I Read The News Today... Oh, Oil!

New York Times

Sept, 3, 2010

An Oil Rig Burns, Blanketing the Gulf With Angst

Seriously? At what point do we get the message? It is brutal and cruel than New Orleans in the Gulf Coast have endured the wrath of nature's response to the human industrial complex. It also seems like a preview, fore-shadowing. Not only could it be anywhere, it may be everywhere in the not so distant future. My hope for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is that end up contact in more quickly than the rest of us because environmental crisis has hit them hard, fast, and first. Something like Cuba, which went through the energy crisis first after Russia cut off their oil resources. Now Cuba is a role model for a post oil economy. If you don't know about this, see the documentary " The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil". You can also And in a read just about any book by Richard Heinberg.

The collage above on the left I made in response to this article in the New York Times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/us/03rig.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sept%203,%202010&st=cse

I'm also attaching above on the right the collage I made a few days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion first happened in the Gulf. I felt helpless not only the situation itself but also in how we communicate my emotional response to it. Creative expression was a good place to start. It felt good using a ads promoting oil companies and transforming them into commentary on the destruction they lead to environmentally, socially, politically, militarily.

Transformative Arts Mix

TRANSFORMATIVE ARTS MIX

00:04 Golden Bowls Karma Moffett

01:25 The Prayer of The Afrika Bambaataa KRS-One

02:03 Have A Dream Common

05:38 Science of A New Time The Goddess Alchemy Project

09:57 Ganesh Is Fresh MC Yogi

13:31 What It's Worth The Goddess Alchemy Project

19:23 Five Senses Saul Wiliams

20:09 Do What You Love J Boogie Dubtronic Science

24:24 Golden Jill Scott

28:05 State of Clarity Guru feat. Common & Bob James

31:25 Believe Q-Tip feat. D'Angelo

34:17 Connection Guru feat. Kem

37:32 The State of The Union Thievery Corporation

41:48 Priority Mos Def

43:12 Witness Roots Manuva

46:13 The Healer/Hip Hop Erykah Badu

50:13 Higher Level KRS-One

55:05 What Are You Waiting For / His Message To The World Pete Rock / Mahatam Ghandi

59:09 Light (Can You See It) Mos Def & DJ Krush

1:03:44 Hip Hoprisy / Dream Pete Rock / KRS-One

1:07:54 Secrets The Goddess Alchemy Project

1:13:40 Golden Bowls Karma Moffett

Here's the playlist for the Mix I gave out in class after my presentation. Apologies for not being able to break this into individual tracks. Hopefully, having the time when each new track starts will be helpful to at least know who you are listening to at any give point in the mix. There are two tracks near the end of the mix that you won't be able to find elsewhere. They are: "What Are You Waiting For / His Message To The World" and "Hip Hoprisy / Dream." These are a combination of instrumental songs (AKA beats) by Pete Rock an old school hip hop DJ and vocal tracks by Mahatam Ghandi or KRS-One. The rest of these songs you can find on albums by the artists.

Liner Notes:

I highly recommend The Goddess Alchemy Project and MC Yogi. Even if you don't like hip hop much these are amazing musicians and poets with a very different message than mainstream hip hop. KRS-One, Mos Def, Common, Q-Tip (a member of A Tribe Called Quest) and Guru are some of the better known artist for conscious hip hop. Erykah Badu and Jill Scott are two amazing female artists that have ushered in a new era of soul music. Kem is a soul and R&B musician as well, who credits music and spirituality with his ability to overcome homelessness and addiction. D'Angelo is one of the more well-known R&B artists of the 90s. Saul Williams is one of the best known spoken word artists of the past twenty years. J Boogie Dubtronic Science, Thievery Corporation, and Roots Manuva are known as Electronic artists but each has clearly been influenced by hip hop and global beats. DJ Krush is a Japanese DJ that has collaborated with many hip hop musicians creating distinctive hip hop and electronic fusion. Bob James is an amazing jazz fusion artist known as one of the originators of smooth jazz, which incorporates R&B, funk rock and pop into jazz. He is probably the most sampled jazz musician in hip hop.

Enjoy!

Higher Self Video

This is my final presentation video for the amazing Transformative Art Seminar this summer at JFKU. Thank you wonderful women/peers for all of your suggestions at the beginning of the quarter that led to this piece! And thank you for the feedback and support you gave me last night after viewing it. The process of making it and sharing it has been transformative and empowering. I'm really looking forward to doing more with this medium. :)

Wandering Muse Painting

Here's my Wandering Muse painting. It was quite a process to get to this. It feels like good integration of the mandala work I've been doing with all the things that have come up for me in working with conscious hip hop this quarter, both challenging and inspiring! Many thanks to my muses, which includes the fabulous group of women in the Transformative Arts Seminar! Thanks to you ladies, for your wonderful comments in class about this piece. I couldn't write fast enough to get them all but here are the ones I wrote down (feel free to add to them):

-Pulsing Pink Power

-Slippery throat swirl

-Inner beautiful radiating out into the universe

-I am ready

-Yonilicious!

-Swirly magic

-I am the one I seek

-I am woman, hear me roar!

-I am the design

Blessings my Sistas!

Wandering Muses Reflections

With the desire for more female presence in Hip Hop, I knew I wanted to use the mandala, as I have been so often recently. The circle seems so feminine, the egg, the curve. From there, I started looking at the female hip hopartists I love. Erykah Badu is among the top on the list. I've been very drawn to the art work on her last couple of albums and searched a bit to find the artist. Love almost all of his work and am particularly inspired by his work with Badu and the creative relationship they have. From this album cover I new I wanted incorporate pink and purple into my wandering muse piece. I also began to think about using a the female form, not any specific woman. This lead me to two other hop hop album covers that I have always loved...

(For more on the collaborations between Erykan Badu & Emerk see:

http://emek.net/posters/b/badu_covers_2008.html or www.Emek.net)

A Tribe Called Quest released these albums in the early 90s. I always loved the images of this figure. It's all about the tribal body not the individual. Tribe was also one of the original groups to bring conscious hip hop into the mainstream. I saw them performed the album above on the right, Midnight Marauders, last weekend. I definitely wanted to go with a close up figure like this but with zero doubt the gender is female.

I tried to find the artist who did this work to no avail. I even contacted JIVE records, who owns the rights to the cover art. So far, no reply. If anyone knows the artist, I'd love to be educated.

I thought I would listen to The Goddess Alchemy Project while painting and maybe incorporate some of their lyrics into the piece, for me they represent the divine feminine in hip hop. I also went to their website (http://www.goddessalchemyproject.com) to check out their artwork. They have creative talent moving in a lot of different directions. So, I was bound to find some inspiration...

This piece entitled "Alkemista" by Nikila Mamawisdom of the Goddess Alchemy Project, reinforced the mandala concept. From the overlapping mandala behind the woman's head in this painting came the idea of the overlapping of shapes and playing with the effect of the color and shade.

In the end, I discovered two artists in this process, Emek & Nikila Mamawisdom. I am still searching for the third artist who did the cover art for A Tribe Called Quest. The Wandering Muse piece I'm working on is almost complete. But you will have to wait for class next week to see it. So, far it looks nothing like these other artist's work but I can clearly see the influences. I'm like it so far.

:)

Ladies

An amazing range of things emerged for me at my Wandering Muse day at the Rock The Bells Hip Hop Festival last Sunday. I'm not going to attempt to cover it all in one post but I will say I left satisfied that my love of Tribe Called Quest & KRS-One is rooted in something far greater than nostalgia alone. That said, I started the day struggling inside. Outwardly, I feel like my struggle for hip hop is to allow people to hear the music beyond the stereotype, to help myself and others bridge the cultural gap and experience the universal messages. Inwardly, my major struggle with hip hop is a lack focus on female representation. Where my ladies at?! We need to step up, drop money, be heard, and represent because the hip hop industry is not doing that for us.

The line up was almost entirely men. The only woman in the line up was Lauryn Hill, DIVA beyond DIVA! Yes, she gets accolades for her talent but her behavior lacks respect for her peers, the musicians on stage with her, and her fans, which makes me not want to be one anymore. And that is what we had to represent the ladies at the longest running, most successful hip hop festival in the world. Seriously? Then looking around, well, there were some women in the crowd. Maybe 1 to 7 or so. I'll admit I do fall into that consumer stereotype of women when it comes to events like this. I have pride in my love of hip hop music, culture, and art. And while I'm not rich, I'm willing to drop money to support it and represent it. I was looking for art/clothes that represented hip hop and consciousness. I was happy to see quite a bit of it. More than the gangsta bent that the mainstream associates with rap, if not hip hop. The problem... "Do you have that in women's sizes?" I had several vendors look at me with a blank stare as if I wasn't speaking in English. Argh!

Let's start with MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Pam The Funkstress, Salt-n-Pepa, Miss Elliott, Lil Kim, Eve, M.I.A., Lady of Rage, Foxy Brown, Angie Stone, Erykah Badu, Goddess Alchemy Project, Lil Mama, J.J. Fad, Monie Love, Jean Grae, Khia, Remy Ma, Fergie, and it goes on and on. Those are just the artists representing the ladies in the house! There are far more of us in the listening/paying audience. I hate to say it but it seems to me that at least at this venue for hip hop women are being subjugated in a way that has nothing to do with objectifying lyrics. One's presence must be acknowledged, let alone valued, in the hip hop market place.

I should mention that KRS-One spoke to the absolute importance of women to hip hop and hip hop culture. It's not the first time this man has managed to keep me open by acknowledging what is burning in me. I'll always love and respect his wisdom. Still, where is my female Teacha? I know she's not silent but she's also not being heard.

Hm...

Lacking Technology Patience

Dear Discover DJ Mixer,

Could you explain yourself to me? I don't know? Maybe give me a CD of instructions that I can listen to in my sleep and when I awake, I know how to use you. Voila! And then I can get started.

You see, I'm not the most tech-savvy gaia around. I LOVE to use this big 24" iMac. I'm completely seduced by the splendor of the screen but even this beauty took me some time to figure out and it drove me crazy because, well... I have this lack of patience when it comes to learning new tools of the technological persuasion. *sigh*

I'm all about process when it comes to art making so long as it doesn't involve microchips or silicone. I'm happy to practice night and day once I have an understanding of your knobs and software, which in your case, should be called confusing-ware because it's not so soft and cozy, really. Aurgh!

I need a Mixer teacher. Just someone to show me the ropes. Because the truth is that initial hurdle of reading your one page instruction booklet, which is more confusing than helpful, and trying to figure you out with little to know guide, reminds me of being in elementary school before they knew I was learning disabled. In fact, you remind me of the struggle from 3rd grade right up to my emancipation from high school. Yes, back when I couldn't get the assistance I needed to really orient myself well enough with information or tools to use them independently. So, right now you touch on everything isolating, frustrating, and self esteem charring from my early education... You keep poking that wound that I declared healed a few years ago. It's really annoying and hurtful.

All that said, could you hook a sister up and clue me in on the easier route?

Well?

...Ok. I take your silence to mean that I actually have to go there. Crap. I'll just warn you this may involve an embarrassing amount of 3rd grader tantrums. You know, the ones I never really got out. You'll be lucky to make it out of this alive but don't worry, you will. Because really, all I want is to get through it so we can synthesize all the beautiful music that inspires and heals me. Ironic, eh? We'll like each other much better when we arrive there. But until then, let the initiation begin!