Hip-Hop Lit

Bboys

2005-07-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, I used to breakdance. This was wayy back in'95-'96, but I did it and was actually pretty good. But sports got in the way and I just didn't have enough time to practice. My best break was doing the windmill into nutcracker windmill. Kind of tough to explain, but essentially I'm spinning around like a windmill on my back with my legs flailing all over the place, like a windmill.

Reason I'm bringing this up is because this weekend is the Rock Steady Crew's 28th Anniversary and I'll be heading up to NYC for the festivities. It is going to be so cool to go up there with some more knowledge about them after reading about them in our text books. And actually, the other day I was looking at the special features on the Brown Sugar dvd and there was a music video that featured Eryka Badu and Common, and there was a scene when Badu confronted the Rock Steady Crew and did a break battle against Crazy Legs!

Payola

2005-07-27T22:58:00.000-05:00

In class we discussed the issue within the music industry, Payola. Payola in the music industry involves paying money to a radio station or record exec to get your music heard. It is a dirty practice in the music industry, it is almost like prostitution. My question is, because of Payola, are the current stars (if they went the route of Payola) really as good of artists as someone who didn't have the money to be heard? Are the poor artists who can't be heard cause they can't pay to be heard potential icons and legends?

[edit] Here is a link to a good article on how Payola works: PAYOLA ARTICLE

Hip-Hop in the Major Leagues

2005-07-23T16:54:00.000-05:00

My girlfriend and I are season ticket holders to the Washington Nationals and are avid baseball fans. During the transitions b/t innings and other little interruptions during the game, the loud speakers will pump out music that is suitable to hear, especially Hip-hop. Some artists that we hear playing include 50 Cent and Fat Joe (Lean Back). Now of course, they played the edited versions of their songs, as there are little kids all around and some adults who don't seem to be fans of the music (I think they should give it a chance and also take this class to see what it is really all about).

Also when batters come up to bat, as they walk towards home plate, music starts playing that I assume they got to choose as their "entrance" music. The cool thing is, a majority of the players (on the Nats) choose Hip-hop as their tune. The players from South America and the Carribean chose songs that are native to their land but is related to Hip-hop, like one player played Daddy Yankee "Gasolina", a little reaggeton.

Other sports also play a lot of Hip-hop during their contests, like Football and Basketball games. This just goes to show you the influence of Hip-hop in sports.

BORF!

2005-07-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

So BORF got caught. You may ask, who or what is BORF? If you live in Washington, D.C. or visit it from time to time, you may have noticed graffiti around the city, on light posts, on street signs, on walls, etc. The graffiti featured a persons face that looks like the actor Jerry O'Connell, a gorrillas face, a big huge face on the highway sign on Roosevelt bridge, a little girl with a message, etc. You may have just seen tags of BORF on street signs.

I've always wanted to know who BORF is or was. Each time I saw graffiti that had the name BORF, I always yelled out "BORF!". I thought it just looked and sounded funny. It made the city interesting. Each time I saw BORF I wanted to find more BORF. The day I crossed the Roosevelt bridge and saw the huge face on the highway sign, I knew it was BORF.

Now, from what I learned in class, BORF was a graffiti artist, or writer, or tager, or bomber, or whatever you want to call him, cause he seemed to do it all. But a lot of his graffiti was done using stencils. Now, I'm not sure how that is viewed in the graffiti world, but isn't that taking the easy way out?

Like I said, Borf is caught. I found out about it while reading this article in the Washington Post.

Asians in Hip-Hop

2005-07-18T22:35:00.000-05:00

Where are they? Where are the Asians in the hip-hop community? Learning about the history of hip-hop thus far, and as far as I can see, there isn't much of an Asian presense in hip-hop. And when I say Asian, I mean all of Asia, and I'm looking for more than a reference to Asians, I'm talking about artists and producers, etc.

There is some influence of Asian culture in hip-hop, as evidenced by the Wu-Tang Clan and their love of the shaolin temple and kung fu. But there is no real mainstream Asians in Hip-hop.

I came across an interesting website, Eurasiannation.com, while browsing the web to find anything Asian related to Hip-Hop. There was a very cool artical titled, "The dilemma of mixed Asians in Hip-Hop". What the dilemma is, is that artists that are of mixed descent never make note of their Asian heritage. The article listed a slew of hip-hop artists that are of Asian decent. An exerpt and link from the article:

"Chris Won Wong, a.k.a. Fresh Kid Ice, a Trinidadian of Chinese descent, was and still is a member of 2 Live Crew, one of rap's breakthrough groups. And just look at this lineup of current stars to see how strong the mixed Asian presence is in hip hop: Chilli of TLC is Arabic, East Indian and Black. Singer Kelis is Puerto Rican, Chinese and Black. Olivia is Jamaican, Indian and Dominican. Female MC Foxy Brown is Trinidadian and Asian. Black Eyed Peas member apl is Filipino and Black. R&B newcomer Amerie is Korean and Black. Singer Debelah Morgan is Indian and Black. Dena Cali, a female rapper who also starred in Master P's comedy "Foolish," is Black, Chinese and Swedish. Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park is Japanese and Caucasian. Female breakdancer Asia One, who is Chinese and Caucasian, is a former Rock Steady Crew member and organizes the annual B-boy Summit."

Oh, so there are Asians in Hip-hop. We are represented, but secretly. Are these artists ashamed of their heritage? Or is it because their heritage doesn't sell records?