great place to kick things off. Many people tried to convince the event organizer, Wes Jackson, to give me the opportunity to do two songs and to say few words about the computer program, but Wes refused every request.
From the door, I want to say that I respect his right to refuse my participation. No problem. However, the reason he gave to people for brushing me off was bullshit. It seems the content of my music is not conducive to the kind of event Wes promotes. Once again, I don’t want anyone thinking what about to say is sour grapes cause I got snubbed by an event promoter. That shit happens, no big deal. But the real reason Wes didn’t want me there is because I called him out on his bullshit the first year he had the event in the Williamsburg Brooklyn, steps away from where I was raised.
Long story short, I got pissed cause there weren’t any non white locals represented, on stage or in the audience. NO one that grew up in my projects, on the Southside or on Greenpoint knew about the event. It was clear from the beginning that we uncool Black and Latin people in the neighborhood were not welcome. On top of that, they claim the name, “Brooklyn Bodega” but there were no flyers or poster boards in or around any bodegas in the hood. I found out about the event cause a friend that loads trucks for one of the sponsors told one of my managers about it. As the date got closer I found out another friend of a friend from Boriquen Projects was hired to clean up after the event.
It’s ironic they didn’t want us there because a few of the older people that live in that neighborhood actually built the space where the festival was held and they’re grandkids helped clean up the thrash after people left festival. Some those older dudes from around the South Side believe that this deliberate slight happened cause I’m Latino. I can kind of see why they think that but I don’t believe the decision to snub me was based on race. I don’t think Wes Jackson is a racist.
However, the snub does speak to something just as hurtful to me – Cultural Snobbery and Classism.
I know first hand about classism because I live in Cooper Projects which is in the heart of Williamsburg Brooklyn. For those of you who don’t know, Williamsburg is located in North Brooklyn and is Mecca to the hipster. Tight Jeans, Dope Sneaker Stores, Hip Restaurants, Cool Lounges and a lot of young artist types from parts unknown with lots of money renting apartments that are way too expensive. It’s a great place to hang out on any night of the week cause there is always something poppin on the North Side. Except if your one of the poor people in that lives in this area.
Before I became Joell Ortiz, “the rapper” I was just another Puerto Rican from the wrong side of the North side. I got the automatic locked doors at the local hipster sneaker store as I tried to enter, the 1hr wait for a table at an empty restaurant and I never got any of the jobs at local shops or construction sites I applied for. It was as if I was invisible while in certain sections of this neighborhood. Things have changed for me since those days. I am still a Rican from the North side but today the same sneaker store owner that shitted on me a few years back goes out of his way to show me new kicks when I pass by and he always asks me to take pictures in the store. He recently made a nice donation to 2@atime so all is good.
Although, certain things may have changed for me around here, on the whole, gentrification is a motherfucker for my people in this neighborhood. For instance, the local supermarket that we used to shop at closed and in it’s place they opened a more expensive one that frowns on welfare mom’s with EBT cards. They still don’t take applications at any of the construction sites and when they do hire someone from the projects or one of the Puerto Rican’s for the South side it’s only as day workers with no insurance or job security. When a worker does get paid its usually in cash from out the foreman’s pocket. Hardly enough to keep a roof over your head around here.
If you happen to be one of the working poor in this area that doesn’t live in the projects it’s almost impossible to keep an apartment. Landlords are throwing people out that have been in this area for generations in order to make room for wealthy newcomers. If they can’t get you out legally certain slumlords will opt to burn you out of your home. I’m not bullshiting. There have been more suspect fires in this area than any other time in the history of NYC. That is no coincidence.
There have been a few hippie rallies on our behalf and leftist flyers proclaiming workers rights have been handed out at local bars and taverns, but for the most part, I don’t believe it. When it comes to real estate and bread they ain’t trying to let us eat. While landlords evict seniors that can’t afford the outrageous rents some of these same rallying hipsters are busy trying to open their own school in the same building as our P.S. 84. The hope is that their kids will receive a better education than the one provided by the local public school that happens to be in the same building. I know it sounds nuts but I swear it’s true. Separate but equal, in the same building?! I’m not the smartest guy in the world but I thought that shit was illegal in this country.
Anyway, I think Brooklyn Bodega represents the same kind of hypocrisy. They claim to rep “real Hip Hop” but only allow a certain kind of performer to play for a certain audience. To me, That’s bullshit. Hip Hop was started by Blacks and Latinos that weren’t welcome to party in downtown clubs owned and run by racist snobs. Those pioneers created a scene of their own and passed it down to us. Its only been 30 something years and our culture already has bougie snobs trying to keep poor people out of something that was created by the poor. I’ll bet a stack that if we crunch the numbers and make adjustments for time the founding fathers of Hip Hop would not be part of the Brooklyn Bodega’s target demographic.
I probably wont ever be invited to perform at that festival but fuck it. I don’t want anything to do with a classist organization that goes out there way to exclude an entire segment of this culture. When I perform in my neighborhood I want ALL of my neighbors to enjoy the show.
As you can tell I have few issues with gentrification. However, there are some bright spots that would be unfair for me to ignore. I wanna take a a sec to acknowledge the good people at Monkey Town on North 3rd. They gave my boy from Cooper Projects a job recently. He walked in off the street and asked if they were hiring and they gave him a job on the spot. That’s very rare around here. I actually went in there on a date one night and the chef came out to tell me and the chick I was with all about the dishes we were having. He didn’t know who I was he was just being a gracious host to a guest. I love that spot!
You can help me help the underprivileged kids in the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn by clicking on Give at the top bar on my homepage. Our goal with 2@atime is to get every disadvantaged kid in the four projects in the Williamsburg/Bushwick area computers. I want them to know about everything that is going on in, around and outside of this neighborhood.
