Story of a Show: Native Hip Hop Showcase at Daybreak Star

On March 7th, 2014, I had the honor of joining Sista Hailstorm and a host of other Native Hip Hop artists at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center for a powerful event and showcase. Drawing together elders, families, and youth, the gathering featured sets from a broad base of indigenous artists from all over the region and beyond including Jacmov Jay T, Tiny Lokota, G-Field, Native Styles 1, Mista Chief, Stryk-9, M.U.S.T I Mind, Salish Son, and Epidehmik and Phillosphy, with DJ Too Quick holding down the tables for the night and Shigg Says Radio holding down interviews and a live broadcast of the show. The 206 Zulu Shakas lent their support for security, and host of the evening was Lady Belknap, emcee and organizer of the night.

Deeper than your average Hip Hop show, this event occurred on the eve of the 44th anniversary of the militant, grassroots reclamation of the land and space which is now Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, and the significance of this was not lost on attendees. Prior to the event, Lady Belknap convened a circle of introductions, blessings, and thanks for all involved. Amidst burning sage, traditional song, and the exchange of gifts, staff, elders, artists, and volunteers went around and shared their backgrounds, stories, and gratitude. Particularly moving for me were the words of Pam Nason Kia/Elder at United Indians. As a

close friend of the late Bernie Whitebear who spearheaded the reclamation, Pam has worked with the center since its inception and the depth of her connection to the space and its legacy was apparent as she spoke. Through teary eyes, she thanked everyone for our presence, for breathing life back into the struggling Daybreak Center, and for the inspiration and promise of better days to come through solidarity, mutual support, and community building. 





Below is an interview I did with Lady Belknap on the origins of this event, its impact and the intersections of culture, struggle, Hip Hop, and decolonization. A more thorough write up on the performance aspect of this showcase by Ramona Ridgewell, along with more photos from the show is available here. 

JULIE C: What was your vision for this event?

LADY BELKNAP:  My vision for the Native American Hip Hop Concert was to showcase Native rappers to the Northwest publically, including myself, Lady Belknap. Never did I dream that this event would be so publicized and there would become a demand in the state of Washington for more Native Hip Hop concerts in the future because of this event. Initially, I simply wanted to help keep the doors of the United Indians/Daybreak Star open because they were about to foreclose on the property and lose everything. I had a strong burden in my heart to help and do something, anything no matter how small the effort was. From the time I pitched the idea to United Indians to have an All-Native American Hip Hop Benefit Concert line up, a big check came in to help keep the doors open at Daybreak Star. Therefore the concert then became a fundraiser effort for the Seafair Pow Wow, which needed money to happen this year as well. 

JC: How does Hip Hop relate to the legacy of struggle at Daybreak and to that of first peoples in general?

LB: If you read my Lady Belknap Profile, you will see that my music is a story of the evil that has happened to Native American People over the generations since Assimilation of First Americans-Native American People in North America.  Daybreak Star/United Indians struggle to stay open is pretty much the story of Native Americans simply trying to stay alive and exist for generations.  To me personally, this is completely mind-blowing that we as a First Nations people would have to fight to live and thrive because we were here in the United States long before it ever was a country.  The struggle at Daybreak is no different than the struggle of Native American Populations all across America today and in the past.  Our people seem to have to fight just to stay alive and exist as sovereign nations as promised in many treaties in the past.

Indian Health Services Statistics say that Native Americans have at least 100-300% higher rates than other races in suicide, domestic abuse, teenage pregnancy, high school dropout, drug/alcohol abuse, death to preventable things like car wrecks, diabetes complications, etc.  The unemployment rates are usually in the 90^th percentile on most Indian Reservations in the U.S. Native American Children put in foster homes in this nation is sort of an epidemic.  This is sad to know that the indigenous people of this nation have such oppression in this day and age.

Native American Hip Hop has become an outlet for Indian rappers, emcees, singers, and so forth to have an outlet to their pain and frustration, like mine personally about Native American People’s conditions today.  Hip Hop has also become an outlet that Native Artists can actually have a career in music when no other options are available.  The Native Rappers/Emcees can use their God-Given Talents to showcase to the world professionally in Hip Hop.  You will find there are so many Native American’s with talent in Hip Hop and simply need a helping hand to show case their talent, encourage them, and point them in positive directions to success.  This is what the Native American Hip Hop Benefit Concert at Daybreak Star was about to Lady Belknap, the host and performer.  The traditional Native American Way is to help others, especially your own people and this was the underlying motto.

JC: What made you reach out to 206 Zulu shakas to hold down security force?

LB: I had been networking via Facebook with 206 Zulu for a very long time.  There were many in time that I grew to know on a professional level in a two years time concerning Hip Hop in the Puget Sound.  I had been watching 206 Zulu for some time and started going to their events with my family when invited or when I saw them taking place.  Many 206 Zulu Members told me that they would always be of any assistance for my rap career and all I had to do was ask.  I kept this in the back of my mind for the future.

 

I attended the 10^th Anniversary Zulu Event on Valentine’s Day, February 14^th, 2014, and was blown away by what I saw! Sista Hailstorm is a rapper who I only saw on Youtube before, but have been wanting to watch perform live was spitting on stage with Julie C, and they tore that stage up with fire on that microphone!  I WAS EXCITED!  So when it came time for the line-up to be chosen for the Native American Hip Hop Line-Up to be chosen at Daybreak Star, the first performer that came to my mind was Sista Hailstorm. 

When I went to the 206 Zulu 10^th Anniversary I witnessed so much love, compassion, caring, and family values I ever saw at a Hip Hop Event.  I saw a lady rapping on stage with a baby on her back! [Olisa 'Spyc-E' Enrico] I NEVER WITNESSED SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL IN HIP HOP! In my mind and heart, I had to collaborate with 206 Zulu on behalf of Daybreak Star/United Indians because I knew they could teach us how to be unified and love each other on that kind of level in time as I witnessed on Valentine’s Day of all days!  I was introduced to King Khazm by Miss Jocie Hamilton, 206 Zulu Member from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.  I’m from Montana too and had been networking with her for a long time via Facebook and met her for the first time in person that night. 

I also saw Sista Hailstorm acting as security at the 206 Zulu 10^th Anniversary Event and had approached her about being security for our event at Daybreak as well.  I know that Sista Hailstorm is very traditional and cultural in the Native American Ways and I knew I could count on her and 206 Zulu to carry that same respect and reverence as an artist and as security at the Daybreak Star Facility.  We were also on a zero budget as well, and I knew that 206 Zulu would be empathetic to help and volunteer their time and services.  

I had been watching DJ Too Quick aka Back Pack Chris spin for about a year and a half at Columbia City Theatre and was very impressed with his skills and professionalism which is why I asked him to participate as a DJ, and he said yes immediately.  I didn’t know that he is Native American from Alaska as well.  I was very shocked and very happy that he was the disc jockey who represented the 1^st Nations as well.  The audience loved DJ Too Quick as did the volunteers and rappers.

Shigg Says Radio was broadcasting the event live and I had asked him because of his DEEP love and reverence for Underground Hip Hop and a friend was very impressed with his skills and the way he works well with people.  He’s a person who loves to exhort and lift others up with a positive mental attitude always!  I chose to ask Shigg because of these things.  Of course, he was excited to broadcast the show live and had so many interviews that he could barely keep up!  I watched him at the Native Hip Hop Benefit Concert as excited as a little kid in a candy store or toy store, haha.  J  Shigg wants to follow all of the artists who performed Native and Non-Native in our careers.

My vision for this Native American Hip Hop Fund-Raising Concert surpassed anything I had initially envisioned.  I’m excited to take the contacts and team mates I gained and do something with hip hop professionally not only in the Puget Sound in Seattle, but in Washington State and all over Indian Country in North America!  

The Story of a Show: Olmeca in Seattle

Back in August 26th, 2013, the world renowned underground revolutionary artist from LA, Olmeca, touched down in Seattle. He was joined on stage with Sista Hailstorm, Julie C, and Poesia (who also did this flyer artwork to the right) for an intimate show. If you missed it, which you probably did due to that fact that this show was largely overlooked by the Hip Hop community in Seattle, there is video below. But my aim in this narrative is not to guilt you for not coming. Actually, I want to share an important back story to how this event even came about. For me, organizers of the event, and for the author of the narrative below, the beginning of this story started on a rainy night down at Westlake at the dawn of Occupy Seattle, traveled across the imaginary lines we call 'borders' south to Chiapas, the heart of the Zapatista movement, and back up before landing at South Side Commons in Columbia City. I first met Tabs, aka Isolina, one organizer of this event, on one of those early Occupy nights. Actually, the first time I saw her, she was getting arrested by the SPD for sitting on the ground. She became one of the powerful voices advocating the decolonization framework for Occupy, and a big supporter of Hip Hop Occupies to Decolonize early in the game while we were still battling the doubtful for a voice in the movement. I talk a lot about the importance of art and culture in movement, revolution, change. It is, to me, a fundamental aspect of humanity, and thus just as fundamental in inspiring, galvanizing, and organizing the masses, beyond just "a tool of outreach". So I guess, take the story below as a case study, and remember, it's always bigger than Hip Hop. Here it goes, in her words:

"When I reflect back on the journey we took in December 2012, I can hardly believe that was part of my life. It was a shared experience with four other female bodied people. A shared experience, that was potent, eye opening, and an affirmation that our ancestors are with us holding our hands, holding us up, and guiding us through a very tricky world.  We are on a path and we do not know where it will take us.

Much earlier that year a group of folks that had organized a myriad of actions and events, amidst the craziness and hostility that was Occupy Seattle.  That is where it really started.  When our paths crossed and the direction of our lives would move in ways we couldn’t have forseen. We discussed the need for International Solidarity, to share our experience and to listen with an open heart to the experiences of those across imaginary lines, without the misrepresentation of “the media”.  We wanted real stories and we are a group that acknowledges the liberation of all, is through Decolonization.  This was a topic we explored together, most of us people of color, but some of us not. We were learning and searching in our own hearts, and I know this globalized system is not for us, never was, and never will be.

Our intentions grew clear, we sought living examples of autonomy, that were not tendency based. Personally the “autonomy” exercised in the Seattle Anarchist scene was a joke to me. It was just that, a scene, instead of a healthy thriving community. There was no focus on how to build outside of the system, merely romanticizing burning down the system.  Romantic ideas of revolt, but as we know romance can fade.  They so wanted Seattle to be Greece or Spain, but with clouds always hovering close, it’s hard to rile up a crowd here.  

 

For me, it is all about what you do, more than what you say, because talk is very cheap and it is rare to see talk turned into action that benefits the community and not the individual.  Everyone wants to be down with the black n’ brown struggle, but the practice from many tendency’s, is alienating to those from those communities.  I don’t need someone to tell me about my oppression.  I live it, every day, so thanks but no thanks.  That is not helpful to me.  By the way I don’t consider myself an activist and I don’t claim a tendency. I’m just a human being that is after the truth and I want to live a real life, not just survive in a system.  And I’m down to work, that’s why my focus is growing organic localized food, in the city! Food Autonomy, taking government and corporations out of the food system and focusing on community based gardens that exist on every city side strip of grass. Talk about un-seemingly subversive.  Healthy food is a human right, not a commodity.  A body deprived of good nutrition has the side effect of a lack of will, hmmmm interesting. More Prozac please.  

As the months and meetings went on it boiled down to five people going to Chiapas, Mexico. Our intention was to see autonomy as a living, breathing, working way of life. Not just a theory in a book.  We wanted to learn how to incorporate autonomy within the city and within what we do in our communities.  We were able to stay at La Universidad de la Tierra (the university of the earth), an autonomous university open and free to those that want to learn. A university that acquired land through a donation, the school has everything that it needs to be sustainable on the campus. Everything!  And it is all made with beauty. We were welcomed there with open arms and curious looks.  The university works closely with the Zapatista communities and we were humbled to be able to experience and see what we did.  And we were able to do this because of ARMA, a group from L.A. that organizes brigada’s a couple of times a year to Zapatista communities. Our friend Olmeca was crucial to make our journey happen. He prepped us and helped us and without his good words for us, we would have not been able to have gone. For this we were indebted to him and we wanted to hold him up by organizing a hip-hop show in Seattle. We also wanted to meet him, as only one person in our group had met him before.  We put together our humble show, we don’t have a background in organizing music shows, and we wanted it to be accessible monetarily as well as different age groups.  As Julie C put it, it was a potent group of folks that showed up.  We are sure there will be more shows, as Olmeca created a very special and heartfelt show, and he has a lot to share.

Our group is into building lasting relationships and global community,  whether it be on the West Coast of the U.S. or across the imaginary lines called borders.  We are in a time of darkness in humanity and personally I’m interested in the light that will come after, but it will take work, it will take time, and for it to be healthy change, it takes communities and ego-less solidarity.  We do this for the kids, for the elders, for the communities, and for the ancestors guiding us towards a life of dignity, honesty, and respect. Together we Decolonize.
- Isolina"

Footage from the show:

CHURCH! Reportback on the First Edition

What do you get when you throw emcees, beatmakers, and other dope people together in an anarchist coffee shop on a Sunday? CHURCH! Hudson hit me up about a month ago asking if I'd like to host an event at Black Coffee, and I was more than happy to get down. We partnered up with my boy, the highly multi-talented Dax Anderson aka Diogenes and started masterminding the event. But Julie, you may ask, you've never hosted a regular event before, why now? Just cause, ya bish. Actually though, I am really excited about CHURCH! Because of a few reasons...

First, the space & the people: Black Coffee Coop is a unique spot nestled in the corner of Pine and Summit on Capitol Hill.  What's so different about that, you might ask? Many of the folks I know who work, hold events, and frequent Black Coffee I met in the midst of some of the most intense organizing experiences of my life during the Rise and Decolonize events of Hip Hop Occupies' genesis. The environment down there was hectic. We were confronted by bad politics, co-optation attempts, riot police, snitches, the whole nine on the regular, so the true allies that emerged on the ground with us and had our backs those days, I'm down for. Black Coffee is "a non-hierarchical structure of work and a not-for-profit model of commerce."  In creating the Black Coffee Cooperative, the individuals that currently comprise it hope to maintain a space for culture and community, free of oppression, and they are dedicated to embodying the changes we want to see in our world. Another CHURCH! partner who I met under these circumstances was Alyssa and Damian of Seattle Community Media Lab, who consistently and whole-heartedly volunteer their time, equipment, resources, and energy to anyone trying to serve the people. This includes providing sound for events and rallies, providing access to graphic design and printing technology, meeting space in the ID, and whatever else, absolutely free or on a sliding scale donation. Get at them, for real, they're here for you.

But back to some Hip Hop shit. There's a serious lack of accessible space that brings together emcees and beatmakers of all ages on a regular basis on Cap Hill (or anywhere), so we want to help fill that gap, build some community, spotlight under-recognized and/or upcoming artists, galvanize different pockets of the scene that might not be hip to each other, and of course, freestyle. Last night we featured sets from up and coming beakmaker Weasley Snipes and town OG EarDr.umz. Emcee features were J'von and veteran emcee of B-Girl Media, 206 Zulu, and Native Youth Movement Sista Hailstorm. We heard a piece from LOGOS founder, artists, emcee, and community organizer Nikkita Oliver, and we got a spur of the moment report back from a 43rd congressional district something or other that Jamil Suleman had just came back from, who told us, and I fake quote, "After asking my local official about his stance on Syria tonight at the community forum, I can confidently say that Congressman Jim McDermott is an incompotent asshat... if this guy is our 'progressive voice' in Congress, we're Fucked." No surprises there, and all the more reason to build and embrace and embody a culture of community self-determination.

Be sure to join us for the next installment of CHURCH! Sunday, October 13th 7-10pm. We'll be celebrating the birthday of our town familia DJ Zeta Barber with a live beat set, and we've confirmed Dex as one of our emcee features. We've also been toying around with an idea of a local market. You'll be bombarded with full details and dope artwork from Dax when we get the details ironed out. For now, enjoy footage of last night's cypher session below, featuring J'von, Jamil, Nikkita, Araless, & Dex w/ Diogenes & Weasley on the live beats, as well as some flicks from last night. BIG UPS to everyone that came through to support, and if you missed it, we'll see you next time. CHURCH!

Kirkland Summerfest Photos

Time to get back to regular updates. Sometimes so much goes on, it's hard to keep up, but no excuses. Here's some things that went down this summer so far. I was invited to come represent with 206 Zulu at the Kirkland Summer Festival, and impressive event with 6 stages that took up the entire waterfront of downtown. Special thanks to Seattle Folklife for inviting us down. I was joined by King Khazm, Sista Hailstorm, Suntonio Bandanaz, & Zeta Barber. Here are some random action flicks. Enjoy!

On Youth Violence, Conferences, and Rap-olutionaries

Youth violence is not a new issue in King County, and prevention-focused, multi-agency public policies are not new strategies to tackle it. The earliest of such efforts I could find in this city date back to 1989, and funding for it has now, after over two decades of repackaging and rearrangement, collapsed into the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. Still, though, the problem persists. After performing and speaking with a group of young women at Powerful Voices, whose program was funded in part by SYVPI, I began delving back into research on the politics and paper trails of youth violence prevention work, and building with a number of dedicated youth and cultural service workers from different organizations and agencies across the city. One of these people was my B-Girl Media and 206 Zulu comrade Sista Hailstorm, who was asked to speak on August 19th, 2011, at a Gang Prevention Conference organized by the City of Seattle, King County Human Services, and SU’s KC Prevention and Outreach Work Group. Finding many commonalities in the moral, cultural, political, economic, and bureaucratic challenges people with integrity face doing this work, we decided to use this event as a platform to air these issues, as well as connect with others seeking alternatives to these systems. Here’s a summary of what happened, some attendee feedback, and some expertise critique:

The first speaker was Dr. Johnny Lake, a charismatic academic and cultural awareness trainer from Oregon by way of Tennessee. He emphasized through personal narrative and anecdotal references the importance of cultivating positive, proud cultural identity and self-esteem. This was followed by the only representatives working on the ground in Seattle: the community panel of Youth 180’s Gabriel Ladd, Keenan Allen, and Sista Hailstorm.(Photo from left to right: Dr. Johnny Lake, Keenan Allen, Gabriel Ladd, Sista Hailstorm.) The Youth 180 folks spoke about their mentorship model and the importance of community-based leadership development, while Sista Hailstorm went hard on multi-generational deep systemic violence waged against marginalized communities, and importance of addressing this in a discussion on youth violence. There was much more, and the community panel was a highlight of the conference, so I urge people to check out at least this part of the audio, which should be up on SU’s Social Work website soon. The final keynote, Dr. James Garbarino, is an author and academic who testifies on behalf of inmates on death row. The data he presented included statistical, scientific, and other evidence-based support for meaningful prevention work.

So what did attendees get out of it? I asked Hassan Hassan, an independent entrepreneur who has taken on youth service in the Somali and African youth community as a dedicated volunteer. “The conference had good intentions,” he said, “but I feel they missed the target when it came to interacting with us as local community grassroots representatives, to listen to our needs and perspectives.” Dione Johnson, co-director of the Multi-Media Center, a youth-led media literacy and production resource network echoed this sentiment saying, “The conference could have done a better job of inviting community organizations on the ground doing the work, but I liked how the panelists that were there did draw on positive models. We need more purpose-driven programming in contrast to violence-focused programming, because we need to call into being what we want.” She also pointed out the lack of youth participants, stressing that, “If we keep leaving young people out of the conversation, we are going to keep having the problem.” Liz Ali, who started Mother’s Outreach Movement, a woman-centered community support network, in 2008 after her son PJ was killed said, “I liked how relationships and culture were emphasized by presenters, and I appreciated Keenan on the panel giving his perspective as a youth touched by violence that has turned that around. I would have liked to see more youth participants.” (*See video footnote at the bottom of this article for youth perspectives!)

For an out-of-town, expertise perspective, I hit up Aquil Basheer of Maximum Force in LA, a former Black Panther with 35 years of violence prevention work under his belt. Too often, he said, such conferences are filled with empty rhetoric: “We rap-olutionaries, as opposed to revolutionaries, we like to hear ourselves talk. We got to stop talking so much and start bringing real measurables and deliverables to the table.” To accomplish these ends, Basheer emphasized the importance of community involvement in the planning stages of such events saying, “Before you do any conference, you need to get a specific needs list from the people on bottom up perspective so you can come with a blueprint to move forward. When we’re at the conference, we have to make sure we’re leaving with a time-oriented plan, a 5, 10, 15 point bullet-hit list of instructions and specific action items so we leave out the room with solutions and answers.”

With the plethora of youth initiatives currently on the table, including Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, the Seattle University Youth Initiative, the King County Sheriff Office Gang Intervention Initiative, and the King County Juvenile Justice Initiative, it would seem there are ample resources to accomplish this task. But if communities are not authentically aware of or engaged in the process, the results will not be consistent, sustainable, or transformative in the lives of our youth.

As a final ironic point in this conversation about violence and violence prevention, it should be noted that the hosting institution, Seattle University, has a president who was reportedly complicit by omission in the perpetuation of abuse to a whole Native community in Alaska. The story is here, and I could not do this report-back without pointing this out, as systemic violence and abuse and its impact should not be neglected, and settlement in the court of law does and should not equate dismissal in the court of public opinion. This is why as youth service workers seek to reform and adapt the existing service structure, we should, as a community, seek to create self-reliant solutions outside of the system that created these cycles.

In closing, I’d like to acknowledge Tanya Kim, from the City of Seattle for working to bring us to this table, and I hope that in the future, our new coalition of community-rooted youth and cultural services workers can help bridge the conference/community/youth divide.

(*Video footnote)
Since much of the feedback from attendees included wanting more youth perspective, my Project Mayhem/Think Tank brother Mic Flont, emcee from the group Waves of the Mind, offered to gather some brief interviews from his students in Katalyst, a Hip Hop & Social Justice youth education program housed in WAPI. He asked youth of different ages, genders, areas, and backgrounds three questions, and we uploaded it to Youtube. Here is the footage:



For more information about any mentioned people or organizations, or to find out how to get involved, email juliec.206@gmail.com.

Jan Recap- All City Jump Off, Hip Hop Period/Kitchen, and More!

Happy Lunar New Year of the Rabbit. If the remainder of 2011 goes how January went, moves are bout to be made! Since I've been in the lab brewing up some new projects for your listening pleasure...(expect in the next few months the brand new JulieC E.P, a new Knox Family project, and the extra new Murder She Wrote featuring myself, Sista Hailstorm, and DJ BGirl), I thought it a good time to reach out, reconnect, and give a shout to all the folks that make Seattle Hip Hop what it is!

Lemme start off my recap showing love to my fam, Greg and Jerome, for allowing me to rock with them at Faire Gallery on the 10th. This small, intimate joint was a going away show for a comic, but it was also my first performance of the New Year, and my first time rocking at Faire. Prior to my young 24 bar feature, I was able to check a duo from Everett's Black Magic Noize, for the first time too. Dope cats, definitely worth a listen.

Later that week, on the 14th was Hip Hop Period: The ReRival at Wapifasa, organized by the young n fresh emcee Dakota. I first met Dakota while teaching Urban Debate a few years ago at Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center, and it's been a pleasure watching this cat blossom. Since I missed Wapi's open house, this was my first time checking out the youth organization's new digs in Columbia City and the spot is dope! The show, hosted by Gabriel Teodros, featured Rogue Pinay, ArtofVerse, Language Arts, JRain, and Los Tainos, which is a new group consisting of mi familia Mic Flont and Khingz. Shouts to Suntonio Bandanaz, Dox, Sista Hailstorm, and Korvus Blackbird for rocking with me that night. Also, big ups to Wish Curtis of Emerald Roots, Otis from Streetfights the Hip Hop Show, Cecily Madanes, and Nathan Meernik for holding down the media that night! You can check out photos from this show by Teodoro here! Be on the look out for more events coming from the WAPI youth real soon, and if you know a young person who could use some plugs, do urge them to advantage of some of the programs and services Wapi offers in the community.

On the 27th, was Hip Hop Kitchen, an invite-only networking/bread-breaking dinner party, hip hop style, hosted at the home of my girl Cassandra William, along with the ill emcee and amazing cook Dice (check her new video with Willie Joe here) and her manager K_Adele. These women, with the help of Tishauna, were throwing down some Thai in the kitchen like I've never seen done, while Cass was screening throwback War of the Words footage from years ago. It was dope connecting live with Boss Lady Jazz, Boom Box, MicPhenom, Five Flat, Tamiko from Triple R, Casey Carter, Gene Dexter, OutrageousI5, Mrdutch, RyanonaMission, Kitty Wu & Georgio Brown from Coolout Network and everyone else I may have left out. I can't wait for the next installment of this event. Good shit. Be sure to check out Seattle Soul on Blast February 19th at Chop Suey to see Dice, Choklate, Darrius Willrich, JusMoni, Zach Bruce, and more. Just to wet your whistle, here's some footage of a Hip Hop Kitchen Cypher, featuring some of the artists just mentioned (Thank you, Triple R for this!)

And FINALLY, this brings us to All City Jump Off that went down Friday, the 28th at Lofi, organized by my brother Zechariah tha Barber of AllCityChop. The AllCityChop series, part of the Barber's multifaceted BUMP LOCAL campaign, features a wide variety of Northwest artists from all corners of the Hip Hop scene, chopped n screw'd. Hosted by the charismatic and talented Lady Scribe, this show was the ILLEST I have ever seen and had the privilege to rock at Lofi. The talent was beyond palpable. The stage was shared by artists featured on 3.0 and 3.5 All City Chop mixtapes, including Luke Rain, Language Arts, Delton Son, Beloved1, Piece, Lady Tasz, Black Stax, KingDRO, Ditta Mac, Larue, Tyrone, Saturday Morning Cartoon (wanna hear a secret SMC featuring Julie C track? Click here), Helladope, Metal Chocolates (OC Notes & Rick Rude), Meez, Dougie, and G-Red. The Alpha Platoon segment of the night featured my crew's own Haj, Inkbiz, Knox Family(myself, Julie C & Jerm D), and Suntonio Bandanaz, not to mention DJ's SeaBefore, DJ Khunex, Nim Almighty, and Austin Lee. Check some footage of Black Stax rocking this night right here, posted by Lady Flava. If by now, you haven't opened www.AllCityChop.com in a new window and began your free download of the mixtape, STOP DRAGGING.

So with that, I'ma wrap this summary up with a few thoughts. Well wishes and rapid recovery to the founder of the game, Kool Herc. Check this article called "Kool Herc, Hip Hop, Healthcare, and Humanity" by Shamako Noble, for more thoughts on this issue and how it relates to our day to day. Finally, peace to all the brave men and women who have been holding it down on the streets of Egypt this month. We stand in solidarity with the global resistance. ONE LOVE.

B Girl Media from Vancouver at the Final UTV 2010

Under the Volcano Festival of Art & Social Change celebrated its 20th anniversary on August 8, where us at B Girl Media had the honor of rocking. In an interview with a Vancouver paper, Meegan Maultsaid said this year’s festival in Deep Cove’s Cates Park is also the last. “It’s from a combination of things,” Maultsaid told the Straight. “For 20 years we’ve been a noncorporate festival, our admissions have always been by donation, but expenses go up. We like to bring international artists, but it costs money to do that. We’re maintaining an accessible community event, but it’s difficult to reconcile those two parts.”

More pictures are available at the B Girl Media Blog. She wrote, "Sista Hailstorm, Julie C. and I had the pleasure of performing together at the 20th Annual Under the Volcano Festival of Art & Social Change in Vancouver, B.C. on August 8, 2010. Also performing was Rogue Pinay & May Tawa Sa Lahat (SEA), Olmeca, Militant Child (SEA), Cuauhtemoc, Abrstract Random & Ayo Leilani, Cristina Orbe (SEA), Delhi 2 Dublin and many more! Seattle was in the house! Shout outs to Lulu, Stephany Hazelrigg, Gabriel Teodros, Khingz and Jillz, and Sozan, who was a great hostess! There are no future Under the Volcano festivals being planned at this moment. So for right now, this was the LAST one! Thanks to all of the staff and volunteers for putting together a fantastic event!"