“That fucker was too fast” -Diaz

Indeed, Diaz, indeed.

-Ninoy Brown

This Saturday:

Turn off that MTV, get out, and witness B-Boys/B-Girls in their essence. Proceeds go to a good cause.

I literally live around the corner from The War Memorial, so I’ll be around (up until the Pacquiao fight, of course).

-Ninoy Brown

At ESPN is an article written by Don Stradley about Philippine boxing:

A look at the history of boxing in the Philippines

Manny Pacquiao has thrilled boxing fans around the world, but that’s not enough for him.

“It’s very important to me and my country to put my name into boxing history,” Pacquiao said last week, referring to his upcoming challenge of WBA lightweight titlist David Diaz.

But Pacquiao is already part of history. In a way, Pacquiao’s achievements are the culmination of a 100-year cultural journey that encompassed martial arts, Spanish oppression and Yankee influence, all of which combined to create Filipino boxing as we know it today.

Perhaps most important to the evolution of boxing on the islands was the unified vision of three men: Frank Churchill and the Tait brothers, Stewart and Eddie.

Read on

Not all that surprising, that in an article by a mainstream American press, the three individuals given the most credit for the cultural lore behind boxing in the Philippines were three white men.  “White man’s burden”, anyone?

The early part of the 1900’s saw the violent exploitation of the Philippines by America, with policies of manifest destiny being justified as a need to enlighten the “little brown brothers”.  Parental condescension was what was displayed by America towards the Philippines where Filipinos who sought to seek sovereign status for their homeland where deemed insurgents by America (I’m sure this rings a familiar tone to a more recent military engagement).  Do the research.

While I cannot proclaim myself to be a strong authority on the history of Philippine boxing, I wonder why in an article about this topic, other than the Pacman, only a brief mention was made of any of the OG Filipino fighters?  Where a bulk of the text reserved for the “Barnums of Borneo”, it is the exploiters who are given the shine while the exploited fighters are reduced to the footnotes.

-Ninoy Brown

To the counterculture comedic genius.

-Ninoy Brown

With the past couple elections, elections that I have existed within its consciousness and indebted in its process, my stance has rested slightly on the fence many rappers ride. Those who have been placed on the “conscious rapper” status have tended to also be the most cynical regarding American electoral politics: voting doesn’t do sh*t. “Whether you vote for the most evil or the lesser of two evils, you’re still voting for evil.”

From dead prez to Immortal Technique to Talib to Nas, etc., these emcees have been heralded as the “political conscious” of Hip-Hop, yet they are those who push themselves the furthest away from the electoral process. With good reason: alienation to the voting process has been brought upon due to feeling neglected by politicians who only focus on promises made to powerful interest groups and lobbyists. How could the Hip-Hop generation’s interest in politics be resuscitated when the choices are white men who don’t feel indebted to their interests? For a while, a middle finger was directly pointed to the voting booth, as the bullet had been preferred over the ballot.

It’s now surprising to see the shift away from electoral apathy by some of those mentioned above:

Talib supports Obama

Nas sees greatness in him as well

Mos Def thinks he’ll win cause he’s the best looking candidate for the job

And Imm Tech is now urging the Hip-Hop generation to vote

What does this shift signify?

-Ninoy Brown

Xtreme Dance Force (American’s Best Dance Crew Season 2)

-Mark

Homeboy from the Bay Area, Kevin Camia, is a comedic genius. A few clips of his shine on Comedy Central is here.

-Mark

No real need to state it, but yeah, our economy is shit right now.  The cost of petrol is making me and a lot folks I know become home bodies (I’m predicting gas riots this summer).  So we’re forced to sit at home during the summer and over analyze America’s Best Dance Crew.  To add to the these strains and unemployment being so high, I can’t even get a damn tomato in my burger cause of salmonella.  These are the times where poor folks and broke graduate students such as myself are forced to hustle and acquire money by any means possible.

Sonny told Calogero in A Bronx Tale that the working man is a sucker.  But it ain’t the working man’s fault that capitalist vultures prey on their few dollars and cents by leaving working people with few options in the community.  Example: cash advance and check cashing spots.  Thankfully, I have never resorted to using either, but I was close to hitting up a Payday Loan Advance cause my wallet was getting anorexic.  I exited the door after seeing the ridiculous interest rates they were charging.

As for the Check Into Cash locations, the folks that gave us the Ghetto Big Mac and also revealed the mysticism surrounding bodegas provide an investigative look into this phenomenom.

A few weeks late posting this video, but will continue to be relevant.  Rafi and Dallas, otherwise known collectively as the Internets Celebrities, present us with “Checkmate”:

Rafi and Dallas >>> Michael Moore

Extra: The ICs interviewed on the Brian Lehrer Show at CUNY.

-Ninoy Brown

MV’s already got a discussion started.

Will Filipino American fatigue take place on ABDC? Was the Jabbawockeez success based on a somewhat visible/invisibility of the crew’s race? If, ABDC season 1 was the 2008 Presidential election, would Jabba = Obama, and be the one’s who appealed to middle America because they “transcend race”?

There was a humble attitude that Jabba demonstrated. Several of the current crews, ie Supreme Soul and Super Crew, are coming off with that cocky b-boy mentality that could scare off the Sally Henderson’s of Omaha and the rest of the Midwest. Which brings me to another observation on the ubiquity of b-boys on season 2.

It’s dope as hell for me to see a bunch of these cats getting shine on television. Folks that I used to always see tearing it up in b-boy circles: Bionic from Rock Force Crew, Rockadile and Do Knock from Battle Monkeys, Mike Murda and Ben from Knucklehead Zoo (who also made appearances on Planet B-Boy), Ronnie from Full Force, and the other cats from Soul Sector. I’m sure Mad’s got some of his own battle stories with a few of these cats.

But to go along with the possible Filipino fatigue, is there also the possibility of b-boy fatigue? Back when I was staying up on the scene rolling to battles, the thing that would piss me off the most was when b-boy crews would break out into their You Got Served dance routines. Nothing so far off of the rawness of a rap cypher than when an emcee comes out doing a written; the same is applied when a crew that does a rehearsed routine that doesn’t match up to the rythm of whatever break is being played at a particular time. I would like to note that I thought Knucklehead Zoo always provided a cool balance.

With ABDC, these crews are on a medium where they’re being challenged to stay up on that choreograph hype. I can only take so much choreographed Hip-Hop; it’s almost on the same annoyance level for me as spoken word. But that’s me; I wonder if the other voting blocs will be annoyed by the arrogant attitude that is almost inherent within b-boys.

To add, folks that need to get cut by the next episode: the cheerleaders, the boy band crew from Chicago, and Lil’ Mama.

-Ninoy Brown

Alright maybe it’s not, but one can find a lot Hip-Hop shit while doing so (not talkin’ about Source magazine and the like). Idly walking up and down the isles of a local Borders scouring the shelves for the very popular book by Jeff Chang to reference for an academic paper, I found this jewel.

“Yes Yes Yall” by Jim Fricke & Charlie Ahearn is the outstanding history of Hip-Hop and its founding. What set’s this bad boy apart from its counter, “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” is that it’s based on oration. Other than the intro of every chapter, most of the book is a collection of quotes and testimonies from all the prominent figures from the golden age Hip-Hop that you can think of. I can’t say that I know Jim Fricke, but the name Charlie Ahearn may ring a bell as he was the director and writer of the classic “Wild Style”, already a signifying factor a legit book on Hip-Hop.

Although I wasn’t able to read the entire book during that one session, I paid particular attention to the section on B-boying. Not only is that my bread and butter, it’s usually the most signifying element on whether or not the author got their shit straight. To my surprise however, not only did the authors accurately depict the origins of the dance, they prominently described the very important gang influence on B-boying’s ‘Rocking’ roots. Just like one of the posts from your boys over at Fobbdeep! Needless to say, being a stickler on that type of historical shit got my instant thumbs up.

So next time you’re inside a Borders, Barnes & Nobles or any other mega corporate book store and you need an actual book to legitimate your magazine browsing with a Starbuck’s in your hand (don’t trip I do it too), head on over to the music section and peep game!

P.S. For those still on that ‘Hyphy’ shit and also on the Cool Kids hype like I am, here is somethin’ one time for your mind.

Stunnas On (Remix) - The Cool Kids

-MAD Merc