In the U.K is today is a Bank Holiday Monday and in London's Notting Hill area, the Carnival is in full swing. Monday is traditionally the day the majority of people will go and get their groove on.
Below is a short poem which captuures what the carnival means to me.
Colourful costumes, spicy food and waving your national flags
A sea of people moving to a tribal beat
It's loud, sexy and so much fun. This is what the carnival means to me.
For more information on the history on the carnival please click here.
Refreshing and enlightening conversation with filmmaker and activist Byron Hurt on his renowned documentary on male identity in hip hop "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes". The film deconstructs hip hop as it relates to African American culture and consciousness, and it illustrates the elements of violence, misogyny and homophobia that are often endemic in this cultural form. This conversation also engages on aspects of modern race relations, culture and the rise of inspiring new models of African American manhood, including Barack Obama.
Filmmaker Byron Hurt, a life-long hip-hop fan, was watching rap music videos on BET when he realized that each video was nearly identical. Guys in fancy cars threw money at the camera while scantily clad women danced in the background. As he discovered how stereotypical rap videos had become, Hurt, a former college quarterback turned activist, decided to make a film about the gender politics of hip-hop, the music and the culture that he grew up with. “The more I grew and the more I learned about sexism and violence and homophobia, the more those lyrics became unacceptable to me,” he says. “And I began to become more conflicted about the music that I loved.” The result is HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a riveting documentary that tackles issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture.Sparking dialogue on hip-hop and its declarations on gender, HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes provides thoughtful insight from intelligent, divergent voices including rap artists, industry executives, rap fans and social critics from inside and outside the hip-hop generation. The film includes interviews with famous rappers such as Mos Def, Fat Joe, Chuck D and Jadakiss and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons; along with commentary from Michael Eric Dyson, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Kevin Powell and Sarah Jones and interviews with young women at Spelman College, a historically black school and one of the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions. The film also explores such pressing issues as women and violence in rap music, representations of manhood in hip-hop culture, what today’s rap lyrics reveal to their listeners and homoeroticism in hip-hop. A “loving critique” from a self-proclaimed “hip-hop head,” HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes discloses the complex intersection of culture, commerce and gender through on-the-street interviews with aspiring rappers and fans at hip-hop events throughout the country.
The video above is approximently 3o minutes long but well worth watching. Watch it and let me know your thoughts... enjoy your weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with another post.
For more on this issue please click here for more details
It was announced yesterday that Michael Jackson will be preforming 10 shows at the London O2 Arena (previous known as the Millennium Dome). The question has to be asked, is Michael past his best?
From the scenes shown on the TV, the show will be a sellout, but I doubt it will as successful as Prince recent sellout tour in 2007. Although Michael will always have a place in music history it will be his personal life most people will remember him by.
Michael Jackson was in London today to announce a series of gigs at the British capital’s O2 Arena. He’ll perform 10 concerts beginning July 8th. Tickets go on sale March 13. “I’ll perform the songs my fans want to hear,” Jackson told a screaming crowd gathered at the O2. “This is the final curtain call. I’ll see you in July.” It will be Jackson’s first tour in 12 years and marks his return to the musical stage for the first time since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges. Jackson last visited London in 2006 for the World Music Awards, but he disappointed fans at that event by singing just a few lines of We Are The World. Posters for the gig (pictured at the top of this report) started to appear on the London Underground prior to the conference advertising 10 shows in July. Despite rumors about his personal life, Jackson remains the most successful entertainer of all time, and his fan base is still enormous. The O2, in Greenwich, south-east.
Are you gonna go? Is Micheal relevant in today's music? Let me know your views!
