C. Hannibal buildings, cultural history, mexican culture, music

I Know Huh X Wayneandwax X Postopolis!

Above, Rapper 2Phase on the mic (center), at a January 2010, rap event near Centro.  It was a 7 hour rap show in a hall connected to Cría Cuervos, a punk/goth space. Pictured is the entire concert stage, the bar was off to the right.

For my presentation today, I invited 2Phase and Yoez. More about them during our chat, but I wanted to give a little background on why I chose these two, of the literally hundreds of rappers trying to get their voices heard in D.F.

2Phase was one of the first rappers I saw perform when I got here in the winter of 2008  (Listen to some tracks from his 1st album, here and here.). He was performing in another punk space, El Under, in Colonia Roma. The reason why I picked him is because, first, he speaks English. And, two, he´s not only a rapper, but a producer for Revolver Productions. I felt that he could talk about, not only the rap scene, but also the technical aspects of production and getting product and merch out to the masses.

Yoez is a rapper I heard a lot about, because she was a member of D.F.´s  first all-girl rap group Rimas Femininas. I researched this group for a story that appeared in Latina magazine, but I never got a chance to talk to Yoez. Her work is personal and she´s got a stage presence that can´t be ignored. I´ve seen her destroy crowds at Foro Alicia, usually over some heavy West Coast beat.

*Super shouts to Wayne Marshall for inviting me as a guest.

C. Hannibal mexican culture, visually speaking

Shine in D.F.

¨Elitism is just a fear-based concept. Art belongs to everyone¨

–Wendell McShine (via)

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McShine, who goes by the artistic name “Shine” will be talking about his work at 4p.m. (cdt),  at Postopolis! Check the live feed, here.

As with so many artists, Mexico City is the muse he´ll talk about.  Look at what he said to London Black arts magazine catchavibe.com:

“I love it here – the colours, textures and most definitely the diversity of different indigenous tribes. They all bring that special uniqueness that makes Mexico. My inspiration really is universal, but Mexico is where I feel alive. Everything here is on a higher vibration. It’s as if there’s another dimension unfolding right before our eyes and my work reflects that.”


Wendell McShine is one of the coolest guys I´ve met during my time in Mexico.   It´s rare to make these types of connections in the heart of the capital.

He´s from a part of the world known as the Anglophone Caribbean.

Things are developing fast for the Trini artist. A recent art prize and inclusion into the Upper Playground family, have been small pieces in an artistic rise that he hopes takes him to the Tate gallery.

His Mexico City show closes in 2 days, at the Fifty24Mex gallery in Condesa.

¨A watcher, and a seeker¨, titles one of his main cut-out works in his “Behind the Blue Door” series. You can buy some of his stuff  for around $4,000 to $5,000 pesos.  His works will culminate with a show in San Jose, followed by a final chapter in the trilogy in England. He wants to retire when he´s 45. Or was it 40? Get him while you can folks.

If you´re in D.F. , go see Wendell´s show at the Upper Playground gallery, Fifty24MX.

Amatlan 105, Colonia Condesa, 1pm to 9pm, Friday and Saturday, 52561444

C. Hannibal mexican culture

Along San Pablo, the oldest profession

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I went to San Pablo Avenue near Centro to buy a bike. I didn´t know it was one of four zones in Mexico City where an open air sex market is allowed to thrive. Just so happens it´s also a street lined with dozens of bike repair/sales shops.

Families walk the street looking straight ahead most of the time, ignoring the girls propped up against the walls, or mingling near bus stops—always in site of a bike shop. Many of these women are brought (or forced) from pueblos throughout Mexico to come work the streets of D.F. Cops drive by, maintaining a presence, but doing very little. This isn´t lawlessness, it´s how it works out here.  Nothing on Sunset Boulevard can compare.

On Sundays, it´s an odd site, since the nearby La Merced market gets heavy post-church traffic. I can just imagine how some of the parents explain to curious little ones why those women are dressed like that.  They´re hustlin, man.

My bike, with annoying decals reading ¨Samurai¨along the frame, was only $900 pesos. Best bike I ever bought.  Just the bike.

Cyclo Partes (bicicletas), San Pablo No. 24-B, Col. Merced Balbuena, 55-22-17-47

C. Hannibal buildings, mexican culture, visually speaking

Corrupt edifice

There´s an abandoned 2-story building on the Roma Sur side of Viaducto Miguel Alemán. Too bad I couldn´t climb in, it´s all gated up. Didn´t stop some painters from getting down. The walls were covered with portraits.

This was the front of the building.

This was an athletic facility on the edge of a field in Bosques del Valle. Spent a Saturday afternoon at a band practice across the street.

Continue reading “Corrupt edifice” →

C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture

Tepito Owl

Around this time last year on a Sunday, late summer, I made a trip to Tepito with the homie Mazaki from Japon. Strolling through this legendary, chaotic, historical, and powerful black market, one thing ( in the mountains of sneakers, clothes, DVDs and .99 Store  musthaves) grabbed my eye . The Tepito owl.

There was a young street kid, hustler, with a bird cage strapped around his neck. I disregarded the other exotic birds sitting in the cage as regular parrots, which they probably weren’t. The thing that seemed unreal to me for the first minute, was the miniaturized owl perched on the edge of the cage. No way. I snapped a quick flick with my BlackBerry , slick as can be.

Or so I thought. Photos are prohibited in this (black) market area. About an hour later the same kid walks up to me. Was he tracking me down? I thought he might try to get his Education of Sonny Carson (1974) on, really step on my line. But he basically told me off for taking his picture while he was illegally pushing exotic animals. It was cool to see the baby owl again, though.

I just told him that was a dope owl and it needed its picture taken. He understood, I think. And no one was cut.

Makes me marvel at the market savvy of these Tepito hustlers. I’m thinking they were building off the popularity of Harry Potter. How serious would that be for a kid if her dad brings her home a pet owl, just like the characters in the book?

Well, now you know where to go America.

Continue reading “Tepito Owl” →

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

Google Video pick of the week #011

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In my neighborhood, when the jack hammers and tractors get rolling at 2 a.m. you know they won’t stop until well after 5a.m.  I try to ignore it, just bury my head under my pillow a little deeper, until I muffle all the sound. I’m not too light of a sleeper, but some nights these past two months, it got hard to sleep. Here’s why. And for that, I’m not trippin.

That is to say … I know that sound.

It’s not  just an annoying 10 ton clatter that makes its way up and down Cuauhtémoc Ave. It’s more than that.

It’s the sound of progress. Road infrastructure, public transit, just .38 cents and you’re home.

It’s that Westside extension putting a hole in Beverly Boulevard.  And it’s something like the Metro Rapid in the Valley, except out here you MUST pay to get on.

It’s also the extension of the Metrobús in Mexico City.

Which brings me to this week’s GVP. I picked the documentary, Bogotá: building a sustainable city, not because Brad Pitt narrates it, but because it’s about Bogotá, Colombia. Maternal lands.

You see, Colombia, along with Brazil were the forebearers to the style of bus service called BRT that Mexico has been recently using. It started out as a model of sustainable design, and now is a way of life that’s growing and costing lots of money.  Colombia’s Transmilenio was the first BRT I ever rode on back in 2006, when I visited.

So, check out the video, below, and learn what Bogotá can be like.  I’ll be fighting mucho ruido trying to hold on to at least a few hours of REM sleep. All in the name of progress.

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C. Hannibal mexican culture, visually speaking

Ad sequence: Benicio, the Ice Cream Man

benicio del toro advertising

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Benicio Del Toro´s Magnum campaign kicked off earlier this year. It´s been Mexican bus stop signage since at least April. I kept seeing this ad, and wondering to myself what this means when an actor does these kinds of moves. I can´t imagine an Oscar winner doing this for the U.S. market (Eva Longoria was the Magnum spokesperson just before).

Reminds me that huge stars do ads in Japan for the types of products you´ll never see them shill for in their home market.  What´s the public reaction in Mexico to this ad? I guess the goal is to get people to eat more overly sweet dairy bars. I just hope Benicio knows that Mexico is already one of the countries (along with the U.S.)  where diabetes and obesity are increasing.

basketball ads in mexico

Basketball and football have a lot of fans in Mexico City. Doesn´t compare with soccer or wrestling, however, that´s slowly changing.

Continue reading “Ad sequence: Benicio, the Ice Cream Man” →

C. Hannibal mexican culture, music

Breaking Borders in Neza York

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It’s actually really hard for a young Mexican man to get a visa to visit the U.S. these days. Doesn’t matter if you have a job, or if your parents are decent people. More people who go to the immigration office here get told NO, instead of YES.

But if your 3-man b-boy crew wins the Neza City Breaker’s 25th Anniversary dance-off next weekend, you can get a spot competing in Las Vegas in July. Visa included.

Neza, a part of town that I mention a lot here, is home to B-Boy Manolo and his Neza City Breakers. For reasons that I’m still trying to figure out myself, breaking in Mexico is older than MCing, or rapping.

There’s about a 10 year gap in between the time Mexicans took to backspinning, versus the time they’ve spent making MC tapes and cds. Of course, if I’m wrong, I hope someone will shoot me an email. I’ve talked to a lot of people and signs seem to point to a later start for rhyming on the mic, here.

In interviews, B-Boy Manolo has said it was the exporting of Flashdance (1983) that brought breaking to Mexico City. A key scene featuring the late Frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew, is largely credited with pushing the lifestyle outside of N.Y.

R.S.C‘s Servin Ervin is scheduled to be a judge at the Neza event, set for next Saturday and Sunday.

For a list of whose coming to the anniversary event, which will also feature graffiti workshops and plenty of rappers, check out the flyer after the jump.

Continue reading “Breaking Borders in Neza York” →

C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture, music

San Judas and Reggaeton

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What started out as just wanting to share a mini documentary called “San Juditas…Power!” (2008),  above, turned into an encounter with fan sites, and forums, focused on big-time hate for reggaeton.

*add (5/20): According to the video, the San Judas “cult” is a transnational phenomenon that started in Chicago,  and later made its way to Mexico. As the director tells me, “Es el santo para los ladrones.” He’s the thief’s saint.

I haven’t paid too much attention to the San Judas followers, since moving to Mexico City. But it’s obvious that most of the young people you see on the train, toting their horned Jude statues, and heading for Templo de San Hipólito every 28th day of month, are from the outskirts, and some of the roughest areas of the D.F. metro area.

According to Catholic.org, San Judas Tadeo, or Saint Jude Thaddeus

…is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. Therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and his feast day is October 28.

The anti-reggaeton sentiment, I think, is more classist than anything. The reggaetoneros are viewed as thugs and neardowells, when in fact, most are just young kids among the desperate and needy whom San Judas is supposed to protect. Albeit with airbrushed and rhinestone caps.

One Facebook fan site, is filled with pictures tagged with racist and mean captions and comments.  Odiamos a todos los reggaetoneros ke van a la iglesia de San Judas los 28’s (We hate the reggaeton fans who go to the San Judas church on the 28ths) has over 4,000 fans.

You can see a few of its mocking portraits below, and after the jump. There tends to be special distaste for reggaeton’s doggy dance or perreo that the kids do.

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There’s a last.fm group called “Anti-Reggaeton”.

Below, an undated, partial newspaper clip about the subgroup that makes up so many San Judas followers.

Continue reading “San Judas and Reggaeton” →

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

Machete vs SB1070

I enjoy seeing popular entertainment take a stand against injustice.

Last week, Robert Rodriguez released a mock trailer for his upcoming “Mexploitation” film, Machete, and aimed it directly at the home state of SB1070.

One thing that popped out at me was the Jessica Alba  line near the end:

“We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”

It also struck a chord with a lot of Spanish-language media. And that was perhaps because it sounded like a line from a 2001 Los Tigeres Del Norte song, “Somos Mas Americanos“.

“Yo no cruce la frontera, la frontera me cruzó”

Here are the translated lyrics to the song.

Of course, me…I immediatley thought of  the Malcolm X line:

“We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, the rock was landed on us.”

You can see it below. As you do, think of what’s going on in Arizona, and the plight of poor people who go there for work, for better opportunities; and then think about what SB1070 is trying to do. Reminds you a little of Jim Crow. Doesn’t it?

Here’s the Denzel version (starts at 07:18-07:32)

Shouts to Cypress Hill for cancelling their May 21 show in Tuscon in protest.