“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel†– Maya Angelou
And Maya Angelou made me feel some kind of way. From the moment I found I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on a library bookshelf at age 12 to when I learnt of her many occupations throughout her life in her series of autobiographies – a young working mother, a waitress, a streetcar conductor in San Francisco, a magazine editor in Cairo, an administrative assistant at the University of Ghana, a dancer, a calypso singer, a screenwriter, an actress, a civil rights activist. What a phenomenal woman.Â
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To be released on June 10th and available now for pre-order, Dutty Artz is proud to present Kafundó Vol. 1 a collection of some of the hottest tracks from the contemporary Brazilian DJ scene, curated by Maga Bo and Wolfram Lange. (more…)
We love Ceci! I first caught her live band playing a powerful set at the Day of the Dead festival in L.A.’s Hollywood Forever cemetery (!!) last year. It felt wrong to have that much fun on a burial ground. But I accept the Angeleno logic with its mix of sun, noir, and Mexicanidad; I did not step on any graves; and most importantly, Ceci rocked the crowd of thousands, flanked by her female-majority band. (more…)
Geko Jones and I are making our NY stop on the Africa Latina tour this Thursday at Superfine in Dumbo. This is the unofficial after party for Celebrate Brooklyn at Brooklyn Bridge Park, featuring the Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars, OkayAfrica, DJ Underdog, and myself earlier that evening. (more…)
A couple of weeks ago @love4mybros shared an intriguing link with me on Twitter, so I followed her links and was pleasantly surprised to find what I could only describe as a collection of post-poems (a form reminiscent of one of my favorite bloggers, Word The Cat.) I enjoyed her personal, but playfully irreverent style, and I asked the person behind the words to add some of hers to these pages. So dear Dutty Artz readers, please meet and welcome Abhayam, with the first of what will hopefully be a series of contributions here on Dutty Artz. – Boima
Non yellow
non lime
non “dollar cab”
taxi?
Oui? (more…)
I was asked by the Crown Heights Mediation Center whether Dutty Artz would be interested in supporting a community-led block party initiative called the “Arts to End Violence Festival” on Kingston Ave and of course the answer was an absolute yes. The Mediation Center is a community organization that provides a variety of services to create a healthier and safer neighborhood for everyone, with one of their primary focuses being gun violence prevention. One of their projects, called Save Our Streets (S.O.S) works to reduce shootings and killings and works to mobilize the neighborhood. (more…)
Ra’s al Ghul – a supervillain from the Batman franchise – possesses a name so auralgenic (I think I just coined that word, btw), it’s a wonder why more emcees haven’t seized the opportunity to use it in verse. If this is indeed a first, we have Dada Powell to thank for finally bringing it to our ears in rhyme form:
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Over the past few years I’ve been impressed by the cross-pollinations between Footwork and other genres. With it’s growing popularity there have been endless re-appropriations of the sound –from the more subdued tracks by Machinedrum to the sub-bass pressure of Africa-Hitech. The frantic Chicago sound has rekindled global interest in the oft-forgotten 150+ bpm space. The most interesting occurrence is how the sound has caught the ears of OG producers.
On April 7th, stalwarts of the West London Broken Beat scene, IG Culture and Alex Phountzi, released their debut EP as NameBrandSound. The duo’s EP, “Nowaday’s Pressure†fuses Footwork, Jungle, Soul, and Dancehall to create a release that seamlessly bridges generations and geographies. (more…)
Rafi El está girando México y El Salvador este mes, empezando este viernes en Metepec, México! (more…)
The NYTimes published the Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie about a little over a week ago and it made its way across my laptop screen, as articles like that tend to do.
It’s about “lost” musical recordings, gorgeous recordings, and a narrative of various writers and researchers tracking down information on female blues singers through their descendents, families and hoarders of information and recordings. It’s an interesting read, and beautifully written, but I found the beauty painful in a way I couldn’t articulate. There’s a lot of strands of thought about silence and visibility, about choices to step into, and out of, different kinds of limelight. Â I was reading it, listening to the music and weeping by the end, without being able to untangle why. (more…)
WARNIN WARNIN WARNIN
Que Bajo Sound lick shots and leave mothers in mourning. Dark clouds are gathering and looks like storming. Another sound boy dead, no more performing. (more…)
img/Taea Thale (W Magazine)
I swear, this isn’t completely a humblebrag (not completely), but to have watched Mapei go from blog fave in the late aughts to hearing her new music blaring out of speakers from big electronic retailers and dollar van systems alike, is amazing. This wave of new interest – recently capped with a stop at Hot 97 – is much deserved, as the Liberian/Swedish artist has been releasing amazing music for a minute. (more…)
New York’s best annual Cinco de Mayo celebration Cinco de Gallo is back! Que Bajo and Mex and the City host Boogat at Santos Party House.
We love to have spirited conversations over email, Twitter, and the Facebook over here at Dutty Artz. But the ephemeral and/or private nature of those mediums often leaves us wanting for more public input. Yesterday our man /rupture put up a post about The Dream’s new video…Â Here’s what @oldmoneycrime, @laripley, and (mostly)Â myself had to say in response:
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