C. Hannibal buildings, cultural history, visually speaking

Ground Zero

There´s a very disturbing poetry to Alejandro González Iñárritu´s short from the compilation for September 11. It´s disturbing, but also satisfying for me, because it shows the reality of  the  horror of that day. No sugar added. No cushion.  Just an unforgettable, disturbing horror. I get the same feeling, however minutely, every time I pass by Ground Zero.

I´ll no doubt be doing some heavy thinking on Sept. 11 when I take RW1 this fall.

I wasn´t living on the East Coast when it happened, so I feel some disconnect.

I moved to L.A. in mid June 2001. About three months later, my mother, who was working in Downtown Manhattan, called me, crying, ¨Turn on the T.V., they just crashed a plane into the World Trade Center.¨

What a way to wake me up.  I didn´t believe what was happening, until that second plane hit.  Then I was like,  ¨What should I do?¨ I felt helpless out there, 5 minutes from Disneyland. In my crummy Anaheim apartment.

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C. Hannibal cultural history, music

Moment of truth

News came out Tuesday morning, just in time for the morning drive shows, that Guru died sometime Monday. He was just 43.

Reports say  it was due to complications from cancer — minus the heart attack I blogged about here. But what´s causing a stir for music fans isn´t the prognosis, but the unclear information about Guru’s relationship with his Gang Starr cohorts and a letter he wrote on his deathbed.  Important matters considering this is a guy whose body of work helped shape hip-hop culture in the 1990s.

Being in Gang Starr is part of his legacy, and the legacy of NY/Boston hip-hop.  An odd letter to fans,  allegedly via Guru (one of those, if ¨If I die, make sure they get this¨, type of letters) , just opens up more questions about Guru’s relationship with his new music partner and his former DJ.  Not to mention the shock most fans felt over a death too early. Too soon.

The letter calls Guru the sole creator of Gang Starr, and puts a big X over the name of DJ Premier. This whole thing is dragging Gang Starr´s name through the mud. It´s  a shame. I can only think of Eazy-E and Too Poetic of Gravediggaz, as rappers who´ve died from natural causes, so early in their lives. Without the subsequent drama.

Still, many knew that Guru and Premier had  a fall-out for unknown reasons some years back, when he started a controversial working relationship with hip-hop producer Solar (no relation to the French rapper).

I first learned about this riff back in 2007, when I interviewed Big Shug for thesmokingsection.net. In the interview, he mentions Solar and the rift between the original Gang Starr members.

It could just be internet chatter, but are you and Guru not on the best of terms right now?

Shug: Basically, Guru, man…he stepped off to do his own thing about three years ago. So me and Premier continue to represent for Gang Starr Foundation, what have you, and everything that sprouts from it. Like, Premiere has year-round records at Headquarters studio and I have Team Shug and some other various projects. We haven’t spoken to Guru in about three years, but that’s by his choice and he’s doing his new thing with his new producer. His name is like Suna Son, Solar or something.

So officially, Gang Starr doesn’t consist of Guru anymore?

Shug: I mean, it’s not functioning right now. Gang Starr will always be known as Guru and Premier, but they not together right now. I don’t know if they’ll ever be together again, but you can never rule things out. He’s just out there doing his new project with his producer named Clown Solar or something. I don’t know. He doing some clown shit.

You directing any lyrics at Guru on the new album.

Shug: It depends. On “Just Don’t Stop” I’m more or less talking about where cats is at with the music and how they sound better with Premier.

When you read the letter, it becomes clear: there was bad blood between Guru and friends.

I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this. I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ. As the sole founder of GangStarr, I am very proud of what GangStarr has meant to the music world and fans. I equally am proud of my Jazzmatazz series and as the father of Hip-Hop/Jazz.

Check out DJ Premier´s weekly mix show on satellite radio. DJ Premier: Live From HeadQCourterz, Friday 10PM to Midnight (ET)

C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture, Racially Speaking, visually speaking

Post-race in the Americas II

POST-RACE IN MEXICO ::

My mission in these posts is not to say that Mexico is a bad place for Black folks. To the contrary, there’s a thriving population here from the Caribbean, Africa and Haiti, among other places.  The presence of these  cultures makes the city a much richer place to be.

But the fetishization of antiquated images of negritude, seems to flourish here. And it leads one to think that certain aspects of Mexican society are resisting progression towards a more inclusive country. Maybe that´s an exaggeration.

Still, that´s just my point of view. Which is obvious, given my background, growing up Black and Latino, code switching in a suburb of Newark, NJ.

And to be fair, those images are similar to these images, which we were nurtured on, while sitting in front of the T.V. in the U.S.  So, the representation of images of Africa and Africans here isn´t too different from our depiction of Native Americans at sporting events.

Above is a picture from Africam Safari (the “m” designating it as a Safari in (M)exico), in Puebla.

It´s been around since 1972.

Although that ¨African¨ mascot and other similarly disturbing (and hilarious) images dominate the park, it´s interesting that little of it is represented in park ads, or on the park´s Web site. Maybe because these images aren´t appropriate in 2010?

Photo gallery after the jump….

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C. Hannibal concerts, cultural history, mexican culture, music, visually speaking

Essence of hip-hop en Estadio Azteca

In many parts of the modern world, graffiti is vilified. Here in Mexico, it´s a respected art form. Often encouraged.

From the renowned muralist culture, to even farther back to its ancient civilizations, communicating through art on walls has always been the way here.

Today, with the support of a paint company and local government agencies, what is essentially a free hip-hop festival will take over Mexico´s  main soccer stadium. A place were people go to worship futbol, for the 3rd year in a row, becomes a place for hip-hop´s faithful.

I went in 2009, and the event was regarded as too commercial by many graf heads. But, it´s one of the rare times in this megalopolis that lovers of rap music get a free open-air concert. ¨Wild Style¨ incarnate, here in Mexico City.

Below, Jezzy P , a rapper from Ecatepec who just dropped a new album     (she´s been putting years of work into her music) will be a featured rapper on Saturday afternoon. About two dozen rappers will perform over the weekend, while graf artists are competing on the walls of the stadium.

It´ll be like a day in the Bronx circa 1979.

Check out the list of scheduled rap performances on Jezzy´s blog.

In addition to Jezzy, highlights include performances by 2Phase,  Skool 77, Ana MC, Van T, T-Killa and Manicomio Clan, also check for ongoing cyphers in the parking lot.

The 3er. Concurso de Graffiti en tu Estadio Azteca 2010, co-sponsored by the Secretary of Public Security, takes place  April 17 and 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mexico City´s Azteca Stadium.

C. Hannibal cultural history

Google Video pick of the week #007

I think the best college paper I ever wrote was for film theory and criticism, and used comedy theory to explain ¨Up in Smoke.¨

Prof. Doherty, who promised to give me an F if I didn´t return the video for my paper topic: ¨Touch of Evil¨ (1958), told me my ¨Smoke¨ paper was publish-able. ¨But you have to make it a little longer,¨ he said, his lips dragging the¨O¨ out like I wrote a 2 page composition.

This week´s pick looks at MJ, not the singer, but the woman. The woman of so many young men´s dreams. The confidante for so many hippies and Rastafarians across the planet. Yes, marijuana.

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C. Hannibal cultural history

Star-Ledger

If there´s no Star-Ledger, then who will cover Newark?


I remember working at a paper on L.I. when a colleague asked me “What’s the paper of record in New Jersey?” He followed the question with a chuckle.

“The Star-Ledger,” I shot back.

That memory came to me last week, after I´d been reading about troubles at the paper over the last couple of years, and a recent buyout that nearly decimated the place.  It was with much sadness that I read the other day that a veteran reporter and photo editor were working in a mail room.  A reward in some ways for all of those years of stress, meeting deadlines and working themselves for the paper… for the business.

Pensions are important and that was probably a good way to make sure they could both retire with something to show for it.

But, still. I worked with the reporter, Jason Jett. I knew him to be a dedicated, serious practitioner of his craft. If I´m not mistaken, he would always bring copies of the Village Voice into work for everyone (it´s hard to get the Voice across the bridge).  No reason he had to go out like that. But I understand.

To be honest, I never was a huge fan of the Ledger. Not really made with an eye on my generation. Plus, for a quick train ride I could go grab the New York Times. That´s not to belittle the work and talent at the Ledger, nor the writers it´s reared.

I grew  up with a piece of my childhood attached to South 18th Street in the city of Newark, where my grandmother, grandfather, aunts and uncles would take care of me when my parents needed a break. Or were out working extra shifts. I care about the place.

New Jersey needs a strong paper of record. People to monitor corruption (there´s a lot). Governors who get caught. Governors, period. Immigration. And the ever-growing gang problem. But most importantly, someone to be the paper of record for the “Jersey Shore.” Ha. No, I´m serious.

There are plenty of smaller papers in Jerz that are worthy. Such as my more local daily, the Home News Tribune (which produced this U.S./Mexico border reporter) and the Asbury Park Press (which produced this writer, who covers L.A.´s celebrity machine).

The Ledger was my first newspaper internship. My first and coolest summer job ever.

It taught me a ton about the paper business and the things I didn´t want to cover.  I wasn’t a big fan of riding around Newark, quizzing people on street and in the projects about shootings. Exciting when an editor gives you an assignment , but a whole other story when you get there. All square reporter, and people are asking you how you got into your line of work, saying they didn´t see anything.

But Newark is worthy of close coverage. It´s a town with a deep and rich American history,  and home to one of the great urban riots of world history.

It would be a shame if profits, or the inability to change with the times kept the greatest city in the State of New Jersey to be without a paper, or worse.

Photo of Newark riots by AP, from NY Times story. (via)

C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture, music, Racially Speaking

Post-race in the Americas

In the week before Obama won his presidency, this guy on a Mexico City roof, above, thought up a great costume for a Day of the Dead party. There were only a handful of people who gave this get-up any pause.

There are a lot of complicated reasons, which I hope to explore throughout various blog posts, why many intelligent people in this country don’t see anything wrong with blackface, or deny racism exists here. As a person whose mother is from South America, and father from Prince Street in Newark, I’m always interested in how Black Latinos view themselves in the context of Spanish-speaking culture, and how those cultures in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Spain, view people who are Black.

This 2005 piece from the Boston Review, raises the race issue, starting with the Vicente Fox speech that said Mexicans grind doing the types of work not even Black folks want to do. That, along with the federal government nearly making a postal stamp with this character’s mug on it, brought international attention to Mexico’s apparent culture of racism (which really isn’t that different from what still exists in the U.S., we just hide it way better).

“Criticism of race relations and racism in Brazil, Mexico, the Andes, the Caribbean, and Central America has developed as a natural extension of multiculturalism and identity politics in the United States, and many studies describe persistent racial inequalities masked by the idea of racial democracy.

This criticism and research has, in turn, fed discussions of race in Latin America, albeit in an attenuated manner: Brazil has had its own proponents of “black power,” and racism against Indians has become a theme in Mexican social movements.

Because these challenges are difficult to reconcile with Mexico’s 80-year-old ideology of national integration, they are often downplayed in public debate—as if Mexican racism had long been taken care of, and as if whatever remains of it were somehow less harmful because things are worse in the United States.”

Check out more on the topic, here.

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C. Hannibal cultural history, music

Sublime visions of LBC

I’ve lived in Long Beach, California on a couple of occasions. Once in 2002, and again, from 2006 to 2007.

When you mention Long Beach, people always want to mention Snoop. But I think you have to look outside of hip-hop (and the Rivera family) to really find some of the best music that Long Beach produced; Sublime.  A recent roadtrip and a random mixtape reminded me how great a band they were. Check out a discography, here.

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C. Hannibal cinema culture, cultural history, mexican culture, visually speaking

Google Video pick of the week #006

——

La Señora Muerte (1967), is a couture horror flick. It was one of several pictures prolific B-movie director Jaime Salvador made with Luis Enrique Vergara at his Filmica Vergara CineComisiones production banner in Mexico.

This film opens with Marlene’s lover dying after sexing her. While being stricken, he asks for the shady Dr. Farell, an evil mad scientist-like character played by this guy’s dad.  Farell wickedly tells Marlene that he needs fresh blood to revive  her – much older – lover. Of course, to make things even more interesting, the blood has to come from young, fashion-forward women.

The film, while cheesy as hell (check out the mad scientists computer), features some fancy houses in what could be Polanco, and a wardrobe by Mexico’s foremost designer of the 60’s and 70s, Pedro Loredo. It works for the film since Marlene, an eventual killer and the woman of the flick’s title, is a fashion designer.

Her costuming— I presume is also by Loredo, in the credits his billing goes: “Desfile de modas/ diseños de Pedro Loredo/ creador de la moda mexicana.”

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C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture

Wrestling the Maguey

A couple of wrestling matches, pulque and a gentle Sunday sun can make for a special cap-off to a weekend. Always down for an escape from the smog of the city,  we tripped up to the mountain in the south called Ajusco.

What led me on that journey was Niña Rap. I saw her the night before along with El Abogado and his Mano Armada Crew, and wanted to check them out again.  They were scheduled to perform at a mini music festival on the grounds of a pulqueria called La Frontera. It´s right across the Picacho-Ajusto freeway from the Gotcha compound.

Here´s  a slideshow of photos from the day I uploaded to Youtube.

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