Nice documentary on the formidable culture changers the Ghetto Brothers. Filmmaker Andreas Vingaard has seven wonderful short films up on his page dedicated to New York City community activists and hip hop pioneers. I appreciate the editing and the focus on the subjects telling their own stories.
And don’t sleep on the interview with Joseph Mpa who is a black panther organizer who becomes the manager of the Cold Crush Brothers.
Filed under art, documentary, funk & soul, graffiti, hip hop, music, protest, race
Friday morning. What a lovely series of rap video treats in my RSS feed. First up Joell Ortiz, one of the finest with a fantastic a capella.
Stalley and Curren$y with “Hammer and vogues.” I don’t love the silly sexist chorus on this tune, but the rest is pretty legitimate.
Fridays belong to Killa Kyleon. I’m feeling the black T and Raiders cap (a nod of respect for this NWA instro). Waiting patiently for T.R.I.L.L. from Killa K.
There is something wonderful about enjoying rap music these days. For every tune that covers the predictable territory (guns, sex, drugs), there is another song that references Jason Seigel, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and is essentially about self-doubt. If you don’t know Gerald Walker, now you know.
Thanks to you heard that new for almost all these videos.
And of course, the news that Brother Ali went to jail to help #occupy a soon-to-be-repossessed home.
Props go out to Minneapolis artist Brother Ali for getting himself arrested a couple of weeks ago. No Ali wasn’t doing the Chris brown/ Drake number and tossing bottles in a club. He got arrested for standing up and helping Occupy a House that was scheduled to be foreclosed on by greedy bankers. That’s who we need to be tossing bottles at. bankers who have made record profits and yet still insist on fraudulently foreclosing on homes.
In this recent case, the Cruz family in Minneapolis attempted to make a payment online, which the bank refused. This triggered the bank to impose a two month fine, which the family couldn’t pay which then led to foreclosing proceedings. Such tactic are not unusual and in this particular case, lots of folks came out to help the family keep their home. One of them was Brother Ali who wound up being charged with trespassing when he refused to walk away and let the bankers keep the house.
Filed under hip hop, protest, representation
Life of refinement 