INSIGHT Magazine | Issue #16

8/3/2019 INSIGHT Magazine | Issue #16

1/21

insight

Tommy Boy Records Tom Silverman * Cool Kids * Sol Munki *

Zoila Mendez * Roneshia Williams * Adam Falkner * Alex Wand*Jonathan Desir * Atiba Edwards * Ashlee Arder * Kimikaa *Alma Davila-Toro

#16#16


2/21

insightFebruary 2008

Adam Falkner: Headline & Sinker.Ashlee Arder: Sl Munki. Cl KidsAlex Wand: Cntra DictinaryRoneshia Williams: The Night My Wrld ChangedJonathan Desir: The Hands f TimeAtiba Edwards & Alma Davila-Toro: Tmmy By Recrds Interiew

Phtgraphy / Illustratins:Kimikaa: SlwAtiba Edwards: UntitledEmma Raynr: Untitiled

Cer Illustratin by Zila Mendez

Insight is back and we present the Change issue. Change is neithergd nr bad, it is simply change. We present t yu arius wrksrepresenting the theme f change in this issue.

Additinally, we cntinue t add new segments f the magazine and inthis issue we present Sptlight which features arius art related

pprtunities submitted t us by yu.

Keep the ideas flwing and we are always lking t fr artists sub-missins.

See yu in the May Issue.

Yur Editrs,

Anthny Baber

Atiba Edwards

Marja Lankien

www.nefkus.rg/insight


3/21

Slo by Kimikaa


4/21

HEADLINE AND SINKERbyAdAm FAlkner

wrds f a serice drier pitch-frkedheay like pig slp er his shulder

bus full f white flk (except ne smudge)

fall hush like furth quarter ful stripe

the barrel f a military discharge

shed dwn a yung bys thrat

fr hlding grund in a frnt seat

prud past gag-pint defiant

the headline

1st negro to crash majors!

dodgers win: jackie breaks the color line!

the alligatr nse f black america

crackin the surface cleats up

smethin serious a whitewashed pastime

was

t be smudged the clr f suthern fruit

but it was 1947 (ready t be cleaned)

cming hard ff anther new deal

suburbia birthed

mama-bm bargain diggers

buyin cars, buyin ts

cmfrtable

suthern whites shrug like

change dne cme, cut the hang

rpe but keep dem hunds hungry

while the free states suck n they thumbs

dumb-happy t finally be bandaging that

gunsht

scared that a dmin rally f brthers

wuld shw up uninited t the nen

f ur liing rms pregnant

fr therebirth f a natin eery

mrning cffee jurnal jam

n tast tribune and weekly

tailred up an image t be drstep ediblea ne in millin bedient patient kid

that culd take it and say please jackie

ask fr mrejackie

sheshine smth

slidin tween the lines f fine print

newspaper lime-lit fire t a d-gder(neer t g back like climbin

the ladder frm field t husewrk)

caked up face in a day made famus

erased all struggle like he stumbled

and fell nt eery frnt prch in america

jackie

and we were happy with that ckiecut clean, cut safe

suburbia birthed

mama-bm bargain diggers

buyin cars, buyin t..s,

frward with the stench f quta

still sticking t ur fingers

and we bit it

headline

and sinker

with a bruised up set blender-battered

plum-gut knuckles kncking, fr that hllw

trap dr t slide quick

steal smething,anything

t turn a neck r tw t make

an erripe name pluck-ready

the black meteor

we bubbled up naked and bldy

a newbrn, baptized in bleacher-spat backwash

we painted him ours

like nthing befre him but rags

and ignrance ours

like culture-knapping jazz utta harlem

r rap ut the hd when it utgrew

the pt-bund fad f fedras ours

like three-fifths american and ne-fifth black

an image t clean t be muddied like that

like bus laws pissed n chin upswallwed like gag-pint gun barrel ours

as thugh turning ur heads was a chice

Beware f thse wh speak f the spiral f histry;

they are preparing a bmerang. Keep a steel helmet handy.

- Ralph Ellisn, Inisible Man


5/21

amputating histry frm headline precise

like fleet-fted sprints dwn the base path

culd buff clean an uppity fuck yu cld cheek

champin that picked picket fences in the

darkness

we celebrate the naturef these triumphs extic t keep

the clr brwn t dark t blend

we snap these stries at

the rt like ginger t

chp and sell in textbks

palms t sweaty t rub

the truth ut the histry lampcause we dnt like what we cant wn

nly let emerge what prgress

wee learned t skin, strip

and munt abe the fireplace as miracles

rsas feet werent tired, shed been

planning fr that afternn since she was twele

but when the smell f ther clrs paint

the air t thick, we panic, get t pluckin

like rumrs frm the grapeine

t turn r neck r tw t make an erripe

name pluck-ready

reeling heay is ur bite n this bait

rd-bending

with the hk still ldged

in ur cheeks

head

line and

sinker wee sunk line-heay

(but smene can swim)

head

line and

sinker wee sunk line-heay

(but smene is treading water)

smene is hlding the stlen

pens f histry scripting in the dark the liesthey want their kids t learn like

white flks funded america

instead f stealing the gael

t play judge between brders like

affirmatie actins a has-been crutch

the ball games tied lk at the csbys

(let it go)

like grund zer reeks f terrrism, but

whip-welts,

rape, festered and chained carg stlen and

pawned

ff crp bld mney well,

we call that there clnizatin

like the nly real accunt f what was is

whats cked

and bagged t slang in ur schls t ur

children

like histry will eer be free

frm the cnenient amnesia f its authrs

like a headline

n its wn

is a stry


6/21

Do MoNKEYS HAvE SoULS?byAshlee Arder

What started ut as a bys questin t his

mther, has becme an array f ibrant clrs,

sayings, and graphic pictures n hdies

and T-shirts.

Sl Munki, an urban clthing line based ut f

Atlanta, Gergia, means Surir f Life

Manufacturing Unity Newness Knwledge and

Indiiduality. Wall St., the lines creatr and

mastermind, spent sme time as a stckbrker

(Hint: the name Wall St.), and later pened up

a sneaker stre in Atlanta. Sl Munki wasriginally the name f the stre, and because f its

increasing ppularity, Wall St. and yunger brther,

Fruit, started the Sl Munki clthing line.

viewed by its fllwers as nt nly a brand name,

Sl Munki is a way f life. It represents excellence

and creatiity. Sl Munki was frmed riginally as an

effrt t change the mind f a mther wh saidmnkeys didnt hae suls. Nw in the clsets f

cmmn flks and celebrities (Bw Ww, Yung Jeezy,

BETs Terrance) alike, Sl Munki has nt nly changed

the minds f nnbelieers, but has als intrduced

a new swagger t urban clthing!

The answer is Yes, mnkeys d hae Sls!


7/21

Pho

to

byAtibaEdwards


8/21

HIP HoP NEEDS ITS MESSIAHInteriew with Tm Silerman,

funder f Tmmy By Recrds (dne in 05

by Atiba Edwards & Alma Daila-Tr)

F.o.K.U.S: Tm, walk readers thrugh the

elutin f Tmmy By frm its disc days

t Tmmy By Entertainment.

TS: I went t graduate schl at Western

Michigan in Enirnmental Gelgy after

Clby Cllege. My rmmate frm Clby

Cllege was the statin manager at

Westerns radi statin and I was the music

directr. He gt a jb in L.A. fr Cashbx,

which was like Billbard at the time. Disc

started t break ut and I was playing thatmusic befre and he said why dnt we g

t NY and start a newsletter fr DJs.

I left graduate schl befre I culd finish

my master thesis and setup shp in Man-

hattan. He quit his jb and med frm

LA and we started this newsletter fr DJs

called Disc News in 1978. Disc firststarted abut a year after Saturday Night

Feer but it was a year befre Disc died.

By 1979 - 80 they declared Disc dead.

The press hated disc and we changed the

name t Dance Music Reprt at that pint

and in 1980 we als started an independent

distributr fr music all different genres but

it was mstly Indie Rck and a few therkinds f music.

It was ding really well and turning er a

lt f cash. Then my rmmate came t me

and said oK, Im getting married t this girl

and I dnt really want t d Dance Music

Reprt anymre, s why dnt yu keep it

and Ill keep the prfitable recrddistributin. I said why dnt yu pay ff

at least half f the debt f Dance Music

Reprt, and Ill let yu g. Ill keep the

apartment and yu can g get anther ne

(he wanted t take the apt als).

It tk me abut a year t pay ff all the

debt and I kept building it at the same time.

Peple were bringing in music and I was

reiewing recrds that werent ut yet rwere n little independent labels that were

releasing a recrd fr the first time.

I was watching what was happening with

Rappers Delight and wuld g t the

stres and see the stuff blwing up and said

why nt start a recrd cmpany. S I setup

Tmmy By arund 1980 as a label incase smene bught music in. In 1980 I

released a recrd called Lets vte by Eric

Nuri which was a Black ters registratin

theme sng. It wasnt n my label, it was

n a label called Trial and Park recrds but

I funded and put it ut just s I culd learn

hw t d it befre I started ding it myself.

Then I started Tmmy By after I met

Afrika Bambaataa. He turned me n t

this recrd by a grup called Cttn Candy

[named] Haing Fun that he was playing

and that became ur first release.

The secnd release was an Afrika

Bambaataa recrd called Jazzy Sensatin.

There was a big recrd the summer befre,

Gwen McCraes Funky Sensatin and this

was a rap ff f it that we sampled-

actually it wasnt sampled we just played it.

I didnt knw abut the publishing laws and

we gt busted and had t pay peple. We

just paid it and we made a lt f mney. It

gt a cuple f spins by Mr. Magic n the

radi HBI and we gt rders fr 5,000 the

next week.

The recrd explded and we sld 35,000.

I paid my parents back the $5,000 lanthey gae me t start the label and that was

the beginning.


9/21

I was writing abut Bambaata fr an article

I was ding in Dance Music Reprt. There

was a stre called Dwnstairs Recrds n

6th and 42nd (where the subway statin

and HBo are lcated) that had a rm called

Break Beats r Break Rm.

I went dwn t the [stre] and saw this

rm with a table with all kinds f 45s and

ld albums like The Eagles, Lng Run and

Bb James. There were 15 and 16 year

ld kids that wuld cme by, pl their

mney and buy dubles f recrds. I asked

Ry, the guy wh ran that rm at

Dwnstairs, hw did these kids find utabut these recrds. He said thrugh a guy

in the Brnx called Afrika Bambaataa and he

has this thing called the Zulu Natin.

I went t isit him at a teach-in where he

was actually DJing nce a week n White

Plains Rad at an place n the 2nd flr.

Bambaataa, Red Alert and Jazzy Jay weresetup up there and they wuld take turns

spinning. Jazzy Jay and Kl DJ Red Alert

were srt f the prteges. There wuld be a

guy up there called Recrd Lenny wh wuld

cme with a bmbx, recrd eerything and

then btleg it.

I heard Bam playing recrds like Kraftwerk,

James Brwn, Sly Stne and cntempary

WBLS recrds then hed play The Mnkeys

r Billy Squier. Hw culd yu mix all these

recrds? but kids were getting ff n it.

Smene wuld hk a mic up n stage and

freestyle but the mst yu wuld nrmally

get was thrw yur hands in the air which

was basically t keep the party ging - it

was all abut the party.

That was the early beginnings f Hip Hp.

Bambataa came ut f the Black Spades

where eeryne was getting killed. He saw

a lt f his friends get killed. He went n

his wn and built the Zulu Natin a psitiereplacement fr what the gang was kicking

and he gae peple smething t belng t.

He was against the ilence - he was like

the Ghandi f Hip Hp. When he wuld play

a Zulu Natin party and a fight wuld break

ut hed stp the music. Scratch a few beats

and then stp the music and say yu like

that then hed play a few mre times and

say stp fighting.

The guy is just like ne f the high priests

f Hip Hp because he is s straight and he

is ttally cmmitted t the future f Hip Hp.

He is the ne wh put culture in Hip Hp and

created the cncept f the 4 pillars f Hip

Hp that KRS-one, Chuck D and eeryne

are always talking abut.

Hip-Hp is abut music, DJing, graffiti and

break-dancing and his 5th pillar is

knwledge because that is ery imprtant

part f Hip Hp.

I asked him can we make a recrd that

sunds like the stuff yu are playing and

he said sure. We sld abut 600,000 f

Planet Rck in 1982 with abut 2

emplyees and didnt knw what we were

ding. We made it up as we went alng and

gt ripped ff by prmters but it didnt

matter because we were ding great; we

had n er head and it gt us in the game.

Bambaataa did the A&R and fund Jhnsn

Crew, this grup frm Bstn that had sme

electric (he led electric and Kraftwerk);

Archie Baker prduced Jazzy Sensatin and

fund this grup in Bstn called Planet

Patrl. We used mst f same tracks frm

Planet Rck, using the same 2-inch tape

and replaced a few tracks and changed the

cals. That was ery prductie 2-inchtape and we sld almst a millin 12-inches

f that.


10/21

The business plan fr the label was t make

12-inches. My cntract didnt allw me t

make an album s I had t g back and

renegtiate with Bambaataa. They had a

tugh lawyer and asked fr stuff I culdnt

gie and we kept negtiating. We gt an

album ut tw years after Planet Rck was

released and it was t late. In thse days12-inches nly sld in NY and NJ s fr

me t sell 600,000 12-inches - if I had

an album I culd hae sld 2 r 3 millin

albums but I guess I wasnt suppsed t get

that ht that quickly, it wuld hae made me

stupid - I was suppsed t stay hungry.

I was able t grw the cmpany and then wehad a cld perid. In 1985 I had t sell half

the cmpany t Warner Brs t bring mney

in and get access t pp radi and in 1988

they bught the rest. We kept ur wn

distributin and internatinal. The nly thing

we ended up using them fr was

manufacturing. It really didnt wrk ut s

well fr us because they (WB) had all thebureaucracy and pliticking etc.

F: Frm yur site: The suits upstairs, did

their jb well: keeping sharehlders happy

with rising stck prices, but ultimately there

were cnflicting isins f the bttm line

s. art. Tmmy By chse art.

TS: 1999 was the peak f the music

business. and by 2002 the entire music

industry was ff 15%; nw its dwn arund

40% frm peak.

our business was changing and ur ability t

cmpete in Hip Hp was being undermined

by viacm and Def Jam spending 3x what

we culd and they didnt really care because

they had a lt f mney. I culdnt really

be cmpetitie s I wasnt able t sign and

break the biggest Hip Hp acts after Cli

and Eerlast. Thse were the tw biggest

recrds we eer had and thse were in the

early 90s.

We built that cmpany up until we had t

sell millins f recrds just t cer ur

erhead. When yu get t this place where

yu hae t make and put recrds ut t

feed yur machine and pay fr yur

erhead, then yu start ding things fr

mney as ppsed t art.

I wanted t sign crazy music and d fun

things, but instead f becming fun we feltthe pressure f generating incme. and the

reasn I gt int the business was nt just

t generate incme but t generate culture

and ideas. When it turned t just generating

incme we became machines and we werent

that fit. That was neer my speciality but I

gt sucked int it. I neer wanted the

cmpany t be that big but I neer stppedit s its my fault fr letting it get that big.

F: What is yur gal fr

Hip Hp Essentials?

TS: I hae a few different gals. My main

gal is fr it t be perceied as the mst

imprtant Hip Hp cmpilatin f all time

and becmes the de fact standard that

defines the histry f Hip Hp musically. Im

cncerned, Bam is cncerned and Kl Herc

is cncerned that viacm and Def Jam are

trying t rewrite Hip Hp Histry.

Bambaataa cined the term lyingeers instead

f pineers because they are lying. We are

really thinking abut the Russell Simmns

wh are saying Hip Hp started when he

started and LL cl J was the first Hip Hp

artist. If yu lk at the vH1 Hip Hp

Hnrs prgram, they leae ut eerything

imprtant befre Def Jam like nthing

happened until smebdy put n a Kangl

hat r Russell walks in with Run DMC. vH1

prbably asked Russell t d it and they just

fllwed whateer he said but what abutHlly Rbinsn, Jerry Rbinsn and Steie

Rbinsn frm Sugar Hill Recrds, peple

wh really started it?


11/21

Where is Sleeping Bag, Select, Prfile, Tm-

my By and Pririty and s many imprtant

independent labels that created an incredible

crnucpia f imprtant music and it is all n

Hip Hp Essentials.

S that is what I hpe is ging t happen,

that this becmes the sund bar nne f HipHp cmpilatins. What I shuld try t d

is get this in libraries and nce the full 12

lumes are ut it becmes an academic set.

I remember when i was ging t schl at

Clby there was a jazz hrn player, Marin

Brwn, wh came t teach as a isiting

prfessr. Its been 25 years nw, when arethey ging t d that with Hip Hp?

I cant een get Grandmaster Flash int the

Rck and Rll Hall f Fame and Im n the

bard. I put him up eery year and he gets

the mst tes in the rm and when it ges

t the 600 he gets the least amunt. Tw

years nw and n Hip Hp artist in the Rckand Rll hall f Fame. See this is what we

are up against - the lyingeers n ne side

and the peple wh dnt cnsider Hip Hp

Rck and Rll. Hip Hp is mre Rck and

Rll than fucking Billy Jel r Eltn Jhn.

At least it stands fr smething and defines

a generatin like Chuck Berry and Little

Richie did and they knw it. All these guys

(writers, mangers etc) knw it and cant

deny it but when it ges t the heads f the

label wh te, they all te fr their wn.

F: D yu think an answer is starting a Hip

Hp Hall f Fame and pushing it?

TS: That is like creating a separate bus

fr Rsa Parks. Yu gtta say fuck it, Im

sitting in the frnt f the bus and thats

what Im ging t d. If the sutherners

were smart then they wuld hae created

a whle separate bus line just as gd as

the nes fr Whites fr Rsa Parks. It may

hae allwed racism t cntinue dwn theret tday but they were stupid and she was

smart and brae.

F: With Tmmy By Entertainment. There is

a bigger sense t braden the hrizn. D

yu think that is the best idea?

TS: There is n new genre that defines a

generatin the way Hip Hp used t define

a generatin back in the early perid. After

that perid it became s mainstream thatthe Times liked it and radi understd it.

The marketers, labels and big crpratins

all embraced it. They sld ut any way s

it wasnt really defining anything it was just

lining the pckets f smebdy. It became a

questin f wh gt the prfits.

The idea f free and unchecked rganicsystem where the cream rse t the tp was

histry by 1992. It was a mney game at

that pint.

That is why this is beautiful because all the

stuff that happened naturally. Stu (Fine f

Wild Pitch Recrds) and I were careful in

making sure we cer all the reginal scenesf that perid because yu culd watch hw

Hip Hp wuld sprut in different places. I

was just in Mrcc and [met] the biggest

Hip Hp grup frm there. They were

rapping in Arabic and yu culd see the

influence and hw far its cme. I kept

asking themhow comeI dont hear more of

your own instruments? Why are you using

their tracks to rap over? Do your own shit.

Still all arund the wrld they are making

Hip Hp recrds that sund like ur Hip Hp.

They hae the pprtunity t make sme

new shit that culd be big er here but nt

if they imitate us because were nt ging t

buy back secnds f ur shit, we want sme

new stuff. These are guys wh are just

ding their wn thing and le Hip Hp.

Fr them it defines a generatin. They

le American Hip Hp and they wuld le

America if it didnt hae a fucked up

President. But they understand that there is

a difference between the peple that run urcuntry and the peple in ur cuntry and

the reasn they understand it is because f

Hip Hp.


12/21

Jay-Z shuld g er there and d a tur

f all f the places that hate America- Id

call it the I Hate America tur and we

wuld g with Chuck D and ther peple and

tur all f these places. Jesse Jacksn cant

g there, they dnt care abut him. They

want t hear what Jay-Z has t say, they

wrship him.

There wuld be mre diplmacy dne if we

culd get a rap squad wh actually gae a

fuck t g er t the really scary places

where they dnt like Americans and say

look thats not America, this is America.

We are America too and because of our

Democratic process misfunctioning, we havesome fucked up shit happening over here.

F: D yu feel music r art in general is

being heaily cmmdified in a factry type

setting where they want ne-hit wnders

using what has wrked befre?

TS: They dnt want ne hit wndersbecause they cant make enugh mney n a

ne hit wnder. The majrs are still lking

fr an artist that can hae multiple hits but

as sn as they think it might nt be, they

bail n it. They [majr labels] cant affrd

t take any risks. If yu had a recrd that

sld 1 millin recrds last time but they

dnt think yu can sell 500,000 this time

they might drp yu because it culd be

cstly fr them t bring it ut. They lk at

their numbers and they are ery bttm line

riented and ery risk aerse. They spend

s much mney because they built this whle

cst structure that they are aligning right

nw with higher expenses s they hae t be

careful f what they get behind.

That is why they nly want t get behind

artists that hae already blwn up n sme

scene, are already selling recrds and hae

a base s all the label has t d get is their

name. They dnt hae t d the hard wrk

f deelping an artist.

Hw many majr labels hae signed a new

artist frm scratch, ne wh hasnt had a

recrd ut that peple are checking fr.

What if the A&R guy says I just le this.

Let me get behind it, spend tw years

building it and turning it int smething

great. That is nt what majr labels are

ding. The indies are ding it, where they

can, and thse artists just hae t be patient

and pr fr as lng as it takes fr it thappen.

It wrks better in the Suth because they

can d a lt f shws and make mney.

Als there are a lt f Black radi statins

that will supprt lcal stuff - thats hw

we brke Gucci Mane and Big Kap. [Dwn

there] yu can get 2,000 spins a week justff f Black radi and a few crsser

statins and that is enugh t set expsure

fr the rest f the cuntry.

F: Describe the peple wh wrte linings and

prided phts fr Hip Hp Essentials.

TS: originally artists wanted t d riginalphtgraphy f kids wearing gazelle glasses

r name belts but we thught it wasnt ging

t lk real - that wuld hae been the way

majrs might hae dne it.

I said the best thing wuld be t find

classic things frm that perid f time, like

fat laces and adidas shell tes and sht

that. But Stu didnt like that idea and said

lets find smene wh chrnicled the riginal

stuff. We called Bill Adler wh was the head

f PR fr Def Jam thrugh the glden ages.

I mentined a few peple including Martha

Cper. Martha was ne f the peple wh

we culd get all the images frm. She was

happy t d it and d it within ur budget

which was really tiny due t ur sales

expectatins fr Hip Hp Essentials.

I felt a quarter millin peple shuld hae

this kind f knwledge but peple dnt want

t take a spnful f medicine. All I knw iswhen I played a ne fr Queen Latifah, she

flipped ut and almst went int a trance.


13/21

If yu were arund during that perid it is

fabulus and nstalgic but the yung kids

that are int Hip Hp tday arent

necessarily the cre demgraphic that we

expect t buy it because we understand

ignrance and hw hard it is t break

thrugh it. But peple wh hae a nstalgic

attachment t this perid- when they hearthis they are ging t g h my gd, I hae

t hae this. Ill buy them all and relie that

perid that was s amazing. Yu talk t

peple wh were int Hip Hp in the glden

days and play any f these recrds fr them

and its like they hae a heart attack.

Martha was the first phtgrapher that shtHip Hp. Shes been arund since the

beginning dcumenting the pillars. It was

the same thing fr the writers. We wanted

peple wh hae been writing abut it fr

a lng time r wrte abut it during that

perid and were champins f it when there

werent many champins f it. Yu lk

fr the early pineers nt the lyingeers. Yuwant the nes wh really put there ass n

the line trying t push music that really was

ffensie t a lt f peple and a threat.

F: Whats the plan after the set is cmplete.

TS: Exprt it and get it int ther territries

because it is imprtant t get it t the rest

f the wrld t knw that Hip Hp grws

here and this is where it came frm. I hpe

that peple dnt just burn them and gie

them t their friends. That is anther reasn

we did the liner ntes and the art because it

makes it smething peple want t wn.

We picked the the big hits and the

crssers that still get play nw and then

we picked nes that were really imprtant

in the perid but neer crssed. Thse that

were nly big in a scene; like if yu were in

NY but neer heard Egypt Egypt, which

was a gigantic recrd n the West Cast.

S we tried t make sure we cered neslike that and Luke Skywalker.


14/21

We shw Hip Hp fr the cultural and

amazing eent that it was and is tday. It

is nw a lifestyle and a whle business but

in thse days it was really an amazing grup

f eents that all happened at the same time

and the same place. What were the dds

that graffiti writers, breakdancers, mcs and

turntablists wuld be in the same lcatinin the Brnx. Then a small infectin wuld

take ff frm there and spread t the whle

wrld. It neer has happened befre- jazz

and maybe the blues were clse - but this is

bigger than anything else

Why wnt the mre articulate f these guys

get hnrary degrees, like Chuck D rKRS-one? Why arent they speaking at

institutins like Uniersity f Michigan? Why

arent they getting hnrary degrees like Bill

Csby r jazz players? Hw are they

different? Hw ld d yu want them t

get? Wh deseres it mre than an mc r a

writer. Yu guys are in a place t d it and

nce yu d it eeryne will fllw. Prettysn all f these guys will start ding it and

this changes the perceptin that [Hip Hp] is

an art frm. We are nt just talking abut

50 Cent and Eminem. We are talking abut

peple like Grandmaster Flash, Queen

Latifah and Will Smith.

Spread the wrd abut Hip Hp Essentials.Radi isnt ging t play it and its nt ging

t be n Tv. The nly way t knw abut it

is t tell peple. Each n teach ne. This is

ur histry. Yu think abut Black

Histry mnth and yu can g back t

Harriet Tubman but we hae Black histry

within last 25 years that we wrte and is

still resnating with current generatin. S

where did it cme frm and hw can we use

it as a teaching mechanism. once yu g

back t that, yu can g back t funk and

jazz and it gets kids int it. I can see

academic institutins really embracing it.

This culd be the beginning f smething

ery exciting. The mst imprtant newcultural statement that has been made in

prbably a century is Hip Hp and yu hae

these peple wh are still alie.

Hip Hp can d a lt mre than it is

currently ding. It has becme ery

cmplacent. The peple wh are running

Hip Hp and are at the tp f the game are

thinking hw they can get paid mre as if

they dnt hae enugh nw.

They are asking whats in it fr me rather

than asking hw can I share r sere. Until

that dialgue changes we still will hae a

ery big prblem in the Hip Hp cmmunity.

When Hip Hp started it was nly hw can

I sere that was asked. That was the spirit

that created Hip Hp and all f the artssurrunding it. Nbdy was making mney

ding it back then s what ther questin

culd yu ask. If they were saying whats

in it fr me, then they wuld hae gtten a

jb ding smething else. [Instead] they just

led what they were ding and were ding

it as a means f self expressin which was

pure. Then mney fucked it up, it alwaysdes. I like t beliee there is a way t g

back undergrund and blast them with that

kind f creatiity but there can be

alternate segments, different ersins and

ther things that make it wrk.

With 1 billin peple ging at it, there has t

be ne r tw peple that are int differentthings and ding smething radical. Then

yu need peple t get behind them and all

f a sudden there is a fllwing and

hpefully a majr desnt sign them and put

them n the shelf r misunderstand it all.

Hip Hp needs its messiah.

There needs t be smene wh cmes back

and says smething but flips it in a way that

nbdy has eer dne befre and all f a

sudden peple will say h my gd, we neer

thught abut this.

Hip Hp will hae a whle new lease n life.

The complete interview is available at

www.onefokus.org/insight


15/21

PhotobyEmmaRaynor


16/21

CoNTRA-DICTIoNARYbyAlex WAnd

Handsmely awkward and ilent, impulsie serenity, idealemma,

lust and le turning in circles, lking each ther in the eyes, each ne ready t attack,

ready t make mushrm cluds in the sky ut f the ther

peaceful and playful atmic bmb, silent last scream fr help,

lcked in cages, staring in stark and utter blankness

and cnsumed by a desperate insatiable hunger fr liberatin-

the feeling f drwning with n ne arund t sae yu.

Slw-mtin chas, the Sahara desert glazed with a sheet f petrified, crystal ice, Antarc-

tica blazed with the fire and smke f the ancient Aztec gds returning frm their caskets,Siberia melting and burning with the spice and passin f lukewarm laa straight frm the

center f the earth. The sun turing int a circular ice cube and falling ff the freckled face

f a timid unierse. The Black frest grwing at the rate f bamb shts t the mn, as

if t escape the atmsphere t becme the first nes t enter the pearly gates f heaen.

Calm and cllect, stp, drp and (egg) rll, place xygen mask er muth, help yurself

befre assisting thers. Deep euphric breaths s as t surie up until the mment yu

becme a firewrks display fr a lnely Atlantic ocean.


17/21

THE NIGHT MY WoRLD CHANGEDbyroneshiAWilliAms

Maam, license and registratin please

Thse fie wrds spinnin my head,

Ttal dread ,

Realizin that the sweet life I had inherited

was n lnger affrded by the nice jb my

parents Had r the ties I had t the higher

academic cunsels.

N, t this fficer I was just anther nigga

wit a nice ride,

N jb in sight,

Wit braided lcks and n future.

My free flwing signal had nw been inter-

rupted by white nise,

Spirit frm the ther side inading my priacy.

Scared I flipped thrugh all my belngings,

only t find my infrmatin sitting n thether side f the dashbard.

Smehw adjusted t the idea that at any

gien mment,

My blundering fllies culd be sptted and

penalized .

Still shuttering n the inside

The mements were all t cmmn and h

s autmatic,With shrt ns

And quick yeses

N sudden mes

And with eyes straight frward;

This was a typical night n the ther side

f twn.

Hailed as a citizen,But nt really,

Just as lng as the taxes were paid

And there was bld mney t be made.

Thughts f the family I left behind,

All sure that the wrld was better nw,

That we n lnger had t struggle frm day

t dayAs thse in the past had dne fr s lng.

vices frm the years befre, penetrated my

thughts

As I flipped back and frth frm the

memries f the past t the idyllic missins

f the future.

S straight laced and aplgetic I was t

that man,

The ne wh held my freedm, securedfirmly in his hands

And while minutes earlier I felt s free,

I culdnt help but wnder if that night I

wuld just becme anther statistic, a

distant memry.

Thse 5 shrt minutes felt like 50 lng

daysAnd Lrd knws I een imagined the trture

in jail

Cause I figured the inmates knew s many

ways.

Re-fcusing my attentin t the reariew,

The man apprached my car and all time

std still.The snw cascading frm the sky slwed in

its curse

And I cunted the secnds until my life was

er.

I waited fr the dreaded news that smene

reprted my car as stlen

or that I was smehw withhlding

recreatinal gds

or that I een had a mysterius busted tail

light.

The man lked at me and smiled.

He said yu werent din anything wrng,

But next time yu might nt be s lucky.

He walked away,

And with each exhale I thanked the Hly

Father that all had been frgtten.

What nce was secnd nature

Became a planned adenture

And while thse fie wrds I heard nce and

was dne,I knew they wuld hld real weight fr

thers just like me

Fr many years t cme.


18/21

CooL AS A FANbyAshlee Arder

Chuck English and Mikey Rcks, als knwn as The Cl Kids, hae taken the undergrund

Hip Hp scene by strm. The Chicag rap du deliers catchy, psitie lyrics er beats

infused with sul trembling bass. What began as a Myspace friendship has transfrmed int

a mement. Just as many ther musical cllabratins, by bth big names and lcal artists,

hae riginated n Myspace, Mikey and Chuck English swapped music ia Myspace befre

eer hking up.

Besides their ability t rap (especially abut smething ther than bitches and hes) The

Cl Kids hae incrprated BMX bikes int their creatie equatin. With their ppular sng

Black Mags, the grup brags nt abut the rims n their luxury cars, but abut the wheels

n their BMX bikes.

The Cl Kids are nt nly fun t listen t,

but als t lk at. Its as if these guys

hpped int a time machine, went shppingin a 1988 street butique, and then

returned t 2008. Their wardrbe,

cmplete with thick, gld rpe chains and

windbreaker jackets, is a statement n its

wn.

These guys are all abut change. They hae

shwn that its nt nly cl t rap abutbikes, but that self expressin can cme in

any frm. Its k t sund, lk and act

differently frm thse arund yu. Many

wuld say that the rap game has been in

need f a change fr quite sme time. Hw

many mre peple are there t kill, bitches

t fuck and ways t spend mney? And

althugh the dance-inspired sngs thathae taken er ur teleisins and radis are fun t imitate, hw many mre f thse can

we endure? The Cl Kids hae nt nly thrwn a mnkey wrench int tdays rap scene,

but hae dne s genuinely and psitiely.


19/21

THE HANDS oF TIMEbyJonAthAn desir

once upn these hands, the sands f my

essence was hastened by life

Nw it seems like life, is merely time, merely

me

I marel at hw I define yur eternity but

nly humanity is my prey

Yu see, mankind depends n its predatr

Since the dawn f my birth the unierse was

cursed with the wrst plague that will ne

day put the earth in a hearse

There is nt a single piece f matter that

isnt effected by me

Thugh time is cntingent n its

enirnment, I am ut f harms way

I speak in sign language because actins

speak luder than wrds

And because I lathe the blackhles acuum

ce with the darkness and slight current f

atmsphere whisping thrugh the id,

whispering taunts f times kryptniteThis lack f presence disgusts me

Its resistance prmpted me t pummel the

presence with a pwerful persistence pushed

upn pens

Smetimes driing me t a glbe f times

cliche, time after time, I time trael thrugh

time znes just t stp time, but im always

n time time and time again, wndering whenis irreleant

My father time and grandfather clck

nicknamed me sundial

My head gt s big that if yu dialed nine

144,445 times yud get an utside line

which wuld shw yu hw many f yur

planets culd fit inside

And nce I g big bang, existence n lngerexists

In realizing this I am nw taking er, its

shwtime, histry desnt repeat itself, I d

Secnd after secnd, yu better watch yur

watch cause nly time will tell

I am f the essence, I heal all wunds, I am

running ut, dnt let me pass yu by

Pathetically yu try t trick me by trippingmy leap year tracks

Crdinating yur csmic clcks with NASA

trying t defy the aging prcess with speed

A glrius plan indeed but yu cannt escape

my clutch

I will find yu, light frm a distant star may

take years fr yu t see, but thats k, I

will find yu, because I rchestrate that fact

I le t trture yu, truth is I am why time

feels shrter each and eery day f yur lifeI am why time flies when yu are haing fun

and s slw when yu are bred, waiting t

get up and g

Seems like I was always arund during

childhd, just think back fr a mment, this

nes n me

Didnt days feel like endless imaginatin

jurneys thrugh my fabricNw its a shame yu cant buy sme time

with yur fixatin n the almighty multi-

clred new American dllar

And they say time is mney, yu will neer

be able t affrd me

s keep wrshiping the dw jnes dwn

syndrme, but yu nw shall sin alne

Dnt yu just le time, time is like leYu cannt see me but yu must admit that

im there, unfrtunately chclate cannt

replicate my cmpnents

G ahead and try t figure me ut thrugh

yur chrnlgical chrnemics, try t

cmmunicate with me thrugh yur sched-

ules, palm pilts, cmputers, calendars and

clcks, day planners and data banks

I am nt listening, keep trying t find what

makes me tick, yur big business is small

time and yur ticking me ff, eeryday yu

questin me, what time is it? what time is

it? what time is it? Yur manmade answers

are meaningless, I will nt respnd

I will nly cntinue n my uninterupted path

tward freer, I am infatuated with the

cycle f infinity, she has gt the best f me

until we reach the white dwarf at the end f

this timelines timeless rad that is

2012


20/21

GYPA SUMMER 2008 ART SCHooL IMMERSIoN

This June, fifteen American artists and students between the ages f 18-

30 will be selected t participate in GYPAs Internatinal Art Schl Immer-

sin. This is a unique pprtunity t learn frm Ugandas best and brightest

artists and instructrs frm the Makerere Uniersity Schl f Industrial and

Fine Arts. The Art Schl will take place n the shres f Lake victria at

the Nagenda Internatinal Academy f Art and Design (NIAAD).

Since the funding f the Schl f Fine Arts in 1937, Ugandas MakerereUniersity has been East Africas leader in innatie fine arts educatin,

prductin and schlarship.

Art Schl participants will experience a 2.5 week art-intensie prgram

fcusing n a ariety tpics including: African fine art techniques in disci-

plines such as painting, drawing and sculpture; African art histry; African

culture and its encuragement f industriusness and artistic expressin;

and mre. These curses will take place in a ariety f class settings that

will include the incrpratin f Ugandas lush and beautiful landscapes.

Cntact Internatinal Art Schl Immersin Crdinatr, Sharn Wlf, fr

mre infrmatin: [email protected]; phne: 847.769.1338.

Sptlight


21/21

www.nefkus.rg

INSIGHT Magazine | Issue #16

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