29-Aug-2011
“Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides.” – Let Your Sins be Strong: A Letter from Luther to Melanchthon by Martin Luther
“That’s life’s enigma. Long as life’s within us. We’re gonna sin a lot and pray that Christ forgive us.” – Money, Cash, Hoes by Jay-Z
Martin Luther
25-Feb-2011
Category : Hip-Hop Culture
“I hear Brenda’s got a baby, but Brenda’s barely got a brain.”
These are the opening words of Tupac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and they are among the more potent and evocative opening salvos in the history of hip-hop music. The tragedy is that Brenda barely has a brain. Or as Pac later mentions, “She’s only 12 years old.” So her lack of a brain is a symbol of her innocence. It is also a critique of a society that has not done its best to educate Brenda or to put her in a position where she can succeed. Brenda has not been nurtured and taught the rules for survival: her father is a junkie, he mother is disinterested, her cousin is molesting her. There is no authority figure that can steer her right and in fact they do everything they can to hurt her. This is also the tragedy.
“A damn shame, the girl can hardly spell her name.”
Normally the birth of a new life is the herald of a new beginning and also a continuation. The irony is that Brenda has a baby and it is a damn shame. Is this what the world has come to? When normally a case for joy and excitement the baby becomes just another part of the trap. It becomes a curse and a burden. This is why it is so easy for Brenda to toss out the problem in a dumpster like so much garbage. But not for long and Brenda is drawn back by an external (and also surely some sort of internal) call. She notices the baby’s eyes so she recognizes her own soul and that of another. Brenda may not have a brain but she has a heart — the two rarely go hand in hand in the luckiest individuals, as they do with with Tupac Shakur.
22-Jan-2011
Category : Cinematic Arts, Hip-Hop Culture
Deep Cover is an excellent film, very unappreciated. Directed by Bill Duke, one of the new wave of African-American filmmakers who entered the scene in the late 80s/early 90s in conjunction with the blossoming of the hip-hop film (even though Duke was already a veteran actor and television director by this time). But Deep Cover is probably on the margins of the hip-hop film, whereas King of New York and a film like New Jack City are more squarely within it. Yet and still its contribution to hip-hop culture is huge. This is the film (soundtrack) that introduced the world to Snoop Dogg and also Dr. Dre the solo artist as we know him today.
08-Feb-2010
Category : Cinematic Arts, Hip-Hop Culture
Hip-hop films represent the appearance of a new Hollywood genre, first manifested in 1982 with the release of Wild Style by Charlie Ahearn. Broadly defined, this is new African-American-themed cinema, which makes hip-hop films the successors of the style, content, and concerns of the Blaxploitation film in Hollywood of the 70s: low-budget crime films with excessive violence and sexual imagery featuring African-American characters in urban settings, usually with a soul music score. Therefore, hip-hop films are the second wave of the expression of aesthetics and ideals in cinema related specifically to African-Americans and African-American culture.
"Wild Style" (1982)
Historically-important hip-hop films were made throughout the 80s like Style Wars (1983) by Tony Silver, and Beat Street (1984) by Stan Lathan, though films like Breakin’ (1984) by Joel Silberg and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) by Sam Firstenberg and others of the decade were not always proficient in form or profound in outlook; the hip-hop film matured artistically in the 90s, sparked by the appearance of its first true masterpiece: Do the Right Thing (1989) by Spike Lee. Immediately afterwards a steady flow of aesthetically-advanced hip-hop films emerged: King of New York (1990) by Abel Ferrara, House Party (1990) by Reginald Hudlin, Boyz n the Hood (1991) by John Singleton, to name a few.
03-Feb-2010
Category : Hip-Hop Culture
By the turn of the century, hip-hop music had solidified its hold over popular music in general. “Hip-hop is the music to end all music…it is compelling all other music forms, on pain of extinction, to adopt its mode of expression.”[1] No other genre is as popular or as profitable on a global scale.
The year 2000 and beyond was characterized by the takeover of regional and independent success in hip-hop music; music emanating from the South and Midwest (still gangsta music) became the most popular forms, and this popularity has continued to the present day. Though Southern hip-hop was formulated in the late 80s by groups like 2 Live Crew in Florida and the Geto Boys in Texas, the appearance of OutKast in Atlanta in 1994 and the ascendancy of Master P and New Orleans rap in the late 90s did more than anything to swing the pendulum decisively towards the south.
15-Jan-2010
Category : Hip-Hop Culture
The 90s marked the shift in popularity of hip-hop music from the East Coast to the West Coast. This move coincided with the rise in popularity of gangsta rap music, a raw form filled with explicit language and violent tales of ghetto life, and utilizing funk-style musical accompaniment.
Gangsta rap music was born on the East Coast – Philadelphia to be specific, with Schooly D’s song “P.S.K. ‘What Does It Mean’?” released in 1986. On the West Coast, Ice-T quickly followed in the same year with his own song “6 in the Mornin.’” Though inspired by “PSK”, Ice-T’s song laid the blueprint for the Los Angeles gangsta lifestyle that became immortalized in gangsta rap music, and his 1987 debut release Rhyme Pays can be considered as the initial West Coast gangsta rap album.
28-Dec-2009
Category : Hip-Hop Culture
By the 1980s, hip-hop music (the combination of the elements of DJ-ing and MC-ing) pushed itself to the forefront of the culture as its most popular expression, and also the most profitable. Major record labels began signing numerous hip-hop acts and profited immensely off their success.
The most popular of the early-to-mid 80s hip-hop groups was Run-D.M.C., who helped to build the legendary music label Def Jam Records, run by hip-hopper Russell Simmons. They were pioneers, and one of the most important and legendary groups in the history of hip-hop. Run-D.M.C. was the first hip-hop group to have a number one album on the R&B chart; to have a top-ten album on the pop chart; to have certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums; to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone; to receive a Grammy Award nomination; to have a video on MTV; and to receive an athletic product endorsement deal (Adidas). Therefore, Run-D.M.C. did more than anyone in history to take hip-hop into the mainstream. During this era, hip-hop was still centered in New York City, with all of its artists originating from one of the five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island). But that began to change by the mid-to-late 80s as hip-hop groups began cropping up in various cities across America like Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, and Los Angeles.
02-Dec-2009
Category : Hip-Hop Culture
The history of hip-hop begins in the South Bronx, New York City. In the 1970s the South Bronx was already one of the most notorious urban areas in America; unemployment levels were high because of the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in 1959, which caused many businesses to flee the area. As a result, many middle class whites left the area, turning the South Bronx into a ghetto for disadvantaged minorities. Poverty was rampant and violent gangs roamed the neighborhood streets. This is the environment hip-hop flourished in.
Hip-hop music was created by the Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), who followed in the tradition of early pioneering club DJs like Pete “DJ” Jones and DJ Hollywood. Kool Herc was the first DJ to use break beats in an extended manner, and also the first to use Jamaican-style toasting and chanting over the beat of the music. Kool Herc hosted large block parties at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the South Bronx, and other public venues, by tapping into city power lines to connect his stereo equipment, which included huge stacks of speakers, turntables, and microphones.
30-Nov-2009
When the Smoke Clears is the latest “news video” from the renegade media collective known as Guerrilla News Network. Combining the spoken words of International Slam Champion Taalam Acey with a barrage of excerpted hip-hop music video clips, the short film stands out as a scathing indictment of the current state of hip-hop as well as an example of political filmmaking at its finest. This experimental documentary was an official selection of the 2002 Sundance On-Line Film Festival. Urban Stage and Screen film critic Bobby Wise sat down with one of the creative forces behind this powerful film for a discussion on politics, filmmaking, music, and how it all comes together in this provocative work of art.
22-Nov-2009
Hip-hop is composed of four organizing elements, each one represented by a particular art form. These four elements structure hip-hop and define it, and they are all celebrated as a unique cultural heritage. Any functionary knowledge of hip-hop must begin with a basic understanding of these elements, in no particular order.
