April
Young Jeezy Reaches For SAG-CARD April 1, 2009
For those wondering what a SAG card is, it’s the abbreviation for Screen Actor’s Guild. The Screen Actor’s Guild covers all union films, commercials, videos that are shot on film. Getting a SAG-CARD is very important to a newcomer wanting to get work in Hollywood or anywhere else union projects are being filmed. Is Jeezy the next rapper to step onto the BIG screen?
Nowadays more and more rappers are emerging onto the movie scene. Ludacris, Common, T.I, and 50 cents have all done it, now its Jeezy’s turn. The talented rapper who had everyone chanting “My president is black, lambo’s blue”, has landed a role in the new film “Janky Promoters” written and produced by Ice Cube. The movie is about two shady promoters (Ice Cube and Mike Epps) who get in over their heads when they get a chance to book a big-name hip-hop act. The Hip Hop superstar is played by Young Jeezy which shouldn’t be too difficult for the lyricist because he is exactly that. Hitting the BIG screen may be new to Jeezy but dealing with bad promoters doesn’t come as a surprise to the rap star. Jeezy told Vibe Magazine: “I’ve been through the ‘janky promoter’ thing. When you’re in that club and came to see your favorite artist, and its taking them forever to come out-like they’re back there being funny, just know that he’s probably trying to get his money [laughs]. The movie is one of those flicks that’s just good, and it still has the G edge to it, and it’s my debut flick”. “Janky Promoters” will be hitting theaters soon. Hip Hop heads go out and support lets “Put On” for our culture!
Hip Hop Gives Cuba A Voice April 2, 2009
Hip hop is one U.S. commodity that has made it past the trade embargo to Cuba. Cuba has developed a homegrown rap movement, inspired by the sounds and fashions of U.S. hip hop. But what makes Cuban rappers different is their lyrics address social issues in a country where free speech is tightly controlled. Cuban rap began to surface in the 1990s, a grassroots affair, with songs recorded in rappers’ bedrooms and distributed on cassette tapes. The island’s fledgling hip hop scene was given a boost in 1999, when it was endorsed by the government as “an authentic expression of Cuban Culture.”
In the following years the government set up the Cuban Rap Agency (CRA) to promote the scene, as well as a record label, “Asere Productions,” and a rap magazine called “Movimiento.” Government approval helped Cuban hip hop emerge from the underground, but some see that endorsement as a gilded cage. Formed in 1996, rap duo “Doble Filo” (”Double Edged”) have been part of the Havana scene since the beginning and work with the Cuban Rap Agency. But rapper Irak Saenz admits there are contradictions in being part of the system. “It does limit our creative freedom,” he told CNN. “The CRA has an agenda that goes with the government’s agenda. It doesn’t limit me but it does force me to be creative in how I express my ideas.”
Along with fellow Cuban rap duo “Los Aldeanos” (”The Villagers”) “Doble Filo” work with U.S. hip hop audio/visual label, Emetrece Productions. But “Los Aldeanos”, who formed in 2003, are part of a younger generation of Cuban rappers. They don’t belong the CRA, and nor do they want to. They are defiantly underground and outspoken. “Hip hop is an art form speaks the truth about how people are living,” says Aldo Rodriguez, one half of Los Aldeanos. “Our lyrics don’t always go with the standard Cuban rhetoric and often that won’t get airplay,” says Rodriguez. “I can be famous in other countries, but here they won’t let me play a concert in a theater.”
Like most other Cuban rap groups, “Los Aldeanos” aren’t yet in a position to make a living from their music. El B has won Cuba’s Red Bull freestyle rapping championship three years in a row, but he still has a day job as a primary school teacher. A lack of funds and equipment means the island’s hip hop producers have to use a certain amount of ingenuity when it comes to recording their music. Doble Filo’s producer Edgaro explains that in the group’s early days, he would make tracks by looping the last few bars of songs on cassette tapes. These days, Edgaro produces songs on his PC, but the software is pirated from copies brought into the country and circulated on the streets. It simply isn’t available in the stores.
As the scene develops the groups are getting more ambitious. Doble Filo are now incorporating live musicians into their sound, weaving in elements of traditional Cuban music, and they are set to release their debut album “Despierta” (”Wake up”) through Emetrece Productions. Emetrece is run by Melisa Riviere, a Ph.D. candidate in the Anthropology Department at the University of Minnesota. More than just promoting good music, she says Emetrece is trying to educate, and to challenge the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Like Cuba’s rappers, she sees hip hop as a tool for social change. As El B puts it, “I think one of the things people take from the music is the idea that we can do anything, we can change anything, we can be anything we want.”
THE HIP HOP CULTURE CENTER IN HARLEM PRESENTS THE 3RD ANNUAL RAPATHON
New York, NY– Get your energy drinks, sleeping, bags and hottest rhymes ready, the 3rd Annual Rapathon is finally here. With an extended 2 hours, H2C2 takes the art of an emcee to an all new high. A 26 hour non-stop cipher without profanity featuring 100 rappers may sound impossible, but we’re here to prove it can be done. Over the past 3 years we’ve managed to gather a collective group of emcees with amazing freestyle/lyrical skills. Artists from the Tri-state area, Cuba, Sweden, and Lithuania have accompanied H2C2 in this incredible feat.
H2C2 is a facility that conducts Hip Hop centric education youth programs, sneaker battles, artist showcases & expos, art exhibitions, and corporate special events. Our most significant event of the year, the record-breaking Rapathon, has proven to be a great outlet for unsigned and upcoming artists to spread their message. Members of the Rapathon Alumni have performed at Summer Jam, been signed to major record labels, and have had a video directed and produced by Ralph McDaniels.
The Hip Hop experience begins Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 6:00 pm and ends Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 8:00 pm. The Rapathon is open to anyone with a love for Hip Hop and the ability to rhyme for 90 seconds straight without cursing. If you think you got what it takes, want to showcase your talent, or just want to be amongst your kind of folk’, the Rapathon is the place to be. There will be no fee for emcees to participate, just space, opportunity, and cool prizes for the best performers. However, there will be a general admission entry fee for spectators. This year will be truly unique for H2C2 because the Guinness World Records is supporting us in our endeavors to document the 3rd Annual Rapathon as the “longest un-ending rap” category in history.
The Hip Hop Culture Center in Harlem is located at 2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd., 2nd Floor of the Magic Johnson Theater in the heart of Harlem, along 125th Street shopping district. We are accessible by A, B, C, D, 2 and 3 trains.
For more information pertaining to the 3rd Annual Rapathon, please contact Natassia Seward at 212-234-7171 or hiphopculturectr@gmail.com
