Donuts, 2006, Stones Throw | Samples: Dionne Warwick – You’re Gonna Need Me, Jadakiss x Anthony Hamilton – Why
Can I just say, I love my life right now? I’m FINALLY living in a city where live shows are not only in abundance, but is the norm.
Crawlture Jam x Goldstream Gazette
The Colwood Crawl is symbolic of the jams within ourselves that restrict us from being consciously aware of our environment, that hold our natural flow hostage and limit our imagination.
“At first people refuse to believe that a strange
new thing can be done, then they begin to hope
it can be done, then they see it can be done
- then it is done and all the world wonders
why it was not done centuries ago.”
Frances Hodgson Burnett
WHO: You, us, them…
WHAT: Group Crawl (or bearwalk to protect the knees) back and forth along the parallel intersections on opposite sides of the highway
WHERE: Mackenzie and Trans Canada Highway intersection (Victoria, BC)
WHEN: WED. JULY 6. Crawling begins @ 5:30PM… Flash-Mob Style!
WHY: The better question is, why not?
The Colwood Crawl is a symbol of the jams within ourselves that restrict us from being consciously aware of our environment. Commuters encounter this crawl each day, and through our “Crawlture Jam”, we hope to inspire and empower them to recognize the importance of re-framing their perspectives on their social reality. We are not proposing a solution, we are proposing awareness. We all have individual choice and a voice to unblock our jams. Stop crawling and stand up! (What is a ‘culture jam’?)
We will meet in the parking lot of St. Joseph’s Church @ 785 Burnside Road West (Corner of Mackenzie) at 5PM.
Join the Tribe:
Posterous: http://crawlturejam.posterous.com
Twitter: @crawlturejam
Facebook: ” colwood crawl ”
Woah.
Lately, I’ve been getting more into poetry and somehow fell onto this dude through youtube surfing. I’m a fan already. You may also dig Love Poem Medley (I may or may not have shed a tear? Hush, I’m a closet romantic).
Check more of his poetry: http://www.youtube.com/user/rudyfranciscothepoet!
“The Infinity Funk Project based out of San Francisco California stand by the phrase “four funky emcees collaborating as one”. Infinity Funk Project (IFP for short) came together in August 2007 and has been making headway ever since. It began simply as a project between members: Michael Francisco (Mikey Manifest), Calvin Wong (Sol Solution), Justin Mak (Mild Mannerd J) and Steven Empacis (Viberoc), to promote values of hip hop culture that they felt had been diminishing. By the end of the first couple of sessions, they realized the music they were making together could have a much bigger impact than they thought. It was at that point the 4 emcees had turned into a group.
With all 4 members having similar tastes and backgrounds in hip hop music, the group had one simple premise and goal: to bring back the funk. The group focuses their music on feel good vibes as well as positive and conscious messages. However, with each member adding distinct and separate styles, each song takes on a completely unique feel. Unimpressed by what was being fed to the masses by the mainstream music industry, that concept of “Funk” would be what they would rally behind in the hopes of bringing about change. The word “Funk” to the group defined the soul, aggressiveness, and passion they desired to see in music.”
http://www.infinityfunkproject.com/
http://theinfinityfunkproject.bandcamp.com/
Check me on http://www.wevegotthejazz.com/, a music (mainly hip-hop related) blog based in Toronto/California. I will be doing minimal posts, and focusing more on interviewing. First person in the works is DJ Chicken George, a real cool cat from Austin, Texas who pumps out Down-tempo / Nu-Jazz / Soul mixes that he’s titled Jazztronica. Oodles and Oodles of “vibes & positive rhythms.” CG usually releases weekly podcasts that are recorded from gigs or just projects that he gets inspired to do. One week he put one out with straight 45s! (Check that here). Anyways, stay tuned 
http://www.djchickengeorge.com
DJ Chicken George’s podcasts
Tokin Blaq + aleph = T.B.A…. opening for GZA. 
The homies have something fresh to offer. Aside from the melodic beats and insightful lyrics, I like how their passion and synergy is the backbone in all that they do. You’ll see. Peep the vid!
p.s. Footage shot by yours truly 
chhhhheck ‘em!
Tokin Blaq
http://thabeatassassins.bandcamp.com/
T.B.A. on Facebook
Tokin Blaq on Facebook
Peep the article my homie (Eric) Berg wrote for one of our courses. Genius…
Also, we are in the development stages of writing a collab article on Tokin Blaq.. Dude’s got plenty of insight and steez to offer…staaaay tuuuuned!
Check some of Tokin Blaq’s music here… you won’t be disappointed!
The bass throbs from the speakers as rapper Tokin Blaq spits immortal lyrics from hip-hop’s vault of classics. It’s “Covers for a Cause” night at Victoria’s Lucky Bar, and Blaq’s essence has captivated the crowd. They go wild for his energetic performance, and then seem to regress to being tame, as if the television was shut off, people lost in idle banter and distracted once again. There is an irony in the air, mingling with conflicting colognes and smoke machine vapour: Vancouver Island, long revered as a counter-culture haven for artistic types, nurtures a dismal local hip-hop scene. Awareness of hip-hop’s true essence has been lost in translation.
If hip-hop culture is a temple, supported by the four pillars of MCing, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti writing, Blaq says it’s beyond crumbling. “Oh the temple has done been in ruins!” He smiles half-cocked, his mouth a loaded gun. “There’s still the villages that lived in the shadow of the temple though, venerating its fortitude and maintaining what’s left. The hard part now is finding a place for the four elements in today’s hip-pop culture.”
Cool has been commoditized. Hip-hop, homogenized. As Blaq laments, in a world where “breakdancing is a dance crew show on NBC, rap is Drake, DJing is done on computers with everything spelt out for you, and graffiti is posh gallery fodder,” it’s a challenge to find anything truly authentic. The fabled history of hip-hop, the deep roots of the ultimate counter-culture movement, is often forgotten in our society of attention deficit and instant gratification.
Blaq grew up in Toronto, Canada’s hip-hop capital, where he witnessed the history first hand. “Hip-hop had found its way up and permeated the hood the way it did in the states – it hadn’t found its way to the burbs yet – and I experienced jams in the park, kids freestylin’ and breakin’ in the street.” His dark eyes flicker with light at the memories until a police cruiser drifts past and he scowls. “Then it got gangster, and lost its roots and we all got to see it happen.”
From the other side of the country, Blaq observed the Victoria scene take shape over the years with help from “the elders that gave this place that counter-culture vibe.” The more he watched Toronto rappers fall prey to materialism and vanity, the more he grew to respect Victoria’s scene. “The whole time I was thinkin’, man, Vic is so much more in touch with shit.”
Soon after moving to the Island, in search of the elusive greener pasture, Blaq became disillusioned with the hip-hop culture that he hoped to find. “Victoria has this amazing way of being a time capsule for certain things. Hence, times change, but at a slower pace.” His hands draw the air into his chest as his rhythm adapts to match the words. “So what happened is, that bullshit lifestyle that I hated about Toronto found its way here. Then ego followed behind it. The whole ‘Scarface mentality’, sooner or later it’s all just the same and the ‘real’ becomes an afterthought.”
And afterthought just might be what Victoria needs to achieve the awareness it’s meant to represent. Meaningful lyrics might resonate then, resurrecting a culture that isn’t dead, but merely dreaming.
Once a king who felt victim to the ebbs and flows of his mind gathered his wisest advisers and set them a task: “Produce for me an artifact that whenever I am low will make me feel better and whenever I am too high and mighty will steady my state and bring me balance.” The advisers duly reported back to him a few days later and the wisest presented the king with a golden ring. The king put the ring on and noticed that when he looked carefully, he could see the inscribed legend, “This too will pass”. In the future, whenever the king felt overwhelmed by anything at all, he would read these words and reflect on them.
I am so stoked that I can FINALLY get my fix at a Common party!
Looking forward to seeing all your faces xo
Props to “JP” and Casey Affleck for making this mockumentary… God knows North America needs a reality check when it comes to Hollywood and the media.. This film reminds us to not let our brains run off with what we “see,” and that reality is what we make it to be, not according to what the media puts out.
just sayin. damn!
“There has been too much partying too much celebrating not enough struggle, and so through that creativity has taken a dive.”
My latest work. If you know anybody who is looking for a graphic designer to do contract work, please direct them to: shu.justine@gmail.com. Quick turnaround time, low costs, quality work.
Coincidentally wearing my ATCQ tee while blogging this, haha! If you are a frequent justeezy.com visitor, then you should know by now how much I looooove Tribe. If you’re a new visitor (welcome!), and um, yeah. I love Tribe so much, I would fly down to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Festival (Jan 2011 y’all!!!) just to watch the premiere of their documentary. Real talk.
Mike Rapaport, thank you!
http://www.atribecalledquestmovie.com/
