Hip Hop 101

Burnett Elementary School *next to Poly High
East Side Long Beach, CA
3rd grade
History of Hip Hop + Tiny Toones, Cambodia March 12, 2009


I was contracted out by the Arts Council of Long Beach to "perform" and talk about my experience in Cambodia, but instead I decided to teach these kids the root of hip hop and how it has become a global movement by using Tiny Toones as an example.

BIRTHPLACE OF HIP HOP

Look at this ol' school picture of a cat from the Bronx:


And in this video look at this kid from Tiny Toones. Any similarities?


We in solidarity, yo! I asked the kids what hip hop was to them, and surprisingly one said "Hip Hop was born in the streets!"

These kids were the most conscious third graders I ever met. Hip hop = Peace, Love, Unity, and Having Fun. Not Getting Rich or Die Trying. I'm not going to argue about who exactly started hip hop because in reality it was born in the souls of people. Members from bboy crews Squishy Doscious and Deuces Wild assisted me in displaying one of the four elements of hip hop to inspire them youth. I MCed while my homie Edwin aka Selph Conscious beatboxed for them. If people were practicing breaking or freestyling in the streets back in the days they didn't always have a DJ so beatboxing was their alternative, and it is also a powerful artform aside from the other 4 elements. Imagine a room of at least 150 kids chanting out Nas, "I Know I can, be what i want to be, if I work hard at it, I'll be where I wanna be!" (No videos were taken of the presentation. boohoo! But use your imagination =D)



Afterwards we celebrated at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles down the street.



MAKE GOOD CHOICES! =D


Maybe when I feel like it I'll post up my presentation, but honestly I have felt extremely disconnected from posting anything online about myself or my projects. Maybe it is laziness, or that I'm completely uninspired to do so. I hope people's interactions with me will speak enough about what I do and what I hope we can collectively accomplish together. May all of your dreams come true =D
Or, shut up and just post shit, Ms. Jumakae.

Ok, OK. Let's just record some events I can remember at the top of my head:



So I performed at this event and the power went out during my set. It's okay because the drummers were playing to my beat during my Sex Work song and it went perfectly well with it. I did the rest of my set with the drummers, a random beat boxer, and other people who picked up instruments lying next to the dj booth. I keep it organic, yo. Before technology this is how we did it!



I met my favorite femcee, Mystic . Mad inspirational! She's above Lauryn Hill for being so down to earth and for the community. This is in no way to discredit Ms. Hill since she is definitely one of my inspirations, but I think she has turned extremely prophetic that her focus has become about her spiritual growth. I completely support her in this search for self (aren't we all on it?) but it seems as if she is hiding from mainstream society. No worries, while she's doing that and recording dope songs like Selah, I'll kick it with Mystic. =D




One of the things I learned at this fundraiser is that we lost focus of its intension. Although its aim was to bring hip hop heads together for a just cause, I noticed hesitation in some people to pay the entrance fee yet so much money was spent on all the hip hop vendors tabling at the event. I am guilty, for I bought a $20 dress made by an artist that could have gone towards the Darfur benefit, but hey I deserve a treat sometimes! I also put in my own money for the benefit. I have to say though, despite all the dope hip hop artists who volunteered their performance time, the profit made was $541 - much lower than the expectancy. This was disappointing since there was over 500 people who attended the event and if each of them donated $5 the fundraiser would have reached its goal.

Anyways, the reason why I mention it is because it will prepare me for the Tiny Toones fundraise I will be holding on May 2nd, 2009, with the 5 bboy, 1 bgirl, and 1 emcee flying in from Cambodia who will all be sleeping on my downstairs floor. Party hard! NO hip hop vendors - only community artists, love, and inspiration. You better be there! Chucos Justice Center in Inglewood... but it's still in the works.

Oh, yea, I also attended EVENING OF AWARENESS: Art for Peace with a focus on GAZA. I hate politics. and borders. But it did get me connected to the Chucos Justice Center and dope activists!

Today was...


Did a set with spoken word, hip hop, freestyled with the acoustic guitar with Ismael of Canela Negra. Put love out there with One Imagination. Sorry I cut people short! We were fifteen minutes overtime...

Down the street coincidentally the Art Council of Long Beach was hosting their SPOKEN WORD WEEK so we met dope artists such as Beau Sia and Jerry Quickly. Quickly was the reason why I became connected to Bavubuka, the hip hop organization based in Uganda started by Silas Babaluku. Over a year ago, I was listening to his radio station (90.7fmKPFK) and he was promoting the documentary screening of "Diamonds in the Rough", the hip hop revolution of Uganda, and I rushed to the screening to meet Silas because what they were doing in their country was exactly what was happening in Cambodia. Since then, he has been like an older brother to me.

Anyways, I kicked it with Quickly after his set we talked for at least an hour about hip hop, globalization, incarcerated youth, deportation, 3rd world countries, white supremacy, and other fun topics. He invited me onto his radio show to discuss the work I'm associated with in Cambodia (www.tinytoonescambodia.com) .. yeaaa 90.7KPFK is my favorite radio station. People's radio, yay!


My parents went to a political concert celebrating the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin at a Thai Concert held at the Pomona Fairplex today. Who would have ever thought...

ok bye for now.