tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16750304940117947782024-03-18T22:47:07.413-07:00Spins of the FatherARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-40789838042805206722022-07-25T11:16:00.000-07:002022-07-25T11:16:35.762-07:00Public Enemy # 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AOV0NeGPva4hbDrt7mdMCK3NT6cC3h6cJT5QIifnsquZIHaWjLJAIfKVDQA50FQPT7Aybril0ySVgOI8uW96P-lKD9ufn9fbUe346GXrEufTHvLmMxndWeHAQa1Smu0PrfngT6k6j58/s1600/ClassicTracks_02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9AOV0NeGPva4hbDrt7mdMCK3NT6cC3h6cJT5QIifnsquZIHaWjLJAIfKVDQA50FQPT7Aybril0ySVgOI8uW96P-lKD9ufn9fbUe346GXrEufTHvLmMxndWeHAQa1Smu0PrfngT6k6j58/s640/ClassicTracks_02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The character and music of PE were intended to challenge the
status quo of the white ruling class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For PE, Hip Hop was a soundtrack for a
social rebellion: defiant raps were meant to spark action while a scathing
musical backdrop rejected all conventional notions of “music.”</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All aspects of PE-
production techniques, songwriting methods, even nicknames- were calculated
concepts to convey Public Enemy’s call for a social and musical revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These elaborate conceits proved Hip Hop music
embodied more than just boasts and festive rhymes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PE established that rapping and making beats
was a culture that would allow voices previously unheard to contribute to the
betterment of society</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This idea is
no different than what Bam and the Zulus instituted ten years prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than in Bronx high schools, Public
Enemy’s stage was worldwide and aided by widespread media coverage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PE lent legitimacy to
all Hip Hop DJs, MCs, rappers and producers who followed for not necessarily
the same radical reasons</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Through PE and other groups of this era, Hip
Hop was understood as a cultural force to be reckoned with as the culture began
to redefine social norms, political viewpoints, and the commercial
possibilities of Hip Hop.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the
late 1980s on, whether a rapper posed “gangsta,” “thug,” or “playa,” his or her
brand of Hip Hop music became synonymous with inner city youth, specifically
young black men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The 2004 documentary <i>And You Don't Stop </i>recounts Public Enemy's significance at this pivotal time in the development of the Hip Hop culture industries:</span></div>
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<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="I">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo8;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">DESIGN AND INTENTION, MEMBERSHIP
and IMPACT<o:p></o:p></span></b></li>
</ol>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Chuck D <o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSUNXQa3_oJCKRyMnlCjbOE2tOZ4LNcWoiNKTc2FyGVV2AEdaW1R8UCxDByPcjcmAWctYtB7i9YCRXudzWZA7e6_9oJeaVz-NbY-X_t5EbbqSbMzGgKhW9Wm7iOwhp0ZtF3qoTKVIvP8/s1600/150410-public-enemy-640x426.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSUNXQa3_oJCKRyMnlCjbOE2tOZ4LNcWoiNKTc2FyGVV2AEdaW1R8UCxDByPcjcmAWctYtB7i9YCRXudzWZA7e6_9oJeaVz-NbY-X_t5EbbqSbMzGgKhW9Wm7iOwhp0ZtF3qoTKVIvP8/s1600/150410-public-enemy-640x426.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>Took the title of “The Hard Rhymer” or symbolically, “Blackman”</i></span></td></tr>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Confrontational, roaring vocal style, similar to
Run DMC <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chuck D’s
booming voice shouted over Bomb Squad beats emphasized metaphorically how the
voice of Black Americans have traditionally been silenced<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hijacking
modern media sloganeering techniques, Chuck D wrote songs promoting complex
political and cultural viewpoints in sharp, accessible song titles or rhymed
verses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>“<a href="https://youtu.be/DhQGH6CbKhw" target="_blank">Burn Hollywood Burn</a>,”
“<a href="https://youtu.be/fyR09SP9qdA" target="_blank">Night of the Living Baseheads</a>,” or “<a href="https://youtu.be/KGyj1917Okk" target="_blank">Welcome to the Terrordome</a>” read like
newspaper headlines.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chuck D
coined the widely used 1980s/90s sound bite stating that “Hip Hop is Black
CNN”; meaning, Hip Hop covered the ignored plight of urban blacks and minorities
in Reagan’s America. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">William Jelani Cobb's </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">To the Break of Dawn</b></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">: “Their singular genius lay in the fact that [Public Enemy] recognized rap music as
a form of media at a time when the most astute practitioners of the genre were
just getting hip to the idea of music as a business”</i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->c.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Speaking as the average “Blackman,” the
oppression and racism indicted in Chuck’s songs did not have to be necessarily
experienced by himself.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">William Jelani Cobb: “The lyrics themselves were politically charged double entendres- as if
an MC had returned to the tradition of the Negro spirituals that slaves encoded
their messages of subversion” </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pg 61, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">To the Break of Dawn</b></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Simon
Frith theorized that popular music discourse serves as a <b>representation of <u>COMMUNITY</u></b>. Chuck D purposely attempts to be a spokesperson for young Black America. </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" Chuck D takes the perspective of an incarcerated objector to enlistment. The video and his lyrics relay the brutal experience of prison and a proposed escape:</i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Flavor Flav</span></u></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">As “hype
man” or "Joker" for PE, Flavor balanced seriousness of the group with comic, outrageous
behavior</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->With dark sunglasses, extravagant outfits, and
symbolic “clocks,” Flavor’s mystical joker personality was highly entertaining.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->As goofy as he behaved, in song, video, and
concert, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flavor’s rhymes always
complimented Chuck D’s vision<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Indirectly, Flav represented untapped potential
within black youth, the ability to transition from the ‘hood to Hollywood, from
lawlessness to knowledge of self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
Public Enemy’s “Id” to Chuck D’s “Ego”<br />
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Simon Frith's ideas are useful here as well. As Flavor represents </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">a means to help listeners manage their <u>PUBLIC</u> and <u>PRIVATE</u> lives</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">In <b>"911 is Joke" Flavor condemns law enforcement humorously</b>, walking that fine line of outrage and disbelief. The private injustices and tragedies black Americans experience within the criminal justice system historically have not been punished publicly:</span></span><div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt;">DJ Terminator X and The Bomb Squad, the production
team<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Music as uncompromising and extreme as the
subject of Chuck D’s lyrics<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Consciously sought to deconstruct “white”
definitions of music by creating sonic collages of rhythmic noise</b><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><i>Hip Hop was not deemed music by the trained ear, then the Bomb Squad found this criticism perversely inspirational. As Eric Sadler admitted, with PE’s music, the group wanted to “destroy shit, we want to fuck music up”</i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSvxMyFymIwiSgQU6f76gsJ_OSyamjavEFyknf6EZNSlFKmpxpEjYRmGSFxmZNQFsGWkG4P2nB4ad6fnlUuah6qk6XBp1ulowI8rURrsroh1_ro7Af04HRpPHYSPdLIibiYHAsYcHhN0/s1600/hankwtmk0000.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSvxMyFymIwiSgQU6f76gsJ_OSyamjavEFyknf6EZNSlFKmpxpEjYRmGSFxmZNQFsGWkG4P2nB4ad6fnlUuah6qk6XBp1ulowI8rURrsroh1_ro7Af04HRpPHYSPdLIibiYHAsYcHhN0/s400/hankwtmk0000.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Detonation: Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad </i><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">DJ scratches often used musically in
intros, breaks, or bridges<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">d.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bomb Squad sampled black musicians and
black leaders of the 1960 / 70s to connect Hip Hop with “Pro Black” ideological
movements of the past.</b></div>
<ul>
<li>By sampling the JBs or Malcolm X, <b>PE brought the history of Black America into a new context</b>. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The lives and deaths of MLK and Malcolm X, the legacy of slavery, and America’s unspoken history of violent racial prejudice were just as relevant to the late 1980s as they were to the civil rights era. James Brown’s political activism and uncompromising funk represented a social progressivism pop music had seldom seen. <b>Utilizing the samples of these men and women either behind microphones or drum kits, placed Hip Hop directly in succession to Black American’s rich history of resistance and triumphs in the face of social and economic adversity</b>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Frith: popular music <b>shapes our popular <u>MEMORY</u> and organizes our sense of <u>TIME</u> and <u>HISTORY</u></b>. </li>
</ul>
<i> In "Can't Truss It" the voices of Richard Pryor, Malcolm X are brought into the same context as Chuck and Flavor's lyrics. With an equal sense of history, the visual images parallel a slavery plantation and the industrial factory, the strange fruit of lynching with Rodney King's public beating at the hands of the LAPD:</i><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Security of the First World / The S1Ws<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJL2csCWOdgQLbnDmzBBCBgnUjehlKvh8iVd4nB79E5xN5hK_wxUI5lPpgbjNFb3Zo_n2FrRY8OPUFzaoKlQOyWTgylh_5wlFO9Q8bAZl2cufKiRCrY9TdsHG8xLP2KAujKbUVGI04kLI/s1600/tumblr_mgxp5rlz4s1rpf6y8o1_400.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJL2csCWOdgQLbnDmzBBCBgnUjehlKvh8iVd4nB79E5xN5hK_wxUI5lPpgbjNFb3Zo_n2FrRY8OPUFzaoKlQOyWTgylh_5wlFO9Q8bAZl2cufKiRCrY9TdsHG8xLP2KAujKbUVGI04kLI/s1600/tumblr_mgxp5rlz4s1rpf6y8o1_400.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"><i>S1Ws: “The Black Panthers of Rap”</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wearing Army fatigues, yielding Uzis,
marching to the beat, the “S1Ws” reinforced PE’s militancy with physical
presence.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]-->Professor
Griff, “The Minister of Information,” leader the S1Ws, was the organizational
influence behind “Unity Force.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.25in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo4; tab-stops: list 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->“<b><u>UNITY</u> <u>FORCE</u></b>” was a Martial Arts and Black
Islamic organization formed in Long Island during the early 1980s which had
worked with the Spectrum City sound system.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.25in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo4; tab-stops: list 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->With over 50 members at one point, the group’s
purpose was to teach a disciplined physical and mental self awareness program
for young black men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.25in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo4; tab-stops: list 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The Public Enemy’s initial goal was to use Hip
Hop music as a vehicle for the “S1Ws” agenda.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Griff and the S1Ws functioned as the “road
crew,” managing stage and security for Spectrum City and early Public Enemy
events.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">d.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://youtu.be/0_smbHHZIXc?t=1m40s" target="_blank">Griff’s penchant for careless, inflammatory anti-Semitic remarks</a> revealed Public Enemy’s limited, disorganized political
vision. </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Public Enemy publicist Bill Adler explains further in linked video above)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Public Enemy Logo</span></u></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhIOrJVlHc0fu882lqWf6Cdywj2-VddnIQHCjVHdaiGpYdJOb2O9-i3Siokm-M7kwZnYwttvnd0dokf4Dtb-o3W4n4FBtDlSMnL0iZ9TdA8Gx4qiiElkIJYBLu9dbIQfjzsCR8Hq1wHE/s1600/public-enemy.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1474" data-original-width="1500" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhIOrJVlHc0fu882lqWf6Cdywj2-VddnIQHCjVHdaiGpYdJOb2O9-i3Siokm-M7kwZnYwttvnd0dokf4Dtb-o3W4n4FBtDlSMnL0iZ9TdA8Gx4qiiElkIJYBLu9dbIQfjzsCR8Hq1wHE/s200/public-enemy.png" width="200" /></a></span></u></b></div>
</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]-->The logo, designed by Chuck D, envisioning
an S1W caught in the cross hairs of a rifle, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">captured the belief that black political leaders and activists have
been targeted and killed by the US government throughout the 20<sup>th</sup>
century</b>.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo10; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Further,
<b>PE and the logo represent a prevalent theme in Hip Hop</b> that began in “The
Message,” promoted by PE, and carried on in raps by Tupac, Kendrick Lamar and scores of
others</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">: young Black men of America are under attack by police, urban decay,
poor educational institutions, and limited economic opportunity.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhboP65ASftoNJG2CTneU59w3l_5HYLBtWPsmzlEa0ULJ53CHZ1OyKT5QR0ov42OFQefPRa26p9STmmlV08HXT5waPTozhCqbZ1j9l3rvSVtxUkmo5ftl3CoAjDJJPZMQKc6ylfz2Wgklw/s1600/61mBP2-oYoL._SY450_.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="445" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhboP65ASftoNJG2CTneU59w3l_5HYLBtWPsmzlEa0ULJ53CHZ1OyKT5QR0ov42OFQefPRa26p9STmmlV08HXT5waPTozhCqbZ1j9l3rvSVtxUkmo5ftl3CoAjDJJPZMQKc6ylfz2Wgklw/s320/61mBP2-oYoL._SY450_.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Poet, musician, singer songwriter Gil Scott-Heron</i><br />
<i>provided inspiration for PE in sound and image</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<center style="text-align: center;">
</center>
<center>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fyR09SP9qdA" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
</center>
<br />
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> PE was featured in an <b><u>FBI</u></b> report to Congress examining "Rap Music and Its Effects on National Security" in September of 1990. The above video <b>"Night of the Living Baseheads"</b> highlights the band's<b> brand, creativity and perhaps not so sensational idea that the Public Enemy was the target of hate groups and law officials</b></li>
</ul>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>II.</b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-transform: uppercase;">“<u>Def Jam Tells You Who I
Am</u>”: <u>Marketing Revolution</u><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1. <b>The
Revolution <u>will be</u> televised </b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
a. <b>While other Def Jam acts sold more</b> (Beastie Boys, Run DMC, and LL Cool J), <b>between 1988 and 1991 however, Public Enemy’s music, videos, lectures, and concerts attracted controversy not only in the music press but in the political arena as well.</b></div>
<li style="text-align: justify;">During the fallout from Griff’s Washington Post interview even PE single releases “Fight the Power” and “Welcome to the Terrordome” were scrutinized by the media and religious watch dog groups alike.</li><br />
</div>
<center style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IV-42cdDxSc" width="560"></iframe></center><br />
<li style="text-align: justify;">1991’s “By the Time I Get to Arizona” was a song in which <b>Chuck D angrily demands Arizona honor the federally mandated observance of MLK’s birthday</b>. To further drive home the outrage, members of PE joined an African American boycott of the Arizona tourism industry, choosing not to perform in the state. Within a year, Arizona voters relented and in 1993 the state finally celebrated its first MLK holiday.</li>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<center>
<div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zrFOb_f7ubw" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</center>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">In 1991, PE embarked on a <a href="https://youtu.be/kl1hgXfX5-U" target="_blank">rap/rock, alternative music-fest that included Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four, and Anthrax</a>. The tour "<b>cemented a connection that has long been obvious between white metal and black rap</b>," observed Frank Owen in New York Newsday, "not to mention proving wrong those who predicted that the rappers would be booed off stage by this supposedly bigoted audience.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>All
of the above guaranteed more media exposure</b> for Def Jam and larger social </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">acceptance of Hip Hop “music” in general as popular culture discourse that
could not be ignored.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<div style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><b>PE’s aspirations had to content to the
paradox of mass market revolution</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PE
suggests there is rampant injustice in America; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Def Jam markets a PE record as the <b><u>SOLUTION</u></b></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Frith described Springsteen’s music
containing a “whiff of nostalgia and air of fatalism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is Public Enemy’s music the sound of the
revolution or an uprising’s last stand?</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">With PE’s attempt to draw attention to MLK, Malcolm X, James Brown it became apparent there were no contemporary counterparts. The Nation of Islam had a reserved relationship with rappers and Jesse Jackson distanced himself from the Hip Hop “movement.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">With a vacuum in black leadership that appealed to urban youth in the late 1980s, Chuck D and other rappers (KRS ONE, Ice T, Luther Campbell, Tupac, Notorious BIG) became de facto spokespersons and “role models.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">William Jelani Cobb in To the Break of Dawn: “That [Biggie and Tupac’s] deaths came to be seen in some quarters as ‘assignations’ on par with those of Malcolm and King <b>illustrated not only how blurred the definitions of celebrity and leadership have become since the civil rights era, but also how few imaginative leaders have been cultivated since then</b>. In their wake, charismatic artists were mistaken for political leadership.”</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ag4c47LzfXs" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1.5in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><b>Record
labels and entertainment companies attempted to market to this “unrest” </b>in the
1990s similar to other counter cultural movements of the past<i style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></span>Scores of “Black nationalistic” rap groups
(Poor Righteous Teachers, X Clan, Queen Latifa, Brand Nubian, Boogie Down
Productions) were promoted during this period<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></span>Similar to marketing to teenage angst in the
1950s such as James Dean “Rebel without a Cause” or the Hippies of the 1960s,
countercultural movements can be appropriated by Madison Ave and Hollywood to
sell entertainment ventures and other ancillary products<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="font-weight: bold;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span></span><!--[endif]-->When the currency of such artistry
dissipates, a new marketing scheme is hatched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dr. Dre’s 1993 “gangsta rap” success <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Chronic </i>ensured a new wave of artists with a far more nihilistic world view
would dominate Hip Hop discourse in the coming years.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b> </b>4. Record companies have more in common with Adam Smith than Marcus Garvey.<b> </b></span><b>The “<u>BOTTOM</u> <u>LINE</u>” determines the success of a recording artist for a </b></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><b> label, not cultural impact</b>. Social and political aspirations are secondary, if not an </span>afterthought.</div>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-71970480245427979922022-07-25T10:58:00.001-07:002022-07-25T10:58:25.412-07:00The Golden Era<b><u>“Golden Era” or “Golden Age” of Hip Hop Creativity</u></b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From approximately 1985
to 1994 “The Golden Era” has been called as such by Hip Hop scholars, journalists,
rappers, producers and entrepreneurs. From hardcore hip hop to bubblegum hip pop for over 20 years, the <b>Golden Era has been put on a pedestal</b>; <b>sounds</b> and <b>images from this time period are a bar to be measured against </b>or <b>symbols employed to confirm authenticity</b>. In 1994, Chicago's Common (Sense) did not begin this trend but famously enshrined it in gender, equating "Hip-Hop in its Essence and Realness" with a girlfriend that he fell in love with only to have his heart broken.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TrUERC2Zk64" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
Here's but a few selections of the music and videos that reminisced over HER:<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>“</i><a href="https://youtu.be/7m148vZDwJA?t=18s" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Nah, ‘87 that was my favorite sh*t, God. Polo sh*t, everything, everything was lovely</a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">”</i></div>
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RZA
of Wu Tang, “Can It All Be So Simple Then?” (1993)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“<a href="https://youtu.be/_JZom_gVfuw?t=40s" target="_blank">Remember ‘Rappin' Duke’: ‘duh-ha, duh-ha’?<o:p></o:p></a></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://youtu.be/_JZom_gVfuw?t=40s" target="_blank">You never thought that hip hop would take itthis far</a>”</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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Notorious
B.I.G., “Juicy” (1994)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“<a href="https://youtu.be/IMsqAm7eUYU?t=2m34s" target="_blank">Me and my homies breakin
nights, tryin to keep it true<o:p></o:p></a></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://youtu.be/IMsqAm7eUYU?t=2m34s" target="_blank">Out on the roof sippin’ 90 proof, ain't nuttin’ like the old school</a>”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Tupac,
“Old School” (1995)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="https://youtu.be/cpbeS15sHZ0?t=121" target="_blank">Do the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest<o:p></o:p></a></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://youtu.be/l1lc0sHz2WI?t=2m1s" target="_blank">But all they got left is this guy called West</a>”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Kanye
West, “Last Call” (2004)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i><a href="https://youtu.be/T3E9Wjbq44E" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">If I was an old-school fifty pound boom-box<o:p></o:p></a></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://youtu.be/T3E9Wjbq44E" target="_blank">Would you hold me on your shoulder whereveryou walk?</a>”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Gym
Class Heroes, “Stereo Hearts” (2012)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="https://youtu.be/W7zdMeZPkpY?t=1m33s" target="_blank">I
grew up to Em, B.I.G. and ‘Pac, b*tch, and got ruined<o:p></o:p></a></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://youtu.be/W7zdMeZPkpY?t=1m33s" target="_blank">So until I got the same crib B.I.G. had in
that ‘Juicy’ vid<o:p></o:p></a></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://youtu.be/W7zdMeZPkpY?t=1m33s" target="_blank">B*tch, I can't mother**kin' stop movin'</a>"<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Big
Sean, “Control” (2013)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="https://youtu.be/O-zpOMYRi0w?t=34s" target="_blank">Rooftop like we bringin' '88 back</a>” – Iggy
Azalea, “Fancy” (2014)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p>Flashbacks are the future i</o:p>n marketing, music and even comedy. Watch as symbols of the Golden Era are used to promote Brad Pitt's latest movie by breakdancing with Jimmy Fallon or the Black Eyed Peas attempt at a comeback in 2015 or an NWA or Roxanne Shante biopics:</div>
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<o:p><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></o:p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNZV-15119zQg268XDI4pUvKpbeELmQBMzXmRii61FtS4WncJilnm1mKEciR8BUIn16PMu7uv3flz79nN58f5fKV_Me9XxCfTsytWfRearNBM7c4oUcw-lo9MSxqtGcbFfevW4thfDZ8/s1600/De+La+Advert.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNZV-15119zQg268XDI4pUvKpbeELmQBMzXmRii61FtS4WncJilnm1mKEciR8BUIn16PMu7uv3flz79nN58f5fKV_Me9XxCfTsytWfRearNBM7c4oUcw-lo9MSxqtGcbFfevW4thfDZ8/s400/De+La+Advert.JPG" width="290" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="text-align: start;">So why all the nostalgia? The reasons are several. First, as William Jelani Cobb writes in </span></o:p><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To the Break of Dawn, </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">artists were working from a tabula rasa or a "<u>BLANK</u> <u>SLATE</u>"</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. With maybe only a few dozen or so notable recordings by the mid 1980s, Hip Hop </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">recording artists had creative freedom to imagine rap music in new and varied ways. Jelani Cobb illustrates how this process emphasised <b>originality</b>, resulting in a </span><span style="text-align: center;">“push to expand <b>beyond the horizons of what was and could be Hip Hop</b> resulted in a <b>manifold of new creations</b>.” </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: center;">And so, when a rap recording artist of this era succeeded amongst peers, critics and in sales, <b>authenticity was confirmed</b>. </span><span style="text-align: center;">“[Golden Era artists] had to</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><b style="text-align: center;">first create their art form itself</b><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">before</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><b style="text-align: center;">getting down to the business of creating actual art</b><span style="text-align: center;">.” With no precedence, hip hop artists of this era <b>not only made their first records</b> but <b>each release created whole new sub-genres</b> with their efforts: pop rap, Black nationalist rap, gangsta rap, Afrocentric rap and so on. Unlike many contrived corporate rock n' roll and pop stars of the 1980s and 90s, rap music was considered <i>"real".</i></span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: center;">Second, there is the visceral thrill and the celebrated purity that the Golden Era was a <b>youth movement</b>. </span><a href="https://youtu.be/Mh2_GOPGKBs" target="_blank">Many of the artists were under <b>21 YEARS OLD</b>, not even adults</a><span style="text-align: center;">.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Many performers' approach to their careers were a special combination of being <b>carefree with confidence</b>, <b>imaginative yet determined</b>. Jelani </span><span style="text-align: center;">Cobb emphasizes this unique phenomenon: “<b>Artists spend years trying to cultivate a unique approach</b> to their chosen form; in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were <b>creating themselves and their art form at the same time</b>.” </span><br />
<br />
Sociomuscologist Simon
Frith has theorized music shapes our <b>popular <u>MEMORY</u> </b>and
organizes our <b>sense of <u>TIME</u> </b>and <b><u>HISTORY</u></b>. Rock n' Roll criticism and fandom has has <a href="https://youtu.be/OZ9Gp6Qc8LQ" target="_blank">a similar romantic nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s</a>. Considering these creative dynamics at play during the production and consumption of rap during this time period, it is understandable that Hip Hop's Golden Era becomes a measuring stick for the artists that follow, a reference point for innovation and aspiration. Interviews from the 2004 documentary <i>And You Don't Stop</i> illustrate these ideas:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='372' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dygJzZaUipaT8rK4jhsFH64cRsFquwywU_p0kv9N1k0qgwWxBI4gK4zIb7KG8cpdczFhonggpKmXpxZgPF9Bw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="I"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></ol>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">How to Succeed in the Record Business Without Really Trying</span></u></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Y9ag_5FaynemZQcy1XbGN4MWM/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-w8VnEd4fxpXvwNSCzBg0fg" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4aq8HY89Wu_et53B9EU6KaTTpz3IvM3M3q6NzKKY9YcpTIIi99vRyzxF3a3CGxOZERhyphenhyphenHrYDrwZ5CeyfYB-AvFEmNP6DL6Gx_zFIhl3AHLCudurU32zRZAEwVIAszBV9jq2iHn0GHuI/s400/Scan.jpeg" width="301" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Y9ag_5FaynemZQcy1XbGN4MWM/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-w8VnEd4fxpXvwNSCzBg0fg" target="_blank">I got a letter from a record company the other day...</a></span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In <i>Blues People</i>, Leroi Jones made clear <b>creativity does not
occur in a vacuum</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, ironically,
another factor to be considered in the Golden Era's productivity was the <b>lack
of stifling corporate control</b>. Record labels were “<b>laissez-faire</b>” (“<b><u>LEAVE</u> <u>ALONE</u></b>”)
in their approach to Hip Hop acts on their roster. On one hand, this meant
little monies were spent finding, developing and promoting rap acts. But on the
other hand, as <b>record labels signed Hip Hop artists without much scrutiny</b>, this
allowed for Hip Hop practitioners to police themselves, especially in New York
City.
</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Most large record labels were <b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Y9ag_5FaynemZQcy1XbGN4MWM/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-w8VnEd4fxpXvwNSCzBg0fg" target="_blank">ill equipped</a> to cultivate Hip
Hop talent</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wise choice was to turn
to those gatekeepers who were in the know: <b>established Hip Hop DJs,
journalists, promoters or nightclub owners</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Informally, these types acted as <b>A&R</b> (“Artist and Repertoire”) for
the label, scouting talent and guiding the creative process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with promotional push of grassroots
"street teams," <b>tried and tested Hip Hop
performers landed record deals</b> with an international reach from this synergy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
In New York City in particular, talent was <b>vetted on the live stage </b>and “paying dues” in front of live audiences could <b>make or break an artist</b>. Criteria of the time dictated an MC had to be able to “rock the house” before they were prepared to step into a recording booth. Here's an example of a young <b>Fresh Prince </b>and his <b>DJ Jazzy Jeff </b>earning their way to acclaim first on stage in New York before MTV.</span><br />
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Interestingly, the <b>competitive nature of live Hip Hop music</b>
found in MC or DJ or sound system “<b>battles</b>” manifested in the form of a “<b><u>DIS</u></b>”
records or “<b><u>ANSWER</u></b>” records.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UTFO's
"<b>Roxanne, Roxanne</b>" created a wave of responses in 1984, <b>certifying
controversy to be a lucrative marketing technique to promote or break an
artist</b>.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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As lead by <b>KRS ONE</b> and <b>MC Shan</b>, one of the more significant
rivalries of this era was between the Bronx's <b>Boogie Down Productions</b> and
Queen's <b>Juice Crew</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You love to hear the
story again and again:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qVuxpIDrLvA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
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Note KRS ONE's comments on his <b>sudden arrival</b> and <b>new
found responsibility</b>: “<b>I found myself representing the Bronx</b>… I didn't realize
what a record did for <b>pride</b>… the Bronx was <b>alive</b> again.” Keep this in mind when
considering Public Enemy's career and how Hip Hop artists of the Golden Era
became quasi-political figures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Willingly or not, the <b>lyrics and ideologies of many artists of this era
became thought of as representations of Black urban youth</b>.<o:p></o:p>
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The record industry <b>also benefited unwittingly by the bare-bones, do it yourself aesthetic of Hip Hop music production</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to sampling becoming cost prohibitive
in the late 1990s, <b>rap records were produced inexpensively with innovative
recording techniques</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bambaataa's
“<b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J3lwZjHenA" target="_blank"><u>PLANET</u> <u>ROCK</u></a></b>” provided a blueprint: <b>popular breakbeats and DJ routines could be
reconstructed and reimagined into a new song form</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>William Jelani Cobb explains further: “At
best, [Hip Hop artists] take pre-existing scraps of sound and color and compose
them into entirely new piece of art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
its worst, the new production amounted to musical plagiarism.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Before sampling litigation marginalized the technique, a
<b>clear gesture</b> was being made attempting to <b>highlight records of old as useful
in a new context</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Stetsasonic</b> explain in
“Talkin’ All That Jazz”:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“Tell the truth, James Brown was old / 'Til Eric and Rakim
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<i>Rap brings back old R&B / And if we would not, people
could've forgot”</i><o:p></o:p>
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Jelani Cobb continues: “<b>[Sampling] technology</b> transformed used <b>record bins</b> into <b>aural scrap yards</b>, and that <b>long-neglected album collection </b>gathering dust in the attic into a <b>vinyl encyclopedia of sounds</b>.” While borrowing, covering and outright stealing of songs, vamps, chords and lyrics can be found in any American popular music form, never had an entire genre dedicated itself to carrying the torch of artists, music and movements that had long disappeared in the public imagination. Plagiarism aside, one can argue <b>by championing a sampling approach to music making</b>, Golden Era rap artists assisted in <b>introducing blues, jazz, soul and rock n' roll to a new, younger audience</b>. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://youtu.be/xF_jSY52LIs?t=59s" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRhBSrMEvfu4UGsCGttL_T58__ItS2v3LezY5O6MuQC3Q6c2SQxlF1kvZEl1eLEeblcrxt3KPXhgDMbC4HqNjijtTtOvcx2J2YC4Qe-iBSUNFgpYxdryvNVGszyWAYu7EER_NNZFOno1I/s400/D%2526D_Studios.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://youtu.be/1cmHx9PuPOM?t=1m" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">"Just a mad cool out... It's about 5 o'clock in the morning"</span></a></i><br />
<i><a href="https://youtu.be/1cmHx9PuPOM?t=1m" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">Famed D&D Studio was known for its "raw" sound</span></a></i></td></tr>
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For the record labels, this meant low investment, high yield. <b>Rather than using <u>LIVE</u> musicians, technicians, song writers and established producers</b>, Hip Hop records from the Golden Era were often conceived by DJ and MC’s spontaneous creativity. With the aid of a <b>single engineer</b>, a <b>turntable</b>, <b>sampler </b>and a <b>drum machine</b>, Hip Hop artists <b>created records within weeks</b>, reducing the <b>costs of studio time and paid professionals</b>. Jelani Cobb explains this unique occurrence: “The emerging sound of Hip Hop managed to be both elemental and technological simultaneously.”</div>
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The term Golden Era certainly sounds like a <b>subjective measurement</b> but a variety of factors have at the very least revealed this era in Hip Hop music as being <b>unique in how it was produced, overseen and consumed</b>. Evidenced in the lyrics of Wu Tang, Nas and Biggie, offspring of the Golden Era, <b>every good thing comes to a close</b>. Even KRS ONE lamented in 1993: “<a href="https://youtu.be/Ex3XuJavaBI?t=3m52s" target="_blank">But all along, I'm still lookin' around / And all I can see are these rap groups fallin' down</a>.”<br />
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By the mid 90s, the record industry became more savvy, <b>milking the above formula for all it was worth</b>, prompting <b>veterans of the culture to wonder what happens when you're outta here</b>. More significantly, the next generation of MCs in the 1990s were the <b>children of crack cocaine</b>, survivors of the surrounding violence of the epidemic and resulting mass incarceration. The <b>sound and intent of rap music </b>would be forever altered leaving the <b>Golden Era to be a distant memory</b>.</div>
ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-27233032740540733392022-07-12T20:55:00.021-07:002022-07-18T20:20:59.106-07:00The New School 1982 - 1986<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>The Boogie Down comes downtown, </i><i>Bam takes Hip Hop worldwide</i></div>
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<i>MCs to rap a "Message" with a social purpose</i></div>
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<i>and Run DMC crown themselves Kings</i></div>
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For the purposes of this discussion, we will consider the <b>"Old School"</b> the period of Hip Hop at its inception from <b>1973 to 1981</b>. When thinking of this time frame, the Old School marks where Hip Hop birth at Kool Herc's first parties in '73 at the Sedgwick Housing Projects in the Bronx to the emergence of Bambaataa's Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash's DJ mastery and MC crews in the late 1970s. It would also include the first recorded efforts of Hip Hop whether it be the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wsPSiF6M2m9khBNkqtcRvLeefXZGWIPS/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">dubious smash hit "Rapper's Delight"</a> or the early recordings on <a href="https://youtu.be/7L_YHWQMFu4" target="_blank">Enjoy Records</a>. Kurtis Blow emerged from this era as the first Hip Hop recording star that straddled both legitimacy and commercial success.</div>
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Not only does the following two part ABC news report overview the roots of rap and this early period effectively, it is the first televised news coverage of the emerging Hip Hop scene from uptown:</div>
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<i>Ironically as national news and audiences began to learn about Hip Hop, there was </i><i>questions about the sustainability of the culture outside of New York or even within it. B</i><i>y 1982, parties in the Bronx start losing popularity.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>There is speculation that the original hip hop audience started to “grow up”</b>; Hip Hop’s first generation began to seek jobs, settle down. Others who continued to contribute to the culture sought for more; parties in your <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIiCJ4-1Mog" target="_blank">old high school gymnasium or local community center</a> were losing favor. Founding Hip Hop DJ Kool Herc had all but disappeared by the early 1980s after being stabbed at one of his own parties. As this video clip explains, the potential for violence was ever present at "Old School" Hip Hop events.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='372' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyNJmFcyIM8IvPBj3rtiW5SmCIvlPZZ2niIHEJ1M2Kzy_uQe7BdFs7Ur_mI7ymxKAuhcn7ZKDs9UBMQe5B-Ig' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for recording industry, record labels generally treated rap records as novelties without artistic potential, a fad presumed that would soon meet its demise as popular disco had by 1980. “Between the 1979
release of ‘Rapper’s Delight’ and 1983, the music was perceived as a cute Negro niche market” according to William Jelani Cobb in<i>To
the Break of Dawn.</i></div>
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<i>Like a lifeline, occurring essentially at the same time these challenges persisted in 1982, the Punk and “New Wave” music scene of downtown Manhattan and the Bronx Hip Hop movement began to intermingle</i>. <b>New avenues of artistic and economic growth for Hip Hop music and culture appeared in the form of breakthrough recordings, videos and feature length movies</b>.</div>
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“<a href="http://www.allmusic.com/style/new-wave-ma0000002750" target="_blank">New Wave</a>”, like the <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/punk-new-wave-ma0000011872" target="_blank">punk music</a> which it sprung forth from, sought a new approach to creating pop music. Punk championed a “Do It Yourself” attitude that shunned music training for sheer energy and aggression. Punk and New Wave bands from Europe and NYC also moved away from the rock ‘n roll’s predictable "guitar gods" and drum solos. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-fJ0UNK-xPir3yJWnCK_8muoWSehUq2-lBibxqhvPvQUVzOksCqZ36sYTyb1VLwKwsgabQljC8yH4KMgWHRys7QTyXIlood5dbHf5QAeHqmGT0jpkh-ky7-gV04l_Ad3ZuFGa7zWadE/s1600/Martin+Hannet.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-fJ0UNK-xPir3yJWnCK_8muoWSehUq2-lBibxqhvPvQUVzOksCqZ36sYTyb1VLwKwsgabQljC8yH4KMgWHRys7QTyXIlood5dbHf5QAeHqmGT0jpkh-ky7-gV04l_Ad3ZuFGa7zWadE/s1600/Martin+Hannet.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Producer Martin Hannett mixing & matching<br />
drum machines, keys, & guitars</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Choosing to use synthesizers and drum machines, New Wave songs were often danceable with moody, obscure lyrics- a darker, futuristic disco sound. New Wave songwriters also drew musical inspiration from Reggae, Disco, and R&B, mixing elements of those genres into their music. <a href="http://youtu.be/aca77Je7Jms" target="_blank">Talking Heads</a>, <a href="http://youtu.be/c_L_-CKg6pw" target="_blank">New Order</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/oJL-lCzEXgI" target="_blank">Duran Duran</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/snILjFUkk_A" target="_blank">Depeche Mode</a> and <a href="http://youtu.be/vV9JM7vMv6M" target="_blank">The Police</a> are the perhaps the most recognized bands of this genre. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was an undeniable synergy when these crowds met despite the culture clash. Punk's outlaw and confrontational passion as well as New Wave music’s appreciation and “borrowing” from other music genres was in line with the spirit of the Hip Hop movement:<br /><br /></div><center><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='372' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxQL6HMAo4xyu2DgO9MryBK9ErkNdhw8qpHKR8YmzVDUNaMf6B2pdC96Fuut7wyMC-p4JwosBELbyTGLOqZnA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></center><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As New Wave artists began to "check out" Hip Hop performances, Hip Hop benefited by gaining a new audience that produced broader artistic possibilities and potential for securing more lucrative performance venues or recording ventures.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For example, after the success of "Rapper's Delight" and the growing recognition of graffiti as a rebel art form, the well known New Wave group Blondie gave Hip Hop performers recognition and a platform that to this point in Hip Hop history had not been realized yet. See video for more details:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div></div>
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<b>Notable moments of 1982 that shape the development of Hip Hop culture as it emerged from the Bronx to international recognition:</b></div>
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1. <b>Hip hop DJs, MCs, writers, breakers, “activitists” start to rub elbows with record industry executives and learn the in and outs of the downtown Manhattan club scene</b>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyxNc-7cA7E" target="_blank">Fab Five Freddy</a> (graffiti artist, party promoter) and Russell Simmons (party promoter, manger of Kurtis Blow and Run DMC) are especially instrumental in getting hip hop acts into downtown clubs. The video below chronicles Uptown artists mixing with Downtown audiences with Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation often bridging the gap.</div>
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2. <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/malcolm-mclaren-mn0000667020" target="_blank">Malcolm McLaren</a>, former manager of the infamous UK punk group The Sex Pistols, invites Afrika Bam’s and the Zulus to open for his New Wave group Bow Wow Wow @ the Ritz. McLaren later promotes the World’s Famous Supreme Team, a Black Muslim hip hop crew of radio DJs and MCs.</div>
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3.<a href="http://www.celebrityaccess.com/news/profile.html?id=607" target="_blank">Tom Silverman</a>- publisher of Dance Music Magazine- starts Tommy Boy Records and asks Bam to record “Planet Rock.” (See "Afrika Bambaattaa’s Message" below)</div>
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4. <b>Downtown Manhattan clubs (Mudd Club, Peppermint Lounge, Danceteria, The Roxy) begin to regularly host DJ and MC crew performances, typically the Zulus and Flash</b>. A fictionalized account in the movie <i>Beat Street</i> captures this moment:</div>
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5. A broad spectrum of races and nationalities mix at these clubs. At some of the larger clubs,<b> crowds of 3,000 to 4,000 people in attendance from all over the northeast, exposing hip hop music to thousands of new listeners</b>.</div>
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6. <b>New Wave songs begin to be “versioned” by hip hop acts</b>. For example, in 1982, Tom Tom Club, an offshoot of the Talking Heads, records “<a href="https://youtu.be/ECiMhe4E0pI" target="_blank">Genius of Love</a>” an ode to funk and soul music. Using the beat and / or lyrics, <a href="https://youtu.be/W9yKZjAI5Nk" target="_blank">hip hop versions</a> of “<a href="http://youtu.be/fEusjv45hjg" target="_blank">Genius of Love</a>” are soon recorded or performed at hip hop shows. </div>
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<i><center>The success of this record simultaneously revolutionized pop and hip hop music.</center></i></div>
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1. “<b><a href="https://youtu.be/9J3lwZjHenA" target="_blank">Planet Rock</a>” sampled or replayed the records Bam used in his DJ routines</b>. Bam proved that the innovations of the hip hop DJ could create new music.</div>
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2. Similar to the New Wave attitude, new forms of music would be found using the newest technologies. <b>Bam and his producers willingly used voice changers, drum machines, samplers, and keyboards.</b></div>
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<b>3. “Planet Rock” primary use of electronic instruments further centralized the role of technology in popular American music.</b></div>
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Prior to “Planet Rock”, electronic instruments as the principal tool for production of music occurred only on the fringes of popular music in the works of Kraftwerk or jazz. Most conspicuously, albums such as Michael Jackson’s <i><a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/r10089" target="_blank">Thriller</a> </i>and Madonna’s <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/album/madonna-mw0000268192" target="_blank">debut</a> were propelled by drum machines and keyboards.</div>
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1. “Planet Rock” was meant as an anthem for the Zulu Nation’s philosophy: peace, unity, love and having fun.</div>
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2. By simply listening to “Planet Rock” you were participating in an cultural event not just a recording.</div>
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3. If you take Bambaataa’s record selections and the “Party People” and transport them to “Planet Rock” something special happens: here breakbeats were looped effortlessly, vocals were entertaining food for thought, and pleasure was a never ending sensation. </div>
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4. Bambaataa was assisted by white musicians from New Wave scene, Arthur Baker and John Robbie, confirming that hip hop music could be a means to breaking down social and racial barriers.</div>
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“Planet Rock” inspired several New Wave / Hip Hop collaborations. Jean-Michel Basquait, a prolific SoHo artist produces the record, “<a href="https://youtu.be/9I56Kkxh_os" target="_blank">Beat Bop</a>.” The MCs of this record predate the nasal deliveries of the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill, not to mention the “gangsta pimp” imagery of the lyrics. New Wave eccentric, Thomas Dolby borrows his own “<a href="https://youtu.be/V83JR2IoI8k" target="_blank">Blinded Me with Science</a>” to produce Whodini’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/VyIO7iipblI" target="_blank">Magic’s Wand</a>.” Graffiti writer Futura 2000 produced the instrumental “<a href="https://youtu.be/o-AOavtOy5M" target="_blank">Escapades of…</a>” with The Clash. With Fab Five Freddy, Blondie’s guitarist Chris Stein produces the soundtrack to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hee38-NV11E" target="_blank"><i>Wildstyle</i></a>, Hip Hop’s culture’s first cinematic manifesto.</div>
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<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/35KBN-r-4R8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
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As described by Downtown club owner Kool Lady Blue: <i>"It was the Reagan era and Nicaragua and talk of war and nuclear weapons. But then there was this whole thing going on in New York where it was the youth culture getting together in unity and peace and having fun. No segregation and everyone joining together. Just the opposite of what was going on politically in America."</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Planet Rock" was a sonic boom, sending Hip Hop sounds and sensibilities well beyond the boundaries of the Bronx. But while there may have been less jams in the park, probably no location embodied the growing possibilities of Hip Hop's New School than the Fever:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='372' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwHNV5MQSQ7l03oOOe6BkWgUh4M1hn8KCAb5j9kl27Z9uZpaD35CY43Di2p6QgLM9yL1kVYQ6-aAgy59aXRxg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div></div>
<center><u><b>The Message</b></u></center>
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“Planet Rock” pointed to the musical direction of hip hop music by using samplers and drum machines. <b>“The Message” initiated the lyrical direction of hip hop music with tales of urban woe, personal struggle, or “realism.”</b></div>
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1. The music and the lyrics of “The Message” purposefully compliment each other. The spooky key boards and dark basslines looped w/o bridge or downbeat create a disturbing atmosphere that serves as a metaphor for the lyrics. <b>This songwriting technique gave depth to the MC Melle Mel and Duke Bootee's verses, awarding “rap” critical praise it had never earned prior.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQdkYJ2nVTdbNCCL13ao9Ed8uK46W_SDim9YAoShsAAdskMzOG5iQXn4vtCTSFWar9jz9rqt3L9GproDt402UPB_lPO0a7Y1k4u4JVeGZYv5sUZVWIrkjXP90LUoIZEdtqhJ8g7g1P1jY/s1600/055170f037eb0abff8a3b27746924113.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQdkYJ2nVTdbNCCL13ao9Ed8uK46W_SDim9YAoShsAAdskMzOG5iQXn4vtCTSFWar9jz9rqt3L9GproDt402UPB_lPO0a7Y1k4u4JVeGZYv5sUZVWIrkjXP90LUoIZEdtqhJ8g7g1P1jY/s320/055170f037eb0abff8a3b27746924113.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
2. <b>Music in their "Message"</b>:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Crisp voices mixed prominently</li>
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Like “Planet Rock,” there was no shouting of zodiac signs over disco grooves. This record was not only different than any “rap” recording at the time, but it was a dark contrast to most popular music in general</span></li>
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3. Of note, this record <b>did not feature Grandmaster Flash on turntables</b> and <b>did not even feature the original members of the Furious Five</b>. It was the last recording Melle Mel, Flash and the Furious Five would record together. In retrospect, this effort was proof that a compelling lyricist matched with just a drum machine and a keyboard could spawn a hit record and a new direction for Hip Hop.</div>
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<center><u><b>Run DMC</b></u></center>
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So how did a group from Hollis, Queens become self professed "ambassadors" for Hip Hop music? How were they able to become recognizable international icons of Hip Hop? Lyrically speaking, Run and DMC took a <b>bold new approach to rhyming</b> that was a distinctive depature from the "Old School." </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Secondly, though this is an oversimplification, Run DMC <b>took the musical direction of "Planet Rock" and married it with the hard hitting but catchy unwavering realism of "The Message."</b> Run DMC not only preserved and perfected Hip Hop blueprint from the Bronx but they gave it to the world to consume as the group's success forever married rap music as a commercial endeavor. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As seen in this video, Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay became international ambassadors for Hip Hop by marrying the culture with the predominate form pop at the time- rock music- and by unabashedly celebrating the emerging cultural elements of Hip Hop: DJing, MCing, breaking, graf, fashion, attitude and slang.</div>
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Qualities and attributes of Run DMC:</div>
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1. <b>Rapped with commanding, bellowing voices songs were confrontational in both style and content</b>. In contrast to many old school MCs’ smooth, female seeking personas, <a href="http://youtu.be/KcoxQOeQRHw" target="_blank">Run DMC were devastating rather than debonair</a>.</div>
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2. Used primarily <b>loud, booming electronic drum beats</b> for music. </div>
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3. Dressed like kids in the parks, unlike the elaborate costumes of old school MC and DJ crews. Run, D, and Jay sported <a href="http://youtu.be/16eA6uJ9hsA" target="_blank">Adidas track suits and sneakers</a> or Kangol hats with black jeans and leather jackets.</div>
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<a href="http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0811/7073/products/Dubose_Soul-Sonic-Force_1.png?v=1435692212" target="_blank">Bambaataa</a> and <a href="https://i.pinimg.com/474x/a5/67/73/a5677361ba264c0c1bdf2b4e63d6a523.jpg" target="_blank">Flash’s groups</a> emulated <a href="http://queermusicheritage.com/APR2011/funkadelic.jpg" target="_blank">George Clinton and Parliment’s extravagant costumes</a>, clothing themselves in leathers and feathers or sequins and silk suits. To a certain degree, this was recommended by the record labels as they were more comfortable marketing a funk/disco group than they were a hip hop crew.</div>
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4. The group first single, “It’s Like That / Sucker MCs” displayed both a talent for “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hN1SKVx31s&feature=related">message raps</a>” and “battling.”</div>
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“Sucker MCs” chronicled the life of a b-boy’s rise to hip hop fame. It was hip hop’s first “rags to riches” story where hip hop music was understood as a means for fame and fortune.</div>
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5. Hailing from previously “unknown” Hollis Queens, Run DMC displayed swagger and unfailing confidence. Called themselves and their music “The New School”</div>
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6. Had a DIY attitude that said you don’t have to be from Uptown to rock the house. Ironically, this was similar to original impulse for hip hop music: you don’t have to be at a pricey disco to dance or ignore great funk and soul bands of the past.</div>
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7. Ambitions were less simply winning rhyme battles at shows than a explicit goal to <a href="https://youtu.be/kOBDEhxd_WU" target="_blank">entertain the masses</a> whether on record or stage.</div>
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8. Run DMC brought the DJ back to the center stage. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUsSCSC4TJU&feature=fvst" target="_blank">Jam Master Jay had singles dedicated to him</a>, full album cuts and was highlighted at live shows.
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9. By adopting rock guitars for hip hop use and declaring themselves, “The Kings of Rock,” Run DMC were declaring that hip hop was the new form of popular music.</div></div></div></div></div></center></div><br />
<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qXzWlPL_TKw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center></div></div></div>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-29407320033909295022022-04-28T20:03:00.006-07:002022-05-26T11:19:50.502-07:00A Radical Redistribution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/G9ahQUpkf9k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="1950" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh46wXtOfc-4-5brYbyOPsEYS1EOzN6HCphB3HH7F2s6qHliWzm2uUSLk77lp1QaM-Ooep1MbFg_WGD70noojKwZVaAbj0q6_ZiuEAQ-iRVEbwkw2sQAO6KikdJGMSUoz7rTFnNNcaUP6-TVS4hgWym4pqSzuI29Nw3Uuy9juFCiqLsWBWlfrLEGIGe/w548-h342/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-28%20at%2011.07.02%20PM.png" width="548" /></a></div><br /><div><br />A Radical Retribution<br />
<br />
Music and Concept: MalArts<br />
Samples and Scratches: ARM 18<br />
Video Content: @margalaid04 (IG)<br />
Video Editing: ARM 18<br />
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To the Black Lives lost in this video, Rest in Peace:<br />
Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Philando Castile, James Earl Channey, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor<br />
<br />
Credit is due to the following Artists, Leaders and Visionaries:<br />
Boogie Down Productions, James Brown, Bobby Byrd, John Coltrane, Denzel Curry, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (“Malcolm X”), Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Dave Dennis, Ava DuVernay, Michael Eric Dyson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Killer Mike, KRS ONE, Spike Lee, NWA, Richard Pryor, Public Enemy, Q-Tip, Thomas “TNT” Todd<br />
<br />
For the inspiration, TikTok, you don’t stop:<br />
@itsmariettaa, @itzkay.k, @kareemrahma, @kiara.customz, @lillsofaa, @marrrrrrrrrri, @michelle_but_not_obama, @morganpawlowskii, @mikaylarez, @officialmacrose, @philiphurstmedia, @sarabarabobarabanannafan, @segyrella, @steviemackey. @suitcasepocket, @thehighlyeducated, @trevordennis_, @weneedpeace, @whitepeopledeservetodie6, @whoisaleckson, @wtfricky, @_wig_<br />
<br />
Material was used from the following Usual Suspects:<br />
ABC News, Associated Press, Bloomberg News, CBS Evening News, Channel 4 News, Columbus Education Association, Comedy Central, CNN, The Daily News, The Daily Show, Fox News, France 24, Global News, Hill.TV, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, NBC Houston, NBC Miami, NBC News, The New York Times, NowThis, The Sacramento Bee, Smithsonian Channel, The Telegraph, Time, Yahoo! Finance, YouTube<br />
<br />
Many other photographers, videographers and raw footage was used and likely not credited appropriately, for instance, Portlandrone.com, Insaaf Blog and @larryalldayvid. My bad, we are in the fog of war. You are appreciated. Shout out to independent photojournalist, Tim Druck of Indigo Photography of Louisville, KY whose his unwavering commitment to anti-racism on ground and online spurned this project on.<br />
<br />
#BLM</div>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-23379321256103243562021-03-04T16:35:00.002-08:002021-03-04T16:36:00.945-08:00<p><strong><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">WEEKLY DISCUSSION FORUM #7: Squadron Supreme's “Utopia Program”</span></strong></p><!--x-tinymce/html-mce_58628873611614902755510--><p><span style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><strong></strong></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9QjcZPNaSw4rFwXv4U6OHP0Ap_u42bXSRJSd-2f5BnyVKZnkuXATolympBPMLj0ClFvfXK7AYvtTpQ62wx4FnFLQGJ4cs_P5p4P2tOI63Jwxw15ZILO9428GjMYttqb51wHNnlGCWl8/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1332" height="405" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9QjcZPNaSw4rFwXv4U6OHP0Ap_u42bXSRJSd-2f5BnyVKZnkuXATolympBPMLj0ClFvfXK7AYvtTpQ62wx4FnFLQGJ4cs_P5p4P2tOI63Jwxw15ZILO9428GjMYttqb51wHNnlGCWl8/w265-h405/clean.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></strong></div><p><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">After a mass global conflict, governments and nations are teetering on collapse. The Squadron Supreme are the only superhero team left on Earth.</span></em></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">In the beginning, the Utopia Program seems successful. Squadron Supreme round up all weapons and provide every human with non-lethal personal protection devices such as a force field; violence drops dramatically. The Squadron control food production and worldwide hunger decreases.</span></em></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><em></em></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kVKA0HG777uQiNQ_KwtGj2ch4mqyN51jqPD14UoPtP4_hySxMElS8iP78NPobq0lEzH53o7fBXu-sbrZsXQw_TcMQMKTpCBUlPxVVrjaX4t5QfRxexsRsi0NA1P3lBGMxcv4GLdJd3w/s511/RCO011_1462601835.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="377" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kVKA0HG777uQiNQ_KwtGj2ch4mqyN51jqPD14UoPtP4_hySxMElS8iP78NPobq0lEzH53o7fBXu-sbrZsXQw_TcMQMKTpCBUlPxVVrjaX4t5QfRxexsRsi0NA1P3lBGMxcv4GLdJd3w/s320/RCO011_1462601835.jpg" /></a></em></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><em>One of the most controversial measures of the Utopia Program<br /> is the Behavior Modification machine, a technology that attempts to “decriminalize” any thoughts or behaviors a past convicted criminal may have. Behavior-modified convicts subjected to this device had their criminal records eradicated</em><em> and</em><span><em> were provided jobs in the </em></span><em>various nation-wide restoration projects.</em></span><p></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><em><br /></em></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><em></em></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgof0Ih1NDmAv-UHrrl5HOUOpP8tcdOr9wa3TQ3dvV1j6X7hKNHU47VODxqlHWgxHDRXeSat1z1WmKxP4IfAR_pIk0IA0wdFB8JvRANPyLZGuWfOyxt8uJUbUg1ZFEffp-Tk2Po3W638Ug/s1244/IMG_2367.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1244" data-original-width="1120" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgof0Ih1NDmAv-UHrrl5HOUOpP8tcdOr9wa3TQ3dvV1j6X7hKNHU47VODxqlHWgxHDRXeSat1z1WmKxP4IfAR_pIk0IA0wdFB8JvRANPyLZGuWfOyxt8uJUbUg1ZFEffp-Tk2Po3W638Ug/w391-h434/IMG_2367.jpg" width="391" /></span></a></em></div><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><em></em></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Despite the Squadron being super human, they are far from infallible. They have secrets, ambitions, shame, ego, hopes and despairs. These are the individuals making and enforcing all public policies and norms for society. </span></em></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></em></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></em></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></em></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJR8qF5l7LG_78oKf53X5RxGJY0v76hYW-KpXR1N1t3vlDzsVx2crVudPZmMEx-K6xp_tvFkG2K0tq7cq0_8mAMYSoW6F0IKGiY_-lT5JjMZvUF_XWgxJwYl7UsEb55dZiseZgd_oGqw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="1080" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJR8qF5l7LG_78oKf53X5RxGJY0v76hYW-KpXR1N1t3vlDzsVx2crVudPZmMEx-K6xp_tvFkG2K0tq7cq0_8mAMYSoW6F0IKGiY_-lT5JjMZvUF_XWgxJwYl7UsEb55dZiseZgd_oGqw/w434-h440/image12.jpg" width="434" /></a></span></em></div><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></em><p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Members of the Squadron Supreme disagree on long-term consequences of such sweeping power they possess over humanity, tragically fighting amongst themselves and ultimately disbanding the Utopia Program.<br /></span></em></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></em></p><p style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3g5weDZN7qgWVVQvYUJqsC0kN2qZsd9WZFNJi_iYT41lYxypFCd9MbOEy__BPzAnXeNf06XF5X5jAXT9w9N4xP0scmpJnLng2W2aOmHYJKC1Vt3KDVZD3bAEEd8S9k1XBojZ8CONBVOA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="966" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3g5weDZN7qgWVVQvYUJqsC0kN2qZsd9WZFNJi_iYT41lYxypFCd9MbOEy__BPzAnXeNf06XF5X5jAXT9w9N4xP0scmpJnLng2W2aOmHYJKC1Vt3KDVZD3bAEEd8S9k1XBojZ8CONBVOA/w468-h381/RCO011_1462601835+copy.jpg" width="468" /></span></a></div>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-19238202658032299042019-05-20T20:42:00.000-07:002019-06-13T18:55:26.239-07:00In Memoriam: MALARTS<div style="text-align: center;">
“<b>Concentration on creation is my daily operation / </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>It’s a mission coming up a Nubian within this nation</b>” </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- PS Chase, "Now Power"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4rDQlJUlR9JEpfM5XxoU-QlHwCn30CRj975mhBDSQ2a3vSa6C9Z9n5floTrMlbTVtveuhspoQ7GEkWI9N_nQ7HLGh0qkzIODA4kILuB5BI0J94f4GIunWKv4PlID0KyNJjVDXuik8ok/s1600/IMG_5148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="604" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE4rDQlJUlR9JEpfM5XxoU-QlHwCn30CRj975mhBDSQ2a3vSa6C9Z9n5floTrMlbTVtveuhspoQ7GEkWI9N_nQ7HLGh0qkzIODA4kILuB5BI0J94f4GIunWKv4PlID0KyNJjVDXuik8ok/s200/IMG_5148.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
If you ever once to hear me DJ and were so kind to thought I was cool, it is entirely because of Malcolm Little.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xbpyeDzMHzWaiWRVflJ4eUfzgY2XSqGc3QxVuT2Q9r_Fun-DNupjjfEs3tQSNVl48WCnmAA7ySzyuK3hPSqWnV7Aoe4POdl0Z7uqWmUSWXQu70kaYeBV5WNtNvLZ8ghPv5-5JOqmbqY/s1600/versioncity2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="569" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5xbpyeDzMHzWaiWRVflJ4eUfzgY2XSqGc3QxVuT2Q9r_Fun-DNupjjfEs3tQSNVl48WCnmAA7ySzyuK3hPSqWnV7Aoe4POdl0Z7uqWmUSWXQu70kaYeBV5WNtNvLZ8ghPv5-5JOqmbqY/s200/versioncity2.gif" width="200" /></a>Malcolm blessed me with my tag and DJ name ARM 18. Just my initials and age at the time- it had an old school TAKI 183 feel to it. But like the sticker he put it to, it stuck. Because long before I ever did, Malcolm believed in me.<br />
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Mal, Moods, Public Speaker, Chase, IndyMal, MalArts et al was a true blue Renaissance man, a travellin’ man; a sci-fi afro punk artist-in-residence, perpetually on the move, like a rolling stone, but who most often called Staten Island home. We met in the summer of 1993 in upstate NY at Bard College and immediately set off on adventurers with our fellow mad ones, “the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing.” Malcolm was mad in this way and became our unassuming fearless spiritual leader: General of the Love Army International, Outback Master, clutch hitting outfielder for the Easy Living Krew.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
“<b>Get into mastery of self not mastery of men / </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>I keep a whole mess of fam but very few true friends</b>” </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- PS Chase, "Now Power"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrI2JFqDStoS37XqDqZe20QJkjb5ZxLRtpzNMtFhPrngtm86isOHe_x5FInKiI3c-Ce94uVVQl-rXo8Eo1EG0jQE-Si2B8X2KNdltH242XYubz4l2GPE6lYuyAmfoKSvw9qRISEMKRIs/s1600/Ballon+Mal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="951" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrI2JFqDStoS37XqDqZe20QJkjb5ZxLRtpzNMtFhPrngtm86isOHe_x5FInKiI3c-Ce94uVVQl-rXo8Eo1EG0jQE-Si2B8X2KNdltH242XYubz4l2GPE6lYuyAmfoKSvw9qRISEMKRIs/s200/Ballon+Mal.jpg" width="118" /></a>Malcolm rolled deep, but to know him you had to accept he was decidedly an enigmatic loner. Nonetheless, he was seemingly a friend and ally to many, having a rich personal history that touched all five boroughs and beyond. His smile and kindness were a strength not to be underestimated.<br />
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Nor was his intolerance for herbs, bullshit and injustice. When Malcolm was in your presence, it was time to build and destroy, activate and motive, blow up the spot. He owned a kinetic intellect; for Malcolm, theories and experiences were one in the same, he seized the moment with a loving death grip in order to know the ledge.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
“<b>Programmed with the man with the hat and the tan / </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Captain Chase throw another phat style in the can</b>” </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- PS Chase, "Now Power"</div>
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Malcolm could drop science without a lecture. There’s an effortlessness to his affective artistry found in the dozens of mediums he utilized: spray cans, blackbooks, canvas, graphic design, film, guitars, drums, samplers, a jean jacket, a pad and a pen, to name but a few. Mal was also a prop master, never without a go-go gadget: a Sharpie, a skateboard, a microphone, a camera, a lighter, a flower.<br />
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He possessed the gift of gab, the poetics of a statement as significant as the idea. Speaking upon racism: “And therein lies the tragedy, a kind of fucked up form of perfection.” He could speak upon Marshall McLuhan, McCoy Tyner or Malcolm McLaren with verve, ease and expertise. Malcolm took a phrase rarely heard, flip it and it became our daily word: parlay, tical, maintain, true, fam, <a href="http://audiogoldrush.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">audio goldrush</a>, stereo moonrise, dub lodge, the Tragic NorthEast.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3v6IRDsTkmHlYZkh0bOi5Cmf2MIDQlLGY9wbG18RGRxgQBIxaqIp-p_K3ViKtM0YwpVF_6kdb5MgJ0tNgC0Vy3cEU0ICbQtHaPS59rgssIMFRDSJMcVWuxWwMySwXyIQqcAtK-zEFvY/s1600/TNE+stickers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1600" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3v6IRDsTkmHlYZkh0bOi5Cmf2MIDQlLGY9wbG18RGRxgQBIxaqIp-p_K3ViKtM0YwpVF_6kdb5MgJ0tNgC0Vy3cEU0ICbQtHaPS59rgssIMFRDSJMcVWuxWwMySwXyIQqcAtK-zEFvY/s320/TNE+stickers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
“<b>As my city’s sinking time to jump in the life boat / </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>stay fluid with thoughts and action, jack, that will keep hope</b>” </div>
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- PS Chase, "Open Wide (Approaching Terra Nova)"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswKUWf-FdqyckWhvdzL4f6MXjnTvfMRiNU-MUzoViaQE1XmHnOzB7-YfkCzCmN_jcJqvcauV_LZwCQE0LHqLgJj1HhH8MmLrjorkvZ-wYo3l-jR9II8BaKnlJTSSKPznVbg-18AHiEqg/s1600/stickers+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1090" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswKUWf-FdqyckWhvdzL4f6MXjnTvfMRiNU-MUzoViaQE1XmHnOzB7-YfkCzCmN_jcJqvcauV_LZwCQE0LHqLgJj1HhH8MmLrjorkvZ-wYo3l-jR9II8BaKnlJTSSKPznVbg-18AHiEqg/s320/stickers+1.jpeg" width="216" /></a>With Malcolm, we were always on a “mission”. We trekked through a foot of snow in the Catskills and discovered an abandoned Fresh Air Fund tennis camp seemingly sealed in time, each cabin a treasure trove of 1970s memorabilia; with 7,000 other NY state college students, Malcolm stormed Albany’s capital center in protest of Pataki’s proposed 1995 budget cuts in higher ed for the underprivileged; at a 1999 spring fair, I cut up break beats in front of confused Lehigh University students as Malcolm chose not to rhyme on the mic but break out his harmonica and blow like Bobby Dylan. Don't think twice, he winked, it's alright.<br />
<br />
He was the first person who taught us that you could choose your own family, my freshman year roommate “Matt Kenny” recalled. “So many memories I have of him involve intimate conversations that took place amid noise and activity. But it was easy to feel like you were alone on an island with Malcolm, exploring underlying reasons for the failures of the past and present, plotting how to make the future much, much better.” When finishing an immense mural that blended science fiction with 60s counter culture psychedelia in Bard’s Old Gym, he considered his work and remarked, “In this world, even love needs an army.”<br />
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He commissioned me ARM 18 and called my DJ sets the “dream scene”. Being “named” not only felt like an honor, but a duty. I wasn't alone in receiving such a gift, the disciples he never asked for were the beneficiaries of his magnanimity as well. In friendship, Malcolm expressed loyalty by pushing you to be more, encouraging you to remix yourself as much as possible in order to produce, create, innovate on a higher level. We would find comfort in our skin if we continued to shed it.<br />
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Malcolm, you selflessly gave so much to me right up until your last weekend: vision, encouragement, playfulness. I just want to quit DJing now and shut it down but I hear your voice applauding me on: “ARM One Eight flip the plate / it’s time to make perfect blends / because all this hip shit needs to hop now and then”<br />
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Peace, akhi. Your work will not go unheard, unrecognized or unseen. Immaletemknow.<br />
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And Mal, I apologize, sincerely. It felt like you shared with me everything but the burden. I offer all my love, utmost respect and am eternally grateful. I hope I am what you expected.<br />
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<br />ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-48310438170704492362014-10-15T21:39:00.008-07:002022-04-03T11:16:45.870-07:00Legends of the Fall 1994<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">"No time for looking back, it's done"</span></i></td></tr>
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Like 1979, 1982, 1988 or 1997, any working chronology of Hip Hop music should never overlook 1994 as a pinnacle year of its development, especially for New York. Knowledgeable heads will cite Nas’ <i>Illmatic</i> and Notorious BIG’s <i>Ready to Die</i> with just cause. Those less provincial will note Snoop Doggy Dogg’s solo album, Common’s resurrection of Chicago and Outkast’s debut from Atlanta. Strikingly, Fall 1994 Hip Hop is a period that sounds both dated and inventive. It is a moment when old school sensibilities of rocking mics mixed with a menace inflicted by a box cutter’s blade. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The mixtapes <b><i>Legends of the Fall 1994 (aka "When We Were Very Young") </i></b><b>Volumes <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Y9ag_5Faynbm1zaHdEZFMxWEE/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">One</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Y9ag_5FaynUmJxY2FUN2t2Tjg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Two</a> and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Y9ag_5FaynYTZzQlhWZll5Tkk/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Three</a> </b>captures both the pleasure and pain of this period. MP3 mixes are zipped up and Apple Music friendly by yours truly. You can also find this mix in <b>Spotify</b> here in <b>Volumes <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fWibrcuMRAbouMkFXQdlQ?si=T3k8Y7cSTYyHH-6fg8h1hg" target="_blank">One</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4NrKzaSev6RxtW52qoLFHn?si=R6pnyL8xT0Ku2tHLNAh4WQ" target="_blank">Two</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7jQ8tJNKweG5kylbTvczHu?si=RjsUX_scTRqeaW0YWwxkPw" target="_blank">Three</a>. </b>Or in <b>Apple Music </b>playlists here in <b>Volumes <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/legends-of-the-fall-1994-volume-i/pl.u-NpXmY7Wup3j7GX" target="_blank">One</a>, <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/legends-of-the-fall-1994-volume-ii/pl.u-WabZlYZfvDpY1V" target="_blank">Two</a> and <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/legends-of-the-fall-1994-volume-iii/pl.u-8aAVo9qcaK7ryd" target="_blank">Three</a>.</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">"A strange form,<br />somethin' kind of lyrical"</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">By that autumn, the serendipitous creativity and commercial growth of rap music from 1986 to 1993 was coming to close. 1994 was, in some ways, the Golden Era’s wake. These songs were brutal lyrical laments of a transformative and uplifting street culture passing away. Moreover, raps of this era chronicle the impact of the crack cocaine epidemic on the black American urban underclass unflinchingly. These kids grew up on Planet Ready Rock where the lines between the rap game and crack game had blurred. The impact of the latter loomed too large to ignore evidenced by unflinching titles such as “<a href="http://youtu.be/ZuJXfo7g5qY" target="_blank">Shook Ones</a>” or “<a href="http://youtu.be/bFF_Z5eWc_I" target="_blank">Stray Bullet</a>.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">No doubt Nas' epic “<a href="http://youtu.be/2884FYEccgU" target="_blank">One Love</a>” or declarative “<a href="https://youtu.be/k1QqvkEOILg" target="_blank">Life’s a Bitch</a>” may be the best of these moments. But Lord Finesse’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/NzG8X3fb8ik" target="_blank">Shorties Kaught in the System</a>” or Rae and Ghost’s “<a href="http://youtu.be/Iq7Wm8sz4Ec" target="_blank">Heaven and Hell</a>” also capture a growing dread that things done changed. The youth of the late 1980s and 1990s have been abandoned not only by systemic inequality of the Reagan years but familial rejection. "<a href="http://youtu.be/4YepLtnH_7o?t=2m25s" target="_blank">Ready to die, why I act that way? / Pop Duke left Mom Duke, the faggot took the back way</a>” Biggie scorns on “The What.” </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"You see it, I be it"</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">Songs such as “<a href="https://youtu.be/LwpEAJRVZ2s" target="_blank">Downtown Swinga</a>,” “<a href="http://youtu.be/vAz00Ia9GvY" target="_blank">Buck ‘em Down</a>” and “<a href="https://youtu.be/L1n1dSFQbDQ" target="_blank">Let’s Get It On</a>” all capture a confrontational, uncompromising stance: alienated urban black youth who casually flash steel, blow trees and guzzle Hennessy as a means of opposition for anyone within or outside their cypher that encroach upon their block. “<a href="http://youtu.be/ZuJXfo7g5qY?t=19s" target="_blank">The most violent of the violent-lest crimes we give life to / If these QueensBridge kids don't like you</a>” Prodigy intones on “Shook Ones.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Friends are no allies either, in “Alladat” Sadat X raps: “<a href="https://youtu.be/PlhOwhljE5M?t=118" target="_blank">Everybody claims to know nothin’ / And these is the peoples that's down wit me / Supposedly, theys on my side, yeah right / They let a nigga die in the night if you let em</a>” Parrish Smith publicly feuds with his long time friend and business partner Erick Sermon on “I Saw It Cummin’”: “<a href="http://youtu.be/FO7sFLNaPjQ?t=2m55s" target="_blank">Not trying to promote violence but thats the way it is / The code of the ghetto ain't got shit to do with showbiz</a>.” Further, Biggie and Tupac may famously share a track here on “<a href="http://youtu.be/8FKDWCn4ys0" target="_blank">Let’s Get It On</a>” but within a year’s time whatever friendship they might have had would be marred by a growing violent coastal feud. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The type of sonic and platonic unity showcased by Kid n’ Play’s “<a href="http://youtu.be/rp8QmidCcsk" target="_blank">2 Hype</a>” or Rob Base and DJ EZ’s Rock “<a href="http://youtu.be/phOW-CZJWT0" target="_blank">It Takes Two</a>” in 1988 has been eclipsed by the perils of both glitz and glamour and the code of the streets by 1994. In OC’s words, “Time’s Up” the rap game had become a farce, ribald fables without lessons, lyrics without meaning: “<a href="https://youtu.be/6gNmCGQRpcc?t=161" target="_blank">Non-conceptual, non-exceptional / Everybody’s either crime-related or sexual</a>.” Veteran Craig Mack swings in “Flava in Ya Ear,” simply saying of new jacks, “<a href="http://youtu.be/9-MLp3l2fkA?t=56s" target="_blank">You won’t be around next year</a>…”</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">"When we start the revolution..."</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">There has been always an issue of legality born of the original practices: the acts of graffiti writing, powering DJ equipment from lamp posts, breakdancing and partying in public spaces initially thrived because of the lack of civil order in the Bronx in the 1970s. Paradoxically, as the clamp down of these “quality of life” crimes removed Hip Hop culture from public spaces in the 1980s, the emerging crack market and the recreational consumption of “blunts,” Heines and Becks become mixed up with B-Boy bravado. By 1994 the traditional “Four Elements” archetype and illusions of the B-Boy literally transformed before our ears. Hip Hop lore intersects with criminology as Nas outlines in “Represent”: </span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="s1">“<a href="https://youtu.be/7qOvGyyAmpA?t=159" target="_blank">Before the BDP conflict with MC Shan / </a></span><a href="https://youtu.be/7qOvGyyAmpA?t=159" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Around the time when Shante dissed the Real Roxxane / </span>I used to wake up every morning, see my crew on the block / Every day's a different plan that had us running from cops</a>” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">More of matter of factly, graf writer and master of ceremonies El da Sensei from the Artifacts breaks down a day in the life: </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“<a href="https://youtu.be/kK4UdRPJAzw?t=115" target="_blank">Lately playin' Hurricane G demos in my WalkMan / </a></span><a href="https://youtu.be/kK4UdRPJAzw?t=115" target="_blank">I walk and I talk and read issues of The Source and / Check out the dreadlocks in Bedrock puffin indo / By the branch like plants, and do the cypher dance / <span class="s1">Then it's back to the set, to write raps about my eps / </span>Takin' tokes for the stress as I get flexi wit da tech</a>”</div>
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<span class="s1">Curiously, some of the main ingredients of this era survives from a time before crack. Vocal stop gap measures sometimes identified as the black preacher's “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brjEZ8fNjX0" target="_blank">whooping</a>” are heard in such as standard Hip Hop phrases “Yes, yes, y’all” or “And ya don’t stop." Further the “call and response” devices for song hooks are evidenced throughout. Whether with sample snippets or vocal choruses, songs such as “<a href="https://youtu.be/-HcalFfQu3o" target="_blank">Mansion and a Yacht</a>,” “<a href="https://youtu.be/nsisHmYd3hc" target="_blank">Hit Me with That</a>”, “<a href="http://youtu.be/yjgVHawiRY4" target="_blank">Without a Doubt</a>,” “<a href="https://youtu.be/lYeZpSztQC4" target="_blank">2,3 Break</a>,” “<a href="http://youtu.be/TPxUajXS0Vc" target="_blank">What a Niggy Know</a>,” and “<a href="https://youtu.be/8ztzZbpreLk" target="_blank">Word is Bond</a>” all display the hallmarks of an Old School era fading away. The works of the <a href="http://youtu.be/mH92guW_y3M" target="_blank">Redman</a> and <a href="http://youtu.be/RsuwvEhWXjM" target="_blank">The Artifacts</a> carry the baton as well but are weighed down by a casual misogyny and nihilism that characterizes American culture at large by this decade.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"For every rhyme I write is 25 to life"</i></span></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">Setting aside sociological analysis, scanning the track listings of these mixtapes reveals the emergence of notable long standing Hip Hop icons both on the mic and behind the boards during this particular autumn. Biggie and Nas’ should not overshadow the rise in profile of household names such as <a href="https://youtu.be/TpNhaPLSr2A?t=123" target="_blank">Busta Rhymes</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/TrUERC2Zk64" target="_blank">Common Sense</a> and <a href="http://youtu.be/Vj8R69KOb8U" target="_blank">The Roots</a>. The verbal assault of Pharoe Monche of Organized Konfusion (“<a href="https://youtu.be/kqV_7PqiJ0s" target="_blank">Bring It On</a>”), <a href="https://youtu.be/TWHmoyZ0zwo?t=46">Sadat X</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/zEurG1u_Ynw" target="_blank">Mad Skillz</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/3cUoAneeE_I" target="_blank">Keith Murray</a> should not be overlooked either. Black Moon, Smif n’ Wessun and Mobb Deep refined a murder music aesthetic that continues to be emulated to this day. The lyrical variety of 1994 was on display as well. The Cella Dwellas dabble in mysticism (“<a href="http://youtu.be/XTsAiRBMZx0" target="_blank">Land of the Lost</a>”) and the Gravediggaz the macabre (“<a href="https://youtu.be/zxFYhG7VprY" target="_blank">1-800-Suicide</a>”). Common Sense (“<a href="https://youtu.be/33MVYwG2pfo" target="_blank">Chapter 13</a>”), Organized Konfusion ("<a href="http://youtu.be/bFF_Z5eWc_I" target="_blank">Stray Bullet</a>") and Jeru the Damaja ("<a href="https://youtu.be/zls5IlSP7h4" target="_blank">You Can't Stop the Prophet</a>") all employ metaphor skillfully.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">"That's what I consider real <br />in this field of music"</span></i></td></tr>
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<span class="s1">While production work in the Fall 1994 solidified Large Professor, Premier, Pete Rock and Q-Tip’s legacy, Bronx wunderkind Buckwild almost single handedly reinvented the Diggin’ in the Crates aesthetic. Eschewing be bop horns and piano riffs, Buckwild unearthed the cinematic progressive jazz soundscapes of <a href="http://youtu.be/8j8pSu3U7WM" target="_blank">David Axlerod</a> (“C'mon wit da Git Down”) and <a href="http://youtu.be/FJVfVLiH82g" target="_blank">Les DeMerle</a> (“Time’s Up”). The sampling aesthetic had always favored a wide palate, but with “<a href="https://youtu.be/PlhOwhljE5M" target="_blank">Alladat</a>” and “<a href="https://youtu.be/Rv859g_Bq8I" target="_blank">Thirteen</a>” Buckwild carried on tradition with inventive chops of familiar breakbeats. Likewise making a name for himself, Chicago’s NO I.D. should be recognized for his new take on soulful boom bap in “<a href="https://youtu.be/ZwikdIepwQw" target="_blank">Check the Method</a>” and “<a href="https://youtu.be/7PB5uh_CXYM" target="_blank">Communism</a>.” As a result, twenty years later, NO I.D. has become sought out by <a href="http://youtu.be/3EWruiIjBmo" target="_blank">Jay-Z,</a> <a href="http://youtu.be/3Nij2GaIknc" target="_blank">Nas</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/uLqfz-TvI6I" target="_blank">Common</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/xufJHc2EdBA" target="_blank">Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar</a> when attempting to recapture this storied sound of the 1990s.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It’s ironic to be canonizing a year and a season that itself was lamenting the end of one era and the beginning of the next. If we were to personify Hip Hop culture, one might characterize that Hip Hop in 1994 began to take inventory of its self in its twenties, mourning the "back in the days" passed. Captured on these mixtapes are the generational voices of young black adults navigating a rap music industry’s coming of age while simultaneously besieged by the violence and catastrophe of the avertible crack cocaine epidemic. Their collective past histories had become the future by the fall of 1994 and as such, Hip Hop prepared to sing the blues.</span><br />
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</div>
ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-48421537446681952632014-03-11T12:13:00.000-07:002014-03-11T12:13:49.995-07:00If They Come In the Evening: Angela Davis and Nas at Lehigh University<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-1FeEkbilmAUoOzd4H7JVycA1JvhlMeM1RTW64jkQY9VMPNkMneXeVD0x7EmF8f_mStMm-rhbSGw-m8gX4BgVjMPzyqHp8b5so9HN5oQkZ0Pl0aeM9NwtftCjr1z_pBxLfUDzcGzCkyU/s1600/1509262_630119093743773_952235486_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-1FeEkbilmAUoOzd4H7JVycA1JvhlMeM1RTW64jkQY9VMPNkMneXeVD0x7EmF8f_mStMm-rhbSGw-m8gX4BgVjMPzyqHp8b5so9HN5oQkZ0Pl0aeM9NwtftCjr1z_pBxLfUDzcGzCkyU/s1600/1509262_630119093743773_952235486_n.jpg" height="400" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Black Power Mixtape</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Last night Angela Davis and Nas visited Lehigh University in Bethlehem for a conversation about Civil Rights and justice for America's incarcerated population and their families. Lupe Fiasco was originally scheduled, but sorry, Lupe, this billing is better.</div>
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Perhaps because I am so guarded when it comes to the strange bedfellows of Hip Hop and academia, I was pleasantly surprised how well it went. Much respect is given to the entire MLK committee for creating a well organized but relaxed atmosphere. Smartly, they played Nas' greatest hits over the loud speakers leading up to the event; such a necessary ingredient is sometimes missing at collegiate affairs like this. MLK Awards were given to students and faculty for definitive and identifiable contributions to the school and the community. Rousing performances of spoken word and singing preceded the main event. </div>
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The at large Civil Rights conversation between Prof. Davis and Nas was loosely focused on the Prison Industrial Complex. Ms. Davis' career, her personal struggles and activism were obviously a compelling and instructional tale of overcome and the ongoing fight for justice. Expressing a sincere gratitude toward the crowd, she appeared to be still in awe of an audience of 700+ hanging on her every word. Her <a href="http://youtu.be/n1vajsBes0M" target="_blank">analysis and information</a> were not breaking news but it was pointed in its indictments of the tragedy and farce that institutionalized racist <a href="http://youtu.be/mZ3oJGqr6ls" target="_blank">private prison policies</a> embody. And she was not without a few criticisms of the Ivory Tower. But the proceedings also felt safe rather than radical. Formal academic spaces have a way of doing that. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIdIYJ1BzEW7dlAafbof0b4j0a1SgiIzYKmpqfFBkxImG0NVLdj1Z9BxjoK5mTgErzgZRrmhdrNBK7cgqpxjWtddpxOCf1CMZJzVbMbKxN5RwATgVJDNmAi7WoTPgclqh7vcPHxXC0YSw/s1600/1374306_10152257803355470_842525740_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIdIYJ1BzEW7dlAafbof0b4j0a1SgiIzYKmpqfFBkxImG0NVLdj1Z9BxjoK5mTgErzgZRrmhdrNBK7cgqpxjWtddpxOCf1CMZJzVbMbKxN5RwATgVJDNmAi7WoTPgclqh7vcPHxXC0YSw/s1600/1374306_10152257803355470_842525740_n.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>It Ain't Hard to Tell:<br />Cap Cee at the right place<br />at the right time</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Nas effectively employed his skill to relate complex social, cultural and personal experiences in pithy phrases or imagery. There were no cliches about "growing up in the 'hood" but rather he spoke frankly of his subjective experiences that he later learned in adulthood were a part of larger systemic dysfunction. My words not his, but to his credit he didn't try to be an academic and yet he seemed comfortable and humble on such a stage, insightful in his own way. Certain audience questions that came his way were the fantastic kind you might ask an oracle and he gave an honest answers to the best of his ability. In his public persona he simultaneously conveys the affect of an old soul and a child at heart.</span></div>
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Nas successfully evaded questions about the objectionable lyrics of women and violence that pervade rap by distancing himself from the record industry and emphasizing he makes music for adults not for children to hear on the radio. A few of my feminist friends- and also hip hop heads who know his discography well- felt he was let off the hook. I mean, in this regard, perhaps someone could have asked just a two word question of him: "<a href="http://youtu.be/9mZsC2JU2S4" target="_blank">Oochiee Wally</a>?"</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCyvFyHn252hpJr7_M-6_h2-FbG-Dxu22gi4RRMWILk1qJTK-FwCijau_eIx_lqWdQbTyypjnQnFQogYOFM9g0Q0VHUCI5lqaxIUl4IrAi1MfBezZzsC0-IW5HMQ-2bUJvt7BZb_pmBE/s1600/1964984_10100678581993136_1042486659_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUCyvFyHn252hpJr7_M-6_h2-FbG-Dxu22gi4RRMWILk1qJTK-FwCijau_eIx_lqWdQbTyypjnQnFQogYOFM9g0Q0VHUCI5lqaxIUl4IrAi1MfBezZzsC0-IW5HMQ-2bUJvt7BZb_pmBE/s1600/1964984_10100678581993136_1042486659_n.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Angela Davis and Nas: Voices of Resistance</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But that would have been a disingenuous "gotcha" moment if things had gone in that direction. That type of discourse was not what this particular evening was about. What was perhaps most impressive was that a very public, impromptu conversation about inequality, imprisonment and social action was held by two very different luminaries who were nonetheless kindred spirits. Their career arcs couldn't be more different but their politics the same. It was a bridged a gap between the Civil Rights movement and the Hip Hop culture industries, a sight rarely seen. The multi-generational nature of this event was reflected in the wide age range of the attendees as well. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlnO3PxpNQhyphenhyphenDgHcGOujGkGPf1bG6ECtxg2ZulxA-LMXLAbwBBnEbCdf4-o-bdp-i298SFuPYMrUO6vHE2kVhqlFBpdSNpFIqBsNcvlU0yasJns-NCA4cpw-pnSWmd4Ci-oZ8IESPPUY/s1600/1975003_716224351754180_472823562_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlnO3PxpNQhyphenhyphenDgHcGOujGkGPf1bG6ECtxg2ZulxA-LMXLAbwBBnEbCdf4-o-bdp-i298SFuPYMrUO6vHE2kVhqlFBpdSNpFIqBsNcvlU0yasJns-NCA4cpw-pnSWmd4Ci-oZ8IESPPUY/s1600/1975003_716224351754180_472823562_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>JBP, Angela D and Nasty</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Professor Davis and Nas also did an excellent job connecting with audience members who asked questions, applauding student's thoughtfulness or their efforts to excel. This was likely doubly so earlier in the evening when a group of Lehigh students worked one on one with Davis and Nas in the classroom. Special shout out to Liberty High Students and Northampton County Community college students who showed up and came ready with questions. There was a discernible feeling of uplift throughout this event.</div>
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Also acknowledgement must be given Dr. James B. Peterson. As a moderator, he was at ease out the gate and deftly lead discussions between these two different types of individuals. He never took any of the spotlight for himself, an important (and rare) talent reflecting his character, skill set and intelligence. For an event billed as a intimate conversation, Dr. Peterson made that possible by his laid back but confident demeanor. So props all around. It's time to build (schools) and destroy (prisons).</div>
</div>
ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-23710941231417492522013-09-05T10:23:00.002-07:002016-07-06T13:16:14.198-07:00Menace II Society? 1% vs. Five PercentDefine the difference between subcultures and countercultures by using credible online sources.<br />
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Use the following informal documentaries for discussion points in your paper and answer with as much specific detail as possible.<br />
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Are the 1% Motorcycle Club and the Five Percent Nation of the Gods and Earths subcultures or countercultures?<br />
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1% PT 1:</div>
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<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=iB6O4X27bxY&start=1.74&end=290.28&cid=1454782"></param>
<embed src="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=iB6O4X27bxY&start=1.74&end=290.28&cid=1454782" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>
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1% PT 2:</div>
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<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=b1SlC8nJiiY&start=77.58&end=436.72&cid=1454805"></param>
<embed src="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=b1SlC8nJiiY&start=77.58&end=436.72&cid=1454805" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>
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Five Percent History and Presence in Hip Hop Culture:</div>
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<br />
Speaking Upon Allah's Mathematics:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cycX9MpMQAc" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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Brand Nubian Allah U Akbar:</div>
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Everything is everything. A German rapper with Muslim affiliations reps his Motor Club:
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ejHInF_Jhmg" width="560"></iframe>
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-12513044343539746482013-09-02T20:11:00.005-07:002020-07-15T17:02:38.883-07:00Nice Twerk If You Can Get It<div style="text-align: justify;">
A friend wrote me the following email last week.
He's a seasoned gentleman who has oft expressed to me disappointment when
youth allow themselves to be entertained by the lowest common denominator. And to be sure, his response to the <a href="http://youtu.be/6OpHVV1FMR8" target="_blank">Miley Cyrus VMA performance</a> was not unlike many other
peoples regardless of age and sensibility:</div>
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<i>RE: GRATUITOUS SEXUALITY<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>It might be helpful in future if that what's-her-name MTV performer -- Miley Gaga?
Beyonce Cyrus? -- remembered that "twerk" rhymes with
"jerk."</i><br />
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What is being lost in all this controversy is (popular) cultural context.
"Twerking" has its origins as a Hip Hop dance found celebrated
in down South rap songs as early as the 1990s. DJ Jubilee's 1993 call and
response laden dance track "Jubille All" may be the
first commercially available song invoking the phrase.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Before we indict Jubilee for unleashing such a pithy sexist commemoration of rhythm and gyration, <a href="http://www.offbeat.com/1998/06/01/dj-jubilee-2/" target="_blank">at least one interview</a> of the man during his heyday seem to indicate Jubilee understood his music to be aligned with that of any well intended after school program:</div>
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<i>“I don’t use drugs. I don’t smoke weed. I don’t drink. I don’t gamble. I grew up around all that, I see it every day and I wouldn’t wanna live that life. It’s not me so that’s why I don’t rap about it.” As far as his image goes, DJ Jubilee takes his responsibility as a role model very seriously. “I’m out every day tellin’ kids who are on the streets sellin’ drugs—’You have a chance. You have a chance in life. Your chance is now. Go to school. Get your education.’”</i>
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The above is not an attempt to justify a man extolling the virtues of twerking but to place this dance in a larger, more confusing cultural context. Jubilee may be hiding in a suit of male armored privilege but take that away and <span style="font-family: inherit;">he still may be a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.</span></div>
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The "subculture" of Hip Hop from the Dirty South has always been characterized by its illicit nature in
both lyrics and dance. It is often equally praised and criticized for it's all out celebratory nature. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Third-Coast-OutKast-Timbaland-Southern/dp/B001G8WGDY" target="_blank">I am not the first to do it,</a> but I describe southern Hip Hop to the uninitiated or close minded as embodying the same festive nature of 1970s "<a href="http://youtu.be/b6gD_CwF5YM" target="_blank">Old School Sugarhill</a>" rap records: flash, cash and pizzaz. However, many Dirty South artists combine that aesthetic sensibility with a contemporary disregard for sexual taboos or enlightened gender relations. </div>
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What's more, an armchair anthropological study will find similar moves movements found in the African dance, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/28/world/dance-has-africans-shaking-behinds-and-heads.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Mapouka</span></a>. Here a workshop held in Poland explores the dance:</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2k275SUcLBbKebaSaYMeNZ97A4kzDIG6fLMMWZ6y45UBv4746iaIfrqBc-_WFoHvUq43CP6UiaTOnV5iomk8b2486bC-Y8bNgCIntkVuKWNU5dxWWH22w7r5RqzMPyljkA9w-DKWI4g/s1600/weight-stereotyping-w724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ2k275SUcLBbKebaSaYMeNZ97A4kzDIG6fLMMWZ6y45UBv4746iaIfrqBc-_WFoHvUq43CP6UiaTOnV5iomk8b2486bC-Y8bNgCIntkVuKWNU5dxWWH22w7r5RqzMPyljkA9w-DKWI4g/s1600/weight-stereotyping-w724.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Same Difference:<br />Objectification</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a sense, the outcry about the lack of virtues of twerking is a tangled ethnocentric debate. An argument
can be made both ways. A (black) woman should not allow herself to be
objectified and used in such a salacious fashion. Another point of view
argues that no man, especially white, has any business telling what a woman to
do with her body and that her sexuality is her tool and pleasure to do as she
sees fit. Further, note that in a world of epidemic eating disorders, Mapouka and Twerking prize a supple (African) body as healthy and desirable as opposed to Western idealized rail thin (white) body.</div>
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But what is even less easier to discuss are the issues of class and race that Miley Cyrus so easily transcends by being a mass media magnet that reduces the conversation down to headlines and hashtags.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8bAVV__j1Nk-D1xG9MrRxE6yf358JsT3EtDE39i0limx_rx2TIf64sawTRza4kAZZSODFAo5uxL_C4KXjKJmCulRDPmDOfDjLfW3HLua7G6WuzLBo3VaeOMFjK9auVsrdwUW2fQvdQk/s1600/ashley-miley-twerk-team__oPt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga8bAVV__j1Nk-D1xG9MrRxE6yf358JsT3EtDE39i0limx_rx2TIf64sawTRza4kAZZSODFAo5uxL_C4KXjKJmCulRDPmDOfDjLfW3HLua7G6WuzLBo3VaeOMFjK9auVsrdwUW2fQvdQk/s1600/ashley-miley-twerk-team__oPt.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Meet the new boss,<br />same as the old boss</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The problem with Miley Cyrus' twerk is that she gets all the publicity and none
of the socio-cultural backlash. Sure, she may be blasted by those of us
who find it distasteful and those of us who are clearly aware it was a
publicity stunt to assure her long time fans she is growing up. "Look at me now" her pose says as her publicists position her as a fully realized tart, ready to use her sexuality in order to distance herself
from her Disney roots. But the disgust matters little to her handlers. Mission
accomplished. By twerking, Miley Cyrus will never be considered a little
girl and can compete with her elders like Gaga and Ke$ha. Let's be sure to indict the entertainment biz's largely male button pushers and bean counters who profiting off of such senseless sex and violence.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Furthermore, what Miley leaves on that stage is the racial and class stigma associated with
twerking that perhaps a black woman working at a strip club in Atlanta will
likely have a harder time transcending. Moreover, this hypothetical young
black woman is somehow used as a marker for her fellow young
black woman- a discredit to her race. Examples of this can be found in formal media and educational discourse and likely in informal discourse amongst family and peers as well. </div>
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Miley gets to Twerk and I
doubt anyone will say to my daughters, "What's wrong with young white women
today?"</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Our Bodies, <br />Express Ourselves</i></td></tr>
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One last thing. In my mind, Miley Cyrus actually makes Madonna that more of a compelling
figure. Madonna was a woman who also brazenly revealed herself and reveled in her
sexuality in the 80s and 90s but did so as means to <a href="http://youtu.be/RkxqxWgEEz4" target="_blank">disrupt largely white Catholic perceptions</a> of what a woman can and cannot do with her body.
Madonna writhed on stage while still declaring a love for God and her
church, a post modern duality that I think created further acceptance of
diverse representations of women, sexuality and religion.</div>
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Miley Cyrus and company are simply cashing in and selling the nuances
of Hip Hop culture and the African American woman short. If there's a body part to blame, it's hipsters.</div>
ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-46556929998908730222013-08-16T04:48:00.000-07:002013-08-16T04:48:46.674-07:00Show and Prove: Back to the Future<div style="text-align: justify;">
On the last day of the semester in my "Pass the Peas" Hip Hop class, I request my students Show and Prove. Each student is required to present a song they think will rock the house, score them points and earn them the much coveted "Pass the Peas" award: a physical copy of the legendary ARM 18 mixtape "<a href="http://www.divshare.com/download/19371508-bd3" target="_blank">Version City Vol. 1</a>" Perhaps surprisingly to us cynical older cats, the three top scoring songs a room full of 19 or 20 somethings chose were insightful, inspirational tracks of traditional boom bap. </div>
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The "<a href="http://ohhla.com/anonymous/kan_west/im_good/gb_remix.wst.txt" target="_blank">Get By (Remix)</a>" garnered the most votes with its star studded cast and its universal themes of struggle. "<a href="http://ohhla.com/anonymous/blackstr/blackstr/thieves.blk.txt" target="_blank">Thieves In the Night</a>" is not the first time I have seen this song in this contest, proof that classics have still been made in the last 15 years and that Talib and Mos' literacy is not over the heads of the supposed illiteracy of Generation Text. But its the props "<a href="http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/digablep/reachin/coollike.pln.txt" target="_blank">Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like That)</a>" received truly took me back. I am pretty sure some of the students were but in diapers when this song dropped and earned a Grammy. Yes, children, there was a time when uplifting raps could crossover while still booming out of jeeps, shake streets and invite listeners to strike a pose of cool thoughtfulness. Thanks for reminding me.</div>
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-5315218384026146412013-07-01T19:55:00.000-07:002013-07-01T19:55:02.792-07:00Back To The FutureAt the end of every semester in "Pass the Peas" the tables are turned and this teacher becomes student. Each year my students learn me new artists, new songs, new flows, new beats. Here is a sampling of some of the submissions:<br />
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You know what that Down South rap has? That energy, that thirst that drove Hip Hop in the 80s and 90s. You hear geographic pride, confidence, <i><b>swag</b></i>: "No insurance on these whips, tags all outdated / I might not be sh*t to you, but my momma thinks I made it"<br />
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Hopspin's not wrong. My only criticism is the eye contacts make him an angry freak show distracting from his message and talent.<br />
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Straight outta Dubai, this kid nails the hook (and production too) like it's the next anthem of every kid on the come up.<br />
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Reppin' 1994, HD was born the year the kind of Hip Hop he makes topped the charts: when lyrics were at a premium and beats snapped necks. I don't know, maybe not much has changed...
ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-20399116646755194992013-06-23T14:37:00.014-07:002022-08-01T16:09:55.800-07:00"It Was All A Dream" : Does Hip Hop Culture Have a “Collective Consciousness”?<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><u><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">The Rose That Grew From Concrete</span></u></b><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">As always, using Simon Frith's "</span><a href="http://culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.com/2011/06/simon-frith-aesthetics-of-popular-music.html" style="text-align: justify;">Technique and Technology</a><span style="text-align: justify;">" theory as our guide, we have learned through a combination of Cobb's </span><i style="text-align: justify;">To The Break of Dawn </i><span style="text-align: justify;">and Philipe Bougouis' </span><i style="text-align: justify;">In Search of Respect</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> that </span><b style="text-align: justify;">Hip Hop music in the modern era is an amalgamation of the Blues ethos with South Bronx boom bap</b><span style="text-align: justify;">. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">By the early 90s, </span><b style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X6w-vWipJ5OQiys_uxL0gPl5SZajAYFf/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">rap music became in particular characterized by the tragedy of urban America's crack cocaine epidemic</a></b><span style="text-align: justify;">, from its </span><b style="text-align: justify;">lyrical content</b><span style="text-align: justify;"> to how it has been </span><b style="text-align: justify;">marketed by a global entertainment industry</b><span style="text-align: justify;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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For an understanding of Hip Hop music in 21st century, rather than analyze record sales or <a href="http://www.unkut.com/2009/12/the-unkut-guide-to-rap-genres/" target="_blank">identify who pioneered the seemingly infinite sub-genres of rap</a>, we turn to <b>Rha Goddess</b>' essay <b>"Scarcity and Exploitation: The Myth and Reality of the Struggling Hip Hop Artist."</b> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This essay along with <b>Danny Hoch's</b><b> "Toward a Hip Hop Aesthetic: A Manifesto for the Hip Hop Arts Movement"</b> and, importantly, <b>M.K. Asante Jr's</b> chapter <b>"Old White Men (Or, Who Owns Hip Hop?)"</b> from <i><b>It's Bigger Than Hip Hop</b> </i>provide for us a concluding analysis of where Hip Hop has come from, how it has grown and its present state. <b>This is not a dissection which rapper is the "Greatest Of All Time" but are far more serious quest to identify Hip Hop's <i>Collective Consciousness</i></b>.</div>
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First, Rha Goddess defines <b>Poverty Consciousness</b> as <b>psychological fear of lacking material items and denial of self worth</b>. It is oft<b> romanticized belief </b>that this mental condition and material state<b> </b>is<b> beneficial </b>to artistic process. For example, while it is an oversimplification, w<b>e often correlate oppressive conditions with creative (Black) output</b>. Think how we connect Jim Crow era oppression begetting the blues or urban strife in our America' northern cities creating the sound of jazz. Or the people in the South Bronx birthed Hip Hop culture in the face of post industrial peril.<br />
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsceSHkVrER5zbCMF0p9H1G5i7f3t8gUHWLFwh8sSm9m68mTex1vJPFXJ4kj9UQDIGPEITSPBpyFzkQhtsQBgLQ5BGP6W48MVEcyFFOeCq9lCNm6gOyKrIoC4rVJ-jitRjzuA906RbGsoN20rWrdXI8CpDyG0JRtjBBkhYm0lwLxAUj_uXSMTxBatT/s505/1_jXqmJqIuwt-AocyZcj0iZg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="505" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsceSHkVrER5zbCMF0p9H1G5i7f3t8gUHWLFwh8sSm9m68mTex1vJPFXJ4kj9UQDIGPEITSPBpyFzkQhtsQBgLQ5BGP6W48MVEcyFFOeCq9lCNm6gOyKrIoC4rVJ-jitRjzuA906RbGsoN20rWrdXI8CpDyG0JRtjBBkhYm0lwLxAUj_uXSMTxBatT/w400-h231/1_jXqmJqIuwt-AocyZcj0iZg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Hip Hop began under the conditions of poverty and lack of <b><u>RESOURCES</u></b>: access to quality <b>housing</b>, <b>education</b>, <b>job opportunity</b>, <b>health care</b>, and <b>civil order</b>. Simply put, right or wrong, <b>we believe Poverty Consciousness breeds creativity</b>.</div>
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<br />It is true Hip Hop culture did begin under the conditions of poverty and lack of resources. Hip Hop theater producer Danny Hoch calls them the “traditional aesthetics” of Hip Hop like the devices of metaphor or illusion. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What has emerged as Hip Hop culture grew and its identity formed is a recognizable “Collective Consciousness.” (CC) <b>Hip Hop's CC is its the understanding of identity, history, money, competition of survival, scarcity of resources, and feelings of exploitation (real or imagined)</b>.<br />
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Similar to “traditional aesthetics” of Rock n Roll (automobiles, girlfriends and growing up), Hip Hop music refers to themes of poverty as metaphor for a collective “<b>struggle</b>”.<br />
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">This album is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothing. To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustling in front of that called the police on me when I was just trying to make some money to feed my daughter. And all the ni**as in the struggle – </span></i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">Notorious B.I.G. “<a href="https://youtu.be/_JZom_gVfuw" target="_blank">Juicy</a>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mobb Deep's "Hell On Earth" itemizes these real fears and imagines them to be something even worse:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Further, Hip Hop was more <b>“pure”</b> in the <b>Golden Era</b> or <b>“real”</b> in the <b>1990s Modern Era</b>. <b>Contemporary rap must measure up to its past.</b></span></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">“I grew up to Em, B.I.G. and ‘Pac, b*tch, and got ruined / So until I got the same crib B.I.G. had in that ‘Juicy’ vid / B*tch, I can't mother**kin' stop movin”' - </span></i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">Big Sean, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7zdMeZPkpY&feature=youtu.be&t=1m33s" target="_blank">Control</a>”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Watch the similarities in <b>attitudes</b>, <b>messaging</b> and <b>marketing </b>in this interview with NWA in 1988 and Odd Future in 2012</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">While not absolute, fully flexible and contextual, an identifiable culture and identity can be discussed as <b>Hip Hop “Collective Consciousness”</b>. Hip Hop's Collective Consciousness (CC) is the practitioners, listeners, media and operatives’ “<b><u>COMMON</u></b> <b>sense” </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">It is a fluid but key ingredient in the interactions of Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop CC revolve around the understanding of <b>personal </b>and <b>collective identity</b>, <b>history</b>, <b>economy</b>, <b>competition of survival</b>, <b>scarcity of resources</b>, and <b>feelings of exploitation </b>(real or imagined). <b>It at once a collective sense and a highly individualized concept of self</b>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Big K.R.I.T., Ludadcris and Bun B. simply call it "Country Sh*t". Luda: "<i>I might not be shit to you but my mamma thinks I made it</i>"</span><br />
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">Listen, people be askin' me all the time,"Yo, Mos, what's gettin' ready to happen with Hip Hop? Where do you think Hip Hop is goin?” I tell 'em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip Hop?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;">Whatever's happening with us"</span></i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 22px;"> – Mos Def, “<a href="https://youtu.be/aCo5eQDl4w8?t=58" target="_blank">Fear Not of Man</a>”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><u>Streets Is Watchin'</u></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rap music is a <b>defiant celebration</b> of the <b>struggle</b>; going from rags to the <b><u>RICHES</u></b>, the transformation and triumph are hallmarks of the rap song form. Thus, rapper must "<b>pay their dues</b>" as a "<b>starving artist</b>" to <b>establish <u>credibility</u></b> and <u><b>validity</b></u>. Game and 50 Cent make this clear in "Hate or Love It":<br />
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Or Meek or Rick Ross in "Off the Corner":</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o9Zmss586dE" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">In Houston Hip Hop culture, the "Slabs" and "Swangas" elements of regional car culture directly reflect the values of espoused in the music and vise versa:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Hip Hop CC holds that poverty and struggle breeds creativity</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">. American popular culture and Hip Hop romanticizes the struggle of being rags to <b><u>RICHES</u></b>, transformation and triumph. From Horatio Alger to Jay-Z, American values maintain that those “who work hard enough” will succeed. This emphasizes the victory of individual will vs. social challenges of family history, doubting peers, institutional poverty, societal wrongs and misfortune.</span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Alger’s stories of rags to riches were popular in the late 1800s. Titles such as “From Farm to Fortune,” “Do and Dare” or “Helping Himself” summarized a particular American ethos</span><b><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Jay-Z on the roof of his Brooklyn “stash spot” at 560 State St., overseeing the arena for the NBA team of which he was a minority owner</span><b><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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T.D.E.'s Jay Rock follows a similar path as Hov, using his struggles to secure a record contract<br />
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Rappers who obtain <b>credibility </b>and <b>validity</b> define themselves in lyrics, images or symbols as possessing or experiencing any or all of the following:</div>
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• In touch</div>
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• On the pulse</div>
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• Original</div>
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• Innovative</div>
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• Pioneering</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh449uR2ojweQ1gOdUWWi5WkhOgKxKMBW8_J82W4XcIvGgZX0ZThdgPvX9wqNHUfkSKbwDUYLSYGEk9D6NEaZWtaf-pxgBstCKx0vFUrf8hHnYpNPHmg94HyAVdPd-cNMKAyALSgF_BFzQ/s1600/Makavelli+%2528Tupac%2529+-+The+Don+Killuminati+-+the+7day+theory.jpg" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
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• Courageous</div>
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• Crucifixion earns “extra props”</div>
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If an rap artist has not struggled to obtain this, they are “commercial”, "pop" or “sell<b><u>OUTS</u></b>.” Paradoxically, <b>credibility is diminished by <u>SUCCESS</u></b>. (This was especially true during Hip Hop's Golden Era from 1987 to 1993). What is the incentive to be anything else other than a "starving artist"? You must maintain the appearance of struggle even while succeeding.</div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">“<b><u>Crack Music”</u></b></span><span style="text-align: start;"></span><br />
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">“Industry rule number 4080 / record company people are shady...”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">A Tribe Called Quest “<a href="https://youtu.be/1QWEPdgS3As?t=178" target="_blank">Check the Rhime</a>”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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But since the mid 1990s, making money off of Hip Hop has not only been accepted but it has all but become its singular focus. So why are rap artists today still "starving"? Answer: bad business practices.</div>
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Often in rap music (and perhaps other popular art forms), <b>this "struggling" Collective Consciousness creates a trend of bad business management</b> and <b>poor business decisions</b>. </div>
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<b>Follow how a rapper's path to success takes shape in this narrative</b>:</div>
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• Artist as victim. Faces lack of recognition, resources and stability.</div>
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• Organized money and institutions are the primary culprits along with fellow artists and unsupportive family and friends. </div>
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• Artists don't know how to do business and they are victims of labels, lawyers and finicky fans.</div>
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<b>or conversely when a Hip Hop artist succeeds</b>:</div>
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• Friends, family and community treat you differently</div>
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• Rappers feel uneasy and guilty about success</div>
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• Worse, they feel unsafe and about success (“watch your back”)</div>
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<b>What develops is a “<i>scarcity of success</i>”; thus, the Hip Hop industry is</b>:</div>
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• fiercely competitive</div>
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• artists hoard information and work in isolation</div>
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• record labels marketing "gimmicks" are actual lived experiences. This ensures a rapper's authenticity and artistic dominance</div>
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Despite all his success- or perhaps <i>because of his success</i>- Boosie Badazz is basically singing the blues:</div>
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Consider how the following "real life" situations are exploited by labels, media and / or the artist themselves. For rappers especially, the line between "real life" and entertainment is blurred purposely. This is nothing new to Hip Hop (or pop music) as the public criminal lives of <a href="https://youtu.be/VTn2fOAVHYM" target="_blank">Buskwick Bill</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/AVRv1dA5Byc" target="_blank">Slick Rick</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/VQgITfVJa6g" target="_blank">Tupac</a> all fueled record marketing strategies.</div>
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<b><u>*Artist / Marketed Struggles and Events* </u></b></div>
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- Eminem / <a href="http://youtu.be/RZIzD0ZfTFg">White</a>, <a href="http://youtu.be/MqBSlQrscUc" target="_blank">Addiction</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/8UlMv4oVYcU" target="_blank">Kim</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-XQfWZp3A0">Haley</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/7bDLIV96LD4" target="_blank">Mom</a></div>
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- 50 Cent / <a href="http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/the-day-50-cent-was-shot-nine-times-video" target="_blank">Shot nine times</a></div>
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- Kanye / <a href="https://youtu.be/uvb-1wjAtk4" target="_blank">Car accident</a>, Mom died, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMH0e8kIZtE">dumped by girlfriend</a></div>
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- Jay Z / <a href="https://youtu.be/KS_imMLbmyw" target="_blank">Life of poverty</a>, jail record, <a href="http://tidal.com/video/44172886" target="_blank">death of Auto-Tune</a></div>
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- Lil' Wayne / <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20349652,00.html">Pending charges, conviction, jail time</a></div>
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- Diddy / <a href="https://youtu.be/NKMtZm2YuBE">Biggie's death</a><br />
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The rapper Supa Sport is clear what trade gives him credibility as a rapper<br />
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It comes with a price though: <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/rapper-supa-sport-arrested-in-life-imitates-art-scenario/1920860/" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/rapper-supa-sport-arrested-in-life-imitates-art-scenario/1920860/</a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">If an artist commits to having credibility they accept being under acknowledged and underpaid because society doesn't “value” art with integrity. Thus, rappers who choose financial success often adopt “dumbed down” strategies. </span></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">“Hustlers and boosters embrace me and the music I be makin / I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars / They criticized me for it yet they all yell "HOLLA!" - Jay Z “<a href="https://genius.com/Jay-z-moment-of-clarity-lyrics" target="_blank">Moment of Clarity</a>"</span></i></div>
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While Jay-Z might have said that in 2003, ironically, as Jay-Z career continues his elevated and celebrated status allows him the privilege of purusing Hip Hop that he purposely identifies as "art". In the following video, he dances, raps and rubs elbows with some the most elite and renowned fine art painters and performers of our time:</div>
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<img alt="" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgimQ908FM7hAJfImOrd0OCHqLqXZvhJ_j-agwjrs_DfaXid0Oy3CNqIaNpdUzY3IP53FphqojjCK49eTZZHNfjLl10H-ftwBsVrhB-8S6cMlaEmh-Pi36xV8b0BQ5J5cjdhTDUFsad_Bo/s640/jay_z_marina_picasso_pace_baby.jpg" title="JAY Z - Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film" width="640" /></div>
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<i><a href="https://vimeopro.com/somesucharchive/mark-romanek-12-02-15/video/119439997" target="_blank"><br /></a></i></div>
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<i><a href="https://www.universal-music.de/jayz/videos/picasso-baby-a-performance-art-film-326307" target="_blank">JAY Z - Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film</a></i></div>
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Jay-Z might have established this "common sense" of scarcity and exploitation but he has left it behind in order to climb to higher heights. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps there are limits to Rha Goddess' idea that success breeds failure in Hip Hop. To those interviewed in this mini-doc "Ice Cold: The Promise of Hip Hop Jewelry", flashing and flossing is precisely a sign of their success.</div>
<br /><center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4sqSbmP18fQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center><center><br /></center><center><br /></center><center style="text-align: left;">But the question the next section asks is what do rappers truly own and control in the Hip Hop culture industry?</center></div>
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<b style="text-align: start;"><u><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop</span></u></b><span style="text-align: start;"></span></div>
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This Hip Hop Consciousness does not <b>empower</b> rappers and producers as their "artistic" practice is consumed by the machine of the music business. A sampling of the forms of <b>companies, services and careers</b> the Hip Hop and Rap Music Industry is comprised of:</div>
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• Entities that seek to profit from the marketing and sales of rap music and its ancillary products.</div>
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• Record companies</div>
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• Music publishers</div>
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• Radio stations</div>
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• Record Stores</div>
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• Music video shows/channels</div>
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• Recording Studios (Owners, Engineers, Mixers)</div>
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• Performance Venues</div>
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• Booking Agents</div>
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• Promoters</div>
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• Managers, Accountants, Lawyers</div>
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• Disc Jockeys</div>
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• Music Publications</div>
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• Music/Entertainment Websites<br />
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<i>What are some organizations or methods used to <b><u>indirectly</u></b> seek profit from Hip Hop?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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The Hip Hop Industry is largely owned and operated by “elites” and not people of color. The “Big Four” Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI Group, Warner Music Group account for 82% of US Music Market and 90% of the retail market in the 21<sup>st</sup> century’s first decade. There are no Black Americans in the top executive positions of these companies. Rap record labels and “black entrepreneurs” like Diddy, Russell Simmons, Jay Z are actually “owned” by their Big Four “parent” company. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><b>Diddy, Simmons and others employ “<i><a href="https://youtu.be/oDsftjwCC88" target="_blank">perception management</a></i>” to create the illusion of control</b> over the content of the music. Ultimately, these entrepreneurs make more money from clothing, liquor sales, car parts, etc. and other accessories than they do from music. Watch Lil' Flip's "struggle" to manage all the trappings of stardom.</b></div>
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<a href="http://blackagendareport.libsyn.com/hip-hop-and-forbes-parallels-of-image-and-inequality" target="_blank">The state of the Hip Hop Industry largely parallels the economic inequality African Americans face at in society at large</a>. With the synergistic relationship Hip Hop and R&B have had in the last 15 years, these “black” genre labels have re-categorized under the euphemism of “Urban Music” to make marketing of this product more palatable for "mainstream" tastes. </div>
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<i>“Subliminal hypnotism and colonialism / leaves most niggaz dead or in prison”</i></div>
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<i>- Jeru da Damaja “<a href="https://youtu.be/UtfBFG1hgps?t=205" target="_blank">Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers</a>”</i></div>
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<b>Neo-colonialism: Forcing countries to consume what they do not produce and produce what they do not consume</b>. If the largest records and ancillary companies had but even a peripheral interest in the poor and the Black and Latino population rap music supposedly represents, then why would this rap "culture" be so overwhelming negative and self destructive?<br />
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<b>Perhaps main stream rap's biggest audience is not even Black at all</b>: According to Asante's referenced Forbes study: 45 million Hip Hop consumers between the ages of 13 and 34. 80% are White and have $1 trillion in spending power.<br />
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To quote Jay Z, truth be told, <b>major label rappers have little to no ownership in this distribution, marketing and ultimate profit from their product</b>. The “Big Four” Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI Group, Warner Music Group account for 82% of US Music Market and 90% of the retail market. There are no Black Americans in the top executive positions of these companies. <b>Rap record labels and “black entrepreneurs” like Diddy, Russell Simmons, Jay Z give an illusion that the Hip Hop industry is "black owned" but the Big Four are really “parent” companies</b> of the most prolific Hip Hop success stories.<b> </b></div>
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So the following questions must be clearly answered if we are to think that Hip Hop music is something more than disposable entertainment:</div>
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Who sponsors rap?</div>
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Who buys the most rap?</div>
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Who promotes death and violence?</div>
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Who backs ignorance?</div>
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Who exploits Hip Hop artists?</div>
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Who profits from “Black on Black” violence?</div>
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Who owns “urban” radio stations, television stations, print publications?</div>
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Mos Def's "freestyle" cut "The Rape Over" asks the same:</div>
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And, yet, Dame Dash and Cam'ron are held responsible in this interview:<br />
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<b>“Commercial” Hip Hop is programmed by corporations that have little to no Black or ethnic representation despite peddling a product that purports to be “Black.”</b> As a result the music:</div>
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• Has lost its edge</div>
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• Sense of rebellion and Black improvement</div>
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• The founding principles of artistry and empowerment</div>
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After the platinum successes of the low budget investments artists of the Golden Era, signed artists whose political agenda was in direct conflict with a record label's bottom line were dropped. The “Cop Killer” controversy accelerated this trend; the 2 Live Crew First Amendment “victory” certified that misogyny and Black on Black violence was a selling point.</div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">“If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be / lyrically, Talib Kweli /<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense / But I did five mill' </span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">- I ain't been rhymin like Common since”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">- Jay Z “<a href="https://genius.com/Jay-z-moment-of-clarity-lyrics" target="_blank">Moment of Clarity</a>"<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b>A trend of “corporate censorship” has developed where politically charged artists are marginalized by the label's “choice” on how to distribute the product.</b></div>
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Restriction of socio-poltical Hip Hop artistry can take the form of:</div>
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• Intimidation</div>
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• Budget Cutting</div>
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• Refusing to advertise or allow airtime</div>
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• Dropping “questionable” songs from final product</div>
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• Repackaging of artwork</div>
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<b>Large record labels are practicing a policy of that seeks to make money off Hip Hop art and culture as long as it does not challenge the status quo in tone or content.</b></div>
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Plain and simple, <b>Hip Hop artists do not own their music because <i>they do not own the channels of production</i></b>. Ownership of the music, distribution of the music and the final manufactured product are largely beyond a Hip Hop artist's control. Thus, <b>the feeling of alienation is sustained in Hip Hop's collective consciousness</b>.</div>
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The <b>widespread dysfunctional reaction of rappers to seemingly all forms of marginalization is a dominate Hip Hop musical narrative that outlines mass consumption of material items, drugs, guns and women as some sort of defiant stance</b>. There is no <b>spiritual base or sense of peace</b> or <b>accomplishment as the Hip Hop artist is seeking internal serenity but only acquires external satisfaction</b>.</div>
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Hip Hop music at it best is "Edutainment," food for thought over sublime beats. <b>But its capacity to subvert norms and revolution communication and pop cultural expression so readily realized in the 1970s, 80s and 90s have been stunted</b>. Hip Hop "artists" and its audience may one day <b>desire more than material success and it express themselves accordingly</b>. But likely, <b>we won't call it Hip Hop anymore</b>.</div>
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-28327063093362564112013-06-14T16:04:00.004-07:002021-07-28T15:41:20.044-07:00Same Difference: East Coast vs. West Coast Hip Hop <div style="text-align: center;">
"<a href="https://youtu.be/TgMKuoUaCZM?t=153" target="_blank">Now I'm gonna show you how the East Coast rocks</a>" </div>
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- South Bronx's KRS-ONE</div>
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"<a href="http://youtu.be/RVcesMcLHSA?t=2m6s" target="_blank">Now I'm gonna show you how the West Coast smacks kids</a>"</div>
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- Oakland's Souls Of Mischief</div>
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Not only was a first of its kind, Brian Cross’ ethnography of the West Coast Hip Hop scene “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/About-Salary-Race-Resistance-Angeles/dp/0860916200/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308703404&sr=1-1" target="_blank">It's Not About a Salary...</a>” also provides insight into <b>why Hip Hop originating from across the country differs in content and style in many ways</b>. Further, when we use Simon Frith's methodology of identifying<b> technique</b> and <b>technology</b> to identify genres of popular music, we discover why West Coast Hip Hop may <b>sound different</b> than East Coast but ultimately its <b>music structure</b> is similar. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkX1NbhsFX_F1LD5o-go5cYx162zGGmEZ3Uk_y7K6Glk6FtJGA4ADsDn1a0W56viRw7emKUgE4DcBPeCYytaBGbNcrvv3eKruXxQ3_80VAd1N4hqe0M48bWay0cDFN6LfecSgpDf7T4ZP/s320/rundmc.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkX1NbhsFX_F1LD5o-go5cYx162zGGmEZ3Uk_y7K6Glk6FtJGA4ADsDn1a0W56viRw7emKUgE4DcBPeCYytaBGbNcrvv3eKruXxQ3_80VAd1N4hqe0M48bWay0cDFN6LfecSgpDf7T4ZP/s200/rundmc.jpg" width="152" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Differences in props:<br />
Jam Master Jay holds a box...</td></tr>
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To begin, Cross analyzes <b>Run DMC’s “Peter Piper” </b>and the <b>World Class Wrecking Cru’s “The Cabbage Patch,”</b> using the differences between the two records to <b>illustrate variations</b> between the <b>East Coast</b> and <b>West Coast approach to hip hop</b>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybYPZAY9gWmCJWzcajfgNfwxuFHoD4VGSpKvXRcG1KD8lcFFcB_GYn-gRwz2x9mvwy7E8TRZygWDqc7CXmSPy6nLz9xVFJB6SSnVk5YLl6bpFLDZejr-QXamteEGAPEg7I2aZTsPgIu4/s1600/200324-World-Class-Wreckin-Cru-827x620.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="827" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybYPZAY9gWmCJWzcajfgNfwxuFHoD4VGSpKvXRcG1KD8lcFFcB_GYn-gRwz2x9mvwy7E8TRZygWDqc7CXmSPy6nLz9xVFJB6SSnVk5YLl6bpFLDZejr-QXamteEGAPEg7I2aZTsPgIu4/s200/200324-World-Class-Wreckin-Cru-827x620.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">...Dr. Dre (left) carries a stethoscope</span></td></tr>
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Cross purposely contrasted two songs from the same era that employing the <b>same sample source</b>, Bob James' "<a href="https://youtu.be/Ove38w3ztG4" target="_blank">Take Me the Madri Gras</a>." What is difference? Cross likens “The Cabbage Patch” to a <b>“<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2S1I_ien6A" target="_blank">big-band sound</a>”</b> as compared to “Peter Piper's" <b>“<a href="http://youtu.be/251SF_0wtkc" target="_blank">stripped down funk</a>.”</b> Cross generalizes that from 1982 to 1987, <b>most West Coast Hip Hop releases tended to lack originality or complexity in rhythm or lyrics</b>. The music was largely <b>derivative</b> and did not gain as much <b>critical or commercial recognition</b>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2011/6/8/1307523870649/Sugarhill-Gang-perform-in-007.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2011/6/8/1307523870649/Sugarhill-Gang-perform-in-007.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" is often cited as<br />
the "first" rap song heard on the West Coast </td></tr>
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There is informal evidence that <b>DJing, rapping, breakdancing </b>and<b> graffiti</b> had its <b>West Coast counterparts as early as the late 1970s</b>. But considering that recorded Hip Hop music did not originate out West, Cross' opinion is not surprising. West Coast <b>techniques</b> were being shaped by what <b>technologies</b> are immediately available or in this case, unavailable. The regional beginnings of this culture <b>relied on imported Hip Hop from New York City</b> in the early 1980s, primarily rap music's biggest hits. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0rIgwpJRbFJRk7Dyxms46IRIaGfNPRai-SFhuyatDGP32v3K1AIO92tnpYhUp4cmkzOIRqbqE-ZX1Wvb9T8hsHOkgOiBRKbRAWE2zVE9vV4jrVMT2lO_qUHgMBVqieZUaLAnYks-zHc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-07-21+at+10.14.37+PM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1038" data-original-width="1050" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX0rIgwpJRbFJRk7Dyxms46IRIaGfNPRai-SFhuyatDGP32v3K1AIO92tnpYhUp4cmkzOIRqbqE-ZX1Wvb9T8hsHOkgOiBRKbRAWE2zVE9vV4jrVMT2lO_qUHgMBVqieZUaLAnYks-zHc/s200/Screen+Shot+2020-07-21+at+10.14.37+PM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Too "underground" to make it <br />across the country</i></td></tr>
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Cross indicates that the <a href="https://youtu.be/gowc32WbIio" target="_blank"> stylistically varied</a> East Coast Hip Hop of the early 1980s was difficult to locate in CA. Another speculation cites that records like electro-funk sound of “<a href="https://youtu.be/9J3lwZjHenA" target="_blank">Planet Rock</a>” were <b>more enthusiastically embraced</b> than the “underground” East Coast sound. Thus, Cross states “more commercial aspects of the music seemed dominant in LA.” While the community reflected the some of the same forms of structural marginalization of education and job opportunity- Cross contends the <b>“cutting edge of the music seemed to have been lost, in crossing the country, to commercialism.”</b> The World Class Wreckin Cru look and sound more influenced by Prince than Run DMC in this early Dr. Dre video "Surgery":</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHjoxr-1eHpifxlhklHjWiTOlD1azG_QdsfrMZ9rcZntSdz-IJQq0bSR2gRRzXwCcdQECjmnOaC1WOfS6YyjKNGRCGRVm8tpbNEpzIwm2ztnIrFU9Qv1W4eAqplUsXhMatYaxITylFiw/s1600/Uncle_Jamm%252527s_Army1982.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="340" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHjoxr-1eHpifxlhklHjWiTOlD1azG_QdsfrMZ9rcZntSdz-IJQq0bSR2gRRzXwCcdQECjmnOaC1WOfS6YyjKNGRCGRVm8tpbNEpzIwm2ztnIrFU9Qv1W4eAqplUsXhMatYaxITylFiw/s200/Uncle_Jamm%252527s_Army1982.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><i>Uncle Jamm's Army</i></span></td></tr>
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We also learn that much like Bronx Hip Hop in the 1970s, <b>the West Coast scene began with a nomadic sound system, <a href="https://youtu.be/0hZ3WIS3qBo" target="_blank">Uncle Jamm’s Army</a></b>. Local DJs and MCs also made mix tapes and pressed their own records in the first half of the 80s, soon aided by radio and a dedicated club scene.</div>
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While this is not an absolute, one can also generalize that <b>West Coast DJs</b> favored the spacey <b>George Clinton P-Funk sound</b>, while <b>East Coast DJs </b>preferred the <b>sparse, tough funk of the JBs</b>. Roughly from <b>1987 to the "Industrial Era of Hip Hop" in 1997</b>, this d<b>ifference in inspiration and source material </b>would characterize the <b>musical difference between the two coasts</b>.</div>
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However, both the <b>sharp contras</b>t in <b>urban culture</b> and <b>leisure practices</b> of <b>LA</b> to <b>NYC </b>proved to be the West Coast’s <b>literal selling poin</b>t. In New York, since warm weather was seasonal, dark stuffy hip hop clubs were the norm. Crowded buildings and streets, cluttered skylines, and an aggressive but distant attitude characterized New York.<br />
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Whereas Los Angeles was favored by the sun year around, by sprawling suburbs and a laid back demeanor. While LA is as distinct and awesome as NYC, the rest of America, <b>especially the nameless suburbs</b>, have <b>more in common </b>with <b>this characterization of LA</b> than they do with the <b>architecture of New York</b>. Playing with such ideas, Snoop stars in this gangbanger sitcom "Homeboy Alone":<br />
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Perhaps the pace of the West Coast may be more appealing to a broader mainstream American sensibility. But perhaps <b>far more influential on the content of West Coast rap music</b> was the proliferation of <b>crack cocaine</b>, <b>automatic weapons</b> and <b>gang warfare</b> that became to characterize California's most troubled communities such as Compton, Watts and Oakland.</div>
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Further, as Compton drug dealer turned rapper Eazy E bankrolled NWA recordings or Crenshaw's Ice-T flaunted gang connections, the <b><u>criminal underworld and Hip Hop's rebellious spirit became linked</u></b>. This desire to <b>explicitly make money via Hip Hop music</b> compelled West Coast hip hop crews to take <b>artistic or political risks their East Coast brethren simply did not conceive</b>. With its blunt emphasis on <b>gang violence, drug dealing, </b>and<b> pimpology</b>, West Coast Hip Hop music was seemingly all the more dangerous and alluring to outsiders curious enough to know how the other half lived.<br />
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Ice T immediate makes clear how<b> addictive </b>and<b> dangerous</b> his <b>brand of rap</b> is:<br />
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For those within the culture who understood Hip Hop’s theatrical raps of exaggerated claims of supremacy and cruel disses, <b>“gangsta rap”</b> as the critics called it, <b>simply signaled a new era of Hip Hop MCs</b>. Through the success of Ice T, NWA, and Too Short most notably, by the end of the 80s the <b>metaphoric base of MCs boasts now included graphic depictions of sex, abuse of women, detailed accounts of black on black violence, rebelling against police, and selling crack cocaine</b>.<br />
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NWA's "<a href="https://genius.com/Nwa-fuck-tha-police-lyrics" target="_blank">Fuck the Police</a>" earned the group <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbi-agent-who-hunted-nwa" target="_blank">a warning from the FBI</a>. In this interview, the crew appears to be lead by Ice Cube's <b>premeditated outrage</b>, followed by Ren's <b>aggressive defiance</b> and ending with Dr. Dre's <b>emphatic cash grab</b>.<br />
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In "Express Yourself" NWA's equates the <b>self expression of rap artists </b>will result in <b>incarceration</b>, <b>peril</b> and <b>death</b>:<br />
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One of Dr. Dre's first production projects outside of NWA came in the form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_the_Law_%28group%29" target="_blank">Above the Law</a>. Their debut video was banned from MTV. It's lyrical content simply confirmed West Coast Hip Hop culture's lyrical intent: "Here's a murder rap to keep you dancing..."<br />
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While a group like NWA and the like were heralded as <a href="http://youtu.be/0pu3ByHBeU0" target="_blank">street reporters</a>, the careless violence of their lyrics was intended as a selling point like a Hollywood action film rather than a carefully considered protest of injustice.</div>
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Too Short's "Freak Tales" were <b>ribald limericks</b> set to <b>heavy Oakland bass</b> peppered with <b>pimp imagery</b>:</div>
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<br />
<b>Same Differences</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
At the turn of the decade, East Coast and West Coast rap artists, using common mediums- album releases, YO! MTV Raps, concert tours, growing journalistic press- evoked Chuck D's claim that "<b>Rap music was Black Amercia's CNN</b>." The following video illustrates this idea as <b>rappers from across the country piece together Hip Hop history</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Low End Theorists</i></td></tr>
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In hindsight, <b>stark contrasts in conception and intention of making rap music is clear when examining music and media content of the early 1990s</b>. When reading Source's interviews of <a href="http://pressrewind.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/pimpin-aint-easy-too-short-interview-in-the-source-1992/" target="_blank">Too Short</a> and <a href="http://ifihavent.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/abstract-attitude-a-tribe-called-quest-in-the-source-1991/" target="_blank">A Tribe Called Quest</a>, it is clear <b>both sets of performers are at odds with the recording industry but both have different means on how to cope</b>. For Todd Shaw, his <b>Too Short is a business persona created for the convenience to manage a business enterprise</b>. For Q-Tip, Ali and Phife, <b>beats and rhymes are their life, their identities as MCs and producers inseparable</b>. Too Short looks to <b>move units</b>, Tribe Called Quest seem intent on <b>preserving the integrity of their art</b>. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pimpin' Ain't Easy</i></td></tr>
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Two videos released the same month, October 1991, reflect similar sentiments expressed visually and lyrical different. ATCQ's <b>"Check the Rhime"</b> champions the<b> craft of battle rapping, celebrates the Jamaica Queens community they represent and questions the credibility of pop rappers and the intentions of the record industry</b>. Ice Cube's <b>"True To the Game"</b> not only indicts<b> rappers going mainstream</b> but any <b>Black Americans from the 'hood who tries to conform to a white America either where they dwell or where they work</b>. Cube's smooth flow is <b>stark</b> and<b> menacing</b>; Phife and Tip are <b>conversation</b>l but<b> nuanced </b>and <b>referential</b>.<br />
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From William Cobb's, <i>To The Break of Dawn</i>, pg. 56: “<i>The MCs of West Coast were generally looked down upon their eastern counterparts; their tendency toward languid, head throbbing cadence was taken as an absence of lyrical ability. [The East Coast MC’s] were overstuffing their bars with syllables, labyrinths of alliterations, and clever verbal effects to illustrate their dexterity of tongue.”</i><br />
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Quest confirms their authenticity by
<b>actually performing a concert in their neighborhood </b>during the
shooting of their video. In contrast, at <b>no point in the video
does Ice Cube even rap into the camera</b>, his lyrics <b>secondary to his
overall theme of unflinching, uncompromising black urban
masculinity</b>. While the music plays in the background, Cube is
scripted to attack "sellouts", kidnapping them at gun
point and racially re-programming them via the Nation of Islam.
<b>Lyrics are so important</b> to A Tribe Called Quest, however,<b> they scroll
in the background of their video</b>, lest the viewer forget the literary
nature of their craft.
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It is these <b>similar difference</b>s that begin to <b>create a divide between the two coasts most highly prolific and successful Hip Hop recording artist</b>s. <br />
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<b>California Love Hate Relationship</b><br />
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The <b>East Coast / West Coast “War”</b> was a <b>legitimate rivalry on record </b>having its <b>beginnings in the early 1990s </b>with Tim Dog barking, “Fuck Compton." The West Coast's growing profile did not sit well with tough South Bronx purists:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Nas' debut secures the</i><br />
<i>coveted 5 mic rating</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Chronic is "snubbed"</i><br />
<i>with a 4.5 mic rating</i></td></tr>
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As Hip Hop culture <b>emerged in new forms via new mediums</b>, <b>exposure in television, films and in print began newly contested grounds to obtain respect</b>. <a href="http://www.thesource.com/">The Source Magazine</a>, the self proclaimed "Hip Hop Bible" became a hotbed of controversy, debate and acrimony erupted over coverage and album reviews in particular. <b>While the West Coast was gaining greater record sales, East Coast Hip Hop tended to garner more attention of music critics</b>. Increased competition between East and West Coast crews seemingly at first only forced MCs and DJs to up the creative ante; the reverence paid to Dre’s 1992 <i>The Chronic</i> or Wu Tang’s 1993 <i>36 Chambers</i> confirms this idea.<br />
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But by the mid 90s, with <b>the lines between drug dealing and music making blurred</b>, the <b>competitiveness of hip hop culture turned fatal </b>with the September 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas and March 1997 shooting of Christopher Wallace in Los Angeles.<br />
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The "beef" began after Tupac Shakur’s initial 1995 shooting in New York seemed to implicate the Bad Boy camp or at least somebody from an East Coast crew. <b>Rivalries on record between Bad Boy and Death Row turned from competitive to threatening</b> as in Tupac’s “Hit ‘em Up” or Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya?”. From the bio-pic <i>Notorious</i>, the movie imagines the hostility when Biggie performs this song as Tupac is recovering in the hospital. 'Pac was having none of it...<br />
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Did the music itself create conditions that lead to the killing of Big and 'Pac? <b>Antagonistic rivalries have always been a component of Hip Hop traditions</b>. A “dis” record or “beef” between MCs is nothing new. See the Juice Crew’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/m2MgnKaB8Hw" target="_blank">The Bridge</a>” vs. Boogie Down Productions’ “<a href="http://youtu.be/1FhhYUPCCV0" target="_blank">South Bronx</a>.” Even George Clinton told James Brown, “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_-xdv2yx8M" target="_blank">Let’s take it to the stage, sucka</a>,” rivaling each other as to who owned the title of “Godfather of funk.”<br />
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<b>What was new to this still relatively young Hip Hop record business </b>were the <b>criminal backgrounds of its producers and promoters</b>. Suge Knight’s openly stated connection to the Mob Piru Blood Gang and Sean Combs' <a href="http://youtu.be/TPsZZtNbpKQ" target="_blank">history overseeing a fatal concert event</a> created an atmosphere in which controversy was a business practice and tragedy was quick to be capitalized upon. <br />
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Here the<b> tensions erupt at award shows</b>,<b> interviews </b>and the <b>press</b>, resulting in <b>hurt feelings</b>, <b>gun fire</b> and ultimately <b>death</b>:<br />
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Newspapers and television journalists immediately declared a “Rap War” between West and East Coast hip hop crews; ignoring any of the traditions of rivalry within Hip Hop music, news reports instead emphasized the troubled pasts of Tupac and Biggie as if their deaths were inevitable. <b> Any larger social context in which the more violent nature of rap music portrayed was being ignored in favor of highlighting the tragic story of its fallen stars</b>. Yet, to this day neither murders have been solved and the direct or indirect involvement of the LAPD and LVPD remains a distinct possibility.<br />
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It should be noted that Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam were instrumental in conducting a “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQJRPKyKpGw">peace summit</a>” in Chicago between high profile East and West Coast rap artists. <b>“Beefs” between the Coasts or artists have been generally confined to the recording booth since the loss of two of hip hop most charismatic, talented, and troubled MCs</b>.ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-60637043946239689902013-05-31T07:35:00.008-07:002022-07-19T10:16:09.042-07:00Roots of Hip Hop Part 2 : All of the Above<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sound Systems</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If the sound, stylings, inspiration and influences of Hip Hop MCs and DJs were American, <b>the actual structure of Hip Hop originates in Jamaica</b>.<b> </b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 12.8px;">Kingston, Jamaica c. 1960s</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>A brief historical overview of </b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Jamaica in the middle of the 20th century reveals a community adapting to industrialization</b>. As the country transformed from an agricultural society of slave labor into an industrialized economy of moderate incomes. Factory labor displaced farming to a large degree and Jamaica becomes characterized by its Kingston city life rather than its agrarian traditions. Somewhat akin to what was occurring in New York City, industrialization was economically successful in the 1950s but the effects of post industrialization soon impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans in the ensuing decades. <b>Jamaica's economic and cultural inequality created a vacuum of opportunity for many contributing to high rates of poverty, crime and violence;</b> the plight of many of Jamaica's people took place in <b>Kingston</b>, Jamaica's capital and largest city. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3qbAhPnnvc646eichVQUDX6Qbb5UwRP6pKbbWG3uKeQgpYG5Llp_mMR_9DghBSekE3hJT8jdW7OEIK0ehWrJHdkN2KIy1dyRoMQ00YRXKMka30Xp0VL07Z-JNLQNLuykOPNzaB-SsM8/s1600/Picture1.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3qbAhPnnvc646eichVQUDX6Qbb5UwRP6pKbbWG3uKeQgpYG5Llp_mMR_9DghBSekE3hJT8jdW7OEIK0ehWrJHdkN2KIy1dyRoMQ00YRXKMka30Xp0VL07Z-JNLQNLuykOPNzaB-SsM8/s1600/Picture1.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">While the economics of globalization might of marginalized its inhabitants, <b>the dissemination of popular American music to the little isle of Jamaica gave birth to one of the most durable and worldwide prolific forms of modern music</b><b>:</b><b><i> Reggae</i></b>. After WWII, migrant American workers and entrepreneurs begin to inhabit the island; <b>Jamaican interest developed in the American R&B music being broadcast from American cities such as New Orleans on these workers' AM radios</b>. Local radio was government controlled and would not play the likes of Louis Jordan and Ray Charles. Imported records were far too expensive for the average Jamaican to purchase and own. As the appetite for American music grew and the desire to socialize and dance increased in Jamaica, how would the demand be met?</span></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjji-j7Y6YRlIMSp0bQqcRDhRw0FD-3Pnh9qMRDLyGI5LnQQfFlDoXX0SDBClajUshBlpJ-T92FN4ZXOYAhxi5g4qdUvXpDdA7Y9RqWwM-VnyC-GnHasLEZjyZT0NiRrXe0ICJxztbkjFUcW1UlJF9Ehl_xfnUCnF8j8xb2v8IXieParJKawYqNGH_U/s502/dubshop.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="502" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjji-j7Y6YRlIMSp0bQqcRDhRw0FD-3Pnh9qMRDLyGI5LnQQfFlDoXX0SDBClajUshBlpJ-T92FN4ZXOYAhxi5g4qdUvXpDdA7Y9RqWwM-VnyC-GnHasLEZjyZT0NiRrXe0ICJxztbkjFUcW1UlJF9Ehl_xfnUCnF8j8xb2v8IXieParJKawYqNGH_U/w320-h242/dubshop.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Musical entrepreneurs</b> met this demand by investing in buying records and large mobile speaker systems. Headed by local vocal talents these <b>"<b><a href="https://youtu.be/K_tm5_f0ixo" target="_blank">sound systems</a>" </b>emerged as new cultural form as much influenced the technologies on hand as they were by any musicians<span style="font-weight: normal;">. </span></b>Sound systems were essentially travelling record shops where DJs would play new American music to gathered audiences in a tenement yard or dancehall<b><b>. </b>"<b>Sound</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><b>selectors</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">" used</span><b> turntables and microphones powered by these large speakers and powerful amplifiers </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">to host these events, aided by their </span><b>"Deejay." </b>By the Jamaican definition<b>, </b></b>the Deejay <span style="font-weight: normal;">would would mimic the stylish vocal patter of the American radio disc jock in their indigenous patois</span><b><b>. <span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Different sound systems throughout Kingston would often </b></span><b><b>compete</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> or "</span><a href="https://youtu.be/aASQlbktGkc" target="_blank"><b><i>clash</i></b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">" <b>against each other for prize money and prestige.</b></span></b></b></b></span></div><br> <center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aASQlbktGkc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
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<b><b><b><span style="font-size: small;"><b>In the early 1960s, </b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>the waning quality of American R&B compelled sound systems to hire local musicians to compose and perform "original" records</b>. Fusing the indigenous rhythms of <i>calypso </i>and<i> mento</i></span> with American R&B and jazz, Jamaica forged its own music called <i>Ska</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. <b>Sound systems now not only threw parties but also entered the record business, recording bands in hopes of scoring the next hit single</b>. </span></span></b></b></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Frequently these recordings were <a href="https://youtu.be/O1302DYceLE" target="_blank">covers of popular American tunes</a> or original Jamaican tunes that would soon to become standards that would be adapted later. The Ska version of "One Love" by Bob Marley and the Wailers is a prime example of this early reggae sound and the ground work for its later more recognized reggae version.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sound System DJs</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>In 1966, </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">the speed and brass horns of ska music come to a halt and the </span><b>slower, more bass heavy sounds of <i>Rocksteady</i></b><span style="font-style: normal;"><b> </b></span>emerge. Covering songs and refashioning them with a Jamaican sound became an established pattern by this time in Jamaican music. <span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.whosampled.com/cover/view/50836/The%20Techniques-Queen%20Majesty_The%20Impressions-Minstrel%20and%20Queen%20%28Queen%20Majesty%29/">Here The Techniques cover Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions' "Minstrel and Queen" for their "Queen Majesty."</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">An interesting new feature of Sound System culture emerged in this period. In the quest for fame, money, and a distraction from routine violence that plagued parties</span>, <i style="font-weight: normal;">directors of the sound systems gave Deejay space to not just speak between records, but to "chat" or "toast" along with the record</i>. The Deejay would often rhyme a couplet or sing a catchphrase <span style="font-weight: normal;">("Live the life you love, love the life you live")</span> between the sung lyrics of the original record. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The purpose was to <b>compliment the theme of the record</b> by riding the rhythm of the music with rhymes chants, squeals or screams; provide comedic relief; declare a sound system's supremacy; or to acknowledge members of crowd such as the "rude boys" in the audience. A common practice of these "bad men" were to fire their pistols in the air in approval of a particular record or performance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The similarities of Jamaican Deejays and American MCs does not end there. By the late 1960s and early 1970s</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">, commonly Rocksteady and the emergent more musically complex Reggae records became the backdrop for complete "toasts" by Deejays</span><b>. These "Talkover" singles were cut by deejays capturing their toasts using the original rocksteady song</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> as an underlying rhythm. An example of this practice is seen below in "Chalice In The Palace" by pioneering deejay U-Roy who comically adopts The Techniques' love song "Queen Magesty" to beckon the Queen of England to share his love for ganja. </span></span><b><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">While U-Roy was not the first to chat over music he is often considered the best as he transformed toasting into a song form.</span></span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>King Tubby</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hip Hop DJs later take note of the works of studio wizards such as King Tubby who began to <i>"dub" "versions" of original rocksteady records, dropping vocals and instruments out of the mix to create instrumentals for deejays to chat over</i>. <b>Jamaican music now became truly influenced by the hand of the studio engineer</b>. Sometimes favorite talkover versions sometimes overshadowed the original rocksteady cut. More revealing, <i>certain dubs of rhythms, the bass line and melody itself, became so popular multiple deejays and singers would cut their own "version" of the rhythm resulting in a flood of records utilizing the same beat</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>This approach to pop music ushers in the technique often called the "remix" where DJs and producers give a different take on a first recording</b>. From elongated Disco 12" "dance edits" to Hip Hop's obligatory R&B or "posse cut" remix, the rehashing and reformatting of original material has become a staple of popular music worldwide. Thus, Jamaican Sound System culture serves as the musical "blueprint" of Hip Hop music.</span></span></b><br />
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-87491902865830099442013-05-31T07:11:00.002-07:002021-07-07T10:56:03.021-07:00Roots of Hip Hop Part 1 : All of the Above<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>“While [African music] admits of being discussed, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>it cannot be strictly defined” – Andre Craddock-Willis</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>It is impossible to fix </b><b>one cultural antecedent as the ancestor of Hip Hop music</b> but we can identify that it <b>springs from the rich </b>and<b> complex history of African American music </b>and<b> expression</b>. As a result, both the musical and lyrical performers of Hip Hop- the MC/rapper and the DJ/producer- draw from a seemingly endless well of direct and indirect sources. In the words of Afrika Bambaataa, Bronx, NY Hip Hop pioneer: </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Afrika Bambaataa</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>"You gotta remember that rap goes all the way back to Africa. There have always been different styles of rappin', from the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3VAkeWvKBE" target="_blank">African chants</a> to <a href="https://youtu.be/8bztE5IbQOo" target="_blank">James Brown</a> to Shirley Ellis in the '60s doin' "<a href="https://youtu.be/ltxwB_Sl8w8" target="_blank">The Clapping Song</a>." There's <a href="http://youtu.be/MGqd_4iG5xs">Isaac Hayes</a>, there's <a href="http://youtu.be/746uWZseUTk">Barry White</a>, there's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trApcLaJ5z4">Millie Jackson</a>, that love-type rappin', and there's <a href="https://youtu.be/wDJCqdXzGAA" target="_blank">The Last Poets</a>. And then there's your "<a href="http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/creole_art_african_am_oral.html#elaborate">dozens</a>," that black people used to play in the '30s and '40s. The dozens is when you tryin' to put the other guy down, talkin' about his mama, his sister, his brother, sayin' it in rhyme. These days, rap is made up of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A2hlj933F4">funk</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/kl1hgXfX5-U" target="_blank">heavy metal</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gymFZ7U-DNg">soca</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR8NskqxLlo&feature=youtu.be">African music</a>, <a href="http://youtu.be/cxN4nKk2cfk" target="_blank">jazz</a>, and other elements. You can do anything with rap music; you can go from the past to the future to what's happenin' now."</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium;">The definitive first study</i><br />
<i style="font-size: medium;">of Afro-American music</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What can be identified though, in acknowledgement Leroi Jones' <i>Blues People</i>, is the <span style="font-style: normal;"><b>similar form and function of African American music and West African music</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">. Quoting Jones:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>“...the music of the Negro in America, in all its permutations... [reveals] something about the Negro's existence in this country as well as something about the essential nature of this country, i.e. society as a whole.”</i> (from <i>Blues People</i> Introduction, 1963)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Practitioners of modern African American music transmuted musical and cultural traditions of West Africa in reaction to their environment</b>. Jones asserts that essential qualities of West African music- its <b>social function</b> and its <b>rhythmic</b> and <b>lyrical</b> forms- continue on in the 20th century altered by African Americans experiences in the rolling fields of the South, the bustling urban cities in the north and the roads and train tracks that ferried them in between.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">As African Americans encountered <b>the wonders of modernity</b> or the <b>lingering oppression of slavery</b> and <b>institutional marginalization</b>, the ability to account for these experiences were often <b>lyrically expressed</b>. Thus, these experiences were expressed with grave seriousness in the work of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOKtXF6iPko&feature=related">African American preachers</a>, revolutionary orators such as <a href="https://youtu.be/4QwFu11yUaE">Malcolm X</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/QnJFhuOWgXg">Gil Scott Heron</a> or the soul crooners like <a href="https://youtu.be/fPr3yvkHYsE" target="_blank">Sam Cooke</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Skat singers like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8&feature=related">Cab Calloway</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/Xa5PO5BpfkY" target="_blank">Ella Fitzgerald</a> or early rhythm and blues performers like <a href="https://youtu.be/rVDCVdrb9MQ">Louis Jordan</a> offered a more worldly expression that still bore links back to West African music and traditions. And while particularly ribald, the "toasts" of<span style="font-family: inherit;"> the early 20th century displayed a verbal, lyrical rhythm while spinning a tall tale born from an <a href="http://www.planetslade.com/stagger-lee.html">actual event</a>. Below, a prison "toast" of the story of the legend of Stagger Lee</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Clearly, in a wide variety of forms, </b><b>African American cultural history has its share of oratory masters</b>. Hip Hop MCs and rappers have been influenced and informed by all of these traditions. The first “<i>Masters of Ceremony</i>”- the hosts of the first Hip Hop parties in the Bronx in the mid 1970s- adopted both the preacher's power and a toaster's rhymed wit. These previously styles of speak and slang were twisted into a vocal performance at Bronx parties known initially as <i>MCing</i> and later called <i>rapping</i>. The following briefly discusses the "Black American" musical influences of the 1950, 60s and 70s that had the most immediate impact on the sound of Hip Hop in 1973.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Genius, Disc Jocks and Mr. Dynamite</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">At the risk of oversimplifying, the crossover of the <i><b>sacred</b></i> sounds of much African American musical expression to a more <i><b>secular</b></i> gesture of mainstream American sensationalism<b> </b>is best evidenced in the music of Ray Charles. Charles was not the only artist to do this as he built upon the foundation of jazz and blues music that emerged in the first half of the 20th century. But Charles' <b>pioneering fusion of traditional "Black" gospel vocal styling with lyrics about love and women</b> made him one of the most acclaimed and reviled. His 1959 hit "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAjeSS3kktA">What'd I Say</a>?" is the clearest example of this. There is little question that Charles <b>popularization of the concept and sound of "soul" shaped modern American R&B</b> if not Pop music in general.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In "Towards An Aesthetic of Popular Music" Simon Frith theorizes that <b>modern genres of popular music</b> are <b>shaped by the technologies</b> that <b>create</b> and <b>disseminate</b> them. With this in mind, it must be emphasized that the music of Ray Charles' contemporaries and successors <b>was regularly received by audiences via radio </b>during this period<b>. </b>As popular forms of rock and R&B grew in popularity and stature, the experience of this music was often <b>framed by the talents of the local disc jockey. </b> Sociologist Todd Gitlin speaks of how DJs in the 1960s shaped listeners experiences:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>[The DJ] invaded the home, flattered the kids’ taste (while helping mold it), lured them into an imaginary world in which they were free to take their pleasures… …the disc jockeys played an important part in extending the peer group, certifying rock lovers as a huge subsociety of the knowing.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The local disc jockey played new hit songs first; introduced new artists; promoted local businesses, informed listeners what cool happenings were going down; and, simply, what was "cool" and what was not.<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Standouts in the field always did this with a flair and change of speak</b>. <b>Douglas "</b><b>Jocko" Henderson</b>, a popular DJ in Philadelphia and New York City during the 1950s and 60s used jive and slang while on air, granting his radio show character and status that was as entertaining as the music itself. A sample of Jocko Henderson’s broadcast style as he speaks between songs:<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>"Soul Travelin'" by Gary Byrd</b> is a musical example of the DJ's charisma and narrative power over the music.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>During the 1960s and 70s, R&B music and their artists grew in profile</b>. Detroit's "<a href="https://www.motownmuseum.org/story/motown/" target="_blank">Motown Sound</a>" enjoyed both a large white and black audience and represented the first largely successful black owned record label. The wider acceptance of "soul" music was reflective of the racial upheaval that began with the 50s Civil Rights Movement and Motown label owner Barry Gordy's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXq0hLt5n4">purposeful streamlining</a> of his artists' sound. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Many, many other African American artists of this period continued the traditions of Ray Charles, marrying the gospel singing with gritty blues music</b>, most notably those on the Memphis' <a href="http://www.staxmuseum.com/">Stax/Volt</a> label<b>:</b> <a href="https://youtu.be/rTVjnBo96Ug" target="_blank">Otis Redding</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/UAjMecBk3DA" target="_blank">Sam and Dave</a>, <a href="http://youtu.be/FbTyTUnZdoA">Rufus Thomas</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/c9y-n9B_XUM" target="_blank">Booker T. and the MGs</a>. While Stax was not as financially successful as Motown, Stax records celebrated unabashed soul or told the blues of poverty in a fashion Motown would not dare. Stax Records staff and musicians were both white and black, working in the deep South, no small feat as American race relations entered a even more tumultuous period in the later half of the 1960s. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Embodying both the <b>dirtier, funkier</b> sound of Stax and the <b>immense popularity</b> of Motown was <b><a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-brown-p3779">James Brown</a></b>. The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Soul Brother #1, the Godfather of Soul, Mr. Dynamite became the most prolific black soul singer of the late 1960s, dominating R&B charts and pop charts alike. Risking his commercially privileged status, Brown also made considerable efforts to champion the "Black Power" movement of the 1960s and 70s in his music ("<a href="https://youtu.be/FrB4uQyU0DU">Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud</a>") or as a an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5fBEVEQCzc&t=0m45s">instrument of peace during the riots following Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination</a>. Brown's impact on Hip Hop and popular soul and dance music at large is undeniable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>As Brown's musical career expanded in the 1970s his band the JBs in both sound and lyrics reflected the plight of the urban cities</b>. Lyrically, songs like "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DAfBZbz3tI#">Get on the Good Foot</a>" spoke of limited economic opportunity, while "<a href="http://youtu.be/istJXUJJP0g" target="_blank">The Payback</a>" was tough anthem for street hustlers. Musically, Brown and the JBs <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNP8tbDMZNE&t=5m32s">created beats stripped of orchestration</a>, emphasizing rhythmic improvised interplay between singer, drummer, bassist, guitarist, organ, and horn players. "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHn48b7iWF0">Think</a>" by Lyn Collins, one James Brown's leading divas, showcases the JBs penchant for danceable grooves and provoking lyrics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The JBs live show stunned audiences with unyielding volume and energy. With unworldly fervor, James Brown's famous 1964 "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/arts/music/21TAMI.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">T.A.M.I.</a>" show may be the best and most astonishing example of this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">For Hip Hop music, Brown and his bands provided <b>innumerable rhythmic backdrops</b>; as an African American icon he personified both an<b> inspirational success story</b> and the first example of a pioneering "<b>Black owned</b>" entertainment franchise that made decisions on its own terms. </span></div>
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<b>"All of the Above" </b><br />
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Digging beyond just the "popular Black music" of the 1960s and 70s, <b>further roots of Hip Hop</b> are found in <a href="http://youtu.be/KxibMBV3nFo">Jazz</a>, <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83">African American literature</a>, and the <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/blackarts/historical.htm">Black Arts Movement</a> of the period. In particular, the more confrontational stance of the 1960s <b>Black Power movement produced rhythm and poetry</b> that bore similarities to rapping in the Bronx in the 1970s. <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-last-poets-p6947">The Last Poets</a> and <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gil-scott-heron-p123197">Gil Scott Heron</a> were the most notable performers of this type of "rap." But, in regards to lyrical content, Hip Hop would not realize these types of subjects in a definitive fashion until the 1980s and 1990s. </div>
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Other influences of the Hip Hop MC can be found in the <b>outspoken explicit monologues and performances of black comedians</b> such as Dolemite's "<a href="http://youtu.be/Voxp3ckwJZ0?t=37s" target="_blank">Signifying Monkey</a>", <a href="https://youtu.be/044pqYHbYf4?t=4m20s" target="_blank">Redd Foxx</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqIUedSr0LI">Jimmie Walker</a>. After all, what is an MC that isn't entertaining or have a sense of humor? Richard Pryor's "Flying Saucers" is evidence how stand up could be both profane and political, humorous and poignant all in a span of a short few minutes.</div>
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A jazz/soul comedian such as <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/millie-jackson-p4577">Millie Jackson</a> with her “Phuck U Symphony" shattered any preconceived notions of how a woman should behave or <b>even what genre or attitude a performer should conform to </b>for popular acceptance. Again, the explicit content of rap music would not emerge until the late 1980s but these performers clearly had a swagger that the earliest MCs adopted when on stage.</div>
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As for the Bronx Hip Hop DJ, <b>the two turntable techniques employed by early pioneer</b>s such as Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa are <b>owed to an underground music movement in which the DJ emerged as the center piece of the show</b>: <b><i>Disco</i></b>. In 1970, on the fringes of mainstream society, this new music labeled "Disco" was being <a href="http://www.disco-disco.com/disco/history.shtml">created not by musicians but DJs</a>. </div>
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In NYC, Disco music began as dance parties thrown by DJs often in predominately gay neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, Fire Island, and other small clubs. Early Disco was nothing more than an up tempo funk and soul recordings such as "Get Lifted" by <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-mccrae-p4866">George McRae</a>.</div>
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Importantly, disco DJs "blended" records of the same tempo together for one continuous mix of unending night of dance music. The video below effectively showcases a seamless mix of early Disco records; take note of the transitions from song to song at :45 and 1:22 mark and so on. <b>Disco became a DJ dominated genre of popular music, displacing the importance of the musician and elevating the DJ to the role of the artist and star performer.</b></div>
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As the DJ's stature and power grew in the music industry, there is no question that <b>Disco DJs mixing and matching tempos and using isolated parts of records directly influenced Bronx Hip Hop DJs</b>. One can see even in novelty soul records of 70s such as "Superfly Meets Shaft" foretell the <b>cut and mix</b> approach Hip Hop DJs and producers would become famous for in the ensuing years.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Exploring the "Roots of Hip Hop" continue <a href="http://www.spinsofthefather.com/2013/05/roots-of-hip-hop-pt-2-all-of-above.html">here</a> with a look at Jamaican Sound System culture.</span></div>
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-58777362866612043462013-02-07T13:44:00.001-08:002022-04-03T11:19:23.049-07:00Crucifixion Ain't No Fiction <div style="text-align: justify;">
One of Hip Hop's least acknowledged qualities have been is its spiritual contemplation in the form of praise and/or criticism. Several of its significant innovators in 1980s and 90s recorded devotions of their life of Christ, notably Run DMC’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/RUXpNMMqW1A" target="_blank">Down with the King</a>” and LL Cool J’s “<a href="http://youtu.be/3k8oP22uj1Q" target="_blank">The Power of God</a>.” Others offered sharp criticisms such as KRS ONE’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/DH43AxTds0I" target="_blank">The Truth</a>”:</div>
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Now separate Jesus from the cross so you can see </div>
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The truth about the cross, and the cross's history </div>
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The cross was created by the Roman government </div>
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It's only purpose and use, is capital punishment </div>
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But Jesus Christ, was all about the revolution </div>
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While the cross was used as Jesus Christ's execution </div>
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<a href="http://youtu.be/K3IaTseRvH8" target="_blank">Without even mentioning the rich history of the Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths in Hip Hop music</a>, it is clear many Hip Hop lyrics and songs were often a negotiation of faith and questioning in a Higher Power if not specifically a Christian God. </div>
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And like any practicing Christian or organized church, some of these artist’s lyrics are rife with contradiction or their efforts are seemingly eclipsed by the overwhelming secularity of Hip Hop themes in general. This dynamic has been at play in for the entirety of Nasir Jones’ career in particular. </div>
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On his debut, Nasty Nas shockingly claimed “When I was 12 I went to Hell for snuffing Jesus” in the 1991 song “<a href="https://youtu.be/XmCWfJAPwbA?t=34" target="_blank">Live At the BBQ</a>.” At the time, the line in question garnered him praise from for being bold and shocking but has been later interpreted metaphorically, that in actuality he was a lost adolescent. </div>
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Other verses in Nas’ catalog aligned his lyrical output with Christ “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXBFG2vsyCM&t=2m22s" target="_blank">Judges hangin’ ni**az, uncorrect bails, for direct sales / My intellect prevails from a hangin’ cross with nails</a>.” In video, Nas depicted himself with a crown of thorns, <a href="http://youtu.be/dKSJN3WWR3E" target="_blank">hanging from a cross</a>; his sixth album is titled, “God’s Son.” <a href="https://hiphopdx.com/editorials/id.1688/title.it-was-written-nas-odd-relationship-with-god-presented-in-his-lyrics" target="_blank">Interpretations, condemnations and hype</a> will undoubtedly follow these high profile artists any time they refer, question or appropriate Christian themes of God. </div>
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But for young evangelicals or those who could not accept a post-modernist intersection of Hip Hop, Jesus Christ and Belief, there was little effective dogmatic representation. In the mid 1980s, Christian Rap was unintentionally a parody of itself. Witness Gospel Rap pioneer Steven Riley rap for Jesus to the beat in “Bible Break”:</div>
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By the 1990s it seemed impossible for “authentic” (in other words, well crafted) Hip Hop to praise the name of Christ in a believable fashion. It seemed the Word of God would only be widespread via Hip Hop by secular artists complete with all of their contradictions. Interestingly a couple of the biggest rap records of the last 20 years expressed overt Christian themes in pop music, such as Kanye West’s “<a href="http://youtu.be/MYF7H_fpc-g" target="_blank">Jesus Walks</a>” or Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/VMYAEHE2GrM" target="_blank">Tha Crossroads</a>.” Even lesser known MCs such as Brooklyn Wu Tang affiliate Killah Priest examined Christian teachings in 1995 in "<a href="http://ohhla.com/anonymous/k_priest/heavy/bible.kpr.txt">B.I.B.L.E</a>," the Good Book functions almost as a subway map for salvation in the concrete jungle.</div>
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However, most notably, originating out of Philadelphia, an <a href="http://www.crossmovementrecords.com/" target="_blank">affiliation of rappers, DJs and producers</a> began <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Movement" target="_blank">The Cross Movement</a> in the late 1990s. Their music paralleled the work of their incorporated, nonprofit ministries and significantly achieved a sound and consistency in both beats and rhymed that matched “street” (read “secular”) rappers.</div>
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Some ten plus years later, with the ease of digital production of music, video and networking, the Christian Rap movement has secured its base and spread the Good News worldwide. Here, <a href="http://www.datpiff.com/Lecrae-Church-Clothes-mixtape.348497.html" target="_blank">LeCrae</a>’s “Church Clothes” is intriguing recent effort as his lyrics are in clear defiance to traditional trappings of Christian religion: church on a Sunday, collection plates, formal attire, claiming to be Chosen. And yet his message is an emphatic embrace of Christ as his savior and embrace of the huddled masses. Fundamentalists may be disappointed but Jesus' street disciples probably could care less.</div>
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-1110602175820620782013-01-21T13:51:00.000-08:002013-01-21T13:51:15.081-08:00TV Is Gooder Than We Think<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3DQ-Ey1ZUOrplWKErfFqpd7KlOyhFWCLXG01i5HMEh1GhpvSL1PAZeYfpurpzVhgdFVB6jQtlQG7feueDKnvPWXlzI-d3BTJZhm6QMVNvFj099kxVulsnCHxPUJ7p337HS1K4wbi_lg/s1600/64.article01_sub01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL3DQ-Ey1ZUOrplWKErfFqpd7KlOyhFWCLXG01i5HMEh1GhpvSL1PAZeYfpurpzVhgdFVB6jQtlQG7feueDKnvPWXlzI-d3BTJZhm6QMVNvFj099kxVulsnCHxPUJ7p337HS1K4wbi_lg/s320/64.article01_sub01.png" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/vlt/summary/v064/64.article01_sub01.html" target="_blank">The Aesthitics of Failure</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/jmittell" target="_blank">Jason Mitchell</a><br /> from the <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_velvet_light_trap/" target="_blank">Velvet Light Trap</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">An academic read for sure but just the preview alone makes light of an interesting idea, an opinion that fans of Sherlock, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc. have been saying for awhile: there are many well written and produced television programs out there in this day and age, more so than we probably are aware of. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">And that's amazing considering how sink or swim the television industry is.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-50647500790741743862012-08-16T12:28:00.000-07:002012-08-16T12:28:15.069-07:00Show and Prove 2012In my "Pass the Peas" course at Lehigh U, we wrap up the semester with an American Idol-like contest of songs and videos presented by the students of the class. This year's top 3:<br />
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#1 Kendrick Lamar - "HiiiPOWER"
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#2 A$AP Rocky - "Goldie"
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#3 Moufy - "Miss Newtown"
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-14406575996918686882012-08-14T19:37:00.000-07:002012-08-14T19:37:21.540-07:00Ghostwriters in the Machine<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.rappersiknow.com/2012/08/13/nas-lost-ghostwriters/" target="_blank"><i>Say it ain't so, Nas</i></a></h2>
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<a href="http://hiphop-n-more.com/2010/10/jay-electronica-denies-stealing-rhymes/" target="_blank"><i>Off the books</i></a></h2>
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Actually, the accusation that Jay Elect's <i>Act I</i> is stolen is more troubling because both scenarios don't seem implausible. Either a <a href="http://youtu.be/gOMhN-hfMtY" target="_blank">Stan</a> like fan has imagined an elaborate scenario in which Jay Electronica swiped his life story to record Jay's epic "<a href="http://youtu.be/sWc4DG1s53g" target="_blank">Sunshine</a>" breakthrough or a beloved rhyming hero's mythical legacy is a lie. <span id="goog_227072379"></span><span id="goog_227072380"></span></div>
ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-42161994407735474782012-08-07T20:59:00.001-07:002015-07-22T21:40:55.015-07:00Street Ministry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdp3oou6qVV-OiwHFe_dQGbNJ5srreSbfZMAfQ5T1nuZjG7SqlDRSIO48UYAeNDSi7frkV3JKYHCkMqHoiGG88LixaHzCBo7-FHHF1nGuP-adUIruMhrEjTObuJyfmB-WKIkhrJAiX4yg/s1600/388025_3956083853668_716598670_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdp3oou6qVV-OiwHFe_dQGbNJ5srreSbfZMAfQ5T1nuZjG7SqlDRSIO48UYAeNDSi7frkV3JKYHCkMqHoiGG88LixaHzCBo7-FHHF1nGuP-adUIruMhrEjTObuJyfmB-WKIkhrJAiX4yg/s320/388025_3956083853668_716598670_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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"There's a new thing happening today" Minister Louis Farrakhan once preached. <a href="http://youtu.be/KLep7CZyZns" target="_blank">Brand Nubian</a> sampled that line in 1992 and took up the call in their music. </span></h3>
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A new thing is happening in Bethlehem. Taking up the initiative of the graffiti movement to reclaim public space, regional street artists have begun their own movement here in the Lehigh Valley.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuU_1lBZRdT6kBm0aFEk8NK27Fp_Tn3rtbl1ezYprVNynNRsKbj8mYX9_mdBs3mnWfpx8vjHZrQYHZHw92YnAwX19tfEQGHl4KWJaR3_DjM-DFpFTBQse-4lE3S3z4sTdGlktEhrHofuY/s1600/391393_3956041212602_1418218462_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;"></span></a></h3>
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For those of us who have lived here for years (decades really), it is fairly dra-mastic to see <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/NewVox-Art-Gallery/84878966752" target="_blank">New Vox Gallery</a> make its imprint on the Five Points community.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraBBaIyw9oEpa2pzVAcFZOAY5SBhM3gMfPDN-hn1DNrtaU84MflXK9hL1a5Qa7ZuhLbEw8piqgPmTNhFq1ijZeA73VgVGc8F9AqQYm8Xu8nJsqKSKj2T_yAoErP5SF1Ydn8niYfXkzzw/s1600/487157_3956101294104_732655448_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraBBaIyw9oEpa2pzVAcFZOAY5SBhM3gMfPDN-hn1DNrtaU84MflXK9hL1a5Qa7ZuhLbEw8piqgPmTNhFq1ijZeA73VgVGc8F9AqQYm8Xu8nJsqKSKj2T_yAoErP5SF1Ydn8niYfXkzzw/s320/487157_3956101294104_732655448_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">
Mainstay <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Homebase610" target="_blank">Homebase</a> has been doing this now for 10 years have been making an impact with youth skate culture, art and fashion. It's not hard to support new heads adding on.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ILRyKRL-Eu8uP2nJTB99cDU5qen1xWYd0_X-ueBylX5yQrgZgJ_PFqD6aSAzoHvvn8aWZ3Phtp1ovk3f6Wps1dafvBYjdIkYBEAaf4BJNJPeyjmx_IRVvf-UaOlEYpxdKTagY8RPlQc/s1600/557305_3956096653988_2023204078_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;"></span></a></h3>
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I had the privilege of providing the soundtrack this July at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/447690481931877/" target="_blank">Streetfluence</a>, an exhibition of street art on display at New Vox, the on the side of buildings at Five Points and in city parking garage.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">The set list is a journey into sound, </span><span class="st" style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">a journey which along the way will bring to you new color, new dimension, new values.</span></h3>
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Props to Reinaldo Ray Valentin, Matthew Nixon and so many others who made this happen.</span></h3>
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ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-40083051849263377262012-04-21T19:14:00.000-07:002012-04-21T19:15:36.572-07:00When You Call His Name<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've listened to this on loop off of Youtube, shared it on Facebook but really, those gestures don't compare to the experience of listening to DJ Marcelino Rivera effortlessly slip it into a live set while spinning at Double Decker. Here I am flipping through stacks of dusty treasures and I hear this, drop everything and become an instant convert: "AND WHAT'S THIS JOINT?!? WHERE CAN I FIND THIS!?!"</div>
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An audio silver and goldrush...<br />
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<center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A2vLFhRuj8U" width="420"></iframe></center>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-9506246299898353332012-02-25T19:44:00.001-08:002012-02-25T20:01:14.652-08:00ARM 18 Minutes of Funk - The Nat X Mixtape<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F37851534&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Track Listing: </div><div style="text-align: justify;">1 - Nat X / JB Intro <br />
2 - I'm Black and I'm Proud - Brand Nubian <br />
3 - Ain't Saying Nothing (Dub) - Divine Styler <br />
4 - Funkin' Lesson - X Clan <br />
5 - Swing Blue, Sweat Black - Laquan <br />
6 - Heartbeat Props - Digital Underground <br />
7 - For Women - Reflection Eternal</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br>Brand Nu's '98 update of the JB '68 classic is worthy homage. Tracks 3 through 6 are a nod to that brief period between '88 and '90 where "Pro Black" hip hop was as common as Common at an NBA All Star Game. Laquan vid below for a bonus.<br><br>DU speaks the truth: if you know of someone right here, right now that is making a difference in the world, give them their props. Better yet, be ready to rock for the cause. And Talib's storytelling ("<a href="http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/reflect/train_of/forwomen.ref.txt">For Women</a>") is as vivid as a Toni Morison novel. Word to the Mother.</div><center><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jBb1JO8Pm8w" width="420"></iframe></div></center>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-13486614478214248422012-02-24T08:35:00.002-08:002012-02-25T20:08:18.229-08:00No Place Like Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/music/index.ssf/2012/02/hip-hop_in_the_valley_--_king.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtCdCDxzvuxAprtG4r_jdqcaMLD3pmlKzdhIDRAqqeTOt8J0K02tyD8Tob8ahkV1JyN1RC3jREBo3HEtmG5z9Z9CU7jH-XMJPDkiKv63kOkiGT5KqaeDmOePMiDAnOFRxw_2LBbKZCBIw/s640/TOUR%252520FLYER.jpg" width="497" /></a></div><br />
Taking his show on the road, Magnetic, Godilla, GQ will tour the country with Cappadonna and Block Mcloud. Next up this spring in Europe with the GZA.<br />
<br />
Check out one the better covereages of regional Hip Hop out of the Easton, PA Express Times publication: <a href="http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/music/index.ssf/2012/02/hip-hop_in_the_valley_--_king.html">Local rappers King Magnetic, Godilla and GQ weigh in on hip-hop in the Valley</a>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675030494011794778.post-28487806745949072152012-02-10T12:55:00.000-08:002012-02-10T12:55:20.807-08:00Triple Play<div style="text-align: justify;">Dope Hip Hop videos this decade are like remix 12"s from the 90s loaded with exclusive B sides. With the technology today, making a weak video is inexcusable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">De La's "First Serve" is eye candy and the other two vids embody that working man lunch pail rap aesthetic that was born with (incidentally) De La's "<a href="http://youtu.be/VW3gUu0Q8a4">Stakes Is High</a>."</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OHmmYnw34hI" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Musically, these cats flip a BoogieMan real live 45 effectively:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vr41G3S5S-s" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sounding like Jim Cramer's <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838459">Mad Money</a> show with a broke flow, Phonte about sums up the current career climate in the American job market: "So if you thinkin 'bout quittin you should probably wait / Cuz everybody gotta do a fuckin job that they hate"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HH9vR_iJOqU" width="560"></iframe></div>ARM 18http://www.blogger.com/profile/04310873525175323257noreply@blogger.com0