Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Friday 7/31: The Beatdown @ Almaz x J-$crilla Interview x A Trip Down $crillville



Innerloop Records is doing it again for Hip Hop in DC this Friday with The Beatdown. Featuring more of the DMV's top producers (J-$crilla, Mark Henry, Team Demo and Sakwe) along with performances by Kingpen Slim and Phil Ade, both of whom have dropped music that y'all need to hear within the last month (click the names to download).

The Beatdown
Friday, July 31, 2009
Kicks off at 10PM
$10 Cover

Almaz
1212 U St. NW
Washington, DC

Speaking of Innerloop Records, I had a chance to speak with one of the co-founders of the label, J-$crilla, just dropped a collection of instrumentals and mashups that any Hip Hop head will enjoy entitled A Trip to $crillville. Watch the interview then download the mixtape or vice versa but either way do both and get a closer look at one of the DMV's best producers.


Download - A Trip to $crillville

The Glass House (in DC and Beyond) x J-$crilla Part 1 from The Glass House (in DC for now) on Vimeo.



The Glass House (in DC and Beyond) x J-$crilla Part 2 from The Glass House (in DC for now) on Vimeo.

Graffiti Rhapsody Art Show

Graffiti Rhapsody was the infused sight and sounds of b-boy, soul and funk. This was an opportunity for local artists to come out and showcase their talent. Whether it was art pieces or musical sounds....this was the place to be to experience an array of artistic expression.

I had the chance to meet a young artist that has inspired me to continue to inspire others. I had no idea that he was even in the show but as I was doing my rounds and viewing all of the other artists displays, I noticed this familiar name - Heron Gibran.
I first saw his work when myself and a friend took a visit to the Artomatic exhibits down by the Navy Yard. What was funny about even viewing his work was that we were ACTUALLY on our way down the stairs attempting to exit, but me being me, I couldn't go down one flight of stairs without looking thru the doors to see more of exhibits. And for some reason, when we got to his floor I HAD to go in and his exhibit was the first and ONLY one I viewed on that particular floor. His work was very uplifting to me. Not only was his creativity extra authentic, but his artistic abilities varied from illustration to hip hop to art education. Let's just say that I left there talking about Heron Gibran as if he was the best thing out of the artsy crowd since slice bread. So you can imagine how I felt when I found out that my work was being exhibited in the same art show as his. WOWZERS! Immediately I ran over to my homegirl who was with me at Artomatic and rushed her over to see the guy who had my attention at artomatic. Afterwards, I sought him out to let him no how much I appreciated his work and of course, to get a photo with him. Check it out:
And here is a close up of his self portrait which was created in 1999, along with the other pieces that he exhibited:
I also had the opportunity to exhibit some of my work as well, which was created for the sole purpose of this show so I titled it Graffiti Rhapsody...with a little skateboard twist. FYI, I LOVE capturing skaters doing their thing.  The first piece below is my absolute favorite. Not because I dedicated a full day to seeking out great graffiti art work but because of the messages that I found in them. If you look closely at the middle top graffiti art work it reads: Yes We Did....Obama 44. When I saw it, I was amazed and even more amazed when I actually had the chance to meet the young gentleman that created this piece. Unfortunately, due to him wanting to keep his identity a secret (for obvious reasons), I am not able to place a photo of the man behind the work.  But take it from me, he's dope and very talented. 
The other graffiti tag that stood out to me was at the bottom: Rise. I love that message. To me it meant Rise above it all....all the negativity surrounding you, make sure you Rise above it. 

All of the graffiti tags that I captured seemed to have some sort of message embedded in them. Take the one directly above: I love the question: How was your day? and the answer was "Good actually". It was weird seeing a question as graffiti art but it made me smile and think of how righteous my day at that particular moment.  And the tag to the far right of the bottom which says 'Don't 4get 2 Breathe'. When I saw that, it helped me to breathe in the positivity and breathe out the negativity. And although it's not the most creative graffiti tag I have seen, it was the most relevant at the time.  I personally had hella fun photographing this project and I'm constantly thinking of new ways to reinvent the use of graffiti.  Here's the first:


(All photos taken by me, Larita "Rita" Massey are copyrighted so please don't steal my passion)

Ok....now that I got that out of the way, lets move on to the rest of the show. Here are the photos of others' art work that was also exhibited in the show. As you can tell by the name of the title: Graffiti Rhapsody, there was A LOT of groovy graffiti artwork there. Check out the graffiti mural that was live....

Unfortunately, the rain put a damper on the graffiti mural and due to one of the graffiti artist wearing many hats for the show (body artist and fellow exhibitor), I don't believe he was able to finish.
There was one other artist exhibiting work that I was extraordinary in my eyes. He even had a piece there that was in 3-D which was sooooo psychedelic. I didn't get a chance to actually get a close up of it, but believe me, it was amazing. The artist's name is David, who was also the body paint artist and one of the graffiti artist. Here's his work:


Truss was also one of the artist exhibiting work, as well as one of the body paint artist. Here's what he exhibited:
Baltimore was also in the building with the great Moe of Moe's Art and Design who was the featured artist of the Renovatio Soul Art Expo in May of this year.
(The man playing the trumpet is my favorite....reminds me of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album.)

Now on to the second portion of the show.....the open mic session in which a friend and I contemplated for about 5 minutes of doing a tag team cypher together but we declined and instead we watched others rip it and we ripped it off stage. We are shy I guess you can say. But these dope cats weren't and they spit fiyah on the mic.
The first time I saw and heard this dude freestyle was at Open Mic at Pure and he ripped it.
His name is Swayz, like one of my favorite rap groups from malibu (Shwayze).
The next up to bat was this cool cat that goes by the name of Poc...
Her lyrics were pure elevated fiyah..
.
Next up to bat was none other than the Artist herself: TT the Artist.


This young lady is destined for greatness in all that she does. She's an artist in every since of the word....music, graphics, painter, and I'm sure much much more.
Overall, the entire show was a sight to see. So much color and different artistic approaches. It was very gratifying and inspiring to me and I'm sure others of liked minds. I was especially thrilled that I was able to meet and speak with an artist that inspired me when I viewed his work - Heron Gibran.
And many many thanks to Shaina Webb for producing such a wonderful show. You are definitely appreciated and I know that in the future all of your hard work will pay off. Keep keeping on.
Thanks to all who came out to support your local artist. If you don't, who will?

Monday, July 27, 2009

Interview: Hipster Overkill x Nick Catchdubs



The homie MC Shawn Lucas of Hipster Overkill was in Brooklyn last week and caught up with Nick Catchdubs (think Wale's 100 Miles and Running and Back to The Feature mixtapes) to see what's good with the bi-coastal DJ, his label Fool's Gold Records and more.

Tonight: Studio43 Presents Pure Lounge Mondays



After a brief hiatus, probably the best Hip Hop open mic in DC returns home to Pure Lounge now brought to you by Studio43. Now opening up it's doors to the poets of the city, Pure Mondays will give a bigger stage to the off-the-radar lyricists of the DMV.

Note - This is an open mic so it's open to all who want to grace the stage. Make sure you get the info and support those who have what it takes to go beyond the beltway and constructively educate those who may need a little guidance.

Wednesday 7/29: Local Wednesdays @ Local 16



Local Wednesdays
is for anyone who needs that mid-week break from the job, school or anything else that tends to stress. Chill out, get back to those carefree days for the evening and still partake in all the social freedoms of adulthood. Were switching up the line-up just a little this week and featuring DJ Steve Starks (Nouveau Riche/KIDS parties) who's spinning happy hour from 6PM-9PM and DJ Stereofaith (Feedback/Sorted parties) closing out the show from 9PM-1AM. These are two of DC's best DJs and they're gonna kill it on the decks as usual. If you missed the last one, don't make the same mistake twice.

Here's a mix by DJ Jerome Baker III recorded live at the first Local Wednesdays event:


Peroni Specials and Giveaways from 6PM-10PM

Local Wednesdays on U St ~ A necessary recess from the week

Each and every Wednesday
6PM - 1AM
DJ Steve Starks (Nouveau Riche/KIDS) spinning happy hour from 6PM-9PM
DJ Stereofaith (Feedback/Sorted) closing out the show from 9PM-1AM

Local 16 (http://localsixteen.com)
1602 U St. NW (Next to Starbucks at 16th and U)
Washington, DC

Now writing for The Glass House (in DC and Beyond), DC's own K La Rock



K La Rock (Saving lives, one DJ gig at a time)

K La Rock is so DC she still owns a copy of Go-Go Live at the Capitol
Center. That's right, the Capitol Center. When she's not reminiscing
about the days of Madness hats and stone cold hustlas, she can be
found documenting the city's arts and culture world. Her writing has
appeared in Ms. Magazine, former local music journal Snap Pop!, and
the anthology "Colonize This: Young Women of Color on Today's
Feminism"
. In 2002, she co-founded The First Ladies DJ Collective, an
all-female DJ crew dedicated to breaking barriers on and off the
dance floor. She still regularly DJs and recently started the food
blog www.notquitevegdc.com.

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Glass House Remembers The Club Queen DJ K-Swift



A week ago at the Annual My Crew Be Unruly event aka MCBU at The PAradox in Baltimore, I decided to do a recap that was a little different than the norm. This year's MCBU was a tribute to The Club Queen DJ K-Swift
who passed away two days after last year's MCBU, which was also the last gig she played, on July 21, 2008. I figured "Hey I should get "In memory of" drops from all the DJs and performers". But before I present this recap I wanted to say that when I found out the following day that K-Swift passed I was hurt. The first thing that came out of my mouth was, "Hold on...she was just alive. I just heard her on the radio." I was hurt because she was who I came up on listening to mostly on 92Q Jams. Before I was confident to be myself, I had a secret affinity for Club music that I wasn't supposed to because I was from the DC area. Every night in high school and even for a few years after I'd listen to 92Q from 9:00PM-9:30PM to hear K-Swift's mix (the other half I had to listen to GoGo 95). It wasn't until K-Swift hit the airwaves that I realized several years after it's release that "Doo Doo Brown" was a Club track. I was hurt because one of the best music teacher's I had played her last gig. I wasn't in this scene yet so I wasn't fortunate enough to ever see her play live but I'll always have the memory of one of the best DJs I ever heard.

In Memory of The Club Queen DJ K-Swift

Taking it to the streets!

It seems like this weekend is shaping up to be a Hip Hop meets Art (read Graffiti/Street Art) kind of weekend. Following last nights opening of M3: MCs, Mics & Metaphors @ Flashpoint we have Graffiti Rhapsody and Heavy Hitterz jumping off this weekend. The visual arts scene is definitely progressing and growing in DC so I strongly encourage everyone to support the events involve indepedent artists, whether just by showing up or buying a piece. Remember - Art imitates life and life imitates art.



Graffiti Rhapsody
Saturday, July 25th
5PM-11PM
$10 for general public
$5 for artists

Live Graffiti mural from 5PM-7PM
Open Music soul/funk session 7PM-11PM
Art auction @ 10PM

LIV
2001 11th St. NW (11th and U)
Washington, DC
For more info go HERE



Heavy Hitterz
Saturday, July 25th
6PM-Midnight
Annual art event that got it's start in San Francisco in 2007 ~ Showcasing the talents of a whole slew of artists from the graffiti art scene. Brought to you by Art Whino, gaNyan and fabric8

Art Whino
173 Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD

For more info go HERE

The Chillin' singles that should've been



Over the course of a week I've been put on to 2 remixes of Wale's crossover hit "Chillin'" and I was thoroughly impressed. No diss to the producers behind the original mix but either remix by Nova Scotia's own Skratch Bastid or the DMV's own Nacey should've been the top choices for the song that has it's own video AND a t-shirt. In my opinion, the crossover appeal would've been the same and it would've still represented DC. But then again, I don't get paid to make those types of decisions...yet. Hear the remixes down bottom...


Wale f/ Lady Gaga - Chillin' (SKRATCH BASTID REMIX) from Skratch Bastid on Vimeo.




Wale - Chillin' (Nacey Remix)

Soul Culture Magazine brings you "The Chocolate City Edition"



UK-based Soul Culture Magazine, the same folks who brought you the Oddisee interview I posted a couple weeks ago has put together a Chocolate City Edition Travelers' Guide chock full of where to go and who to know in DC. It's an invaluable offering now available for download from their site so go check it out. Here's what to expect:

"Shining the spotlight on Washington DC, we examine some of the key musical and cultural highlights the city has to offer
- including features on Hip Hop artists Wale and Oddisee
and soulful artists Muhsinah, Bilal Salaam, Wayna, Raheem Devaughn, Green Tea and Steve Smith of Justaband.

We also look at the career of stage and screen actor Jeffrey Wright
and give you a run down of the best spots in DC to get your fix of music, food, shopping and arts and culture.

Whether you're planning a visit to Washington DC, or simply interested in finding out about
the valuable musical and cultural legacy of a city more famed for it's political position...
check it ouuuut...."

Saturday 7/25: Shift DC @ Cobalt



“SHIFT,” the flagship party of SHIFT DC, is preparing for its sixth edition this Saturday July 25, 2009.

Last month, Lil' El (KIDS) was the guest DJ for the June SHIFT event and did her thing at the joint. To get an idea of what to expect at SHIFT, check out Lil' El's Promo Mix for June 2009


In celebration of its exceptional success in molding quality dance music and an all-inclusive atmosphere into a product that has already made its mark on the DC scene, SHIFT DC is giving away two (seated) tickets to the upcoming Depeche Mode concert at Nissan Pavilion, in Bristow, VA.

Depeche Mode, a band the epitomizes the genre bending and gender blurring dance atmosphere that “SHIFT” strives to always create, is making its rare visit to the area Tuesday July 28, 2009.

Tickets will be given away at the dance party by a door sign-up and subsequent "surprise" contest at 12:30 a.m. July’s guest hour (11:30-12:30) DJ is Matt Bailer of “Mixtape".

SATURDAY July 25, 2009
Cobalt / 1639 R St. NW (17th & R)
10:00 p.m. – 3:00 a.m.
No Cover before 11:00 p.m. / $5 After
$4 Rails & Beers
$5 Philly Specials (Jim Beam shot + PBR)
$2 PBR
http://SHIFTdc.net

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Saturday 7/25: Nouveau Riche @ DC9



Nouveau Riche returns this Saturday and you see the flyer right? The upper level of DC9 will be transformed into this same scene this Saturday along with featuring VJ Mark Brown from the northside of the BW Parkway to give you an Electro-visual mix. If you're really feeling festive, there will be face painting from 9PM-11PM so come put on any face of your choice.

Complex.com x Grey Goose Presents Rising Icons - DC Edition

Complex and Grey Goose Entertainment teamed up to present Rising Icons, which aims to recognize your favorite music artists, DJs and producers whether they've entered the big time or one track away. I wanted to bring attention to a few cats in the DMV who not only are extremely talented in their own right and making major strides for themselves and the area but are also some of the coolest dudes I've met within the last year. I really liked how a producer, rapper and DJ were selected because it shows the range of talent we have to offer so make sure you spread the word people!


"Born and bred in Washington DC, Judah has been on a quest to put "The DMV" (DC., Maryland, Virginia) area on the musical map. With over 10 years of working with an array of artists locally and nationally, he has made a serious mark in the hip hop world. In the past, Judah has had the opportunity to influence and work with artists such as Pastor Troy, Wale, Stat Quo and many others and will continue to produce even more hits for local rising stars in 2009."

Website: www.myspace.com/judahbeats
Vote for Judah HERE


"Tabi Bonney is originally from West Africa but was raised in Washington DC, the son of afro-funk superstar Itadi Bonney. The independent emcee has been creating a major buzz for himself ever since his 2006 debut single “The Pocket”. The record became an instant national hit and was played on every major video outlet in the U.S. including MTV’s “Sucker Free”. Tabi is one third of an electro pop trio called The Crybabies who's debut album is slated for early 2010. His solo release Dope dropped this past January. The video for the album's single "Rich Kids" aired on MTV jams & MTV U. It was directed and produced by Tabi's production company: Cool Kids Forever Films. He also has clothing line called Bonney Runway which is available online at Bonneyrunway.com. Look out for Tabi's new single "Nuthin but a Hero" destined to become a summer anthem for cool kids everywhere. Tabi Bonney is a brand to be reckoned with!"

Website: www.myspace.com/tabibonney
Vote for Tabi Bonney HERE


"The Mayor of Adams Morgan Daryl Francis aka Supa Qool DJ Uncle Q has been a major contributor to the burgeoning DC scene for almost a decade. Graduating from University of Maryland in 2000, the Brooklyn native decided to forego a promising career in investment banking to pursue his musical aspirations. Having been a DJ since the age of 10, the future impresario would add to his plate the titles of recording artist (under the name Quartermaine for his Hip-Hop group Critically Acclaimed), event promoter (Uncle Q's Living Room and Collector's Edition) and radio personality (The Peter Rosenberg Show with Daryl Francis). Most recently, Q has graced the decks of some of DC's star-studded nightspots (The Park, Josephines, Layla, Marvin's) and currently maintains a Friday night residency at Bourbon. He is also editor-in-chief of the rapidly successful website filthyspeakeraddict.com."

Website: http://filthyspeakeraddict.com
Vote for DJ Uncle Q HERE

Interview: The Wall Magazine x Lady Glock



Lady Glock - B. Summers

My U St. partner in crime, Lady Glock, was interviewed by The Wall Magazine and broke down her interest in graffiti, why all the mattress photos and more

Friday, July 17, 2009

Rock The Bells Tour 7-12-09 Photo Recap


Lil' Fame of M.O.P.


Haziq Ali


Common


Big Boi of Outkast


Black Thought of The Roots




Tabi Bonney


Nas


Busta Rhymes


Billy Danze of M.O.P.


Me (in the middle) with my folks