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C. Hannibal visually speaking

Oso Machete

As I approach my 100th post (a milestone for me in this blogging game, really), I’ve been brainstorming on a little I Know Huh? banner redesign. This pic takes a little inspiration from the Machete flick I posted about a couple of days ago. Courtesy of my sister, Cali, who lives and works in N.J., and graduated with a degree in toy design from F.I.T.—-where I had the luck of catching Gordon Parks speak at her graduation.

Cali works with paint, D.I.Y crafts, comics and pretty much anything else she comes up with in her room. She had some acrylic on vinyl anime character records displayed at the Hive Gallery in Downtown L.A. a couple of years ago. Contact her or check out her etsy.com sales page see more of her work.

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.

C. Hannibal cultural history, mexican culture, music

Norebangin in Mexico

The sizable Korean community in Mexico City’s Zona Rosa (among other places) wouldn’t be complete without norebangs. These are rooms you rent with a squad of karaoke revelers. The rooms come with mood lighting, multiple microphones, tambourines, rotating disco light, a large karaoke hard drive and a flat screen TV with a mega karaoke remote.

Speakers are studio sized and beer is available for about $40 pesos a pop, with a huge plate of fruit running around $250. Other side dishes at some norebangs in the area offer chicharron de pulpo, which is some kind of fried octapus treat, if you’re into that.

It’s easy to go norebang hopping, if you find yourself spending a weekend in Zona Rosa. I landed in one for a short spell (couldn’t get to my rendition of  “Livin on a Prayer”), London Karaoke, which was run by  a middle aged Korean man with a casual hunting-cap and bubble vest kind of style, named Park Hyo Yong. The price per hour for a norebang runs around $200 pesos, less than 20 bucks in U.S. cash.

For me, my karaoke thrills are best had at a venue with lots of strangers. I’m not into the tiny room thing, although it’s a great place to practice your stuff. Because  if you’ve had the odd experience of being caught up with a group of trilingual karaoke experts who bogard the mic and the karaoke controller, I feel your pain.

London Karaoke, Londres No. 167, 3 Piso, Esquina Florencia, Mexico, D.F., Telephone: 52-07-01-84

C. Hannibal cultural history, music, Racially Speaking, visually speaking

Google Video pick of the week #009

“Beat This: A Hip Hop History” (1984), was a BBC program that debuted the same year as another GV gem, “Beat Street”.

With the same stodgy wikipedia tone as all its other culture docs, this BBC piece takes us to the streets of the BX, then back to Manhattan, to hear the late Malcolm McLaren tell it to a group of B-Boys about how hip hop culture came to him. He goes at around 09:40.

The doc is narrated with the butter smooth tone of Imhotep Gary Byrd, and done up like a live radio broadcast cum history video.

Afrika Bambaata fans can rejoice, too. It’s packed with rare raw footage from the era that really set it off for hip-hop.

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.

Continue reading “Ground Zero” →

C. Hannibal buildings

Brick City

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This is the longest I’ve been in Newark in almost 10 years.  And it occurred to me that there really isn´t a solid iconic image of the city. In the slideshow are pics I´ve taken while cold April showers blanket the Tri-State.

Walking around, I can still feel the gritty desperation that keeps it an empty place after the office workers, hockey fans and students go home. Under the mayoral watch of  the young, Stanford-educated Cory Booker (up for reelection next month), Newark´s experienced a revitalization in many ways. Crime is still an atrocious problem, and this is one of the most dangerous cities on the East Coast.

After living in L.A. for a while, Newark feels like it should be a sister city (but only in appearance, since its population isn´t even half-a-million). Maybe it´s the new light rail system, the  sprawl, or the intense gang situation that reminds me of my West Coast home. I don´t know. But if you took Silver Lake, South L.A. and Watts, and smushed them all together, you would get a dynamic somewhat close to Newark´s.

But not really.

After all, Newark has  its own identity, one of the places George Clinton tagged “‘Chocolate City“. It just takes a little getting used to.

C. Hannibal music

A dose of Brazil

Ask the governor of California what he likes best about Brazil (as seen in the video above) and he might not say the music.

Brazil is famous for so many of its natural wonders. But its music…let´s just say there´s much more to it than baile funk.

Check out this mix of Arthur Verocai productions. He´s had a resurgence in popularity, thanks to music blogs and lovers of bossa nova remixes worldwide.

Stream or download: DJ Nuts Verocai mix (via)

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….

Continue reading “Post-race in the Americas II” →

C. Hannibal cinema culture, concerts, mexican culture, Racially Speaking

Google Video pick of the week #008

This week´s clip comes via one of the greatest comedic writers of his generation, Paul Mooney.  ¨Jesus Is Black¨ (2007), kicks off its first 10 minutes with ruminations on Mexicans and illegal immigration in California. Funny stuff.

Mooney might lean heavy on his use of the ¨N¨ word,  and makes harsh assessments of race in America his calling card. Still, you have to respect him, because he´s an uncompromised comedic force, who hasn´t been made soft by Disney movies and Hollywood contracts.

For the uninitiated, he may be hard to stomach. Sure, he´s racist, but there´s no denying some of the stinging truths in his work.

You can find  tons of video of Mooney´s work online. From his earlier days writing jokes for Richard Pryor, to clips of his hilarious creations on Dave Chappelle´s show.

Pryor  goes in on Paul around the 5:34 mark of this clip from a comedy roast.  Ending his session by calling Mooney a ¨brilliant writer¨.

¨Brilliant¨ doesn´t seem like an overstatement either, when you consider that Mooney is the man who created Homey D.  Clown.