THE ORIGINS OF WALL WRITING
- By u.net
- Sep 08, 2017
Hip-hop is plagued by mythology.
Whether it is the idea that Brooklyn disco DJ’s invented the music, or that breaking comes from capoeira, or that a short-lived gang truce is what gave the culture life, there seems to be no shortage of people eager to take credit for one or another aspect of hip-hop. What’s worse, [...]
The 10 Best Jazz Rap Albums
- By u.net
- Aug 29, 2017
Back when A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip was a teenager, the legend goes, his father overheard him playing some hip hop and said it reminded him of bebop. That connection, drawn in the opening seconds of Tribe’s 1991 album The Low End Theory, at first seems a little odd. Musically, late [...]
EMPIRE SKATING RING
- By u.net
- Jun 07, 2017
Empire Roller Skating Center first opened its doors on Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, way back in 1941. Across the street was Ebbets Field, when it was still the Dodgers’ ballpark. Over the following six decades, Empire saw as many changes as the neighborhood around it, including a series [...]
The History of the Fade
- By u.net
- Dec 29, 2016
Ebony.com series detailing the origins of black roots - If there was ever a haircut that exemplified coolness, it has to be none other than the fade. The hairstyle originated in the U.S. military around the ‘40s and ‘50s. Since the military is known for having strict grooming standards, it’s no [...]
No HalfSteppin, the NYTimes Review !
- By u.net
- Dec 29, 2016
The most valuable and also vexing thing about nightclubs is that you can’t get in. Not to the good ones, at least. Not unless you are in the know, or in good standing with people who are, or are diligent and passionate and perhaps willing to part with a bit [...]
No Halfsteppin
- By u.net
- Dec 17, 2016
My first ever book in english it's out: No HalfSteppin. Published by Wax Poetics and co-authored with Paradise Gray aka the Architek from the mighty X Clan, the book an oral and pictorial history on the legendary NY city club The Latin Quarter and the birth of the Golden Age. [...]
Anti-apocalypse Mixtape
- By u.net
- Dec 17, 2016
Here’s a quick, 30-song mixtape for the organisers, writers, thinkers, movers and dreamers who are in the constant struggle against the white supremacist, anti-queer, anti-Muslim, ableist, nativist, populist hot mess that we’re in right now — which predated this particular election cycle. If you’re like me and you need music to function, [...]
No Sleep
- By u.net
- Dec 17, 2016
A glorious era of hip-hop, house, and avant-garde cardboard artwork reflecting the energy of the downtown music scene.
No Sleep is a visual history of the halcyon days of New York City club life as told through flyer art—gathered in a new volume by myself and Evan Auerbach. Spanning the late 1980s through the [...]
Freed Panther Sekou Odinga speaks
- By u.net
- Oct 28, 2016
We spend the hour focusing on the Black Panther Party’s legacy of political prisoners in the United States. Perhaps the most famous is Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has regularly been interviewed on Democracy Now! as an award-winning journalist. But there are many others. In fact, two former Black Panthers have already [...]
25 Years Ago, Organized Konfusion 1st album
- By u.net
- Oct 28, 2016
During the final week of October in 1991, two MCs and producers bubbling with analytical perspectives and bursting with Hip-Hop creativity emerged as Organized Konfusion on their eponymous debut LP. Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po delivered one of the most distinctive debuts in Rap history, proving that lyrical dexterity and [...]