Today the mighty Embassy MVMT launched “Something to Believe” a short film/music video from World Up favorite Blitz the Ambassador. In true Blitz fashion, this piece leads each viewer to nod his head, as well as use it.
Directed by Terence Nance, the film addresses the detachment we all battle, when faced with the the world’s overwhelming issues. Blitz explains his connection with this dilemma, “it’s hard to think about all the problems in the world without getting a little overwhelmed. So, a lot of times we just ignore things. I think Africa has suffered a lot because people choose to remain ignorant, rather than address the issues that are right in front of our faces.”
Nance’s direction, cinematography by Shawn Peters, and the always stellar sounds of Blitz (and his band, the Embassy Ensemble) make this a visual and audio delight. Blitz once again leaves us with hope renewed for the future of hip hop. If you’re looking for something to believe in, Blitz is not a bad place to start.
Be sure to check out the video below and cop Blitz’s music here.
And if you are in NYC don’t miss Blitz playing w/ Public Enemy at Central Park Summerstage on August 15th.
As many of our readers know (and if you don’t, now you do) World Up has had an ongoing relationship with the amazingly talented Trust Your Struggle Collective. Trust Your Struggle (TYS) is a collective of visual artists, educators, and cultural workers dedicated to social justice and community activism through art. Their work includes, but is not limited to, graphic design, printmaking, silk screening, photography, illustration, graffiti writing, and mural painting. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, TYS has produced gallery installations, live paintings, murals and arts education workshops with youth and community organizations since 2003. Their art continues the legacy of visual language, as they are contemporary storytellers influenced by graffiti art, comic books, political posters, religious and spiritual icons, and their ancestral indigenous traditions.
Trust Your Struggle are comrades, colleagues, and an inspiration to World Up. So we are once again partnering with TYS, and MVMT to help produce their next tour. This summer, TYS will embark on a one-month mural tour of the Philippine Islands, where the plight of the Filipino people, who experienced massive devastation in 2009 from which the country is still recovering, is oft unseen in the public arena. While on the mural tour, TYS aims to learn from the Filipino people, aid in their recovery, and inspire with art. After two successful mural tours through Latin America, and the United States, TYS intends to continue its work of community exchange and arts education. They will once again strengthen their commitment to building global community, solidarity, and giving cultural voice to various communities they partner with through the arts. This tour can not happen with out the support of donations by readers like you.
“Music does matter, and it is a tool used to communicate messages that will change the world.”
- Meduza of Nomadic Massive
We proudly present to you the first of the East 4th Sessions, our new interview series with hip hop artists from around the world. First up is Montreal based global powerhouse, Nomadic Massive.
Check out that video below and look out for more from the East 4th Sessions soon:
Be sure to check out their of their multi-lingual fire in full here:
One year after Barack Obama’s historic election we are faced with a number of questions and varying ideas about what his presidency means. On January 20th, 2010 kahlil almustafa, aka The People’s Poet, author of “From Auction Block To Oval Office: 100 Poems For 100 Days” (MVMT Publishing, January 2010) will lead an interactive event combining performance poetry and critical dialogue commemorating the one year anniversary of that inauguration. The event will take place at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in NYC. (details and video below)
Reading from his fifth collection of poetry, kahlil will explore the hopes, fears, contradictions and complexity which come with the election of the United States’ first African-American president. Written in the voice of a young, African-American male and a romantic revolutionary, these poems capture a nation teetering between danger and opportunity, cynicism and hope.
This event will be an interactive experience. The panel will respond to the critical questions raised by the poems, and audience members will have the opportunity to create their own poems. The event will also be live streamed at MVMT.
When: January 20th, 2010 Where: The Jerome L. Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street (corner of Charlton and Varick) New York, New York 10014 Time: Doors open at 6:30, poetry and panel begins at 7 PM More Info & to purchase tickets:www.mvmt.com
1. How do we create a space for people to express the ways Barack Obama has inspired them and create a space for principled criticism?
2. Is this the closing of a chapter in the American narrative beginning with the auction block and concluding with the Obamas in the White House? Or is the narrative of African enslavement being used to promote the idea of America perfecting its democracy?
3. It has been said that the Hip-Hop generation greatly impacted the election in 2008. How has the Hip-Hop generation been impacted by the campaign, Obama’s presidency, and how will the Hip-Hop generation continue to be engaged?
Some praise for kahlil:
“kahlil almustafa’s poems are extraordinary in their political complexity & aesthetic sensibility. His language in From Auction Block to Oval Office is crystal-clear and the ideas are continually provocative.”
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
“The words of kahlil almustafa are both fierce and loving, chilling yet warm, a reminder that poetry goes beyond spoken word touching not only the ears, but the heart and the soul.”
- Toni Blackman, author “Inner-Course”/US Hip Hop Ambassador “
“almustafa is unafraid to tackle thorny issues of race, gender, class, love, hate, with a keen eye and a precision worthy of a doctor, a healer, a root worker.”
- Kevin Powell, author “Letters to America”
“Last week, Blitz the Ambassador blew the roof off BB King’s in Times Square with a rousing performance that converted even the most skeptical spectators at The Roots/OkayPlayer Holiday Jammy. It was the perfect cap to a triumphant 2009 for Blitz the Ambassador, a year where he introduced his groundbreaking Afro-influenced sound to the world with his debut album Stereotype, broke into the public consciousness and forcefully got his foot through the door. Look out for 2010 to be the year that Blitz busts that door off its hinges and smashes it to splinters.”
Check out these videos of some of the hair-raising performance:
“Breathe”
“Remembering the Future” featuring Bala Tunkara
Also, be sure to check out Blitz’s Live Sessions airing on MTV-U. By the looks of the amazingly shot trailer, its going to be fresh:
Our folks Nomadic Massive, of Montreal, will be joining Spanish Harlem greats San Juan Hill, for the next installment of The Afro Latin Soul Music Series happening in Brooklyn tomorrow. (details below)
The Afro Latin Soul Music Series is a dance party and live music international celebration, that showcases up and coming Artists, Bands and DJ’s from New York City, Montreal, Quebec, and around the world. The series originated at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe in 2007. Soon after, San Juan Hill’s Frank Diggz, joined forces with Nomadic Massive’s Lou Piensa to create the first international Afro Latin Soul Music Series at Club Lambi in Montreal, Sept. 4th., and again on Oct. 16th., 2009.
Accumulating over 200 spectators, they had Artists on the bill, such as; Rael (Sao Paolo), DJ Ronzilla (The Bronx), Climbing Poetree (Brooklyn), personal familia Obsession (Cuba), and of course Nomadic Massive, and San Juan Hill.
As a perfect addition, given the fundamentals of the series based in global solidarity, social change and cultural awareness, Nomadic Massive promises to bring an incredibly energetic and eclectic mix to the stage. We caught up with Nomadic Massive for an interview when they were last in NYC and witnessed first hand their exciting mezcla of Hip Hop, Soul, Afro Beat, and Latin sounds all overlaid with lyrics in languages from every corner of the globe. They gave us a little FIRE after their interview (coming soon) which you can watch here:
Be sure to catch the next installment of Afro-Latin Soul tomorrow at Little Field in Brooklyn. Hosted by Hanifah Walidah.
Check out this great conversation between GRIT TV’s Laura Flanders and Ora Wise of the Palestine Education Project, Ras K’Dee of SNAG Magazine, Invincible of Detroit, and Narcy of Iraq/Canada. The crew discusses the experiences of indigenous peoples across the globe and organizing around those experiences, as well as a recent youth delegation to Palestine. Check our their site HERE. They also discuss how hip hop is a necessary, natural, and active tool used to engage these worldly issues.
As part of our ongoing discussion on race in America, we sat down with JLove Calderon to discuss the concept of Whiteness and White Privilege in the age of Obama, and how it affects the hip hop community.
JLove is a widely respected author, educator, and activist. Known for her work on social justice, race, and gender issues, she has dedicated herself to the advocacy of “truth, love, and freedom” of marginalized groups for over 15 years. She has written three books: We Got Issues!; That White Girl; and Conscious Women Rock the Page! Using Hip-Hop Fiction to Incite Social Change, and from academia to hip hop ciphers, JLove works to empower everyday people, young folks, women and girls. When speaking with JLove it is clear that she is determined to create dialogue on Whiteness and Privilege. She believes discussion is the key to moving forward, and thinks our silence is killing us. With her latest project, JLove explains the various ways she has approached this issue, and the possibility of change.
JLove’s latest project, Till The White Day is Done: White Privilege, Hip-Hop, and Social Change, is a discussion on the complex meanings behind identity, especially that tied to race and white privilege. She describes it as “a holistic journey involving a multi-dimensional and interactive experience through the interdisciplinary arts, education, and entertainment,” for which she has collaborated with artists and activists like Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Danny Hoch, Jeff Chang, Tim Wise, Chuck D, and many more. In its entirety, “White Day” includes a book, a documentary, a curriculum guide, and a national town hall tour. JLove is conducting a series of video interviews to launch the project including her first seen here with the legendary MC Serch:
We spoke with JLove about Till the White Day is Done, and race in America.
World Up: What was the inspiration behind the project?
JLove: The inspiration behind White Day is to give a swift, and loving, kick in the ass to my community of white folks (including kicking my own ass as needed!). I believe we have been hanging out in our comfort zone way too long. Racial inequality exists. No, we didn’t ask to be born white. Yes, we were. So now we gotta deal with it! As long as we still have unearned skin privilege we need to do something about it.
WU: What is the goal? JL: To engage white people in a journey of self and community awareness: a process by which to heal from the soul-wounds of racism, and forge a new way of being that allows all people to reach their full potential, no matter what.
WU: Why do you think White Privilege is such a difficult concept for people to grasp?
JL: White people have been lied to. We live in an illusion that was created in order to maintain the status quo. So it’s like waking up one day to someone saying, “did you know that everything you’ve ever believed in has been a lie?” How do you deal with that? It f’in hard! That’s why we gotta get to work!
WU: How can we change that?
JL: Through dialogue and discussion, as opposed to preaching and judging. Compassionate truth-telling goes a long way. As my mentor Rha Goddess always told me, accountability gives us liberation.
WU: Discussions on Race often focus on discrimination and bigotry. Why is understanding “Whiteness and White Privilege” crucial to moving the conversation forward?
JL: Ahh, great question. It is easier to talk about people of color being victims of discrimination. That makes people of color the focus, and it tends to make it seem like it was a singular event by an obviously horrible racist. It lets us off the hook, though, because it does not take in account white supremacy and institutionalized racism, the systemic discrimination that happens on a daily basis. The other thing it does is makes “well-intentioned, good white people” feel like they are just fine staying neutral, because ‘hell, at least we don’t go around being racist like those people!’ We need to keep focus on understanding that white privilege is the flip-side of discrimination. They both gotta go!
WU: Do you think people see you as White first and then Hip Hop or visa versa?
JL: I see myself as a white woman who loves hip-hop!
WU: Should it matter?
JL: When racism is squashed, I will be comfortable letting go of identifying my skin color first. But because we live in a racist society, I have to understand my role, and the impact that my race has first. That is one of the dark sides of white privilege.
WU: Can Hip Hop be truly “shared” across race lines?
JL: I believe it has, and I believe it can continue to do so.
WU: Is it possible to both recognize the role race plays in everyday life, while also seeing beyond it to bring people together?
JL: We can see how race plays a role in everyday life AND use our creativity, innovation, love, and commonalities to bring folks together. That is hip-hop culture’s gift to the world, and it is how I became the person I am today. The ability to see the whole person, to truly understand the heart, mind, and soul of somebody is what matters. And what we really need to understand is that once we get there, we will see we are all connected. And once we feel our universality, I believe there will be only one calling: liberation. ‘Cause no one’s free, ’til we’re all free.
Over the past decade, Hip-Hop music has merged with High-Life, the traditional music of West Africa. This fusion has led to the birth of a new musical genre called HipLife. Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi’s film, HomeGrown: HipLife in Ghana, is a feature-length documentary about V.I.P. (Vision In Progress), Ghana’s most talented and successful musical group in the emerging HipLife movement. V.I.P.’s. unique members come from a diverse set of religious affiliations, ethnic groups, and language backgrounds.
In the film, V.I.P. uses their music to challenge false misconceptions about Africa. They set an example for African youth by writing lyrics in their native languages and creating true Hip-Hop from an African perspective. The film documents ten years of their journey from the ghetto in Accra to their first international tour. They grow from being teenagers with a shared dream to musicians with fans around the world. The tension between traditional values and international stardom unfolds in the film’s dynamic story-line.
Eli worked on this film for over a decade, and his dedication has paid off. The close relationship of the director and the musicians allows for intimate interviews that give the viewer an in depth look into the lives of these artists.
Blitz the Ambassador grew up in Ghana, West Africa and is a testament to the global reach of hip hop. He gets that an emcee doesn’t have to sacrifice musicality in order to convey important social issues, and furthermore, as makers, consumers and lovers of music, we shouldn’t be wasting time on mindless crap. Blitz’s use of a live band–both in the studio and on stage–is a crucial part of his distinctly African and undeniably classic hip hop sound. When it comes to sound and sensibility, he proves that we can have both, and he is kicking through the barriers on his way to the top. He challenges the conventions of what a hip hop artist can be. He’s conscious and radio-friendly at the same time, without coming off as preachy. You can nod your head to his songs, and they have depth. The music is interesting, but not too avant garde. He’s Accra, but BK all day. There’s no one else in the game handling a balancing act this complex.
There is a sense of urgency in Blitz’s lyrics. His just-released album “Stereotype” is one of the best I’ve heard in years. Granted, I may be biased. I prefer an emcee that rhymes well and cares about the world, as opposed to ones that mumble vagueties about recession-proof stacks. But don’t get it twisted, “Stereotype” bumps! The Mighty Embassy Ensemble delivers that classic boom-bap, and horns that evoke the JB’s, all while Blitz speaks on issues ranging from immigration, and Katrina, to even his own personal struggles with love. On the track Ghetto Plantation he cleverly goes after the system and creates an in depth comparison of the prison industrial complex to historical slavery. One line states “incarceration is the new plantation / a new kind of slavery, a new foundation / and it wont even cost you much / the project is the slave ship / the corner is the auction block”
Even as I’m posting this, one day after its release, “Stereotype” is making a steady climb up the Itunes hip hop chart. It’s at #11 now, sandwiched between two Kanye’s “808s & Heartbreak” and the Dr. Dre classic, “The Chronic”. An impressive feat for any artist, but this is extra astonishing since Blitz’s record is an indie. It can seem (and often is) impossible for an independent album like this (released by the good people at Parallel MVMT) to reach the masses. Perhaps we can take this Itunes success as some bit of proof that the people are fed up. Finally, in Blitz, we have an artist who recognizes that the time for thoughtful, passionate, and quality music has arrived. He enthusiastically rises to the challenge of creating it. What carries throughout the music on this album more than any other theme, is the unifying sense that he truly enjoyed bringing it out of himself and his band.
Simply put, the world is a better place with Blitz the Ambassador making its music.
We sat down with Blitz to speak about his work and the new album, check out the video here:
Eric Camins is a student of life, activist, music lover, and TV and Film producer. In addition to World Up, Eric has worked with VBS.TV, Gigantic! Productions, MTV Networks, Clenched Fist Productions, Bravo TV, and the Trust Your Struggle Art Collective to name a few. He is particularly interested in the growing international youth music and media movement, and in exploring new media which gives greater access and voice to the people. Eric holds a BA from Eugene Lang College at New School University where he concentrated in musicology and media studies. www.ezcamins.com
