A busy week in NYC

Rocking with DP One at the RHINO FX Launch party!

This week was intense, it was a busy one and reminded me of the all the places that being an artist can take you.

I started the week getting styled with Kid Lucky for a Commercial shoot for Panasonic. Wish I could of kept the clothes and kicks-

It is for a new digital camera coming out, I have to say I just bought a Panasonic camera for its dope HD video, so it felt good to be in a commercial for something I use. The commercial is for European TV so I will spread the word when it is up on the web. It should be dope..

Imagine- Me, Kid Lucky, a ferry load of tri-state commuuters, and the Statue of Liberty- Stay tuned for more..

The night before the shoot I rocked a great show with Jason Lindner's Now Vs Now at the Zinc Bar- did anyone take pics?

It was a 4:45 am call for the shoot and me and Kid pushed through and had a great time.

The director was mad cool and let us use our creativity.

The next day I taught a class at NYU for Daniel Bank's program Hip Hop Theater Education in and out of the class room. What a rich and stimulating group of young minds. We had some great dialogue and beginning work in Playback and Beatbox.

We talked about Hip Hop as form of popular education, the creative and cultural tension between tradition and innovation, New York as the birthplace and the growing reinterpretations of Hip Hop globally, and the various schools of thought on defining Hip Hop Theater. It was inspiring and made me want to teach more at the university level. If any one has ideas- hit me up..

Then I rushed to the Launch party for Rhino FX- a super crazy Animation/Video/Production house- I rocked a set there with Dp One on the tables, and Jason Lindner and Jorge Contentinentino on Horns and Flutes. It was a new launch for them and I did some voice over for there new promo reel check it at http://www.rhinofx.com/ There work is amazing! you can find them on Facebook


It was a great vibe! The Next morning after a few hours of sleep I left the BX at 6:30 am to meet Yako and Bboy Frankie to do a hip hop connections show at an elementary school in Jersey. Hip Hop Connections is a show we do that deals with Hip Hop's elements, history, and expression. It was a great show, the principal had a Looney Tunes tie (which is always a good sign) The students were engaged and we talked about creativity, imagination, the importance of reading, finding inspiration from our friends, families, and teachers!

By the end of the Day I was wiped, zombie mode, made it through a revealing and slightly confusing Battle Star episode.

Sat was all about Valentines balloons, chili, vegan banana splits, and communication, plus Krypto-Nate Robinson won the Dunk Contest!

Update for Feb 09- Playback NYC, NY Times, Arts education, and more

It's the second month of 09 and life in NY is feeling good.

I spent most of last year on the road traveling the world. It was Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, philippines, Berlin, Holland, UK, Czech Republic, Australia. Anyway you get the idea..

It was a great and dizzying experience. I met many inspiring artists and new communities. At the same I realized I was running from my life in NY.

New York has changed, we are talking major gentrification, a sort of hipster/young professional invasion, a continued closing of important artistic venues, and the continued displacement of communities of color and poor folks.

Maybe its the uneasy feelings about the economy that are bringing that nervous comfort of my eighties experience. It has been a process to face my feelings about New York and renew my love and commitment to this unique metropolis.

I have to shout out Danny Hoch's Taking Over
His show was a cathartic release for me, it tackled the many angles and contradictions of a changing New York. I also want to shout out the folks who keep New York raw and creative.



This is all said after a two week family retreat in LA, a very intimate conference held by KRS ONE in the LBC( where a vision for a Hip Hop city was laid out), and a show in LAS VEGAS where Yako and I opened for a major computer companies keynote, I am back in New York and staying put.




I am back in the teaching trenches and working on some great education projects with Organizations Urban Arts Partnership, Urban Word, BAM, John Jay College, and Arts Horizons. I am about to start working with an ESL and finished a project called Intersession at New Design High School with fellow UAP teaching artist Bami. We created a multi-media animated comic with Poetic narration and beats. The student explored individuality, self expression, challenging society, and the challenges to the self esteem of young women.

Yako and I were in Australia and were posted up in the bunker studios with Sloth of Meta Bass and did some mad Hip Hop Dub tracks. We are starting to get in the lab and edit that record and an all beat box record. We are planning for a mess of new music to start making a web presence. It has been too long!!!!!!

Playback NYC, the improv theater company I co-founded got together with members of Hudson River Playback, and Big Apple Play to do an important show in Long Island. Big Shout out to Paul McIsaac who spearheaded this effort! “After Grief and Anger — Healing and Change,” the performance was an effort to promote better understanding between Latinos and non-Latinos in the area following the killing last November in Patchogue of Marcelo Lucero in a bias murder. click here for the story in the NY TImes.



That's my first update for 09 and look forward to adding more news, music, and videos. Peace and see you in the cypher.

baba