This is my music video for “Red States,” off of Guante and Big Cats’ debut LP, An Unwelcome Guest It features footage from their release show at the Bedlam in December, as well as some footage I shot at a band rehearsal a few weeks beforehand.
You can purchase the record at most good record stores in the Twin Cities or on iTunes.
Rather than picking the best albums or best concerts of the year, I decided to take a more personal approach to the “Top 10″ ritual. Below are 10 of the best moments that I experienced in hip-hop over the past year, organized chronologically rather than by quality. I’m honored to have been part of so many of these events, and big ups to those artists and fans who made them possible.
1. Somali hip-hop on New Year’s Eve (12/31-1/1)
Last New Year’s Eve, hundreds of Somali youth packed one of the Minneapolis Convention Center’s Ballrooms. I filmed the show, since a number of the performers that night were Somali hip-hop artists that I wanted to interview for my project on immigrant and refugee hip-hop here in Minnesota. As they danced in 2009 amidst swirling lights and thumping beats, I realized that the night encapsulated much about the life experiences of Somali diasporic youth. There were performers from Minneapolis (Dem Supa Staz) Rochester (Kay), Seattle, (Mo-Man) and even as far away as London (Aar Mantaa), places that have all developed substantial Somali populations both before and since the Civil War. Some women had their heads covered, others were uncovered and dressed to fit any downtown Minneapolis nightclub. As I walked through the ballroom, snippets of both Somali and English conversation struggled to be heard over the sounds of Lil’ Wayne and T.I. And, unfortunately, the substantial security presence attested to the fear and suspicion that surrounds so many Somali youth, both here in Minnesota and beyond.
2. Hip-Hop Against Homophobia (1/23, 6/13, 6/14, and 6/27)
A few weeks later was the first “Hip-Hop Against Homophobia” event, held at the Nomad in Cedar-Riverside on one of the coldest nights of the year. For most folks, hip-hop and queer politics are polar opposites; the organizers of Hip-Hop Against Homophobia wanted to show not only that this ain’t true, but what can happen when organizers from both hip-hop and queer rights circles come together. Instead of an adversary, they discover a new partner in the fight against the underlying inequalities that hurt so many people, regardless of who they sleep with. Despite the sub-zero cold outside, the Nomad was absolutely jammed, surpassing any of the organizers’ expectations. The venue even had to be locked so that no one else could get in. This was just the beginning, as the organizers held two more concerts in June, as well as a discussion event about organizing around queer rights in and through hip-hop.
3. University of California Berkeley Hip-Hop Conference (4/17-4/18)
Anybody who has spent time with me knows that I have a very vexed relationship with the “academic” study of hip-hop, even though that’s what I’m doing in the end. I’m made uncomfortable by ideas that hip-hop somehow “needs” academic attention to become respectable or meaningful. I was excited to meet and chop it up with like-minded folks at the Berkeley Hip-Hop Studies conference in April. Many of the papers showed the role—and power—that scholars working within univeristy and academic settings can bring to discusisons of hip-hop, while at the same time not dominating the conversation in a way that takes it beyond those artists and fans who make and listen to hip-hop. Shout outs to Popmaster Fabel, H. Samy Alim, Davey D, Kendra Salois, Dawn-Elissa Fischer, d. Sabela Grimes, and the whole Berkeley crew for putting on an inspiring weekend.
4. Presentation at Sheridan Middle School (4/27)
In April, I was contacted by Summer Dien, who works at Sheridan Middle School in Minneapolis, to give a short presentation about my work with immigrant and refugee hip-hop to 6th and 7th graders at the school. They were mostly Hmong, except for two Ukrainian girls. We discussed the basics of the elements of hip-hop as I played some songs and video for them. The kids really dug it, asking a lot of great questions and sharing their own experiences with hip-hop. In what has to be one of my favorite moments of this or any year, all of the students sent me hand-made thank you cards a few weeks later.
5. Last Dinkytowner Show (5/30/09)
On May 30, the Dinkytowner held its last show before closing its doors forever due to massive debt. I’ve been to many shows at the Dinkytowner and there wasn’t any venue quite like it in the Twin Cities. It really seemed like it was its own little world down there in the basement, across the street from one of the previous landmarks of Twin Cities hip-hop, Bon Appetit. Unsurprisingly, the Dinky was jammed, hot, smelly, and it sounded as good (and bad), as ever. I made a little video about it, and thanks to everybody who shared their memories with me.
6. Maria Isa Street Politics Release Show (6/5)
Maria Isa celebrated the release of her fantastic sophomore LP, Street Politics, at First Avenue’s Mainroom. It was great to see a Twin Cities hip-hop artist other than a Rhymesayer rock that stage to a packed house, and Maria and her live band killed it. Along with a who’s who of openers, including I Self Devine, Dance Band, Muja Messiah, and Mayda, Maria and her full band put on an incredible performance that had everyone in the house movin’.
7. Boom Bap Village (7/2-7/3)
Every July 4th in St. Paul, Hmong from around the country and around the world come together for the annual sports tournaments. In addition to the sports, though, there’s a large vendor area where many Hmong artists sell their latest music and videos. For MCs, DJs, and b-boys/b-girls, however, this tournament has traditionally not been a space where hip-hop is welcomed with open arms. Because of this, Tou SaiKo Lee and a number of others organized “Boom Bap Village,” a 2-day hip-hop event held in St. Paul that gave Hmong hip-hop artists from around the country a space to perform. There were MC battles, poppin’ battles, b-boy battles, and performances from artists like Tou SaiKo, Plucky Xiong, Duce Khan, Tsis K, the Blackbird Elements, and DJ Nak. Boom Bap Village showed not only the many talented Hmong hip-hop artists out there, but also that these artists and their fans can dispel people’s expectations and assumptions by coming together in a peaceful, constructive way through hip-hop.
8. K’naan at the Fine Line (7/7)
If you don’t know who K’naan is, you should. He’s a Somali-born MC who fled the country after the Civil War erupted. He lived in Minneapolis for a short time before moving to Toronto. His Minneapolis performances, then, are always sort of a homecoming for him. Backed by a full band, K’naan’s set at the Fine Line was no exception, as Somalis in the crowd waved flags and screamed along with his every word. The best moment of the concert, one that had many n the audience in tears, was his largely acoustic performance of “Somalia,” a version that predates the one recorded for Trobadour.
9. Up In Arms concert for Fong Lee (10/3)
On July 22, 2006, Fong Lee, a 19-year old Hmong man, was killed by then Minneapolis police officer Jason Anderson. His family has since sued the Minneapolis Police Department, but a judge ruled against them. On October 3rd, artists and activists gathered at Macalester College in a sign of remembrace, protest and, solidarity. The list of artists was staggering: e.g. bailey, Sha Cage, Guante, Maria Isa, Poetic Assassins, Michelle Myers, Bao Phi, Tish Jones, Magnetic North, Nomi, PosNoSys, and others all joined a chorus demanding for justice. As I looked over the crowd, the show brought home more than any other point in my life the power of hip-hop and poetry to unite people of different backgrounds in the stuggle for justice, and that those differences that usually serve to divide people can’t stop people from coming together.
10. Going over lyrics with M.anifest (October 15)
An artist I’ve worked with a lot over the past two years is M.anifest, having filmed a number of his shows and written a couple different pieces on his music. We met in October so we could go over the lyrics of his debut record, Manifestations. Some of the lyrics I needed help with were in Twi, while others were English words I just couldn’t make out. Transcription and translation quickly turned to storytelling, however, as ‘Fest talked about the creative process of these songs, the circumstances behind recording the songs, and how he’s changed as an artist in just a few short years. Currently, I’m transcribing The Birds and the Beats, and looking forward to another session.
BONUS TRACK: B-Girl Be 2009 (9/19)
Although a family emergency made it impossible for me to attend, I have to mention B-Girl Be here, as the organizers perservered through the recession and ressurected the celebrated hip-hop event. Encompassing dance performances, youth education, and a block party, the event—much in the same way as “Up in Arms”—worked to foster collaboration throughout the different elements of hip-hop. The brilliantly painted exterior of Intermedia Arts is only one product of a conversation that continues to cross both social and geographic lines, an example, like so many of the events on this list, of hip-hop being so much more than people think it is.
No doubt 2009 was a rough year for lots of folks. Way too many people leaving us too soon, 2009 couldn’t leave soon enough. But there was also so much positivity, building, and perseverance in the face of adversity, conditions that could’ve easily led to apathy, despair, and resignation. No year can be perfect, and I’m not expecting anything less than a confusing, aggravating, exhilarating, and sometimes bewildering mix of highs and lows in 2010.
Keep keep on.
My review of the debut record from Guante and Big Cats, An Unwelcome Guest, is over at the Twin Cities Daily Planet. Check it out, but more importantly, check out the record and the show this coming Saturday. More info can be found here.
Here’s a bit of the review:
Part Cormac McCarthy, part Woody Guthrie, and part Public Enemy, An Unwelcome Guest is an intricately woven poetic and sonic excursion through landscapes mental, emotional, and physical, cementing Guante and Big Cats!’s status as two of the best emerging artists within Twin Cities hip-hop.
It’s a strong statement to Franz Diego’s character, both as an MC and as a person, that the first words you hear on his debut full-length are about other folks. “This one goes to all the people who helped me who/ nurtured my growth and kept me so healthy,” he speaks on the album’s opening song, “Quest for Self.” The South-Side reppin, boombox-carryin’, dookie-rope rockin’ MC, who prides himself not just on his own skills, but on a dedication to communities both within and beyond hip-hop.
Franz’s words are a mix of swagger (“Nokomis Kid” and “Par Le Vu FranzD” “ vulnerability (“Quest for Self,” “Cloudy Day,” “Father Song) and lady-lovin’ (“Pretty,” “MVD,” “Discipline,” and “Grenadine,” and righteous fire aimed at all the right targets (“Move On, “Pearly Whites,” and “Duel Citizen”).
While the whole album is a testament to Franz’s rhymin’ versatility, it’s this last group of songs on the album that really makes it, and its creator, stand out. Burnished with an alley-wailin’ noir saxophone, “Move On” views the difficulty, yet necessity, of living consciously in the face of people who could care less. “Times gettin’ rough,” he says, “but we treat it like it’s casual.”
The target of “Pearly Whites” is a similar one, as a plodding, almost herd-like beat [undergirds] Franz’s derision of those who exchange thoughts of speakin’ truth to power “for the almighty dollar,” politicians and non-politicians alike who live only to “Shake a hand, shake a hand/Show them pearly whites.” Closing repetitions of “spend money” of “keep smilin’” offer a satirically grim coda.
Finally, a dope semantic flip of Slick Rick’s line from “I Own America” becomes the heart of “Duel Citizen,” a ferocious critique of xenophobia and anti-immigrant hysteria. While Ruler’s talkin’ about his own deportation when he says “Even if I got deported/I own America,” Franz and producer FireLikeWater refunction his words to stress not that immigrants, refugees, and indigenous need “room” made for them, but that such superficial attempts at change and integration only mask, and hence perpetuate, devastating social inequities. In the end, Franz demands that his listeners “open your eyes right now and start witnessin’” because, without all of the immigrants, refugees, and indigenous folks living in artificial borders, “this country wouldn’t be shit.”
Franz’s extensive work as a community organizer in and through hip-hop, both on his own and with groups like Yo! The Movement, make these words much more powerful than the usual MC political posturing
All that being said, “Nokomis Kid” is definitely one of the album’s best songs even without rabble-rousin’. Jaunty piano and bass syncopations provide the basis of Franz’s audible documentary of growing up in one Twin Cities neighborhood I’ve never heard rapped about on record. With its spoken interludes fluidly blending into the verses—from tagging to dog bakeries to what would eventually become Ill 3’s Bedroom Studios—the song should go down with “Twin Cities Rap,” “The Shh Song,” “Ice Cold,” “Always Coming Home Back to You,” and “No Coast” as one of the best rap songs about the Twin Cities by somebody from the Twin Cities. While Franz would no doubt be humbled by such a statement, there shouldn’t be any disagreement.
On this 8th anniversary of the events of 9/11, e.g. bailey has crafted “Twin Towers (Dreams of Possible Tomorrows),” an eloquent statement that both captures the emotions and experiences of 9/11 as well as how to respond and remember them.
The piece opens with singer, guitarist and fellow TrúRúts artist Chastity Brown. She delivers the first part of bailey’s poem, a collage of observations that sound like fragments of a broken news report, the frame through which many saw the events of 9/11.
No death today
No war
No justice comin’ down
Reports say peace is on the way
Yet this news report flips the usual broadcasts of death and destruction associated with 9/11, setting the stage for a poem that looks forward to something greater, something better than images of smoking towers. Brown’s dirge-like intonations of “And I watched the buildings crumble,” however, delivered with a voice that itself sounds ash-choked, leads into the body of the poem and takes the listener back to 2001.
bailey does well to navigate the over-loaded and hyper-emotional associations with 9/11, be it jingoistic drum rolls of war, uncritical celebrations and memorializations a la “Patriot Day,” or reactionary conspiracy theories. Instead, he focuses on the bewildering experience of that day, bodies and towers falling from the Manhattan sky. He wonders “whose truth to trust” as the poem’s narrator goes “stumbling through the fog” (one of more than just ash, smoke, and debris), while children and lovers suddenly find themselves alone.
The other theme of “Twin Towers” is how to remember these events, be it 8 or 80 years afterwards. bailey calls for unity, a familiar theme of course in 9/11 responses, but his has a critical edge. The unity he calls for is not for a nation to wage war in hopes of short-sighted revenge, but rather a call to humanity, his words moving swiftly from the individuals itself who died in the events 9/11 and, presumably, in America’s response to it, but rather a unity to stop these events from ever happening again without perpetuating violence, “no matter the politics of color or creed.” It is a tone of remembrance that cannot be captured by commemorative “never forget” anniversaries or lapel pins, but rather a remembrance that is as much about actively and peacefully shaping the future as it is about the past.
There are two versions of “Twin Towers,” one with the poem recorded by Twin Cities spoken word godfather J. Otis Powell, the other by bailey himself. While the words are the same, the difference is palpable. Powell’s delivery is deeper, more measured, adding a gravity and weight to the words simply through his bass intonation alone. bailey’s version, while no less meaningful or emotional, is slightly faster, and reflects more the mental state of someone actual experiencing the events, be it in person or through a screen, while Powell’s sounds much more reflective and pondering. Both versions, however, are a powerful testament not only to the past, present, and future of 9/11, but also of bailey’s skill of mobilizing poetry for contemplation, remembrance, and subtle, but no less insistent calls for action.
Peep my latest article, a feature for the Twin Cities Daily Planet about the re-birth of B-Girl Be. With awesome photos by B-Fresh.
Here’s a video I made of the highlights of the Blackbird Elements‘ appaearance on CHAT Radio last month. The hosts said it was the most calls they’ve gotten in a year!
The debut mixtape from the Blackbird Elements, “Saving the Roots,” is out NOW.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been working on a project with The Blackbird Elements, a group coordinated by Tou SaiKo Lee and featuring a number of the best young Hmong MCs the Twin Cities have to offer. Their debut mixtape dropped this week, and here’s a little video I put together for the occassion. Plans are to do a longer video on the group, so watch for much, much more soon.
From the mixtape’s notes:
The Blackbird Elements project is a fresh movement to bring visibility and elevate Hmong MCs that strive to make an impact through Hip-Hop music with words that move, inspire, and connect and “save” elements of Hmong heritage, history, honor hip-hop culture.
The first step for this movement is a Mix CD project that includes at least one song from every MC or MC crew that have met all the requirements of the Blackbird Elements project process.
This CD brings together MCs with the potential to move hip-hop forward by representing genuine experiences of the Hmong people in Minnesota.
For more information, see http://www.myspace.com/blackbirdelements
The good folks over at Minnesota Microphone have a wonderful write-up of the Minneapolis Slam Finals, held last week at Kieran’s, which included four videos that I shot.
Check out my profile I wrote of the multi-discplinary artist e.g. bailey for Mshale, one of the great African newspapers here in the Twin Cities.
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