Category: Hip Hop

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Don’t laugh at me, it was the 90s.

This is one reason why I try not to argue with old friends. They have too much dirt on me from the days before social media existed. Out of the blue, my boy Stacy texted me the following pictures, circa 1992, when we were shopping my demo tape at the Jack the Rapper Conference in Atlanta. My kids saw this and thought it was hilarious. I guess Christmas came a few days late for them. Needless to say, it was a weird time for me. Corporate IT Specialist by day, aspiring Hip Hop artist by night. Batman wasn’t the only person with a dual identity.

https://www.reverbnation.com/jrockthedemonofthemic

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Stacy is in town!

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After a really crappy week I was surprised by my old friend and former music producer, Stacy Burkett, who called me out of the blue. He was back in NYC for a few days and was reacquainting himself with NYC. It has been probably five more years since we have been in the same place so it was great to catch up with him. The last time we spoke at length was after he found one of my New York Cine podcast sessions online and heard me discussing our time working on my hip-hop demo over 20 years back.

Truth be told, he needs to move his @$$ back to NYC after so many years on the left coast.

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Happy Birthday to The Microphone Fiend

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Today is the birthday of William Griffith, better known in hip hop circles as Rakim, also known as Rakim Allah, a.k.a. the microphone fiend, a.k.a. the God MC, a.k.a the Greatest MC of ALL TIME in my humble opinion. He is turning 47 today.

Rakim took his name from Sun God RA and the ancient Egyptian kingdom of KIM. He was one of the first MCs to move from simplified verses into a style that blended complex metaphors with internal and multisyllabic rhymes culminating in a laid back delivery. At a time when other contemporaries like LL Cool J, KRS-One, and Run-DMC. delivered their vocals with screams and force, Rakim defied those conventions by developing a flowing style capable of verbally deconstructing an opponent all while making it seem like he wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

When he released the track “Follow the Leader” and I heard how Continue reading “Happy Birthday to The Microphone Fiend”

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We rollin’ and they hatin’!

This is my boy’s first pass at shooting and editing his own skate video. He wants to get sponsored as an amateur skater and he figures that creating a promotional video is a great start. I had already given him a copy of Sony Vegas Movie Studio Suite, the video editing software that I recommend to people starting out. So he took a few of my low profile cameras and captured video of his skating runs around different parts of the city.

It had been a few months since I last saw him skate and it was shocking to see how much better he had become in such a short amount of time. My knees hurt just looking at most of the jumps and tricks he is now rocking. However what really impressed me was how good I the video was for a first timer. His use of wide angle shots and effective movement really added to the overall production value.

Now if he can just keep from breaking his @$$ again I will be happy.

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No Justice, No Peace

This song is over twenty years old, and sadly in light of grand jury decision in Ferguson, it is even more relevant today. The way Michael Brown was killed is one thing, but the way the entire case has been handled from the beginning is like having the system stick a gigantic thumb in the eye of the black community:

1. Police and paramedics let Michael Brown’s body lay in the street for hours.
2. Officer Darren Wilson was not arrested, or even forced to give a public statement on the incident.
3. The prosecutor Continue reading “No Justice, No Peace”

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Am I eternal? Or an eternalist?

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As I stop and reflect on the current state of Hip-Hop I cannot help but stop and think about how different the music and culture that I love would be if some of the great artists were still with us. But even though Biggie and the others are gone their presence is still felt among true hip-hop heads. Because while B-Boys may die, Hip Hop lives forever! May the legends rest in peace.

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It ain’t finished yet

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For many years Hip-hop has been held up as the boogie man, by both whites and blacks, as a major contributor to the ills in the African American community. When this has happened I often found myself wondering to what artists and music these detractors were listening.

Hip Hop is one of the few modern day art forms which can reach across cultural and racial lines to inform and inspire. When done correctly it can speak to our youth in a way that few individuals  or other mediums can. It can brutally address societal issues and injustices all while forcing us to take a hard look at our own strengths and weaknesses. With that said, I Continue reading “It ain’t finished yet”