A Night with Mos and Rakim

Last night I got a call from one of my project managers from NY and he asked me to work the Mos Def/Rakim show up in San Francisco. What was I gonna say? A night of putting up posters (for the new Rakim album, The Seventh Seal, coming out November 17th), a free concert and a great fun night in the city...hell yes, i said! It was my first event for my first project. I got to work with FARM rep vet Joel and partied with him and his friends. After putting up a few posters throughout the venue we got to chill inside before all the people came in. It was at a great venue in San Francisco called Ruby Skye.

The show started with a new MC from Mos' camp, Hussein. He was okay, whoever writes his stuff is great. He looked like he was a rookie up on stage. He messed up a few times but his delivery was pretty good. Next up was Rakim and he did put on a show. I'd say that he was the MVP for the night. He mostly did his old stuff and everyone loved it! Mos Def closed it off and he was okay. He mostly did his new stuff from The Ecstatic album (which I will pick up very soon). The beats were great but I think everyone wanted him to do some of his old stuff. I totally wanted to hear Ms. Fat Booty! Anyway, people started to leave early so we went out front and started to hand out free Rakim posters for everyone! It was a great show and a great crowd! I had lots and lots of fun and look forward to more great shows!

Breakin' It Down

Way back in the day, I was a break-dancer. Yup, at age 3, I was a b-boy. Thanks to my babysitter's grandkids, I would watch them at their little get-togethers spin, pop 'n lock, flare. It was awesome, I wanted to do all that. I wanted to spin on my butt. And because of all that my favorite movie became Breakin'.

We recently got Showtime free for the next few months and there was Breakin' showing. I immediately searched for the next showing and had to get it on my DVR. It wasn't the greatest movie ever but seeing all those moves again was awesome! I had to record the amazing sequence of Turbo sweeping outside of the grocery store. I was so enthralled by that, the simple beat, the strong but short moves, the sprinkling of a bit of 'magic'. You could get all that by just sweeping the sidewalk. I wanted to do all that!

What Is...Hip-hop?

As children, we come into the world so innocent. We don't really understand what or why anything is happening around us but that it just is. We just live in the moment of what's happening. Growing up in the 80s, hip-hop was growing up with me.

At 3 years old, I had no idea what hip-hop was. I had no idea what break-dancing was but I knew one thing, it was cool (or tight...or fresh, yeah, that's it, fresh!) I remember being so young and watching my baby-sitter's grandkids break-dancing, having fun. I wanted to do all that too! Eventually, I was dancing non-stop at my aunt's wedding, Breakin' was my favorite movie ever, and I was a b-boy for Halloween when I was in kindergarten. That's right, I was decked out in my black tracksuit with an orange stripe across my chest. It was all fun. And that's what hip-hop was all about back in the day. The deejay's spinning, the emcee's spitting, the b-boys and girls breaking, the graffiti artists spraying.

There's still that aspect of fun in hip-hop today, but our society as a whole has changed. Hip-hop has survived and changed with it. Some say its commercialization has hurt hip-hop but as it survived and lived on, it was certainly a natural step.

Hip-hop is a culture. It is more than just music or style or even the bling. It is a way of life, a lifestyle, a state-of-mind. I look back and think, I definitely was a part of the start of hip-hop, even though I had no clue what it was. In some way, Hip-hop has shaped my likes and dislikes, how I think and certainly my style.