THE RETURN OF THE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER AND MORE…
On Sunday September 20th, NYC was treated to something very special at Lincoln Center’s Hearst Plaza during the 3rd annual Shinnyo Lantern Floating Ceremony For Peace. You might say that the free of charge event that encouraged attendees to participate by creating their own lanterns with messages of peace inscribed on them so they can be then released into the Paul Milstein reflecting pool was special, and you would not be wrong. You could also say that the great performances throughout the day by The Shinnyo Taiko Drummers, dance students from The LaGuardia High School of Music, Arts & Performing Arts, The Dalton School Chorus, and Bolo Bolo Blauweh Djembe African Drumming Ensemble were all special, and you would be right in saying so. The performance by the first African American principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland, along with the public address made byHer Holiness Shinso Ito could be considered special as well, but I’m not talking about any of those things. The one truly special thing that New York City was treated to was the return of The Hip Hop Nutcracker (or at least a glimpse of the return).
Last year was just the beginning with performances that were limited to New York and New Jersey. This time around, starting in November The Hip Hop Nutcracker will be on tour.
THE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER TOUR
2015-2016 DATES
NEW YORK CITY, NY
Thursday November 19th United Palace of Cultural Arts
Friday November 20th United Palace of Cultural Arts
Saturday November 21st United Palace of Cultural Arts
ST. PAUL, MN
Tuesday November 24th – Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Wednesday November 25th – Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
ATLANTA, GA
Saturday November 28th – The Fox Theatre
JACKSONVILLE, FL
Sunday November 29th – Ritz Theatre and Museum
NEWPORT NEWS, VA
Wednesday December 2nd – Ferguson Center for the Arts
NORTH BETHESDA, MD
Thursday December 3rd – Strathmore
MIAMI, FL
Saturday December 5th – The Studio Theater at The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Sunday December 6th – The Studio Theater at The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC
Thursday December 17th – North Charleston Performing Arts Center
NEWARK, NJ
Saturday December 19th – New Jersey Performing Arts Center
SCHENECTADY, NY Monday December 21st – Proctors Theatre
CHARLOTTE, NC
Tuesday December 29th – Blumenthal Performing Arts
Wednesday December 30th – Blumenthal Performing Arts
Thursday December 31st – Blumenthal Performing Arts
Friday January 1st – Blumenthal Performing Arts
Saturday January 2nd – Blumenthal Performing Arts
Sunday January 3rd – Blumenthal Performing Arts
KALININGRAD, RUSSIA
Tuesday January 12th – Region Drama Theatre
Wednesday January 13th – Region Drama Theatre
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
Friday January 15th
Saturday January 16th
VORONEZH, RUSSIA
Sunday January 17th
I’ll also be looking for DJ gigs in the cities where we do multiple dates. So if anyone’s interested in booking, please feel free to reach out.
All joking, and shameless plugs aside, the Shinnyo Lantern Floating Ceremony For Peace was truly an incredible event that brought together hundreds upon hundreds of people to put some positive energy out in this very tumultuous world.
Photo by Boo
It was a great means for participants to do something fun, creative, and cathartic. While at the same time, enjoy performances by some of New York’s talented artists.
Photo by Boo
Djembe Player from Bolo Bolo Blauweh Djembe African Drumming Ensemble Photo by Boo
Water Dancer Photo by Boo
Whether you’re a native New Yorker or just here visiting I advice, that if you have a chance, to participate in this event that you take full advantage of it. It’s a great event for all.
Kudos to Laurie DeJong and LDJ Productions for running this memorable event.
Until next time.
Thanks for stopping through.
-B-
Goodbye Hip-hop Nutcracker
Last Saturday, December 13, was the encore performance of The Hip-hop Nutcracker. It’s was a short an intense ride from the moment we got the green light to produce it about 3 months ago to the final performance last week. I think all of us involved knew it would be something special on an artistic level, but I don’t think we really could foretell the impact it would have or the reaction the audience would have to what we presented.
When I first met Mike Fitelson, it was at a DECA performance at 3LD, where Jennifer Weber collaborated with multimedia artists to perform Decadance vs The Firebird. After a brief introduction, Mike expressed that he had a great interest in what Jen was doing as a choreographer, which was creating pieces that married Hip-hop dance movements with Classical music. He then explained his idea of reinterpreting The Nutcracker and give it a modern twist and infusing it with Hip-hop. Being the executive director of cultural arts at The United Palace, his vision was to have it take place in the NYC, to be exact in Washington Heights, where The United Palace is located. More importantly what he wanted to do is create something that could be annual tradition for the Washington Heights community and help draw more people to this Northern Manhattan neighborhood.
After our premiere at The United Palace on December 7th, I think it would be safe to say that he achieved that. I posted that over 3000 people attended the performance, what I did not know at the time is that 1/3 of those attendees were from Washington Heights.
Before the performance Jen looked out at the empty theater and said to me, “That’s a lot of people to perform for.” I commented that I had actually performed for much more while on tour with Nomadic Collective. What I didn’t say is that although this audience maybe smaller, it was an audience in my city ,in my neighborhood. The neighborhood where I grab my breakfast sandwiches, the neighborhood where I grab my fix of mac -n- cheese, the neighborhood where I lay my head to rest. If I fail out in Africa or whatever country I can find comfort in that I may never ever go back to that place again, failure in my back yard would haunt me for the rest of my days.
I can say with great ease that working on this show and performing it has been a highlight of my year. The only regret I have is that it’s a seasonal show and comes once a year.
Goodbye Hip-hop Nutcracker.
See you next year.
The NY Times called the performance a gift to Northern Manhattan.
Elle’s story, Inside 3 Very Different Versions of The Nutcracker featured The Hip-hop Nutcracker and profiled our very own Sylvia Clark.
Broadway World said that my “…turntable scratching and undertones oddly complimented the classic notes..”. (I think that’s a compliment.)
The Hip-hop Nutcracker
“It has been way too long since my last entry.” will probably be the opening line for all my entries for now on, being that entries come at an annual rate. Anyway, I’d like to take this time to emerge from laziness and procrastination to actually write something.
Last weekend The Hip-hop Nutcracker made its world debut with two nights at NJPAC . It then crossed over the river and made its New York City debut at the place where it all started, The United Palace Theatre. Using the original score by Tchaikovsky, the story of the The Nutcracker was adapted by The United Palace’s own Mike Fitelson to fit the modern and urban setting of Washington Heights. It’s choreographed by Jennifer Weber , of Decadancetheatre, who has become known for adapting Hip-hop movement to classical pieces. I was brought in to create a musical bridge between old and new.
In preparation for the show, my life was literally eat, sleep, and make music. I would wake up (if I slept) listen to Tchaikovsky’s score and then stare at the computer screen. The words, “Come on inspiration!” or “Music………NOW!” would frequently be shouted in my head with the hopes that something would be produced. Of course, living inside my head and having mental debates whether this or that idea would work would produce nothing. So I had to just do, and start creating. Using samples from his music, I wanted to make an effort to have the parts I created stay relevant to the score while at the same time pay homage to Tchaikovsky. I also wanted my contributions to reflect the ingenuity of Hip-hop with the use of technology to sample sounds and turntables to manipulate those sounds. By doing that it really gave us a means to break convention and create something new from the old. Eventually, after a few months of toiling away at the turntable, Pro-Tools and Reason, the music was finished and with the approval of Jennifer, The Hip-hop Nutcracker had a completed working score.
With the score in place and rehearsals well on its way, it was incredible to see how the music and movement came together. The music informed how the dancers moved and those movements told the story. Love, conflict, and redemption all told through music and Hip-hop dance.
From the principals to the ensemble, everyone’s performance was exceptional. Each dancer capturing and portraying their role brilliantly.
And to see it all in that incredible theater was truly something to behold. This past Sunday night, nearly 3,000 people did just that.
It’s been an interesting rider me, working on this show. I had been so focused on finishing the pieces that it is only now that I’ve been able to check out the press for it.
The coverage it got on The Huffington Post’.
The listings in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Both which mention my name and brought to my attention when someone posted it onto my FaceBook.
And the Time Out NY coverage and interview with Jen
It’s been a great blessing to be part of this project. And I can’t help to be grateful to Jen, Mike and everyone involved who trusted me to do what I do.
Special thanks to the Hip-hop legend Kurtis Blow for believing in this show and getting involved.
If you haven’t seen it yet, there is still one more chance to do so with an encore presentation this Saturday December 13th at The United Palace Theatre.
Trinity College International Hip Hop Festival (2013): GLOBAL CIPHER #1
The Global Cipher is an ongoing series from Nomadic Wax that showcases some of the best and brightest voices in international Hip-hop. It is another platform Nomadic Wax utilizes to allow these artists to be heard. This latest installment was filmed at the 8th Annual Trinity International Hip-hop Festival and features:
K-Swift
Mandeep Sethi
Humanist
Mr. Lif
Kama
Lah Tere
Hosted by Self Suffice
(By the way, I’m playing drums on this.)
The 9th Annual Trinity International Hip-hop Festival will be April 3rd-5th 2014. They are accepting submissions for artists and presenters now: CALL 4 ARTISTS & PRESENTERS
Mixtapes With A Message
It’s been long overdue for a new entry.
Over the past year I have been honored to be involved with a couple of great mixtape projects. The first, HOME, is a collaborative effort between Nomadic Wax and Housing Is A Human Right that addresses the growing dilemma of housing rights. Through their network of artists, Nomadic Wax was able to assemble a roster of lyricist and poets to contribute verses and music that dealt with displacement, gentrification, and other issues surrounding housing. To further drive the message of this project, actual testimonials from those who have experienced and/or experiencing this problem are interspersed throughout the mix.
On a personal note, I laid down the foundation of this project during the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy making the process of putting this mix together incredibly poignant. At the time of the storm, I was out in Long Island but because of the power outage, I was forced to relocate to Brooklyn where I was taken in by Jennifer Weber director of Decadance Theatre. It was there at DECA HQ where I sat on the floor with the turntables, mixer, Scratch Live, and Pro-Tools and listened to the tracks and the stories of those in the housing struggle. While piecing together the mix, news outlets and the internet flooded my eyes and ears with the stories of people struggling without power, or displaced because their homes were in ruin from the storm. Many people were lucky to have a network of friends and family to go to where we could have a warm place to lay our heads and have a hot meal. Others were not so fortunate and resorted to dumpster diving and toughing it out in cold dark apartments.
The most recent project that I’ve been involved in was just released. It’s a collaborative piece with Omar Offendum of Hip-hop and Arabic poetry entitled OO vs PP. Mostly known for his work as a lyricist OO vs PP showcases Offendum’s production. Last year Offendum approached me about doing a mixtape using his instrumentals, and I gladly accepted the job. We went back and forth on a concept for the mix. Originally, I thought of using his own poetry to be showcase along with his beats, but then while watching news updates and scouring for samples on Al Jazeera English’s YouTube Page I came across a preview for the documentary series, Poets of Protest. Each week the series profiled a poet from a different region in the Middle East, told their story, and shared their words with the viewer. With each episode I was reminded about the power of words and how they are, not only, cathartic but also inspiring for others during difficult times. The words were a source of comfort and a rallying point that reflected the opinions and emotions of the public. After watching each episode I approached Offendum with the idea of using pieces from the series in the mix. The idea was to set the words of these poets to Offendum’s beats, somewhat like what The Last Poets had done with their socially conscious verses over music.
The end result is this:
I’m always amazed by the power of words. I’m even more amazed when words are coupled with the right music.
Both these mixtapes are free to download. If you like them please share them.
Thanks.
-B-
Summer Stage In Brooklyn, International Hip-hop In The Bronx
This Friday, June 8th I’ll be joining Decadancetheatre at Summer Stage at Herbert Von King Park in Brooklyn. This is a free event open to the public and will feature an excerpt from When The Sky Breaks and their new piece “4” which is a continuing project based on Anonio Vivladi’s The Four Seasons.
Along with the performance the dancers in Decadancetheatre will be offering a master class for all those who to learn some Hip-hop dance basics. This will be at about 7PM.
The following Friday (June 15th) I will be be joining Nomadic Wax at El Fogon Center of The Arts in the Bronx.
It will be an international Hip-hop line-up headed by Zero Plastica of Genoa, Italy.
For about a decade now Zero Plastica has been using Hip-hop as a vehicle for their thought proving words to be heard and to convey a conscious message.
Also on this line-up is
Eli Efi of Brazil.
Eli Efi was born in Sao Paula, Brazil and in 1988 founded the politically charged rap group DMN. During his time with DMN, the group received critical acclaim from the Hip-hop community and music industry. They were nominated Best Video and Best Rap Group at the MTV Brazil Video Music Awards,Best Rap Song at the Hutus Hip-hop Awards Festival, and won best music video at the São Paulo Shorts Film Festival.
In 2004 Eli Efi parted ways with DMN and continues his musical journey alongside DJ Laylo.
DeLaCeiba of Honduras
DeLaCeiba is an MC/poet/writer/educator/activist/critical thinker who uses his craft to address and deal with issues of injustice, racism, and inequality. He has performed at top universities such as UC Berkeley, USC, UCLA, Columbia, UMASS, and worked with several grassroots organizations such as MOVE in Philadelphia and the End-Dependence Poets Collective. In 2006 he moved to New York to solidify his love for Hip Hop. He has shared the stage with underground greats like Eli Efi (Brasil), SieteNueve (PR), Bocafloja (MEX), and Ana Tijoux (Chile). His message is simple; create the way even though the odds are against us. He currently works as social worker, helping high school youth in Upper Manhattan.
Self Suffice The Rapoet of Hartford Connecticut.
Self-Suffice the RapOet is an unsigned MC who turned down a record deal with Def Jam in favor of a scholarship to Trinity College. After graduating, he remained in Hartford, CT (at the heart of the New York Tri-State and New England area) where he continued to win rap battles, feature on Hip-Hop compilations, and serve as a DJ (as well as Music Director) at 89.3FM WRTC. Wanting to create events where he could strengthen the community and share his success with others, the RapOet transitioned from battling other MCs (putting them down) to hosting showcases and open mics.
His insightful, positive and energy has allowed him to share the stage with some of the most inspiring wordsmiths of our time, from Talib Kweli to KRS-ONE; from Jessica Care Moore to Alice Walker. Besides “wowing” crowds with both Rap and Spoken Word lyrics (hence the name “RapOet”), he developed the popular RapOetry Workshop to teach Positive Self-Expression (within parks, libraries, and cultural centers), as well as enrich Math, English and other curricula (within middle schools, high schools, and colleges). When not performing, hosting, or leading workshops, Self Suffice collaborates with other performers through his RapOetry coaching/partnership program.
Hache St of the Dominican Republic
Hache St is an Hip-hop artist born and raised in the Dominican Republic and a member of the Quilombo Arte collective.
Hosting this night of international talent will be Hired Gun of Brooklyn, New York.
Hired Gun is an artist and educator born and raised in New Jersey and resides in Brooklyn, New York. He’s veteran of the New York underground Hip-hop scene and has shared the stage with the likes of Rob Swift formerly of the The X-Ecutioners, Slick Rick, Fat Lip of the Pharcyde, J-Live, WordsWorth, Breezevahflowin and The Last Poets.
As a youth educator and mentor in New York City Hired Gun is able to spread his message to question what’s going on in the world around you, to recognize the real, and work to make things better, starting with yourself. Emcee, Writer, Educator, Poet, Performer.
Hired Gun brings whatever’s needed to get the job done.
With all that said, come out Friday June 15th to the borough that birthed Hip-hop, and bare witness to the evolution of Hip-hop at an international scale.
Paz, Salaam, Peace!
Music memories…
So there are some events coming up that I want to mention, but before that I have to pay respect and give tribute to the work of a few artists that we’ve lost.
On May 16th, Chuck Brown the Godfather of Go-go, succumbed to pneumonia and complications from sepsis. For me and many of my friends Bustin’ Loose was the tune we knew him best. I would hear it along with other classic breaks as b-boys and b-girls were literally bustin’ loose on the dance floor.
On May 20th Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees died of cancer. My introduction to the Bee Gees was the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever. Until this very day I don’t think I’ve actually seen the whole movie but as a kid I would hear those Bee Gees’ tracks constantly, Night Fever, Jive Talkin’, How Deep Is Your Love, More Than A Woman, and of course Stayin’ Alive, which was later sampled in the late 90’s by Wyclef for We Trying To Stay Alive.
One of my memories of the Bee Gees was from this scene from the classic comedy Airplane!
Here’s just one more that I’ve been on my own personal rotation, Love You Inside Out (later sampled by Total for their single “When Boy Meets Girl”).
May 17th marked the passing of another great contributor to the music world, Donna Summer. To me she was the queen of disco, and it was on the 17th she lost her battle against cancer.
My earliest memory of Donna Summer was when my sister was given the double vinyl album On The Radio as a gift from our Grandma Fay. I remember my sister’s excitement by this gift, and I remember the pretty lady on the album cover sitting literally on the radio. That album got a lot of plays by my sisters and I can clearly remember watching the Casablanca Records label spin on the turntable. The most vivid memory I have of listening to that album was when I heard “Love To Love You Baby” I had to be 4 or 5 years old when I heard it, and I remember being so drawn to it because of what was happening vocally on the track. I remember hearing the song and how it built up from seduction to full blown climax. Now being that age I had no concept of what was happening and what she was simulating.The ideas of sensuality, sex, and the orgasm were concepts far beyond me. All I remember was the moaning and groaning to this funky music. As it built up, I couldn’t help wonder to myself, “What is happening to this lady?” As the song progressed she got more intense and I thought, “What’s wrong with her? I think she’s sick.” And then it was on and she was caught in full ecstasy, of course I still didn’t know what was happening, and I remember actually saying out loud, “She’s going crazy!”
This is the original uncut version from the album of the same name. (The version on On The Radio was edited down to a little over 4 minutes)
On Friday May 4th, Hip-hop suffered a a great loss with the passing ofAdam Yauch better known as MCA of the Beastie Boys. My first exposure to the Beastie Boys came at a basement party my cousins were throwing in Piscataway, New Jersey. They were DJ’s and their parties, were a great influence on my musical palette. They were crash courses in dance music, everything from New Wave and Freestyle, to Hip-hop and Electro. I remember the party had already been in progress and they decided to slow things down with some R&B jam. I don’t recall the name of the song, but I do remember it was a opportunity for the older of the 2 cousins to mack it to some girl. The younger one was manning the turntables and I remember him just itching to play something else to get the energy back up. As the couples danced through the 2nd verse and into the chorus he succumbed to the pressure and threw this on:
Although “Girls” off of Licensed To Ill, didn’t contain any vocals from MCA, it did give me an idea of what these guys were going to be about musically, fun. The first actual song that I can remember hearing that distinctive grit is on “The New Style” which was also off of Licensed To Ill.
Here’s a great live (unreleased) performance of “The New Style” from The Dave Chapelle Show.
Although they were the first, The Beastie Boys were beyond the gimmick of being an all white Hip-hop group in a genre dominated by African Americans.
it was because they stay true to who they are and what they do and are respectful to the artform that they’ve gained respect of the Hip-hop community and beyond.
One thing that must be noted is that outside of all the fun musical stuff, MCA used his celebrity as a means as a tool of activism and helped start The Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization whose goal is to bring awareness and activism toward the injustices against native Tibetans by occupying Chinese government and military forces.
Just one more:
Because they have moved us in one way or another with their work it’s so easy to forget that artists are still made of flesh and blood and are mortal and susceptible to age and in these cases, disease. They will forever live on through their timeless work, in our memories, and the continued support of fans all over the world.
Thank you for the great gift you have given all of us.
R.I.P.
Chuck Brown
Robin Gibb
Donna Summer
MCA
DECA at Joyce SoHo!
“You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for unsteady souls.” —Merce Cunningham (1919—2009)
A friend of mine posted that quote a little while back. And conceptually I got it, but it wasn’t until I started working with dancers that I really understood. Conveying ideas and telling stories without words. Using their bodies as the brush to paint the stage with their movements. But unlike music or paintings where notes can be written and read off of staff paper, or repeatedly seen in a museum, dancers create their art live on stage each night leaving their impression of once on an audience member and exposing them to a moment of fleeting beauty.
Throughout the month of April Decadancetheatre (aka DECA Crew) performed a series of shows at NYC’s Joyce SoHo and I had the honor of joining them on stage as their DJ. Decadancetheatre is a Brooklyn based Hip-hop dance crew and under the direction of Jennifer Weber, DECA has been able to fuse Hip-hop movements with contemporary dance. One piece that they became known for is their interpretation of Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird.
My introduction to DECA was when I was invited to back them at last year’s Fringe Festival, where they performed When The Sky Breaks.
Fast forward past a couple local shows and gigs in Tennessee and Miami and we arrive at Joyce SoHo. It is here that Jennifer Weber and company performed a series of shows that consists of 3 pieces one of them being a brand new piece inspired by Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
I wish I could say that we hit the ground running but we did encounter some technical snags in the form of, not one, but two faulty VGA cables for the projector, a problem we were trying to remedy all the way up to the opening of the doors. And although we were able to have the video element of When The Sky Breaks, there was no time to fine tune it’s presentation. Stumbling out of the gate with our shoelaces bound together wasn’t exactly the start we were going for, and it set the mood for the night. But that’s what happens when you borrow a pair sneakers with knotted laces instead of running in your own. What’s more it was the night New York Times came to review our performance. Luckily the author was sympathetic to our technological plight and reflected it in their review of the performance.
After getting through that rough part we started the next shows anew with a brand new VGA cable and a much more powerful projector. And every show after that first one progressively got better by leaps and bounds. Our mood and energy were focused and there was fine tuning by Jen every night during the few hours before the doors opened each night.
Being that I am new to the dance environment, this time before the shows allowed me to see a little bit of what goes on to make a show like this work. And by doing that I saw that the process is like the process of any form of art. Whether it be music or painting, a single note may be too much, or a particular shade may not compliment the bigger picture. Watching them dance I see that each movement has its place and meaning in the entirety of the piece.
This time before each night’s opening also allowed me to appreciate more the role of lighting and how it helps complete the dance pieces. As Jen tightened the movments of the dancers, lighting designer, Erik C. Bruce, fine tuned the lights. During these pre-show moments I saw that the type of light, its color, how it fades in and out, its brightness, its placement, and of course, whether it’s on or off are all carefully choreographed to create mood and context to the dancer’s movements.
The preparation and the continued hard work led us to better performances, and although we felt good after every show and proud after our performances we were happy to see that our pride was solidified by a review of the show in The New Yorker’s Culture Desk. I personally have never read a review that was so thorough and detailed that the author picked up on smiles and facial expression from the dancers.
Read entire review here
Music, movement,and lighting are the elements of the show and with the guidance of Jen, the eye of Erik and the talents of Taeko Koji, Adaku Utah, Megan “Megz” Alfonso, Sylvia Clark, Casandra “Defy” Rivera the pieces are given life and soul.
Thanks you for allowing me to be a part of this.
And to our absent family: Lucile “Frak” Graciano, and Nadia Lumely, we miss you and hope to be reunited on stage soon!
SULU DC Turns 2!
On Saturday November 19 I will be down in Washington DC to perform at the Artisphere as Sulu DC turns 2. Sulu DC is an off-shoot of The Sulu Series, an event I was involved with from 2005-2010. Named after the Star Trek character played by George Takei and a remote island in the Philippines, The Sulu Series, was a monthly showcase in New York City that featured Asian American performers in music, spoken word, video and multidisciplinary performances from the local and national scenes. It was hosted by Regie Cabico, curated by Artistic Director Taiyo Na, and I was the house DJ.
Although much has changed the one thing that remains true is that this event, this movement, helps provide a platform for artists of Asian descent. Saturday’s line-up consists of:
CHIP HAN
J. PHARAOH & THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
And then there’s me
Looking forward to this show and seeing my DC Fam.
See you there.
CMJ Wrap-Up & November 4th
My game of “catch-up” continues with some words about this year’s CMJ experience. This would be my 5th time I’ve been at CMJ. The first time was in 2002 with The Juggaknots. I clearly remember that event because in the midst of our performance Sugarcuts came on stage and whispered something into Breeze Brewin’s ear. Next thing I knew Breeze looked down took a deep breath, shut the crowd up, and then announced “Jam Master Jay was shot and killed.”
In 2006 I was at CMJ one more time with The Juggaknots. The next three times I hit the stage would be as the house DJ for the international Hip-hop showcase which was produced and organized by Nomadic Wax.
In 2009 I did a online promo mix for the event which featured a few tracks from all the performing artists.
On Saturday October 22nd I partook in Planet Hip-hop, CMJ’s international Hip-hop showcase at 92Y Tribeca. Although the name of the event has changed, this would be the third time I have been involved with this showcase, which was produced by Nomadic Wax in conjunction with World Hip-hop Market and The Bloom Effect.
Like the 2009 event I put together a promo mix for the event which gave a taste of things to come on the stage.
Each year the stage is blessed with great, but not often heard artists. Past showcases featured the international collective from Canada, Nomadic Massive, Ghana’s Blitz The Ambassador, At Versaris from Spain, Chachi of Cape Verde, and more. This year was no exception with the likes of RahZemos (Lebanon/Canada), JMNI (Ghana/Canada), Krussia (Russia), Masia 1 (Singapore/Canada/Jamaica), The Reminders (Congo/Belgian/US), and Omar Offendum (Syria/US).
It was a night packed with great energy and maintained by host, Kokayi, who not only presided over the event but also blessed the audience with a couple songs of his own. All the acts brought their “A” game, reminding the audience that there is a rich world of hip-hop talent beyond the music force fed to them by commercial radio and MTV.
At the risk of sounding biased, highlights, for me, were Omar Offendum who moved the crowd with a combination of his music and spoken word and The Reminders who took the stage like the pros that they are and rocked the crowd. I’ve shared the stage with them before on separate occasions and they just get better each time I see them.
Top notch performances were also given by Masia One with her combination of Hip-hop and Dancehall and Krussia with his band who performed in Russian and then was convinced by the crowd and Kokayi to do an encore, impressing the audience with his skills as (what I first knew him for) a beatboxer.
In my opinion, this year’s international Hip-hop stage was not only the best attended but the audience had the best energy. Its great evidence that people are still seeking out good music not only in their backyards but in their attics basements and also over the big ponds.
Ok. Just as a reminder, Friday November 4th, I’ll be performing alongside Eternia at Irving Plaza as she opens up for Sage Francis. Also on the line-up DJ Rob Swift of The X-ecutioners and The Metermaids.
Hope to see you there.
Left Handed Saint 