Mixtapes and Hip-Hop’s Underground Economy | Free Digital Journal Preview

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Party Tape to MP3 Download: A Cultural History of the Mixtape 8 From Camera, Social Action!: Ten Media Makers You Should Know 16 Lights, Patroits: Senegal’s Voice of 22 True Dissent by nick schonberger

by martha diaz

By Yahsmin Mayaan Binti BoBo

30 48 The Bootleg Interview and Insurgent Economies: Piracy and the Struggle Against 54 Mixtape Urban Dispossession QD3 Interview

By Nick Schonberger

Introduction By Zach Leffers

By Robert Choflet

also in this issue: Inc. and the Definitive Incorporation 14 Mixtape of Dissent Culture

By Jared A. Ball, Ph.D

21 Scruples

By Joe Young Radio: 38 Freemix The Mixtape as Emancipitory Journalism By. Jarad A. Ball, Ph.D

Ellis Report: 58 The Screw Vs. Clue

By Jason Nichols

Visual Artist: 60 Featured Pen And Pixel

By Gary Warnett

Under Pressure: 62 Art Kid Gets Busy,The Untold Story of DJ OSO FRESH

By Cory Stowers

The Boards 68 Bumrush

By Mazi Mutafa and Lester Walace

The Words Beats & Life Global Journal of Hip Hop Culture provides opinions and reference sources for those interested in hiphop culture and music. While we aim to ensure that all published information is accurate at all times, any individual or organization making use of this content does so at their own risk. The Words Beats & Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture and Words Beats & Life, Incorporated take no responsibility for any actions resulting from use of content in this publication. The views expressed in the journal do not necessarily, reflect the opinions or views of Words Beats & Life, Incorporated as an organization. All rights reserved.

The Words Beats & Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture may not be reproduced or used in any form or by any means either wholly or in part, without prior written permission of Words Beats & Life, Incorporated. Manuscripts, artwork, and photographs can be accepted only with the understanding that neither the company nor its agency accept liability for loss or damage.

For detailed information, terms and conditions, quotations and international inquiries, please email: journalstaff@wblinc.org or call (202) 667-1192.

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STAFF DIRECTORY

Editor-at-Large- Jared Ball, Ph.D

Executive Director- Mazi Muatfa Editor-in-Chief- Jason Nichols Assistant Managing Editor-Nicholas Schonberger Director of Curriculum Development- Karlena Walker Marketing Assistant- Lester “2Tone Jones� Wallace Editor- Jovette Gadson Editor- Yahsmin Mayaan Binti Bobo Copy Editor- Eric Berlin Copy Editor- Luci Murphy Art Director- Cory L. Stowers Graphic Designer- Katrina Paz-Stowers Staff Photographer- Apoxy One Staff Photographer- Terri Memolo Staff Illustrator - Jason Philp

Editor-at-Large- Martha Diaz

CONTRIBUTORS Jared Ball is a professor of Communication at Morgan State University and an independent journalist. He is the host of a radio program on 89.3 FM WPFW Washington and the creator of Freemix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show. He recently ran to be nominated for president in the Green Party.

Martha Diaz is a renown hip-hop educator, organizer, and ambassador of the culture, with over ten years of media production experience. She serves as president of the Hip Hop Association and producer of the H2O International Film Festival and the Hip Hop Education Summit.

Bob Choflet is an experienced activist, educator, and scholar. He is currently working towards a Doctorate in American Studies at the University of Maryland, where he also teaches in the African American Studies Department.

Eric Berlin has a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in both Sculpture and Creative Writing. He has edited for EditAvenue.com and The WritingDocs.com, as well as taught within the SUNY system.

Gary Warnett works for Crooked Tongues and writes on contemporary material culture. He currently resides in London Joe Young is a cartoonist and runs the Hartford Animation Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Hartford. (see article for more information)

PATRONS DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Meyer Foundation DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation Hitachi Foundation Zerodivide Global Fund for Children Scion Executive Office of the Mayor of Washington, DC England Family Foundation Marcus Skelton Mark Lawrence Holly Bass Esther Coleman Patrick Washington 4

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Practitioners of the culture of hiphop have always found ways to bypass and undermine the accepted means of pursuing capital. DJs created mixtapes, which grew to be amalgamations of exclusive songs and freestyles and were distributed through hand to hand sales and mom & pop stores.

Technology has only assisted efforts to circumvent the record industry’s established infrastructure with the advent of file sharing. In this sense, mixtapes and certainly bootlegging are subversive to a capitalist system.

To maintain control of the flow of capital, the recording and film industry has done all within its power to create a hegemony surrounding the mixtape, and quell bootlegging and piracy of movies. Bootleg This Journal will historicize and contextualize many aspects of hip-hop’s underground economy.

Nick Schonberger fills a void in hiphop scholarship with “From Party Tape to MP3: A Cultural History of the Mixtape.” Schonberger investigates primary and secondary documents, documentaries, and does interviews with hip-hop’s pioneering DJ. The scholar co-editor at Large for this issue, Jared Ball, contributes both an excellent review of the documentary Mixtapes inc. entitled “Mixtape Inc and the Definitive Incorporation of Dissent Culture” and an article explaining the revolutionary potential of the hip-hop mixtape called “Freemix Radio: the Mixtape as Emancipitory Journalism.” The later piece puts African media resistance in historical context and discusses how the hiphop mixtape can inform the public and result in material transformation for oppressed peoples.

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Martha Diaz, artistic co-editor at large, also highlights films that fall under the aforementioned resistive framework in “Lights Camera, Social Action.”

True Patriots by Yahsmin Mayaan Binti Bobo profiles Ben Herson and his work in Dakar, Senegal. She presents the reader with an alternative, positive view of the result of hip-hop being globalized, one that greatly differs from what you may have seen in Hip Hop Colony. In Dakar, hiphop is having a major influence over electoral politics. Senegalese rappers are patriotic yet see that dissent and knowledge of the political process are the strongest expressions of love for ones country.

Bob Choflet relates mixtapes and piracy to the transformation of urban spaces in his piece, “Mixtape and Insurgent Economies”.

Focusing primarily on the fast-changing, much maligned community of West Baltimore, he shows how as communities diversify economically, they are policed more stringently, which includes the sale of pirated material. Baltimore’s flea markets have seen people lead off in cuffs, while bootlegged merchandise is seized.

Control over media outlets is essential to maintenance of hegemonic control.

After reading Ball, Bobo, and Choflet in tandem, one can clearly see the purpose behind policing underground distribution networks, for they can spawn powerful political movements.

The fact that so many of the pieces within this issue are in conversation and dialogue with one another is one the facets I am most proud of. Bootleg This Journal may very well be our most consistent issue to date.

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We also conducted an informative interview with an admitted and unapologetic “bootlegger” who unequivocally disagrees with the very concept of intellectual property. His interview can be juxtaposed with QD3, an established filmmaker with whom we spoke, who has produced commercial documentaries and a series for BET entitled Beef.

The Words Beats & Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture has always featured some of the strongest hip-hop related artwork and this issue is no different. Cory Stowers provides a profile of a Washington, D.C. graffiti legend and mixtape pioneer DJ Oso Fresh. The photographs that accompany this piece tell a story of child with a passion for music and art, which found hip-hop to be the perfect vehicle to carry his expression.

The staff of the WBL Journal is proud of the issue, not only because we have carried on the tradition of the strong scholarship and artwork, but also because we feel that our contributors and we have broken new ground in the intellectual terrain. Never before has anyone done a more thorough investigation of mixtapes, bootleggin and piracy, examining the issues from such diverse angles. A work like this would be difficult to duplicate, even by the craftiest bootlegger.

Jason Nichols Editor-in-Chief

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As a valuable tool for cultural dissemination, the mixtape’s growth and development presents a profitable lens through which to explore the expansion of hip-hop culture at large.

Formulating a singular definition for the mixtape has its pitfalls though. A multitude of options exists for the DJ, or host, within this seemingly small genre. One option is the blend tape, which features acapellas placed atop the beat of a different song. Commonly, blends utilize R&B vocals over hiphop beats, but the blend has given way to the ‘mash up’, which incorporates a greater breadth of musical selection.

Freestyle and “exclusive” mixtapes offer a series of first-run songs and verses.

At heart, the mixtape is a document of hip-hop’s growth and progression (and digression), as well as the latest modes and styles. In theory, mixtapes relay the truest articulations of rap music’s value systems, offering the rawest and purest form of the music.

This essay functions as a working history of the mixtape, taking stock of previous scholarship and pointing out the essential trends and figures in the mixtape market. Beginning with a historiograpical sketch of key scholarship, the essay builds through an account of the evolution of the mixtape from party tape to MP3 format, primarily focusing on that spiritual center of the culture, New York City.

To date, the most valuable resource for scholars investigating the mixtape has been Shaheem Reid’s feature “Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry” (2003) for MTV.3 Reid focused primarily on the mixtape as underground promotion, as both ancillary and substitute for the industry at large up until 2003. With interviews from focal members of the

hip-hop industry (e.g., 50 Cent, Snoop, Puff Daddy), Reid effectively assessed the underlying pulse of mixtape culture. A brief section of the feature relays the basic history of mixtapes and how they developed from party set dubs into a major marketing tool.

While Reid covers the important basics of mixtapes, there are only brief nods to the technological changes and the underground/over-ground dichotomy inherent to hip-hop promotion and success. Reid’s work has laid the groundwork for academic research and provides inroads to fertile inquiry into the marketing, production, and dissemination of a music that has many hands in the final product.

As mentioned briefly above, scholarly attention to the mixtape has been relatively slim. The major tracts of the slowly developing hip-hop studies cannon reflect minimally on the mixtape, though a few scholars have focused their attentions on the practical application of mixtapes as counters to the music industry. In two cases, this focus centers on the politicallydriven duo Dead Prez. In “Brechtian Hip-Hop: Didactics and Self-Production in Post-Gangsta Political Mixtapes,” George Ciccariello Maher argues that they are well-suited for “rap’s organic intellectuals” wishing to escape the constraints of the music industry and push political and moralistic agendas.4 Maher effectively advances the study of rap music beyond simple aesthetic approaches, working the output of Dead Prez through Brecht’s theory. The emphasis Maher places on the usefulness of the mixtape as pedagogical platform falls in line with the most progressive scholarship on mixtapes. Also completed in 2005, Jared Ball’s dissertation “The BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL

Mixtape: A Case Study in Emancipatory Journalism,” compliments Maher’s beliefs.5 Ball places the mixtape in a continuum of self-promoted and produced press concerns by historically marginalized groups. Like the newspapers of abolitionists and suffragists, the mixtape creates an outlet for discussion and dialogue for groups that are seemingly shut out of the mainstream press. Both Maher and Ball champion the ability of mixtapes to circumnavigate mainstream media, which, beyond their political assertions, also grants agency to the promotion of an individual’s selfdetermination. Jason Peterson argues against Meher, suggesting that the political potency of Dead Prez’s lyrics remains the same regardless of the production of the material (i.e., whether on a mixtape or major label release).6 In doing so, Peterson uncovers a fundamental quandary in the mixtape world: do they actually do what they purport to do? At the most general level, in generating buzz and creative capital for artists, mixtapes assuredly work, but while the mixtape can certainly provide an avenue for the free dissemination of thought and discussion, the effectiveness of such a venture remains underdeveloped.

Having briefly situated the mixtape in prior scholarship, this essay strives to better locate the form within a historical timeline and as it relates to technological advances in both recording and compiling the end product. Tracing the development of the mixtape from the party tapes of the 1970s to the MP3 download of today introduces the major figures, trends, and developments in this most vital component of the culture.

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All in all, considering the paucity of material on the subject, Walter Bell’s Mixtape Inc. (2006) is a strong and important documentation of the history and contemporary issues surrounding the hip-hop mixtape.

The modern mixtape DJs are all interviewed and discussed – KaySlay, Ron G, Kid Capri, Lazy K, Envy, Green Lantern and Clue. We get all the G-Unit, 50 Cent history and hear from Lloyd Banks himself about that crew’s meteoric rise, which was facilitated – and caused – by the mass medium of the mixtape. We even hear from some of the legends like Bruce B, whose recording and distribution of his “roof-top” mixtapes is credited with initiating the phenomenon.

Perhaps more of the history about the transformation of the mixtape from underground to commercial enterprise is offered by the 2005 The Mixtape Documentary from the late mixtape pioneer Just-O, but Bell’s documentary is an important extension if not a replacement. Its importance, that of an extension, is primarily made through Bell’s coverage of the suppression of mixtapes and the nebulous position they hold as both illegal contraband and industry promotional tool and emcee/producer proving ground.

Bell’s attempt to deal with these issues is this documentary’s greatest contribution. In describing (if not fully detailing) the suppression of mixtapes by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the most relevant concerns – concerns far outpacing anything specific to mixtapes – are raised. Even if implicitly so, these deeper issues (i.e., those involving the control and dissemination of potentially threatening communication and methods of distribution) are prevalent throughout.

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case of Alan Berry, a white Indianabased record store owner and mixtape vendor. Berry’s business suffered an RIAA raid, which eventually led to his being charged with multiple counts of copyright infringement, which carried with it a potential 13-year prison sentence. Confusion over an industry or law enforcement focus on mixtape vending led to the raising of several important (if not properly answered) questions. One interviewee could not believe that Berry would be arrested for “just selling hip-hop music.”

Others were confused over the repression of a mixtape distribution network that was itself supported, albeit quietly, by the industry as a major source of free promotion of their artists. One of Berry’s mixtape vending compatriots was even moved to inquire on camera, “why go to Indiana to set an example? Why not NYC” (where most mixtapes are bought and sold)?

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elsewhere, have everything to do with management of populations in need of control by limiting or regulating the distribution and content of their cultural expression. For example, the absolute lies told on camera (another major contribution of this film) by RIAA lawyer Erwin Chemerinsky, whose recitation of mythologies of needing to protect artists’ copyrights is meant to: a) disguise the fact that few artists own their own copyright and fewer engage in the production of art for money, which has never been a primary impetus for individuals becoming artistic; b) disguise that ownership of copyrights are mostly held by those the RIAA was formed to protect, namely, the major labels and not the artists themselves; c) disguise that copyright laws or the larger body of intellectual property laws remain essential to managing who becomes popular and to whom the bulk of the financial benefits go; and d) disguise that this is essential to the maintenance of power and that limiting the ability of oppressed communities to engage in unsanctioned communication is a paramount concern of those in power. All of this is summarized in the interviewee statement that “some cats sell dope, and some cats sell cds.”

In each case, the contraband (whether dope or music) is leaked or supplied to those by the very agencies that will later repress or lock them up. It is more about the oppressed communities’ instability and precarious relationship to power than anything particular to hip-hop.

The mixtape has gone the way of any form of expression of the colonized and is described, implicitly perhaps, in Mixtape Inc. Mixtapes, originating as DJ “party tapes” and which were the original mass medium of hip(Continued on pg. 70 )

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LIGHTS, CAMERA, SOCIAL ACTION

10 media makers you should know

By Martha Diaz

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hen I was asked to create a list of the top ten media makers creating social change in America for 2008, I couldn’t help but think about the meaning of this year. Yes, it’s an Election Year, a Leap Year, the Year of the Hip-Hop Woman, even the Year of the Potato; however, I wanted to tap into what the ancient Chinese astronomers and philosophers predicted for this year, being that there is always a correlation between humans and animals.

In the Chinese calendar, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. They say the Rat was the first of all animals to answer the call from the Buddha to take care of the years in the Chinese calendar. In the West, we tend to define the Rat as a filthy, disease-carrying, detested creature, and in some circles, a rat is a snitch; however, according to Chinese mythology, the Rat lives underground and burrows, and thus is the master of the underworld. The Rat is one of the most intelligent animals, rated alongside the dolphin and the whale as a creature of high native intelligence. They are alert and watchful, and it’s very difficult to influence these people who were born in the Year of the Rat. They are leaders, pioneers, protectors, and they bring about order.

To me, this is significant because the media makers chosen demonstrate attributes of the Rat and are symbolic to the year ahead. This year is a time for change and invention. These filmmakers are original, purposeful, and keen. They challenge people’s perceptions, question the system, and educate through their medium. Some have been working in the lab for years perfecting their projects, while others have been touring the world, spreading their message, and some have been balancing both. Through their work, they address a number of issues that span around the globe from diamond mining to misogyny and racism. They are dynamic filmmakers; they wear many hats and are also artists, journalists, entrepreneurs, educators, and organizers. I am proud to acknowledge the 2008 media leaders creating social change:

Vee Bravo and Loira Limbal Vee and Loira are co-producers/co-directors of Estilo Hip-Hop, a video documentary that chronicles the rise of Hip-Hop activism throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Estilo Hip-Hop is scheduled to air nationally on PBS in 2008.

Vee Bravo is an independent media maker and activist. Over the past decade, Bravo has initiated several unique projects aimed at creating responsible links between media and marginal communities. These initiatives include the Cell Block Project, a yearly media literacy and film series held at New York’s Rikers Island Correctional Facility. In the late 90s, Bravo also co-founded Stress Magazine, the first lifestyles publication to fuse hip-hop and social activism. Bravo’s community work has been recognized and supported by the Open Society Institute, the Union Square Awards, and the Ford Foundation. Currently, Bravo freelances as a media educator for the Global Action Project and as a writer for the recently launched MTV3 network.

Loira Limbal, aka DJ Laylo, is a filmmaker, DJ, and activist. Limbal has worked at various community-based organizations, including The Point CDC, The Dominican Women’s Development Center, and Sista II Sista. Currently, she is the director of The Reel X Project, which is a social justice and creative filmmaking space for young women of color in the Southwest Bronx. Limbal received a B.A. in History from Brown University and is a graduate of the Third World Newsreel’s Film and Video Production Training Program. She has received awards from the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, and the Lisa Sullivan Fund for her work combining arts and activism. www.estilohiphop.com

Raquel Cepeda Raquel Cepeda is an award-winning editor and multi-media journalist, filmmaker, and mother. Cepeda is the director/writer and co-producer of Bling: A Planet Rock, a documentary about American hip-hop culture’s obsession with diamonds—“blinging”—and all its social trappings, and how this infatuation correlated with the ten-year conflict in Sierra Leone, West Africa. A modified version entitled, “Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds and Hip-Hop, premiered on VH1. Raquel Cepeda’s book “And It Don’t Stop: The Best Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years,” the first ever “Best of…” anthology won a 2005 PEN Beyond Margins Award and Best Arts Book from the Latino Book Awards. Her writing was included in Da Capo’s Best Music Writing of 2006 and in Jeff Chang’s anthology Total Chaos, and over the span of twelve years or so, Cepeda has contributed to People, The Associated Press, Paper, MTV News, Village Voice and other nationally distributed publications.

Currently, Cepeda is in production on BLOW US UP!, a wartime concert documentary starring platinum-selling rapper Paul Wall and TV Johnny, who will journey into the past to see the future—in Iraq and Johnny’s homeland, Vietnam.

Cepeda is also developing another international hip-hop project in South Africa about bridging the gap between American and South African women. www.myspace.com/djalirancher BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL

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“You have to reflect before you elect,” says Jah of Tigrim Bi in the first scenes of episode one.

With heavy rotation of political leaders in Senegal’s capital Dakar, the youth are largely “disillusioned” with candidates, voting, and the entire election process. Ballot boxes sit on tables in makeshift tents, situated throughout the seemingly desolate cities whose citizens, in contrast, are quite vibrant. In spite of the questionable outcome of last year’s elections, community members—young and old alike—persist in their civic duty. The results were somewhat of a paradox—of the 15 candidates, one man received 55% of the votes, which was surreal, yet predictable according to the youth who are “weary of politicians”.

The local press was outraged with these results and printed their frustrations daily.

The headlines were clear: in a country where people face everyday economic fragilities— some even migrating to Spain and elsewhere—the people of Dakar still desire democracy. “In Senegal, they are dedicated and passionate; the struggles there seem a lot more clear because it’s a smaller country and not as much media is involved to obscure the problems that are happening…the center of

Introduction and Interview By: Nick Schonberger

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Freemix Radio:

The Mixtape as Emancipitory Journalism By: Dr. Jared Ball

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Introduction By: Zach Leffers Photos By: Apoxy One

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By: Jason Nichols

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can recall the days when hip-hop was all but synonymous with the rugged streets of the five boroughs.

Those of us who were from outside of Hip-hop’s Camelot tried to loosely imitate the styles and slang that slick-talking, Big Apple dwellers had created. During the era of army fatigues, North face bubble coats, and timberland boot nicknamed after meals found on a Chinese carryout menu, having a hot new mixtape in your possession was equivalent to having the best bidwist hand at you auntie’s summertime barbeque. You were the MAN. It solidified your connection to the birthplace of the culture. It made you current and up to date (regardless of the fact that the tape may have been months old). Doo wop, Ron G., Green Lantern, but the most sought after tape came from the professional himself, DJ Clue. When I brought tapes back from visits with my grandmother in Spanish Harlem, they were accompanied by a narrative about me walking the rugged street alone and haggling with venders.

My friends were so excited to hear exclusive tracks from our favorite artists, of course laden with Clue’s screams. It was an opportunity for them to get a mental picture of streets they would never visits. Between the laughter and arguments over which 58 58

emcee ripped his verse the hardest, the tapes always seem to go by faster than a New York minute.

Though I was not from New York, I was still from the east coast. The sonic boom from the New York hiphop culture drowned out anything else that may have been happening in other parts of the culture. However, Houston hip hop fans clamored for their own tapes that moved at a pace that was more conducive to southern drawls, ‘fo’s swangin’, and codeine intoxication. Enter the late DJ Screw.

His 1996 album 3 in the Mornin Pt. 2 and his countless mixtapes make one feel like they are dizzy and nodding after having one too many.

Screw and Clue’s mixtapes are cultural products by which people around the country and world experience a segment of urban American hip-hop culture.

For the folk far below the MasonDixon, Screw tapes informed them of the latest slang and big city ghetto swagger, much like Clue tapes had suburban soccer mom progeny claiming to be “dunns and kickos.” Many outside of the listening range of Screw tapes have only just become aware of codeine as a recreational drug. However, the

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Screwed Up Click was primarily a Southside Houston endeavor, while Clue’s tapes featured artists from all over the tri-state area. Unlike DJ Screw, he did not have a core group of rapper he worked with until late in his career. In this sense, Screw followed the more tradition hip-hop model of a DJ being the leader of a crew of emcees, reminiscent of DJ Kool Herc and the Herculoids. 3 in the Mornin and DJ Clue’s Rockafella Records debut The Professional, of course, have stark contrasts.

Clue has traditional up-tempo New York rap including “Ruff Ryder Anthem (remix)” and Mobb Deep and Big Nod’s “The Professional”, which features both crews at there respective bests.

The reggae influenced production on Jay-Z and Ja Rule’s “Gangsta Shit” reflects the cultural melt pot of found on New York City streets.

Screw’s music often reflect the car and drug culture of Houston, Texas and the surrounding areas. Were it no for the slow pace on Big Moe’s “Sippin Codine”, it could have a been a commercial song. However, it is clear that wide spread commercial viability was not the objective of a Screw tape, which separates from a DJ Clue’s endeavors, especially the later

projects. “Pimpin tha Pen” features a young Lil KeKe, making the now famous statement “I’m draped up and tripped out/ Know what I’m talking ‘bout?” that was recently used as the base for Bun B’s single entitled “Draped Up.” After listening to an old screw tape you almost feel like the screwed and chopped music we got from Swisha House a few years back was watered down, basically the Christina Aguilera to DJ Screw’s Whitney Houston.

Being a Spanish Harlem born, Maryland bred brother; I was not cultured in an environment where Screw music was commonly played.

However I have learned something about the Southside of Houston through listening to Screw tapes as an adult. They served as cultural artifacts by which one could trace the development of Houston hiphop. I recognize that there had to be something native to Houston, Texas, the relaxed southern drawl and oppressively hot sun that made Screw’s music unique to that particular area. However, mixtapes are a vehicle that drives one to new locations. “Sailin Da South” takes a recognizable Roy Ayers sample and converts it into an esoteric collage of sound. At times it feels like BOOTLEG THIS THIS JOURNAL JOURNAL BOOTLEG

several beats on top of one another.

The drums are more prominent in the mix with a heavy hitting snare.

The title “Sailin Da South” is fitting.

A Screw tape was hazy ride through the streets of Southside Houston, Texas.

Screw and Clue are equals in that each locked down his respective market both below and above the commercial radar. One could argue that Screw was more innovative in that he created a new genre of mixtape and song structure. He manipulated the turntables, as opposed to Clue who primarily sought to broadcast exclusives. Clue, however, meant more to the commercial rap scene, as his The Professional series produced several radio hits and underground anthems. The beauty of the comparison of these two mixtape icons is that hip-hop can be culturally specific and localized. It is further evidence that the hip-hop community is one that is comprised of innovators, not imitators.

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By: Gary Warnett

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mage is everything. Pen & Pixel’s dominance on shelves in the late 90’s harks back to a time when Southern rap was still taboo - a baffling cottage (mansion?) industry that swerved away from the bookshop owning Muslim MCs or canary yellow Uptowns and shiny suits. Somehow tied in, yet operating like a rogue agent, from the burgeoning Bentley

defeated the object - to make Magnolia Projects like the damn Taj Mahal is an achievement, while treating it with a solemn, scholarly approach would be ludicrous. At the exact point when national newspapers were championing the profit potential of hip-hop, there was still a sub-genre that could unite parents, old schoolers and head nodders in the opinion that

renderings of street dreams, in which gutter and glamour merged. The logical step from the madness of those Pedro Bell Funkadelic artworks, or a hand-painted Sun Ra LP, forget Joe Cool’s atrocious Snoop artwork - the deranged kennel fantasy that opened his short-lived No Limit stint was arguably better - this followed a rich lineage of ghetto eccentricity.

and Jacob jewels East Coasters - bear in mind B.G. coined the term bling. Like a rap snob food chain, Jansport wielders could scowl at Harlem World who in turn could chuckle at their country cousins behind their backs. In the rise of indie vinyl a mere razor logo and Staple or Rollins layout could assert identity - for major labels, a moody photo with a Cey Adams rehaul - and for the new breed of entrepreneurs signing heavy distro deals with the big guns? The sky was the limit.

this wasn’t music. Just in case things had gotten a little too safe, Pen & Pixel provided an aesthetic that united the new surge of Southern hip-hop.

The importance of Pen & Pixel is reninforced by satirical takes on the style on promant East Coast releases.

Artwork from Beatnuts, Dr Dooom and A-Trak projects (Sean P is omitted from this - that mixtape cover was both funny and timely) missed the point. Willful laughs couldn’t touch the congested lunacy of Soulja Slim’s ‘Give It To ‘Em Raw’ or that perennial favorite, Big Bear’s ‘Doin Thangs’ - its nice to imagine that Bear was poker faced when he commissioned that masterpiece. Whereas ODB and Kool Keith, the former a drunken master and the latter super-scientifical style master, played up to their court jester roles, much like that other genius, turned comedian, Lee Perry, the characters lifted from photographs

By the time Juve infiltrated your speakers on Jay-Z’s ‘Snoopy Track’, or BGeezy dropped by to baffle on ‘H.N.I.C.’ (“Yo! This doesn’t rhyme!

THIS ISN’T HIP-HOP!”) the battle was won. To approach with irony 60

8-Ball & MJG’s bizarre looking ‘Coming Out Hard’ with its awkward, artificial landscape and background, set the scene for Pen & Pixel. It unleashed an imitative habit that stuck for Percy Miller. Browsing through the now-defunct 4080 magazine, a heavily altered street scene, portraying the Ice Cream Man in action was as startling as any earlier beat-led shocks to the system. And as the Source continued a perfect-bound tumble from credibility, must-browse status was reinforced by the peppering of Pen & Pixel’s technicolor fantasies - heavy handed WORDS.BEATS.LIFE

and placed in diamond encrusted churches were apparently, as serious as cancer.

The reggae references don’t end there.

Like the dub vendors and studios recording and pressing a release in days, Pen & Pixel’s rapid artwork turnaround with a near-democratic approach, where a tiered package

approach meant everyone could have a piece of the digitally rendered pie.

The true ballers could go for broke.

And if ‘where are they now?’ tales are to be believed, studio gangsters were in the minority. Like Mannie Fresh’s alleged house-music past drifting into those 808s, there’s a madness that borders on camp in this imagery. The lo-fi matter-of-fact Rap-A-Lot house style, bare bones, but effective that James Prince initially peddled got the job done, but this new bombast from the South’s new moguls was the next level.

You might not remember a single chorus, but Pen & Pixel images struck a chord. Mercedes’ funk in the trunk remains etched in the retina,

much like caucasian sensation White Dawg’s optimistic mansion, festooned with platinum platters or Silkk Tha Shocker charging it to the game in hood 3D. Consider those minutes of fame accorded to the likes of Mr Serv-On, Kane & Abel, Trinity Garden Cartel or the Jump Out Boyz.

Recognition far beyond their block.

Vegas, the Bay and New Orleans going

the last bastion of distinction against the po-faced, self parodying screwfaces that rendered the shelves beige with the same old same. The solution? Take it further than the next man. Cognac swilling wildebeest? Done. Half man, half monster? Not a problem.

Oneupmanship. These images weren’t for vinyl consumption - without twelve inches plus of cardboard to fill, you’ve

all world, transported by those onepage spots with matter-of-fact listings of label roster guest spots. Looking at more recent output, Mr Stinky’ s ‘Everything Dead’ summed it up - that and the tired digital fonts, plus nuclear explosions that make Cro-Mags’ ‘Age Of Quarrel’ artwork look like ‘Houses Of The Holy’ by comparison. It was good while it lasted, and according to rumor, AKA Studios is the new jumpoff if you want to shine on your debut.

Apparently it houses a few ex-Pen & Pixellers.

got to get to holler a little louder to be heard behind that plastic screen.

Kicking digital media is both counterproductive, and as the new DJ Drama blares from these tinny MacBook speakers, hypocritical, but Pen & Pixel’s lurid masterworks were BOOTLEG THIS JOURNAL

Forget the four elements cliche mumbled by any unsigned MC still cyphering and still deeming themselves a contender. Pen & Pixel graphics are lurid, unforgettable and frequently hilarious - mad flights of fancy, where anything goes. Busy Bee’s giant ‘B’ from dollars, orgy and the near sawnoff jack move that preceded given the THX, CGI and DVD treatment. Wild Style’s true 15th anniversary digital remaster. Now that’s hip-hop.

Contact Pen and Pixel at :

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ART UNDER PRESSURE

By: Cory L. Stowers

1979

was a turbulent year, a fitting end to a decade that saw the birth of Hip-Hop and the death of Elvis.

Yet before the 80s could begin, the 70s had one last card to play. The Shah of Iran, a longtime friend of the United States, began to feel pressure from a grassroots organization of Muslim religious leaders.

For years, the Shah had curtailed to American interest, allowing U.S. investment interest to access Iranian oil markets. The exploitation of Iranian resources and the importation of Western values angered the religious leadership.

Caught in the mix of it all was 10-year-old Babak Alirezai.

Born in Tehran, Babak’s father was an importer of American goods into Iran.

Through audio cassette tapes the Ayatollah Khomeini sent harsh messages to the people of Iran urging them to remove the Pro-West regime.

Sensing an impending clash, Babak’s father saw to the swift removal of his family from what he believed was certain danger. Later that year, Babak and his family settled in Arlington, Virginia, a growing suburb outside of Washington, D.C..

Within months of their relocation, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was attacked, and U.S. citizens were taken hostage in an ordeal that would drag out for almost two years and 62

end diplomatic relations between the nations for almost a quarter century.

Babak spoke little English when he arrived, so his family immediately enrolled him in E.S.L. classes to help him learn. That education, however, would become secondary to the linguistic lesson that Babak would receive when he heard Rappers Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang in early 1980, and although he could not understand the meaning of all the words, he could recite the lyrics by heart within just a few listens.

From that moment forward, Babak was fluent. In 1982, he went to the movie theater to see Wild Style, the feature film

by Charlie Ahern which introduced the world to a New York City cultural ph e n om e n a dubbed “Hip-Hop”. Connecting with the movie’s message of a new form of art, dance, and music created by kids, Babak and his friends began b-boying and writing graffiti. It was then that Babak took the name OSO FRESH. Living and breathing New York youth culture while simultaneously residing in a Northern Virginia suburb was hard work! In the decade and a half that preceded the downloadable lifestyle, small pockets of Hip-Hoppers dotted the map of the United States.

WORDS.BEATS.LIFE

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Bumrush the Boards

A Strategic Approach to Education

By Mazi A. E. Mutafa Bum Rush the Boards was created by the staff of Words Beats & Life in order to promote “strategic struggle” to the next generation of hip-hop. For the past three years, the staff of WBL has hosted “Bum Rush the Boards: Hip-hop Chess Tournament” in order to showcase our chess students and the chess students of similar culture-based programs from throughout the Washington DC Metropolitan area and beyond. The name of our event was inspired by Public Enemy’s album Yo! Bum Rush the Show, released January 1st 1987. This year, the tournament took place on May 17th and was sponsored by Scion and Comcast.

For the creators of Bum Rush the Boards, there is a logical connection between chess and hip-hop. Hip-hop culture, like chess, is highly competitive. It is filled with opportunities to battle and compete to win over crowds, crews, and sponsors. By connecting hip-hop to chess, we have created a chess tournament that exposes youth to a culture (hip-hop) and a science (chess) that requires them to think ahead, manage their talent, and size up their adversary.

Bum Rush the Boards does more than bring hip-hop artists together to play chess; it has gone to the next step and created a uniquely hip-hop chess event. This includes the official Bum Rush the Boards mixtape, a collection of chess and strategy-based songs and interviews. It also includes gallery of images of famous leaders from throughout history called the hall of strategic strugglers. It includes a “Remix Room,” featuring “remixed” versions of traditional chess games.

Those remixed games included “B.O.B”. B.O.B. (b.k.a. atomic chess) is an acronym for “Bombs Over Baghdad.”

This popular song by hip-hop’s supergroup Outkast was released in 2000 on their multi-platinum album Stankonia. B.O.B highlights the value in thinking before you threaten or even attack because a wrong move can cause more casualties. While the other chess rules apply fully, all captures result in an atomic explosion. This means that the surrounding pieces—not including pawns—will be taken off the board as well.

In the spirit of the remix room, the staff of the WBL Journal have chose to create a new section called “Bumrush the Boards” highlighting the connection between chess, strategy and hip-hop. The creation of this section of the journal reflects the overall commitment of Words Beats & Life to promoting the idea of strategic struggle, chess and hip-hop.

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JAZ-O’s FORK

By Lester Wallace

In 2002, two titans of the rap game faced-off in an offensive match of wit and wordplay played out on wax. Jonathan “Jaz-O” Burks released a track entitled Ova in which he verbally attacked longtime friend, and former protégé, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. Jay-Z, along with fellow Roc-A-Fella Records artists Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Young Chris, and Geda K, countered with a freestyle assault whereby they each took turns lashing out at the lone Brooklyn MC. Without the aid of a posse to fall back upon, it appeared as if Jaz-O was outnumbered. But on the contrary, his opponents underestimated how skilled and experienced he was in the game. Jaz-O retaliated with a fierce freestyle track upon which he single-handedly called out each one of his adversaries, addressed the comments they made about him, and displayed his lyrical superiority over them all. Since then, all Jaz-O ‘diss’ records featuring members of Roc-A-Fella records (with the exception of Jay-Z) have fallen on deaf ears.

Advantage: Jaz-O.

Much like the Jaz-O/Jay-Z emcee battle, the game of Chess involves a series of attacks and counter attacks in attempts to gain an advantage over one‘s opponent. One type of attack that usually results in a player gaining advantage over their opponent is known as a fork. A fork occurs when one piece moves in position to attack two or more of the opponent’s pieces simultaneously. A perfect example of this is the Jaz-O freestyle in which he alone attacked five members of the Roc-A-Fella camp in one song. Now let’s examine this same concept on the chessboard below.

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