Collabs from across the Pacific: SensualizMusic

PROGRESS + NUDE + CREW from Japan just released their brand new album SensualizMusic, featuring two tracks with myself, as well as one from Suntonio Bandanaz, and another from Daichi Diez.

With a wide breadth of styles and a diverse line-up of artists, this 1st album from PROGRESS + NUDE + CREW seeks to smash paradigms on Japanese Hip Hop and break international borders. Instrumentals from Hiro AKA Melodiverse of PROGRESS + NUDE + CREW range from dramatic to mellow, light and jazzy to painfully emotional, but all are deeply introspective and beautifully composed.

Enjoy the previews of the album on these videos and purchase the album by clicking the link above. Support the international Hip Hop movement, and be on the look out for more collaborations between myself and Hiro. In the meanwhile, check out the track below called "Beautiful Tragedy." We do it global baby!

"Boogie Up the Block!" Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Come join us for a fantastic show that promises to be the best three dollars you've ever spent! Suntonio Bandanaz, Shamako Noble, Dox, and Julie C tear is up at the Rat and Raven Public House on 55th and University Way in the U District, Friday, April 2nd.

Only 3 bucks!

21+

Special Guests will be present. ;)

Album Spotlight: Contrary to Popular Belief

When Graves Hansen asked me to write a few words on his new album, Contrary to Popular Belief I was more than happy to oblige. Graves is a notable Seattle Hip Hop vet, with supreme grind and the only artist I personally know with their own Iphone app. The album, from Seattle’s Black Lab Productions, is a testimony to Graves’ contemplative, sophisticated sound. Filling a much needed gap in Hip Hop today, Contrary to Popular Belief takes listeners on a reflective journey, urging us to look deeper into our world, our lives, and ourselves. Powerful, complex, and at some points painfully critical, the album is anything but light listening. Despite the heavy content, Graves has a way of delivering even the most melancholy message in a way that makes you bob your head and yearn for more. The album features contributions from some of Seattle’s best little-known artists, such as Jewels Hunter, Cheo Lopez, Phreewil, and Cin7, as well as 206Zulu’s favorite beatboxer AudioPoet. Several tracks also feature the legendary guitarist Randy Hansen, best known for his work with Jimi Hendrix. Click here for track listings and to purchase the album, and definitely look forward to more exciting releases from the emerging Black Laboratory, which has much more up its sleeve.

Ahki James "TalkSick" Sullivan Passes

"James "TalkSick" Sullivan, 28, returned to the essence October 14, 2009 due to complication from the H1N1 virus. Proud to originally hail fom San Francisco's Hunter's Point neighborhood, he resided in Washington since 1988. A fierce lover, advocate, and defender of hiphop culture, TalkSick was a proud member of the Universal Zulu Nation's Seattle chapter who dedicated his time to community service. A recognizable, friendly, gregarious fixture at NW hiphop shows, TalkSick was also a reknowned hiphop historian with an exhaustive wealth of musical knowledge few could rival. An MC, show promoter, and blogger, TalkSick's favorite MCs of all time were Kool G Rap and KRS One, yet he held a particular affection for rap from his native Bay Area and from Seattle. He was also known for his big sense of humor, big thirst, and blunt, all-too-rare rare candor--and, on occasion, his own deep rhyme skills. Even bigger and deeper than all of that, as anyone who ever met TalkSick will attest, was his heart. His passing is a blow and deep sadness to the Seattle-area hiphop scene, but his life will forevermore be celebrated. Rest In Power, Ahki." -By Larry Mizell, Jr. and Ashley Goggins.

Note: It's been a year since your passing, and I wanted to revisit and say we love and miss you family. We're learning from you constantly, and you are always in your heart and thoughts.

Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center Hip Hop Summer Academy Schedule

Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center Hip Hop Summer Academy Daily Schedule
Period	Times	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1	10:05am-11:35am	Music Business	Business & Entrepreneurship	Music Business	Business & Entrepreneurship	Music Business
2	11:45am-1:15pm	Science of Flow	Producers' Class	Science of Flow	Producers' Class	Science of Flow
Lunch	1:20pm-2:20pm	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
3	2:25pm-3:55pm	Civics, Politics, and Debate	Drama	Civics, Politics, and Debate	Drama	Civics, Politics, and Debate
4	4:05pm-5:35pm	Journalism	Music Literacy	Freestyle Period	Music Literacy	Freestyle Period
5	5:45pm-7:15pm	DJ Class	Video Production	Fashion 101	Video Production	DJ Class
July
Sun.	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.
			1	2	3	4
5	6 Classes Begins	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29 HipHop Congress/ UPC Youth Showcase	30 HipHop Congress Conference, all day workshops	31 Umojafest Children's Day/HHC Conference/ Youth Rally
August
Sun.		Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.
							1 Umojafest/ Hip Hop Showcase
2 Umojafest/ Hip Hop Showcase		3	4	5	6	7	8
9		10	11	12	13	14	15
16		17	18	19	20	21	22
23		24	25	26	27	28 Classes End	29/30/31

Hip Hop won't let the Malcolm X Message be Forgotten in Seattle

On Sunday, May 17th, 2009, the life and legacy of Malcolm X was commemorated in celebration of his 84th birthday at the first annual Malcolm X Day Hip-Hop Fest at Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center. The event, keynoted by former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and recently released activist Gerald Hankerson, was the only one in Martin Luther King Jr. County that honored the often misunderstood and misrepresented human rights leader. Almost 300 people from Seattle to Oakland and all points in between came out to get down with a healthy dose of education, entertainment, and political empowerment.This free, all-day, all-ages event featured speakers, workshops, food, live performances, networking, and children’s activities that lit up the corner of 24th Ave & Spring Street in Seattle’s Central District.


Malcolm X’s teachings provided the blueprint for three break-out work sessions that kicked the day off. Facilitators used his themes of community self-empowerment through education, positive service, and political and economic awareness to guide discussions on local issues such as youth violence prevention, media justice, the upcoming city and county elections. “Malcolm X provided invaluable jewels by letting us know: ‘We must understand the politics of our community and we must know what politics are supposed to produce,” said event visionary Wyking, “We must know what part politics play in our lives, and until we become politically mature, we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived .”

The education workshop, facilitated by Monika Mathews of the NIA center, focused community-based education including home schooling and learning centers with culturally relevant learning environments. The economics workshop, facilitated by Shamako Noble of the Hip Hop Congress and Khep Ra Ptah of the Got Green Project layed out a Hip-Hop cluster economic model that includes revenue streams from entertainment, education/youth programs and non-profit/community development sectors and also addressed the opportunities to participate in the Green Economy as a pathway out of poverty.
The politics workshop lead by Omari Tahir and Kenyatto Amen of the Hip Hop Coffee Shop framed politics as “decision making” and the theme was “either you’re at the table eating…or you are on the menu to be eaten.” Participants worked on practical strategies for improving political leverage in the community, and next steps, including canvassing the community, holding candidate forums so that candidates can speak directly to our issues, and running our own candidates to represent our interests.

Gerald Hankerson, highlighted the power of an organized voting bloc in close elections, a theme that Malcolm X spoke on in his famous “Ballot or The Bullet” speech. He also reminded the crowd that we can’t forget the members of our community that are still incarcerated and must create opportunities for them to be productive when they come back to the community namely access to housing and jobs. The keynote was given by former congresswoman and human rights advocate Cynthia McKinney. McKinney reported on her humanitarian aid trip to Gaza to deliver medical supplies in which her boat was attacked and nearly sunk by Israeli warships. She emphasized the importance of staying engaged in shaping our world, and that it can’t be taken on face value that people who may look like you will represent your interests.

Hip Hop artists from Seattle, Portland and the bay area came out to rep for Malcolm, healing and building the hood, including Lil T-Kid Maine One(Self Tightld), De.Ale of DMS fame, Maineak B of Stahi Bros, Jus Moni, Black Stax (Silent Lambs Project feat. Felicia Loud), M.Famous, Black Aries (Yirim Seck & LaRue), K.H.M.E.T., Thee Satisfaction, Razpy feat. Angel Mitchell, Shamako Noble, Ouwar Arunga, Seazonz (Oakland/Green For All) and even young Jah Jigga got up and represented for the children. Representatives from South Seattle Community College Black Student Union, Global Fam of Portland, Million Family Task Force of Portland, L.I.F.E. program (Tacoma), 206 Zulu, B-Girl Media, Hidmo, Block Teamsters Union, Common Ground, were present, and even mayoral candidate James Donaldson showed up too.


Photos for this article were pulled from the Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center Facebook Group. Click on the links below for video of the event edited by Notyer Average!

Malcolm X Hip Hop Conference Pt. 1
Malcolm X Hip Hop Conference Pt. 2
Malcolm X Hip Hop Conference Pt. 3
Malcolm X Hip Hop Conference Pt. 4

A Broken Network Can’t Pull it Together: Why our Youth are Killing Each Other

Hip Hop, if we’re serious about saving young lives, it will take more than a superficial “Stop the Violence” campaign. On a policy level, the fragmented approach to serving vulnerable youth is wrong. While cities and law enforcement, states, and school districts collaborate in the identification, tracking, and targeting of these youth (through free lunch programs, test scores, and gang databases), they have shown a consistent unwillingness to apply the same collaborative efforts toward providing real solutions. We cannot tell the youth “Stop the Violence,” while relying on these agencies to help and heal them, especially not while they are closing our schools, mismanaging our youth service funding, and building a new jail.

“They don’t care about kids of color; they don’t care about poor kids. They don’t care about anyone who’s different than somebody who makes $75,000 or more a year.” These were the words of NAACP Seattle President James Bible after being removed from a Seattle School District school closure hearing. View the rest of his impromptu speech on the video here. Mr. Bible’s frustration was shared by a packed room of others who challenged the sincerity and secrecy of Seattle’s recent school closure process in the midst of last year’s youth violence spike. While the district bureaucratically steered clear of accountability on the issue (they maintain they are separate from the police department and the city of Seattle), they also emphasized that the closure plan was developed based on feedback from the community.

It seems that the district either has an irresponsible disconnection from reality, or other interests to satisfy. We know that that the scores of wealthy white parents who fought against the closure of their schools had a hand in the outcome. But what about the Gates Foundation, who after postponing the renewal of grants to the district for 3.5 years, finally awarded 7.5 million after the closures were announced? This money, which could have kept the schools open and programs running at least for a while, will go to more ability tracking and testing.

Now let’s talk about the Mayor’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, which has also been shrouded in secrecy. The initiative allocates money to select NGOs to contract out services for youth without oversight or any specified benchmarks for tracking success. This approach is justified by a flimsy report of four model programs, but a brief inspection shows the data to be riddled with incomplete or inaccurate information. To top it off, the city has tasked the Urban League, little known for any actual work in the community, with helping to solidify its “network,” while keeping community leaders who are effectively active in the work out of the discussion. Ironically, the most critical network for violence prevention, one that places the school district, the city and law enforcement in a collective state of accountability for the safety for our children, is absent.

Unfortunately this disconnection is a convenience that youth don’t have. When the schools fail them from 9:00-3:00, and the youth initiative fails them from 3:00 to 10:00, the only thing that won’t fail is the new jail. The city is putting $110 million up for this project, plus committing another $15 mil a year for operation, which is quite an investment. Perhaps they are banking on their failure to our youth?

Whatever the case may be, it is time for us as Hip Hop artists, media producers, educators, and activists to step up, beyond the superficial message of “Stop the Violence.” We must unite, collectivize our skill sets and resources, and create an alternative solution: the seamless network, rooted in culture and community that our young people need to survive.