Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 92

Tools of War 2016

This years “Tools of War” events that took place in my neighborhood in Crotona Park were really on another level to me compared to last year’s that I went to. For those who don’t know what “Tools of War” is, it’s a hip hop park jam event where people from all over New York or the world come to enjoy good music, including classic hip hop, soul music, funk music and even house music, the kinda house music they played at hip hop parties back in the 1970’s and 80’s. A lot of people always come to these events because it gives people a sense of nostalgia and it’s a lot of fun. For me, being at “Tools of War” is like living a world like it’s the 70’s, 80’s again, sometimes the 90’s, depending on the DJ. So many people in the community come together with their chairs, water bottles and drinks and they sit or stand up to dance along to the music, people come through their freshest hip hop gear on like Kangol hats, Adidas, Pumas, Nikes, Reeboks, Clarks, gold rope chains, or anything that’s fashionable in hip hop. Breakdancers from all over New York or the world come through to show off their skills and hype up each other with their fresh gear too. There are camera men everywhere taking pics of the event of everything that’s going on including the people with their fresh gear on and dancing and having a good time and then handing out flyers to help promote themselves, just in case anyone wants to hire them for events. Grandmaster Caz, whose a hip hop legend, MC’s the event, he’s selling hip hop t-shirts, he’s calling out the raffle ticket winners at the end of the event and gives out prizes to the winners while his grandson Cazmere walks around the park handing out prizes and collecting the tickets. Then there’s the very nice and cool Christine Z-Pabon. Christine is the wife of legendary hip hop breakdancer, b-boy and master pop locker, Popmaster Fabel. She walks around the park making sure things are alright, handling business, and I believe she helps to make “Tools of War” happen. I actually spoke to her for the first time yesterday when I ran into my friend Damian and we both had a really cool but short conversation about the state of hip hop culture today, how the community can come together to collaborate to keep our streets and communities a much safer place for the youth and of course “Tools of War.” The best part about “Tools of War” are the hip hop legendary artists and DJ‘s who come by to show love and actually DJ for everyone. It’s the greatest thing in the world to me because I don’t have to pay a penny or travel far to see these kinda things happening; it’s right up the street from my building. Last week and yesterday, it was Kool DJ Red Alert, DJ Scratch, Lord Finesse and I happen to see of course, the father of hip hop himself, DJ Kool Herc and L.A. Sunshine from the legendary hip hop group Treacherous Three, who came by and show love too. Of course I forget about DJ Jazzy Jay and DJ Johnny Juice, they definitely did their thing too. I was very happy when I got my pictures taken with DJ Scratch last week and Lord Finesse yesterday. These men were very cool and I went home at the end feeling very inspired and happy to have meet more hip hop legends. Yesterday, I happen to notice someone else too, this guy was very popular amongst my generation because of the “Get Lite” movement 10 years ago. It was Mr. Voice of Harlem himself. I asked if it was really him and he said that it was, I got my pic with him and then he told me to tag him on Instagram and that’s how my night after “Tools of War” ended. So much can happen in 4 hours in my own neighborhood more than anywhere else to me. I’m just grateful to be able to witness hip hop greatness for the past 2 years like that, even though “Tools of War” been happening for 14 years. Of course they do it all over New York but I only attend the ones in my neighborhood in July every Thursday. I can’t wait for next year….

Written by Jay-Doggz

Jay-Doggz Doin’ His Thing…

Wassup, if you’re reading this, this is just a funky introduction of how nice I am…. LOL! My name is Jalen Hemphill aka “Jay-Doggz”, I’m 22 years old and I’m a heavy hip hop fan. Hip hop is my entire life and it only make so much sense that I’m from the South Bronx, which is the birthplace of hip hop. I sing, write, dance, DJ, act, I’m also into hip hop fashion and now I’m a new blogger just giving you the scoop of what’s buzzing in the streets. If you wanna get into contact with me just add me on Facebook at Jalen Jay-Doggz Hemphill and follow me on Instagram @HipHopSoul_Jalen.

DIRECTOR-VERA EDWARDS

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TITO ROJAS PERFORMS LIVE IN THE BRONX

City Parks Foundation Summer Stage has done it again! Date Thursday, July 14 2016. Time 7pm. Where? St. Mary’s park on 146 street St Ann. The park was full of concert goers eagerly waiting for Tito Rojas and his live band to take the stage. One woman was screaming “Viva Puerto Rico!” as the crowd enjoyed latin music that echoed through the park. The announcer introduced Tito Rojas as the crowd waited patiently. He begun his introduction by greeting the crowd. The massive crowd yelled back with flags and cellphones out. One man went on Facebook live and reported to his social media friends to get down there. “I’m running out of battery!” Tito Rojas had a band with every instrument you can imagine. He begun by singing his classic songs that made him a hit. The place was so packed you could not even move. Some concert goers managed to get in the spirit and dance. Everyone was either eating, singing or dancing. One man walked up to me and said this is better than the Puerto Rican Parade. There was no fighting no pushing – just love. As the band played, Tito Rojas interacted with the audience, making them wanting more. At one time, the audience sang so loud it almost ended up drowning out the singer. His response back to the crowd was that he loved them. Body to Body, shoulder to shoulder, there was little space to move. Fathers had their children on their shoulders while the rest who were old enough to manage learned the history of their people.

It was a beautiful night in St Mary park, thanks to Tito ROJAS and Summer Stage and, of course, the audience.

Written by Vera Edwards

DJ KEYNOTE SPEAKAZ RISING UP!

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In the year of 2016, where there are lots of ambitious, hard working and upcoming hip hop artists and only a few of them stand out, the one person who definitely stands out is the 19 year old, North Carolina native known as DJ Keynote Speakaz. I got my first taste of his style when he followed me on Instagram more than a year ago I happened to notice that he was another hip hop artist who was working towards his dream of becoming both a rapper and producer. His posts consists of other hip hop artists he’s inspired by, notes of him asking us, the followers our opinions about his work and hip hop and videos of him working on a new beat while quizzing us hip hop heads about who sampled what for what track on what album they did. Keynote would often doubt himself by asking his followers if he should give up rapping and just stick to producing, just like any other artist out there with a dream – sometimes we doubt ourselves and can be a bit insecure. Then at some point, I got to actually hear his voice and was completely thrown off guard by his very strong and deep talking and rapping voice. Hearing him rap sounds like a Fat Albert chopped and screwed, rapping Barry White with a tad bit of Biggie Smalls and he’s only 19 years old. How many 19 year old guys do you know have a voice THAT deep? LOL! His work is definitely worth the listen and it matches his stage name completely. His ear for incredible beat making and remixing popular songs on different beats is definitely something worth listening to in 2016, especially with all the stagnant “Trap Muzik” stuff that’s constantly being pushed on us by mainstream and Soundcloud rappers who decide they wanna become rappers and producers overnight but there’s something about Keynote that’s very not overnight. With an ear and voice like his, it’s clear that he’s been doing this for a while and he’s a very dope and talented individual whose clearly all about hip hop culture. Whenever you listen to a DJ Keynote Speakaz joint, just remember that you need the right “Speakaz” to blast it and enjoy. The beats will have you nodding your head and eventually, his deep Barry White-ish voice will have you learning the words to his catchy rap songs but at the same time, you learn about the samples he uses because they’re very much obviously used so well and in a such a beautiful way. DJ Keynote Speakaz is no J Dilla, he’s no Marley Marl, Timbaland, Pharrell, or a 9th Wonder but he’s just simply the DJ that’ll have your “Speakaz” rocking and booming.

Check out DJ KEYNOTE SPEAKAZ
http://https://youtu.be/uiS-Z-I4k0w

Street Line WRITTEN BY JAY DOGGZ

Summer Stage 2016 — Joe Bataan meets SETENTA/ Joan Català

Summer Stage never ceases to surprise me. Every year, across the 5 boroughs of New York City, the City Parks Foundation holds a Summer Stage for absolutely FREE. Free is a word that catches almost every New Yorkers eye. It surely caught mine and every year, I’m always surprised at the different events that the City Parks Foundation provides for us.

Today, I had the opportunity to visit one of the events in St. Mary’s Park, located on 3rd Ave. 149th street. The location was actually a bit more into the park, on St. Anns, between 145th and 146th street, on top of the hill. It’s a huge hill, and by the time I reached the top, I was out of breath and all I wanted to do was sit. What I saw though, made my energy spike. The Hispanic community, amongst other diverse races where there and everyone was having a great time, listening and dancing to the music that was being played. I took my folding chair and sat down and listened to the music, provided by Joe Bataan and SETENTA/ Joan Català . Even after wanting to sit down after the hill climb, I got out of my seat and started dancing, joining in with the others. There was so much love between the people there, with all the hugging and dancing together. It was good to see the different cultures interact so freely with each other. The music was in English and Spanish so everyone could have a chance to understand the lyrics. For the lyrics that I couldn’t understand, the instruments touched my heart and the music felt more universal than anything.

Today, the Parks Department won on this one. They really outdid themselves with the beautiful music and bringing people together. Even if you can’t understand the music, if you feel yourself dancing to the beat and feel your heart connecting to it all and the people around you, then it doesn’t matter.

Written by Bobbi Cordero

FAT JOE at SUMMER STAGE

Although I live across the street from Crotona Park, it was nice to see both Fat Joe and Remy Ma perform in my hood for the Summerstage Concert series. I originally thought they were supposed to show up the next day but my sister overheard them performing and it was “What’s Luv?” the joint he did with Ashanti back in 2001. Then my mom comes in through the door with the same enthusiasm as my sister, hyped about Fat Joe and Remy Ma performing as well, so I decided to throw on my sneakers, grab my keys and both my iPhones and speed walk to go catch the show in my basketball shorts and a grey t-shirt before the show was over. When I got there, it was super crowded. People were all over the park with their phones out recording and singing and rapping along to the songs they were performing and it was “Lean Back” when I got there. I decided to find a good spot to stand at and get a good angle to record them on my busted iPhone that I keep for hip hop occasions like this. I got a good 1 minute long video of Remy doing her verse to “All the Way Up”, which is one of the hottest hip hop joints out this year. While Remy did her thing, strutting across the stage, spitting her verse with so much aggression in her voice, the DJ played with the song a little bit while the audience got hyped and rapped along with Remy to her verse while jumping up and down and simultaneously recording on their phones at the same time. It was dope to see The Bronx represent as hard as they did because The Bronx is such an underrated and forgotten borough in New York. It was also dope to see a lot of hip hop fans and older heads out there enjoying the show instead of doing their usual “new school rap” hate rantings all day. Watching Fat Joe and Remy Ma up on that stage made me very proud to be from The Bronx and of course, it was another monumental dope hip hop moment for me, even though I caught it at the very last minute, looking crazy in a t-shirt and basketball shorts.

WRITTEN BY-Jay-DOGGZ

KOOL HERC at SUMMER STAGE

Another dope and incredible event that happened in my hood. Where? Summer Stage Crotona Park this time it was the Father of Hip Hop himself, DJ Kool Herc. I met this man already two times before so to see him again made me very happy and I am forever grateful and honored to be apart of his presence and to be a witness of his skills on the turntables. But anyways, this event was Kool Herc on the turntables and lots of people of all kinds of different backgrounds and ethnicities coming together to dance and enjoy the music spun by Kool Herc. It’s always a joy to see so many people come together to dance and enjoy the occasion without any altercations and drama, that’s the beauty and power of hip hop. There were breakdancers and there were two steppers, there were booty shakers and there were the simple finger
snapping and head nodders just recording what was going on as well. After that, Kool Herc gives a brief but short speech about the social injustices towards our Black communities and people that’s currently going on in the world and gives his condolences in the same sentence and preaches about showing love too. After that, it was the screening of the documentary “Rubble Kings“, which by the way was an incredible documentary. “Rubble Kings” is a 2010 documentary about the gang life back in the 1970’s in the South Bronx that later led to the influence of other gangs in other boroughs all over New York. The history of how broken and abandoned the Bronx used to be and how these gangs formed and came together kept me glued to the screen, very fascinated and eager to learn about this. After the tragic death of one gang member comes with a peace treaty and BOOM, here comes hip hop, which put a huge smile on my face as I continued watching. The documentary ends on a positive note about how things were beginning to transition from one era to another. Things went from gangs with dirty clothes on, fighting and being socially and politicallyinvolved to the fresh b-boys around the way at the jams battling through dance and art. The documentary made me think about the state of hip hop today versus back then. So much unity and fun then, too much negative things being glorified today but that’s a whole ‘nother story. I walked back home at exactly 10 at night happy about another dope hip hop occasion. I left with so much inspiration knowing that being from the Bronx, there’s lots of history here but of course, people don’t care or understand.

BY JAY-DOGGZ

Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets