EUPHIMIE??

just for fun...

2011-06-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

Petra's Album of the Week: Rocky Rivera

2011-06-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

"Guerilla wit a U and you already know"

This week I discovered
Rocky Rivera, an MC from San Francisco, and I'm hooked. Her album Rocky Rivera covers vast territory, with beats for giggin on the dance floor, slappin in the car, chillin on the stoop, or makin love. She lyrically navigates this soundscape with masterful skill, deftly changing her flow to fit each beat.

This album is a classic. Complex flow, hard beats. Nothing extra, no frills. She approaches every track, rhythm and message with a rare mix of flexible strength and humble confidence. Her lyrics are on point: funny, real, empowering, sexy, catchy, inspiring, hard and subtle. Can't say all that about any women rappers these days.... wait, I can't say that about ANY rappers these days.
For real tho, when's the next album coming out?

Check out the video for "Girl Like Me" featuring Dun Dun:

TOQUE!

2011-06-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

This Thursday June 9

DJ Petra is on the wheels of steel all night, laying down a soul-lifting & booty-shakin mix of music from across the Afro-Latin diaspora..

Come celebrate summer
and bless our dance floor with your feet!

@ Bembe

81 South 6th @ Berry st.

Brooklyn, NY

www.bembe.us

FREE 10pm - 4am

Dance As It Was In The Beginning

2011-05-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

I remember what dance was like in the beginning...

It requested I reach for the cookie jar on my tip-toes, then hide quickly in my mermaid shell of folded legs. Those same legs transformed into butterfly wings when they flapped.

It appeared when I was alone in my basement, at the age of 5. I had mastered my dad’s surround-sound stereo system. I would imagine I was in front of a large crowd, dancing for millions to my favorite song. Other times my improvised undulations were meant for one or two people, an intimate engagement, black-box style.

It revealed itself when my family was celebrating -and we celebrated together a lot. My auntie rode my uncle like a donkey once. The Soca song playing was titled "Whoa Donkey," wildly appropriate for my auntie's dance interpretation. What were we celebrating? Each other, I think.

In the beginning,

dance existed with my family, through my body, and in my imagination.

In the beginning,

it never existed in studios,

or on stages with lights and speakers.

I was never trained to dance.

Instead, it was an experience that surrounded me. My encircling relatives shared with me how to move my hips to the rhythm. I was enraptured, determined to somehow absorb the movements, repeating them constantly, feeling my body understand a special way of moving.

As a shy child,

it was something I was never shy about.

I was that kid at the wedding reception

never shy on the dance floor.

Flash forward a few years later, and I find myself in NYC pursuing a career as a professional dancer. I made the commitment three years ago that I would create a life with dance -create a life with art.

How’s it going?

Too early to tell...

I’ve found myself in a place where dance is met with ambition and aspirations.

Dance has become my life’s work.

Dance has become work.

Insert^

exhilarating (and sweaty) dance party*

*A therapeutic and physically-embodied source of rejuvenating enthusiasm TO dance, thus connecting me with the energy and rhythms of other bodies, allowing dance to become a rhythmically improvised and communal experience, as I knew it to be earlier in life.

Encircling bodies moving to rhythms...it takes me back to the beginning...before dance became work.

In this city, I have found sources for great dance parties where I can move freely for myself. The professional layer drops away and what's left underneath is an abandonment in tandem with the rhythm.

There are many professional dancers in this one place. New York City is the Mecca of the artistic world, and with so many aspiring and established dancers pursuing their artistic career, I wonder if there a place that exists for these dancers where dance is not work?

If so, where?

If not, why?

When does dance stop being professional and become recreational? When does recreational dance become professional? How are both dance and the dancer constructed within those two words: "professional" and "recreational?"

~~~~By asking this question to different types of dancers in my life, I can compile varied thoughts and experiences as primary sources of the present professional dancer's relationship to her or his work, in the hope of deconstructing and exploring the meaning and the relationship between what it means to be a professional dancer and what it is to dance.

Samba V. Soca (free mix download)

2011-05-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

From Mission Street to Eastern Parkway, Carnaval traditions from Brazil and the Caribbean thrive on US streets...

In honor of the upcoming memorial day celebrations in San Francisco, I recorded an hour mix of my favorite Carnaval music: back-to-back Soca and Samba hits (including some chutney and lambada)

If you can dance all the way through without stopping, you have super-human stamina, and you're ready to hit the streets in sequins!

Play or download for free below:
Samba V. Soca by Euphimie? Music

yesterday was Mothers day

2011-05-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

able to convince one human of the wrong thing
and you are punished eternally yours in service
put together
like a horse and carriage where all your babies are taught how to regret and fear and shank
and to forgive,
everyone but themselves
walks outside the carriage praying
hail marys and whispering their stories
of sex, all trumped up and shaken
inside the babies whimpers reminds our men of moans
and makes their toes curl
hooks into the ground they cant move
and babies' intellect is blamed for stagnation of progress Meanwhile
the horse trudges on with blinders
on whose darkness
enhances the feeling
--of being surrounded
in front of me mens heads are hung and assholes clenched
As they try to move away from themselves. A low hum comes
from the left and the right and I expect an onslaught of stingers which never cums ofcourse the owl and i havent seen each other since the ark and i break my back tryna remember what she said was behind me
but dead weight in tow, that i remember, and hands that periodically sign a cross me backside i can feel
switch my hips for momentum
I dont see what it feels to be surrounded
But if i close my eyes and remember
AGAPEng whole
fall back in it
and resume the position
of embracing and surrounding
and I feel space and infinity
and dont need to be filled to be full
I hear laughter You think I'm trudging stubborn in a million sistahs hoof prints
And I say so, what?
Not to reject you but cuz were still waiting for your response.
Which yes indeed we fortell maybe along the 'Well what am I to do if you dont need me?'
And I say we will remember want
And search with desire the garden of a new God's love whose name might still be Jesus
Necessity was lost
the first time we died and hid ourselves with leaves
and left that world, continued into another
then
what is life and death
if we keep going with our mens toes curled locked in the ground
and our babies whimpers are faulted
and i am blinded
and here we've arrived again at that same tree
--of the knowledge of Good and Evil
i see to know is not to understand
as i've known you

and am ashamed and can think of nothing
but the horse and carriage
on til we dont know life or death anymore

2011-05-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Explosion Negra is 3 MC’s (Harry, Yommy, and Jaoson) from Choco, Columbia. Their music is a fusion of their Colombian roots- currulao, chirimia and cumbia mixed with dancehall, reggaeton and hiphop.

http://www.myspace.com/explosionnegra

Our Latin Thing (1972)

2011-05-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

A fellow salsa lover lent me this movie and well... it's amazing. If you like salsa and/or awesome film making you have to see it. The whole movie is music, dancing and New York street scenes with very little dialog. In one review it is described as "a musical documentary of the Latin life style in New York City". It features a lot of salsa greats like Hector Lavoe and even some underground rooster fighting...
to watch the intro click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QnC5kMgCjM

"Levente no.Yolayorkdominicanyork" [poetry]

2011-05-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

Josefina Baez is one of the great inspirations in my life. She is a dancer, poet, theater artist, educator and the director of Ay Ombe Theater.

Here is a preview of her most recent book of poetry Levente no.Yolayorkdominicanyork:

E-40-- "Nice Guys" [video]

2011-04-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

check out my favorite video from E-40's most recent album Revenue Retrievin' Overtime/Graveyard Shift

keepin it fresh in the bay...

Violin, Kora, Accordian Fusion

2011-04-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

-Simply beautiful music -

Check out more of Regina Carters music here, www.reginacarter.com
Violin tunes inspired by European classical, bebop, Afro-Cuban, African folk and Southern blues music.

Lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break

2011-03-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my awesome trip to Brooklyn (thanks Petra!) and realized that an inspiring dancer I just found about lives and performs there. Nora Chipaumire was born in Zimbabwe during the Chimurenga Chechipiri, or second war of liberation and portrays her life, struggles and response to the war through choreography and dance. This clip is from the movie Nora which was released in 2008. I can't find out where to watch or rent this movie but the clips are beautiful, strong and inspiring.
If anyone finds out let me know!

More about the movie
http://www.movementrevolutionafrica.com/nora/

Asa-- "Jailer" [video]

2011-03-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

I can't get enough of this song, and the video is beautiful. "Jailer" is by one of my favorite young songwriters, Asa (pronounced Asha). Thanks to DJ C Boogie, I recently discovered her 2010 album Beautiful Imperfection.
Check her out at www.asa-official.com

Petra's Album of the Week: "El Juidero"

2011-02-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

This week, my favorite album is
"El Juidero"
by Rita Indiana y Los Misterios

This new group is coming out of the Dominican Republic with an unprecedented fusion of merengue tipico, electronic, reggae, rock and techno. Their album covers a huge range in sounds, with a heavy dose of wild and imaginative lyrics from Rita Indiana, already an acclaimed novelist before she started making music. Each song is a journey, and the whole album is an expedition into uncharted territory. My favorites are "Como un Ladron en la Noche," "Oigo Voces," "Dulces Suenos," and "El Blue del Ping Pong."

Check them out at Dutty Artz.
Buy this album on iTunes

Oh, and their music videos are a.w.e.some.

This one's like a VJ set, one big mash up old video footage edited to the beat of the track:

This one's like a 1970's gangster film:

This one's like a Salvador Dali painting come to life:

CubaCaribe festival-- "from katrina to port-au-prince"

2010-04-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

This month is the 6th annual CubaCaribe Festival.

This weekend there are dance performances at at Dance Mission Theater by Alafia Dance Ensemble, Las Que Son Son, Liberation Dance Theater, Los Lupeños de San Jose, Paco Gomes Dancers, and Tata Kaya Art.

Tonight, April 22, there's a showing of Faubourg Tremé : The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, a film by Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elle, at the Museum of African Diaspora.

ngugi wa thiong'o-- benefit for revolution books

2010-04-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last night, I went to see Ngugi Wa Thiong'o speak and read selections from his autobiography, Dreams in a Time of War. Last year, I read his theoretical book on language, identity and colonization Decolonizing the Mind, it changed the way I understand my relationship to language. I was moved by his voice, both powerful and delicate, whimsical and deep. I was inspired by his stories; they transported me to another time and place, while connecting strongly to my present situation.

This was a benefit for Revolution Books a fantastic resource for literature and non-fiction that is changing the world, located on 26th street between 6th and 7th ave.

kalae all day-- "AFROMATIKNEOHIPPIEROCK*SOLEMUZIK" [album]

2010-03-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

This bad young woman is bouta take the hip hop world by storm...

I met Kalae All Day at one of her all-woman cyphers, the Fem'Fetale jam sessions, down in the east village. She regularly brings together New York's best underground women MCs and singers.

Her newly released AFROMATIKNEOHIPPIEROCK*SOLEMUZIK is just that, with extra soul and a wide and clever variety of sounds, moods and ideas, unified with Kalae's vibrant personality. She's got more swag, honesty and love than anyone out cheer right now.

Inside all her humor and sparkle, Kalae speaks a strong feminist message. Finally! A rapper who's unapologetic about her female reality, addressing a wide range of issues (consumerism, exploitation, female solidarity, sex, family, identity...) with passion, integrity, insight and charm.

listen (free) or download ($10) AFROMATIKNEOHIPPIEROCK*SOLEMUZIK here

kil ripkin-- "the balancing act" [leak]

2010-03-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

Kil Ripkin, a leader and legend in the Brooklyn underground hip hop circuit, is coming out with a new album, The Balancing Act, produced by Mikal Evans (Deep Rooted) Raticus and Eric G. Kil Ripkin, called The General and The Ghetto Correspondant, is keeping alive hip hop's tradition of keeping it real, and mixing hot beats with heated political comentary. As Chuck D said almost 20 years ago, "Hip Hop is Black America's CNN" and Kil Ripkin puts this philosiphy into practice, speaking about issues we should see adressed on TV (but don't). His beats are fierce and his lyrics are on fire.

Check out the General's newest pre-release leak "Aftermath," off his upcoming album, The Balancing Act:

yo majesty-- "futuristically speaking... never be afraid" [album]

2010-03-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

My new favorite group is Yo Majesty.
I picked up their album "Futuristically Speaking... Never Be Afraid" at a Sound Fix record shop in Williamsburg, just because the cover caught my full attention. "The end of captain misogyny" I mean really, how could I pass that up?

And this is truly a GREAT album. Rapper Shunda K and singer Jwl B put down lyrics that are tight, hilarious, deep and infinitely complex, over crazy-hot beats by the electro group HardFeelingsUK. Finally, an album I can play that makes people move, think and feel good all at once. Yo Majesty is breaking down the traditional barrier between good lyricism and dance-able production, and the barrier between "conscious," uplifting, positive messages and funny, sexy, wild beats. and its about time! Thank you, Yo Majesty, for giving a woman dj some great dance music she's actually proud to slap at a party... Keep it coming!

world funk at the shrine-- harlem [live]

2010-03-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Shrine is one of New York's best live music spots, and a few weeks ago, they had the dopest world funk show. Loud Apt, a neo-funk band with all original songs and a diverse sound, coming straight from uptown Manhattan, rocked the house with special guests Angel Rodriguez (percussionist) and Garrison Hawk (reggae vocalist).
Later, Spanglish Fly killed it, with hot mambo-soul.

dj chela at "the rub" party-- brooklyn [live]

2010-01-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

I went dancing with my friends at a monthly party called "The Rub." DJ Ayres and Cosmo Baker were cool, but DJ Chela rocked the house.

She killed it, had everybody dancing and screaming all night, exactly how I like it. She had her finger on the pulse of the room, and took us on a ride. Mixing classics with newer hits, crossing genres like they don't matter, she had me dancing til 4am. I mean, really, I couldn't sit down.

I met DJ Chela last year, at a CMJ Panel (which I snuck into) with KRS-ONE and Immortal Technique. She was the first DJ I had ever heard speak about women in hip hop. She inspired me to get my turntables, so to see her play was really inspiring, motivating. She didn't come extra fru-fru or fancy, just the best of really really good music, with smooth transitions and creative mixing, perfectly in tune with the bodies in the room. Yea girl!

buraka som sistema-- black diamond

2009-11-15T21:59:00.000-08:00

My aunt Marie gave me a new album: "Black Diamond" by Buraka Som Sistema.They are from Portugal and Angola, and they play kuduro. It sounds like M.I.A. mixed with early 80's house, mixed with samba and zouk rhythms, mixed with hip hop lyrics: great dance music!

erykah badu-- at the paramount in oakland [live]

2009-09-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

last Friday, I saw Erykah Badu, Mos Def, The Cannabinoids and Jay Electronica at the Paramount in downtown Oakland. I really went to see Erykah. Not that I don't respect Mos Def. I've never doubted his skills, but I just don't really enjoy his music. It's not groovey enough, not enough funk, not nearly enough soul. But when it comes to grooves, funk and soul, Erykah is the reigning queen.

She performed tracks from her new album New Amerykah Pt. 1: The Fourth World War, like "The Healer" and "Soldier", mixed in with her good-old classics, like "On & On" and "Love of my Life", and plenty of jamming on the beat machine. She started her set with the room shaking "A Milli" produced by Bangladesh, originally on Weezy's Carther III. She even mixed in some classic West Coast raps from Ice Cube.

She was wearing a simple, sleeveless red cocktail dress, and black high heels. Talk about stage presence; no one in the full house could take their eyes off her, or stop tapping their feet. Her movements are simple, clean and purposeful. Somehow, she is both down to earth and queenly. she doesn't have to prove anything, and she stays on her audience's level. Somehow, her slim frame filled the entire stage, and her energy leaked out onto Broadway.

At the end of the show, she mistakenly addressed the audience as "san francisco." The response from the oakland crowd was overwhelming. People almost rushed the stage, yelling "oakland!" She responded "God damn! well no one in here from Frisco?" we yelled back "hell no!" so she said "Well since this is Oakland make some noise! and where's Berkeley?" My cousin and I were the only ones screaming for the B-Town.

But I'll never forget her closing words. Her music and personality had the whole room open, wide open. And after her set, she explained the title of her album, why she titled it "the fourth world war." She talked about the world wide struggle to take back land from occupation. She told the story of the zapatistas in Mexico. In so many words, she concluded: "We all already know that we're in the third world war. But I see the fourth world war coming. This war won't be country against country, or the people against the power. It will be the people against the people" Here she touches her head. "As the human race, we owe it to each other and ourselves to fight the war within ourselves, conquer our personal demons. Just remember this: A smile is the most powerful thing in the world. Cause one can make a milli!" and the Cannabinoids dropped the millie beat.

graff in greenpoint [pics]

2009-04-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

(all pics by petra)

mobile graff-- trucks [pics]

2009-04-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Petra's Friday Top Eleven--"Feel Good" [charts]

2009-04-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's April and I'm feelin the spring energy.
These tracks will pick up your mood, shake off the winter blues, feed you positive energy, direct your feet to the sunny side of the street...

1. JILL SCOTT "it's love"
neo-soul force from philadelphia
from her 2000 album WHO IS JILL SCOTT?
listen on youtube

2. SIZZLA "be strong"
jamaican reggae and dance hall giant
from his 2005 album SOUL DEEP
listen on youtube

3. LYN COLLINS "Mama Feelgood"
old-school soul diva from kentucky
listen on last.fm

4. TIMBALADA "Cancao de Paquerar"
bahia's most popular afro-brazilian bloco
from their 2005 album MOTUMBA BLESS
listen on zshare

5. SUGARHILL GANG "Rapper's Delight"
one of hip hop's founding groups,
this song is sometimes credited as the first rap song, from his 1979
watch video on youtube

6. THE ISLEY BROTHERS "Fight the Power"
the classic
listen on last.fm

7. OLIVER MTUKUDZI "Hear Me Lord"
zimbabwean artist, singing in shona and english
listen on last.fm

8. COLEMAN HAWKINS "Dinah"
saxophone legend from back in the day
from his album BODY AND SOUL
listen on last.fm

9. ZAPP & ROGER "More Bounce to the Ounce"
listen last.fm

10. ZOLA "Shosholoza"
south african hip hop artist
listen on last.fm

11. Talib Kweli "Get By"
watch the video on youtube

character graff [pics]

2009-03-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

uptown graff-- "it's just paint" [pic]

2009-03-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

petra's friday top eleven [chart]

2009-03-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

spring is starting to warm the city and it's got me in a funky-chill mood.
these tracks are perfect for cruisin around town or hangin out on a sunny afternoon.

1. THE TEMPTATIONS "sweet gypsy jane"
from the 1976 album WINGS OF LOVE
listen on youtube

2. AZ "sugar hill"
laid-back rap from east new york, brooklyn
from the 1995 album DOE OR DIE
listen on undergroundhiphop.com

3. BLACK UHURU "party next door"
the classic jamaican reggae band, going strong since 1977
listen on last.fm

4. OUTKAST "ain't no thang"
rappers big boi and andre 3000 from atlanta
from their 1994 album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
listen on last.fm

5. MAC DRE "something you must know"
gangsta rap legend from vallejo, ca
listen on imeem.com

6. SOUND DIMENSION "real rock"
old-school dub from the studio one in-house band of the 1960's
listen at last.fm

7. SANTOGOLD (FT. SPANK ROCK) "shove it"
new, eclectic artist from brooklyn
listen on imeem.com

8. T.I. "ride wit me"
established rapper from atlanta
from his 2006 album KING
listen on youtube

9. DIGITAL UNDERGROUND "freaks of the industry"
throw-back funky hip hop from oakland, ca
listen on last.fm

10. STEVIE WONDER "higher ground"
classic from his 1973 album INNERVISIONS
watch the live performance on youtube

11. DR. DRE "let me ride"
gangsta rap legend from compton
from his classic 1992 album THE CHRONIC, sampling PARLIAMENT'S "mothership connection"
watch the music video on youtube

ise lyfe, dom jones, big dan-- imagine peace [videos]

2009-03-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

check out this powerful unscripted project
artists and activists define peace:

ise lyfe

dom jones

big dan

downtown graff [pics]

2009-03-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

novacaine & phantom idenidy-- gemini chronicles [EXCLUSIVE RELEASE]

2009-03-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

B-TOWN'S WATERFRONT & SOUFSIDE COLLABORATION

FIRST ALBUM FROM NOVACAINE & PHANTOM IDENIDY
RELEASED SUMMER 08
RECORDED LAST YEAR
SWIMMIN, FLOATIN AND RIDING THE TIDES
WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE DROWNIN...

you won't find these tracks nowhere else

download mp3:

lemme get some

berkeley market

get make money

turf pasta

BERKELEY!

graff in wash heights--who is this guy? [photos]

2009-02-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

busta rhymes v the narcicyst-- arab money [video]

2009-02-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

a lot of people found this video offensive, including emcee the narcicyst:

busta rhymes is muslim himself, so i'm not sure what his intention was...

more btown graff [photo]

2009-02-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

--photo by petra--

lisa russell: diallo anniversary film shoot

2009-02-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

check it:
Lisa Russell's Film Blog: Feb 4th Diallo Anniversary Film Shoot:

davey d on oscar grant [video]

2009-02-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

check out davey d's hip hop corner:
daveyd.com

l.e.s.-- street art [photos]

2009-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

--all photos taken by petra--

.

sic btown graff

2009-01-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

--photo by petra--

krs one-- boss freestyle & a millie remix [listen]

2009-01-30T14:49:00.000-08:00

STOP THE VIOLENCE!!

check out The Teacher's newest stop the violence tracks:

the boss freestyle

a millie remix

mind over matter-- sf dance fest [video]

2009-01-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

Choreographed by Allan Frias. a mix of hip hop with west and central african and caribbean traditional and popular dance

up...up...up... the nypd

2009-01-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

paulo freire's theories about oppressive systems illuminates this nyc subway ad:

"...the oppressed, striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors, or 'sub-oppressors.' the very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradictions of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. their ideal is to be men, but for them, to be men is to be oppressors...the one pole aspires not to liberation, but to identification with its opposite pole.... in the example [of slavery] the overseer must be as tough as the owner--and more so." (freire, paulo. pedagogy of the oppressed, 1970.)

our police system is directly founded on the overseer and slave hunter systems, which relied on 'free' blacks, poor whites and desperate native americans to control the slave population, out of fear of being slaves themselves, or out of compliance to the slave masters' ideology.

you can "rise further" if you keep your fellow people down.

same shit today in nyc.

super n [video]

2009-01-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

a short film by alrick brown:

police murder anthony roman on 163rd st.

2009-01-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

a few days ago in washington heights, nyc, a 16 year old named Anthony Roman was murdered by a undercover cop (shot three times)
but we didnt hear shit about it on the news
an article in the daily news mentioned the shooting, but said that roman's wounds were not life threatening (when he is in fact dead). they also reported that roman tried to rob the undercover cop at gunpoint, after selling him drugs, so the police shot him in self defense...

another story:
the decoy arranged to buy drugs from roman in an attempt to lock him up. roman thought he was a cop, so he sold him crushed alcasetlzer instead of cocaine, but the decoy chased him down the block anyway. roman had his gun on him, so they used it as evidence against him, to justify the murder.

THIS IS NOT A SOLUTION! THIS IS NOT JUSTICE!

.
.

sic lic graff [photos]

2009-01-23T15:10:00.001-08:00

from the 7 train in long island city, queens

--photos by petra--

NY times: underground movement

2009-01-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

check out this article published in the NY Times:

"Talk About Underground Movement" by claudia la rocco, oct 12, 2008

in the summer i see lots of crews of young breakers on the A train all the time
often specifically for the 7 min uninterupted space/time between 59th and 125th st

this is a much better use of the subway
but still... get the cop dogs out of the subway

.
.

justice for oscar grant! police murder at fruitvale bart (video)

2009-01-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

on january 1 2009
infront of a train full of people (three different people filming)
officer mehserle murdered oscar grant, 22, at the fruitvale bart station
in cold blood
grant was cuffed and lying face down on the ground
when mehserle shot him in the back

wut is goin on??
i cant even begin to understand this

hold on take it baaaack for a min: public enemy

2009-01-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Chuck D said in 1988:

"The point is that there's no hard information in any of these formats [radio, tv,journalism, records, etc]. Where's the news about our lives in this country? Whether or not radio plays us, millions of people listen to rap because rap is America's TV Station. Rap gives you the news on all phases of life, good and bad, pretty and ugly: drugs, sex, education, love, money, war, peace--you name it."

back in 1988, Chuck D and Public Enemy saw the power music, film, tv and journalism has over everything. they knew that the people who tell the stories about what happens, create what happened. and our country has survived by telling its citizens lies to make us compliant, fearful and hateful of each other. . every story, song, dance, novel, highschool text book or news report, is a reflection of a past experience and an influence on our brains and guide our future tastes, emotions and choices. and the more times a story is told, the stronger it gets. this discursive power has been wielded by companies like disney and clear channel, essentially a small, conservative, elite circle. 20 years ago, public enemy reached to harness this power for the better good of the black nation, particularly urban youth.

now what are the stories that are most often told and heard?

it looks like another cycle of corporate consumption got flav caught up, but where do we really stand now? some people say hip hops dead but i think its really just getting its feet. there are many people using different forms of hip hop to process and challenge the confines on our existence, to discuss lineage, heritage, "progress," civilization, exploitation, representation, stereotypes, performance, power, race, sex. and shit, just to have fun, to make and exprience something beautiful when the world is so ugly, to get down and let it all out. but we're not on mtv.

i wonder what chuck d thinks of flavor of love...

developing an addiction

2008-12-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

i finally got my hands on protools
nevaris hooked it up with the uncomun studio

my first project
is mixing the music for part of a dance piece
i am choreographing with jessica and audrey
(yet to be titled)
and what started as a simple mix of tracks
is now more of a mash-up...

(many thanks to nevaris!)
(photo by petra)

the subway's a dj sometimes

2008-12-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

my number one favorite thing about living in nyc
is that 30 seconds
when the A train stops
the doors open
and djembe drums, or a trumpet,
or the tapping of a tap
dancer's feet
mixes with the
young jeezy or al green
playing in my earbuds.

got some vinyl?

2008-12-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

Chea.
but i'm already hungry fer more...

Euphimie tho?

2008-12-10T21:45:00.000-08:00