Hip Hop Is Alive & Well And At A Venue Near You!

I never lost faith in my people, our sense of who we are and of course, hip hop. I still love it to the point where I never married or gave half on a baby. I thought I'd share a little Lord Quas (Quasimoto) and a few pics I snapped last night/this morning:


It's called 'Rappcats Pt 3'. I know you dug that. I wish it were longer though. I was feeling good about myself and and my love for the game, so I got out the house and did what any right-minded, brown blogging, socio-political ranting and raving hip hop head from the hood would do when real hip hop needs celebration. I got front row with De La Soul. For free.

Thanks A hot ass DJ (DJ Hier from Los Angeles) and a hot to def band backing the Long Island trio (The Rhythm and Roots All-Stars) rocked Houston for a little over three hours. Other than my aching knees from all the dancing, the hoarse voice from all the yelling and song singing and the ringing sensation in my ears, there were wishes of a never ending, peace loving night but alas, folks got things to do in the morning...

ON TO THE PHOTOS DAMMIT!!!

De La Soul @ Warehouse Live April 17/18, 2007

Pos got up close and personal a few times

This crowd was hype! And yes, it was a sea of hip hoppers, peaceful and stuffed full of memories

Maseo came from behind the tables and rocked it

The presentation was tight and the flow was non-stop

Dave kept giving us cues to chime in if we knew it... And we did, making his job easy

Pos was amazing with his delivery... One of the best emcees to hold a mic

There was the usual 'throwing our hands in the air'. We complied and gave mad energy

All in all, we had a ball and the funny thing is... Even with Willie D of the Geto Boys opening up for De La doing some of his greatest works, never was there a negative moment or violent episode. All I've heard in the past few weeks since the Imus thing is how destructive a force Hip Hop is. Although we all know how beautiful a thing this art form and subcultures are, some will try to place blame on anything to keep the status quo a few degrees below.

I dug this up and re-posted to prove what the pictures said if you didn't get it:

"Yet Imus and hip-hop really don't have much in common. Imus was host of a radio show that focused on the real news of the day, while hip-hop is a fictionalized form of cultural expression. Imus is real, featuring real guests and humor based on real topics. However loudly hip-hop might claim to be real, it is not real; it is a form of representation. This is why so few rappers use the names on their birth certificates when performing. Rappers are in essence characters performing a fictional life. Though the culture is rooted in the notion and style of authenticity, it is decidedly fictional. If not, the cops could arrest every rapper who talks about selling drugs or killing someone in his or her lyrics. So we should be judging hip-hop the same way we judge a novel, a movie, or a television show, and to do so means we have to afford hip-hop the same latitude we afford any other form of artistic expression."


Dr. Todd Boyd, a columnist for ESPN's Page 2, is an author, media commentator and a professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His next book "The Notorious Ph.D.'s Guide to the Super Fly '70s" will be published in June.


Nuff Said... It's 3:30 and my ears are still ringing...