IHOP and Bikes.

Today we celebrated Joseph's birthday with a huge group of people. I'll spare you details from the morning but i will start around 2:00 wen we met up. Oh yeah we didn't meet up until 3:00 because everyone was LAGGING! :] Anyway, we went to buy our suits for World Of Dance, i got black adidas firebird track suit. We wentto take some photos and video's around downtown, we got kicked out of the front of a federal building, but it was alright we needed to get to dinner anyway at Dicks last resort. Dyno got punked around the most, which we all loved. Afterwards we took some photos and video with Erriot. After all was said and done we parted and i got in my car and realized i didn't eat all friggin day so i went to IHOP because i was craving Chocolate Chip Pancakes. The waiter was noncholont and i didn't give a shit. I brought a small notebook and a old ass pen and started to pour my feelings down in ink, then the food and coffee came and i started to munch away. Afterwards i got home and tried to go straight to sleep - but i couldn't even though i was really tired. So i decided to go on a bike ride that took approximatly an hour and a half...a little more actually, almost two hours. I still wanted to ride, but i didn't wanna be sore for todays ride/session. I would tell you what i thought and felt on the ride but really you would have to be there with me to experience it, and the things i thougt abut were profoundly personal so . . . no. Anyone is more than welcome to go on a ride with me though, the more the merrier. Actually, i feel like i should share my experience so please, if you wanna - come on with me. it'll be fun. Now i gatta take a shower so i can get all the snot out of my nose and into bed.

I (Left my heart) in S.F.

We left to S.F. on friday night, it was supposed to be at 9-ish but ended up being 11-ish. The ride up was lonely seeing that EVERYONE FELL ASLEEP THE WHOLE WAY! -_- I just sang along to my own songs, trying to keep myself awake. We got to Paulos around 6 and all i heard was "oh man..i wish i could have gotten a little more sleep, i'm tired!!!" FUCK YOU GUYS! lmao. it was all good fun, i love my crew - they're fucking best. Anyway, after all that fun the jam was probably the most fun i've had in a real long time. Some up-and-coming bay area cats called me, dyno, and nasty out. It was tight, mad props o them for holding up. After the 15th or 16th round i had to step out to vomit (i had to because i got 4 hours of sleep an di didn't eat at all because Paulo's mom made us some chicken soup. /)_- )Anyway, afte that i went a few more round then the battles got on their way. We said whats up to Paulskee and we saw some dope people getting down. Big shout out to Lancer, Eranetic, Wacko, and poe 1ne. We went to eat at IHOP and went to the hotel to get some shut eye. After all that we went to eat some "continental breakfast" ehich means bagels and ugly cream cheese. We walked around S.F. but we didn't get to go to SFSU =( i really wanted to check out the campus and talk to one of the rep's. Next time i guess. The way back was super fun as well because cck actually satayed up to keep me company! would you look at that!?! Wow, thanks for gracing me with your conscienceness. We went to eat some pea soup which we all unaniously agreed that it wasn't that good, but at least e tried it. The night didn't end there because we picked up and dropped Kayla off at the Airport so she can go back to stupid Kansas. Hi Kayla. Then we went to eat at IHOP again? And all that is a secret....LMFAOSDBFLSHDGKJSGFKSGFVDSFGVKSTFGVWKTSG HAHAHAHAHA!

A Jam

Theres a jam that i've been talking to my crew members and talking to Mane about, i want to call it "The Cypher City Concrete Classic".

There will be no competition, only some real funky music that people can just get down to. I invision it being held at a old basketball court, with some people bringing food on the side (probably not, this is something i inda just put out there). What I really imagine though is like an old school party, with a bunch of trucker hats, wind breakers, 5 o'clock shadows, beenies, pumas, adidas, fat laces, people just getting down on concrete like i like doing. When i feel like getting down and i can't sleep, i go out to the middle of the road outside my house - not much cars passing by at 3 in the morning - and just getting down to whatever my laptop plays. I really want to do a jam like this in the summer, around July. Anyone think it's a good idea? constructive crticism anyone? Advice? Think you know a good place this can happen at? share and be thanked my friends. 

Jack Of All Trades

Cypher City Kings threw a jam yesterday called Jack of all trades. It included a new competition concept which the jam served as a testing ground for. It did quite well, Julian of Infinant Mischief won. (Actually, not sure if that crew still even fucking exist but whatever i'm writing it in. lawl) and Mad the Villin won the Cypher King award. (who i think happens to be one of the dopest bboys out there, also reppin the Illinist Villins crew who also happen to be one of the baddest mutha fuckin crews out there) The turn out was ok, but i wish it was better. I'm not exactly sure how we could have promoted more, i'm still pondering on this. I was sad to see not a lot of the older bboys came out, i think our battle concept could have been beneficial to them even and, dare i say, fun. There was some controversy with how the judging worked, but that all got squashed in the cypher LIKE IT SHOULD BE DONE!!!! Mad respect to the Illinist Villins Crew b.t.w. Anyway, the concept was new so i'm sure the judges had a little bit of confusion but we will be continuously working on this to make it better and refine it to it's diamond form. Thanks to everyone who came out, all the competetors did great and i hope everyone had fun. If there are any questions, comments, or concerns please comment this page, our crew myspace, or sned a message. 

Hospital Food

I've been in the hospital since Tuesday because my grandfather had a heart attack. I left tuesday night because they didn't let me stay the night, so i went to practice to change my scenery and it was ok. Drove around imperial beach for a few hours then headed home. After that i stayed with my grandpop's for the rest of his night in the hospital. He had two surgery's and the doctors had nothing but hopes, statistics weren't on our side apparently. We moved from the Chula Vista Scripps hospital to the one in La Jolla, and my whole family was there - Tia Patty, Tia Maria, Mom, Richard, Alexis, Danielle, and Grandma. We went down to the Cafeteria to get some breakfast and we had a conversation for at least 2 hours. It was awesome, being the youngest in my family i don't get much of a say in anything, especially conversations. For some reason it was different in the hospital on that day, i taught my Tia Maria about Buddhism and Taoism, i told my Ta Patty about my plans for school and the future. We all ended up taling about taking shower, shits, and being naked. it was an awesome 2 hour conversation that we all par-took in. My grandfather finally came back home on Friday night. My grandma still had so much on her mind i took her out to eat Mexican food where we used to have Sunday brunch all the time. My granddaddy is alive, well, and home which makes me extremely happy, i honestly cannot describe. 

Fun Weekend in Irvine

I had an awesome weekend - spending time with old and new friends alike. My main reason behind going to Irvine was to take a mini-vacation and spend time with Julz, Maika, and Criselle. I came across some cool new people like Ken, Victor (THE FUCKING MAN), B.B.A., Lucia (but i only saw her for a too brief moment), and some other fresh cats that i can't remember their names. Watched Watchmen, which I'm preparing a full-review on, because it's fucking bad ass movie and since i've taken my film class i've been inspired to write more reviews and decipher meanings of movies and the like. Anyway, i come back at 3 in the morning and 5 hours later i find myself at the dentist - no cavities or anything wrong :] but not 10 minutes ago i got a call from Dyno with some disturbing news. Still - my weekend was fun, and looking forward to my next visit to Irvine. 

Good Night Stars ( Wet Stars)

I had the sudden urge to dance today. This happens often, but this is the first time in a long, very long, time that i've actually followed this urge. i changed and went outside my door, to my driveway - which, now that i think about it, should be called a parkway - and danced. My laptop played random JB's tunes and i let my feet swing and my palms solemnly touched the floor. I got so tired that i ended up laying flat on the ground and i looked up at the stars. Next thing I knew I was drinking water, and i was still flat on the ground. A little of the water slipped from my mouth and down my cheek to my chin and, making it's way down to the cement. it soon found itself among the compony of more droplets, and more and more and more. I was laying down, on the cement, drinking from a bottle of water, submerged in water - almost completely. As more and more droplets slipped from my mouth, down my cheek, and ever so slightly raising the water level until I was completely submerged in it. I kept looking up at the stars and saw Orion's belt and some bubbles. I was at the bottom of an ocean looking up at stars while drinking water from a plastic bottle. "That's weird." As I lifted myself up, I blinked - i was in a Japanese classroom being used for a beginning spanish class. There was a blond head of hair in front of me, and a wooden desk beneath me. I looked down to the spanish text book and i saw a drop or three of water, thinning and wearing the page on their particular spots - I pressed paused on my laptop and walked back inside. 

Shave

So i finally shaved after 2 1/2 weeks of not shaving, and i realized that i have an acne problem. Wah wah... I've always had one, actually, but it almost went away for a long while then i grew out my jungle and now it's back. Dang. In cooler news i got an A- in my communication class. I really don't have much to say, i just felt like writing in this thing. 

Hip-Hop as plural, not linear. Addressing Hip-Hop history.

            I've thought of the subject of "hip-hop" everyday of the last 4 years. I am a BBoy and active in the San Diego Hip-Hop Community, I teach BBoy/BGirl classes for several dance studios, and i am a college student - yet i know that teacher is just a name for a student who has different knowledge than your own. Through my on going adventures in Hip-Hop I've come to meet people of diverse styles, knowledge, wisdom, and opinion. The latter, I must emphasize. Opinion is a big deal in Hip-Hop, especially in the San Diego scene - mostly due to DJ Mane One, Judging of Battles, the concept of footwork and power moves and their defining lines, and history. In this post i would like to address History of Hip-Hop and it's variances.

            The past 8 weeks I've been taking an online History of Jazz class. It's been an enlightening class and recommend it to anyone and everyone - i especially enjoyed Dr. Walton's lecture notes. Jazz has a history that causes much debate and speculation, this is because when people think of history they tend to think that it goes in a straight line - but truly, it doesn't. Especially in Jazz and, i propose, in Hip-Hop. You see, Jazz has a history of about 100 years, and out of jazz came Bebop, hard bop, cool jazz, fusion, smooth jazz, dixieland, New Orleans, Swing, Acid Jazz, and much much more. The above listed have sub-categories that are defined by period, person influenced by, person accredited to, musical complexity, and i can go on and on. You see, in Jazz history events don't happen, people happen. 

            How is this different from the history that we are exposed to everyday? After WW1 happen, it politically ended, the after math faded into the next event, and that event happened, it ended, then it faded into the next and, in this way, history happens in a infinite cycle. But in jazz it's not so easy. It's common to say that bebop came after swing. It's also common to say that bebop came from swing musicians experimenting with music in their repertory - but the misconception here is that after swing had it's place in history, people stopped playing it and forgot it. Actually, after swing had it's popularity taken away and more people began listening to bebop, musicians still played swing - it just so happen that one style of jazz had it's popularity and after a new style of jazz came out it became a little more popular of varying reasons. People still play swing to this day. So you see, history in this case isn't linear but it all happened at the same time as styles evolved through experimentation and talent - plural.

            How does this connect to Hip-Hop and it's history? Well, I suggest that Hip-Hop happened in this exact same way - that it is plural. Before we can expand on this plurality there must be a common starting point that scholars and "Hip-Hoppers" (for a lack of better words) can all agree on. It is common place to say that Hip-Hop started in the Bronx and it's birthday is the day that Dj Kool Herc threw his first ever bloc party at 1520 Sedgwick and Cedar. Now, no one got together and said "Hey, on this specific day at this specific place let's create a cultural phenomena" - as far as we know, that is. It so happened that it happened. During this same time, the cultural phenomenon of Graffiti Art and Breakdancing were evolving from a deviant pass time to a form of cultural and social need. At this infamous bloc party all of these "elements" met and formed an awareness of each other - which encouraged communication, socialization, and networking among each other. Now that we have a common starting date we can say from here on that Hip-Hop history is plural. 

            In Hip-Hop history we find our selfs following DJing, emceeing, Breakdancing, and Graffiti (which some believe is a separate entity and shouldn't be included in the elements of Hip-Hop, but thats a discussion for another day). Now we can't say that djing or any of the other elements was conceived at any one place and time - people experimented with the things available to them whether it be a set of records, their own diction and the sounds they make, their own physical bodies, or a can of old krylon paint - but we can suggest when they became popular, and since the day they became popular we can also say what other events took place after people became aware of that particular "element"; through oral history, pictures, or even video records. I'm not particularly learned in Djing, Graffiti art, nor emceeing but i am in Breakdancing - so from now on i will apply my proposal to breakdancing and it's history. 

            The six-step is one of the first moves and concepts we learn today, but it wasn't an establish form until after Breakdancing was a formidable movement within the bronx. Proto-six-step's were recorded as "spuratic movements" and weren't seen until some time after Kool Herc's bloc party. How many record Breakdancing on begging is at the top rock - indian step, two step, etc. Now, this isn't saying that people weren't playing around with the concept of floor work it just wasn't shown until some time after the Kool Herc bloc party - and in this way we can see this is one of Breakdance histories first plurality. We can apply this concept of plurality through all of Breakdance history. We can see it today with emergences of different styles such as Circus and the ever going distinction between footwork and power and their alternating popularity. 

            Though this is only a suggest, i wish to hear constructive criticism on my essay and hope that everyone has enjoyed reading. Thank you all.