Article on Shane Sparks:
One of this site's favourite Hip Hop choreographers from
the hit TV show "So You Think You Can Dance": Shane Sparks
"... SHANE jump-started
his dream by doing the talent show circuit with his dance group
called Cold Krush. “Back then we were mimicking other groups,
and Cold Krush was a group out of New York that was our
inspiration and we kind of used the name a little bit, then we
got more original, we evolved, and went through the singing
group situation,” explained SHANE who in his five-man group, got
signed to Giant records, made a film, videos, and then as they
say in Hollywood, got dropped. The group ended up breaking up
but SHANE stuck it out and today remains the only member from
the group still out in California.
“A girl I was dating at the time introduced me to Millennium,
previously located on Ventura,” SHANE recalls. “I went there and
I couldn’t believe people were actually teaching other people
how to do hip hop,” he explains with a gleam in his eye. “Where
I’m from you either did it or you didn’t.” Fortune was on
SHANE’s side the day his dance teacher was late..."[click the
link for more]
What is Hip Hop today?Something floating between Will Smith – Bling Bling – and bang, bang, you
dead?Where does
Masia One’s
new CD, named after an Ontario suburb,
Mississauga, fit into this equation?
"On November 23rd,
2003, the Stylordz held their first Hip Hop Congress in a
private, downtown Hamilton (a.k.a. Steel City, Canada)
location.The congress marked a cap in the history of this
organization and is truly an example of how Hip Hop has
developed since its pioneering days – this rebellious art
form and urban storytelling turned industry, philosophy and
science."
"I would like to submit you a more concise history of
westcoast street dancing. I myself was dancing over 22yrs
,my age is 33. I started pop-locking in San Francisco,
FRESNO ,LosAngeles area.& in Chicago an in New ORLEANS..."
Capoeira is a difficult topic to research.
It takes many forms and does not invite
over-exposure. The more you learn the more
you feel lost in the many versions and stories
that span a history (like most) that is hard to
account for. Its mystery is intensified by
the malandragem: the application of
trickery and deception and lauded as one of the main keys to
this art-form as a fight, a dialogue, a game, a celebration,
a friendship and a dance.
Vast
Aire - “Vast Aire is The Heir To The Boom-Bap” All true and original
hip-hop artists evolve and change. Vast Aire was originally known as ½
of Cannibal Ox. Along with Vordal, the duo released the classic “The
Cold Vein” LP, produced entirely by El-P. Released on Definitive Jux,
Cannibal Ox was....(Read
more)
Pound
Magazine's primary
objective is to serve as the vanguard in journalism for the hip-hop
and urban music community. We intend to achieve this by focusing on
the four elements of hip-hop: emceeing, b-boying, turntablism, and
graffiti. In addition, we will present a diverse publication that
reflects the identities and interests of the purveyors and adherents
of hip-hop culture. Finally, Pound will assume a leadership role
that stresses progressive and responsible journalism in order to
ensure that hip-hop culture continues to grow and flourish for
eternity.
The hip-hop scene in Japan is still relatively young and is
growing all the time. Originally, hip hop started in Japan as a
dance phenomenon, people watched break dancing on sky TV and just
started to become b-boys, inspired by this new and different style
of dancing.
Think booming baselines, punchy
rap lyrics, baggy clothes, converted Cadillacs and big gold
jewellery, and you might think you were on the streets of Los
Angeles.
Les
Architekts - as their name implies-are creative builders, combining art
and science; their tools, rhythm and lyrics. Displaying skills in deejaying,
mceeing, beatmaking and promoting, this multi-talented duo Stratège and Ray
Ray also includes an extended family of MCs and graffiti writers. The vision
they hold close to their heart is to bring together all the elements of the
young and dynamic Quebec hip hop scene and give
it a solid base, to help it grow and flourish while retaining its unique
multicultural roots.
STYLE
IN PROGRESS is a not for profit organization that promotes
urban art, music, dance, and fashion through events and partnerships.
Producing initiatives that bridge the gap between young emerging artists
and the general public, Style in Progress develops art exhibits and
community development projects that provide an outlet in which the
people of all ages and ethnicities may appreciate and better understand
urban art forms, including graffiti, break dancing, and hip hop music.
STYLE IN PROGRESS is looking for volunteers to help make this event
happen, contact us at
info@styleinprogress.ca and include a bit about yourself.
All Out War Synopsis
"All Out War is a new, feature-length documentary on the art of breakdancing.
The film will capture the true essence of Hip Hop and breakdancing's role in
this significant aspect of modern, urban youth culture." [Click the link for
more]
"Necessity
is the mother of invention, and after recognizing the need to do
something about the lack of exposure and promotion given to local
female performers, as well as the lack of female representation on
the business side of Canadian urban music, we decided against just
kickin' sad raps about "too bad it's like that" and came
up with ideas on how to give exposure to and encourage more women to
step up and over the existing biases and sexist attitudes in order
to go for theirs. PhemPhat Productions was formed in May 1995 to
foster the growth, education and promotion of women in all aspects
of the urban entertainment scene, to break through and establish a
presence in areas which have traditionally been "boyz
clubs", not only as artists, but also dj's, producers,
engineers, managers, label owners, and promoters... all up in da
mix!" [quote c/o
History
page on phemphat
website]
The New
Toronto Hip Hop Online Attention Toronto artists/DJs/graf artists/bboys/bgirls: Send in a
short bio and a photo and get more exposure. You can also send a
copy of your work to be reviewed and put up on the site.
The Stylordz Network is a True School Hip Hop Fraternity; all artist are advanced.
Individually each member fulfills their goals by uniting thoughts and talents to express
themselves through the anatomy of Hip Hop. The Stylordz Hip Hop Network is an establishment
that was specially designed to generate and stabilize various activities allowing each member
to consolidate. People listen to Hip Hop while others are living Hip Hop.
This is a junction for those being Hip Hop and those interested in participating.
Here you will find the nucleus containing all elements, functioning as a unit.
The below will take you to some pages where you can download video clips and samples.
04
November 2004 Estelle's finest hour yet Estelle has been chosen as the ambassador for ‘Your Finest Hour’, a campaign
launched by the Virgin Group, the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC)
and MTV which aims to put AIDS back in the spotlight. The campaign calls for
people to donate an hour of their salary to beat the HIV odds. In return
they get the chance to attend ‘Eyes Wide Open’, an exclusive event at the
Brixton Academy on World AIDS Day – December 1st. The event will feature
performances from Estelle and some of the hottest music acts as well as
appearances from top comedians and DJs. For those not lucky enough to
attend, ‘Eyes Wide Open’ will be broadcast on MTV and Paramount.
In South Africa, four out of five HIV infections among 15-24 year olds are
in women. Women from disadvantaged communities will be chosen to obtain a
University degree from CIDA, Africa’s first free university, and will be
trained as mentors and educators for other young women. Estelle will travel
to Johannesburg this week to talk to the students at CIDA about the
importance of empowering young women to build a brighter future for
themselves, and to visit HIV and AIDS clinics in townships. She will be
joined by Richard Branson.
You can donate and get a chance to WIN TICKETS to ‘Eyes Wide Open’ by
logging on to www.yourfinesthour.org or by calling the 24 hour hotline 0870
998 6060, dropping into Lloyds TSB or sending a donation by FREEPOST ‘Your
Finest Hour’.
Welcome
to the official website of the Underground Railroad radio show, which
delivers the finest in Hip Hop music and culture every Saturday night at
midnight on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York.
Jay Smooth founded the Railroad in 1991 and soon became known as the first
DJ on Radio to explore mixing classic jazz cuts with the latest underground
Hip Hop. Jay continues to run the show along with co-host G-Man and a trio
of NY's top Deejays: Monk One, Emskee and 3d ...backed up by Randy and
Tomkat. Occasionally you might catch return appearances by our alumni Avee,
Spinna, and Qool Marv.
A truly deep look at the
history, politics and ethnomusicology of Hip Hop.
"Davey
D is a Hip Hop historian, journalist, deejay and community activist.
He's been down with Hip Hop since 1977 in the Bronx where he started
out as an emcee for two crews; TDK [Total Def Krew] out of Co-op
City and the Avengers out of the Marble Hill Section of the Bronx.
Later Davey D came out to Cali to go to school at UC Berkeley and
started deejaying in the Bay Area. His mobile deejay work and
community activism eventually lead him deejaying at radio stations
including KALX, KPFA and later KMEL Davey D is a proud member of
The
PROs Record Pool where he served as director for several
y"ears in the late 80s -early 90s. He is also a co-founder of
the
Bay Area Hip Hop
Coalition [BAHHC] Davey D is also a member of the
Bay
Area Black Journalist Association [BABJA]"
It all started 2 years ago when
we were trying to find a legit place to get some hip hop
jewellery to sport when going out. We didn't have two hundred
thousand pounds to spend on a bracelet or watch, but still
wanted to look tight. No matter how hard we looked we
couldn't find a place in the UK that sold this kinda gear, so we
had to buy it from the States.
When we started sporting this gear around our hood, we got
swamped with all the guys wanting to know where we got this gear
from...So we said to ourselves what if there was a place in the
UK where young playa's like us could get some real looking iced
out jewellery for very low prices, with quick delivery and bomb
customer service?
We made our wholesale contacts
in the US and started to buy in a small amount of gear we knew
would sell, we started selling around our homies, as we had web
designing skills we designed our own web site, and man things
just took off and we went from strength to strength
That's how
bling-bling-online.co.uk
was born. Since then the operation has exploded with thousands
of happy, satisfied, loyal customers all over the world.
