An Effort to Honor the Birthplace of Hip-Hop

uly 23, 2007, 4:14 pm

An Effort to Honor the Birthplace of Hip-Hop

By Sewell Chan

1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where hip-hop began. (Photo: Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times)

State officials have determined that a West Bronx apartment building is eligible to be recognized on the state and national registers of historic places as the birthplace of hip-hop.

Senator Charles E. Schumer and Representative José E. Serrano joined tenants today at the building, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, to celebrate the determination, which came in the form of a July 5 letter from the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Normally, buildings less than 50 years old are not eligible for designation, but there is an exception for structures of “exceptional importance.”

The letter does not guarantee that the building will ultimately be judged to be a historic site, but it is a first step in that direction. To become a historic site, the building will have to go through an extensive nominating process that has only begun. The State Board for Historic Preservation will have to determine whether the building meets the criteria for becoming a historic site, and then the commissioner of the state office, Carol Ash, will have to sign off on the decision.

As David Gonzalez wrote in The Times in May, many hip-hop authorities trace the advent of the cultural movement to the first-floor community room at 1520 Segwick Avenue. It was there, in 1973, that Clive Campbell, known as D. J. Kool Herc, began turning the tables at community parties, producing a sound, a rhythm and a style that spilled out into the nearby parks and streets and, later, out into the world. Mr. Campbell was living in the building at the time with his sister, Cindy Campbell.

“Who would have thought that a place like 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, our own little Bethlehem, would become the birthplace of hip hop and would make history?” D. J. Kool Herc asked today.

In February, tenants at the building, which has 100 units, were told that the owners planned to leave the Mitchell-Lama program, in private landlords receive tax breaks and subsidized mortgages and agree, in turn, to limit their return on equity and rent to people who meet modest income limits. Tenant groups — including the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and Tenants and Neighbors — hope the designation will help to preserve the building’s Mitchell-Lama status.

“History is made not just by the rich and powerful, but by poor and working-class and marginalized people,” said Andrew Berman, a historic preservationist who helped prepare the landmark application for the building.

A flier promoting a performance by D.J. Kool Herc in the recreation room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on Aug. 11, 1973.

List of Some Good Hip Hop Blogs

http://illletyoutellit.blogspot.com
http://venomousvillain.blogspot.com/
http://qbmerlin.blogspot.com/
http://hip-hop-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://realtalkny.com
http://schnooklynzoo.blogspot.com/
http://whentheyreminisce.blogspot.com/
http://lethalspitpoetry.blogspot.com/
http://ugwhh.blogspot.com/
http://www.onlyrealhiphop.blogspot.com/
http://linkjacker.blogspot.com/
http://www.mixtape-mafia.blogspot.com/
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/
http://bluntedsoul.blogspot.com
http://www.nahright.com
http://themegatrondon2.com/
http://konstantkontakt.blogspot.com/
http://wakeyourdaughterup.blogspot.com
http://hhb.blogspot.com
http://www.hiphopdom.com
http://bustthefacts.blogspot.com/
http://streetk.blogspot.com/
http://www.smokingsection.net
http://www.smartenupnas.com
http://www.focusapproved.blogspot.com/
http://lifeasashortyshouldntbesorough.blogspot.com
http://cocaineblunts.com
http://strictlybeats.blogspot.com/
http://differentkitchen.blogspot.com/
http://albumsandmixtapes.blogspot.com/

Source: http://forums.sohh.com/showthread.php?t=869469

An Intelligent Move (Wise declines CNN interview)

INTELLIGENTNEWZNET INFORMING the HIP-HOP COMMUNITY

An Intelligent Move

In response to the INTELLIGENTNEWZNET article "Can I Get Just One," we were contacted by CNN who requested that Wise Intelligent appear on their station in a "discussion" with leaders of St.Sabina, the south-side Chicago church responsible for the "TRASH" rappers billboards. Wise Intelligent, being aware of the fact that the game is chess, not checkers, respectfully declined the offer to appear on CNN.

My reasoning is that, the Euro-American mass media is NOT and has NEVER been the appropriate forum to discuss let alone resolve matters concerning the African-American community! I am more than well-aware of the fact that CNN or any other mainstream American media outlet, for the most part, does not offer a solution oriented platform for black issues, but on the contrary, the platform offered is extremely conflict oriented. As a matter of fact one of the things that the whole Don Imus situation revealed was that these "reporters" and "journalists" are contractually encouraged to be argumentative and controversial. What the network wanted was for Wise Intelligent and the members of St.Sabina to get on national television, attack each other, create further divisions, and exacerbate the problem without addressing some mutual and realistic solutions.



On a 30 minute show with 15 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of edited dialogue, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY any real understanding or solutions could have been discussed. Knowing that it would have played out like Wise Intelligent and Hip Hop is against the Black Church and the Black Church against Hip Hop; I refused to appear. It was more than obvious to me that CNN could not and does not have the Black community's best interest at heart! The plan was to supply both of us with weapons and watch us attack each other in classic tribal fashion!

No disrespect but, I am NOT Cam'ron, and I refuse to be used in that way. As I said in the song "UNDA FIRE" from the Blessed Be the Poor album "I don't do this for lack of attention!"

So, being who we are and what we stand for at INTELLIGENTNEWZNET, INTELLIGENT MUZIK, etc. we called St.Sabina and spoke with Rev.Micheal L. Pfleger directly and informed him of what we felt CNN was up to, and that we were not going to allow aliens of the Black Community to sow the seeds of separation and discourse between comrades in the same struggle. Our article/blog was NOT an attack against the Church and their right to post billboards, our intention was to expand the dialogue to include the deeper issues that create and shape the environments in which we live.

When we discuss this or any other issues concerning OUR community, we will do it in the basement of the Church, or in the Intelligent Muzik conference room, NOT on CNN. Their eyes (cameras) should be banned from all discussions, meetings, and gatherings designed to solve our problems and address our concerns with each other! Do they EVER call us up and ask us to appear on CNN to discuss white kids "huffing", pedophilia in the Catholic Church, White on White crime, drug and alcohol abuse amongst the youth in hollywood, and where in the hell are those Weapons of Mass Destruction? Of course not, so why should they be offered a set at the table when we are dealing with our issues???

Proper
Evaluation
Always
Counters
Exploitation

IT'S NO LONGER SMART TO BE DUMB!


http://www.myspace.com/wiseintelligent

3 Dimensions of Power

How was power exercised, if not by a uniform system of laws applied universally? Gaventa identified three aspects of power and its exercise.

a. The First Dimension of Power: Direct Conflict
The first aspect is the most conventional—that of observable conflict. Whether by negotiation, legal and governmental proceedings, or simple force, this aspect involves the direct resolution of issues in controversy. When this dimension is in play, all parties involved are aware of the conflict. They have adopted conscious strategies, and are active in seeking their goals. Everything is in the open.

b. The Second Dimension of Power: The Prevention of Conflict

The second dimension or exercise of power involves the prevention of conflict. This ‘mobilization of bias’ can take many forms—intimidation, deterrence, popular or cultural attitudes, legal or procedural rules. The powerful do not utilize this mechanism to defeat challenges. Rather, it is the "means by which demands for change in the existing allocation of benefits and privileges in the community can be suffocated before they are voiced . . ." Thus, the resistance or challenge that one would expect in the face of great disparities in social status fail to materialize not because of consent to the current conditions but rather because of a conscious calculation of the utility of such measures. Individuals may conclude there is no chance of prevailing, or that the costs of mounting a challenge outweigh the likely benefits. Or, there may simply be no avenue within the current system by which individuals can offer resistance

c. The Third Dimension of Power: Manipulation of Consciousness

The third aspect involves not the actions but the consciousness of the powerless. Whereas following the exercise of the second aspect the less fortunate of society recognize resistance as an option but decline to exercise it, the exercise of the third aspect of power prevents the less fortunate from recognizing that resistance is an option. This third dimension can take several forms. The simplest form is that which creates a sense of powerlessness amongst the less fortunate. "There’s nothing I can do about it" becomes the maxim by which individuals accept their lot in life. Another form is the suppression of class or political consciousness through the inhibition of participation in the public sphere, via the second aspect or other manifestations of the third aspect of power. According to both democratic theorists and social psychology studies , citizens receive their political learning at least partly through active participation. If this participation is inhibited, so is the information that flows from it. If members of an aggrieved group or class such as coal miners are not aware of the full range of options before them, they cannot make a decision regarding their exercise. A final element of this psychological aspect is the adaptation by the ruled of the ideologies and belief systems of the rulers. Those who feel powerless may become susceptible to myths orcideologies that cause them to see their interests as aligning with those of the powerful. Churches, schools, and the media are some of the more familiar channels by which the powerful may exercise this influence.

Three themes emerge from Gaventa’s study of this Appalachian valley. First, it becomes clear that powerlessness is more than the mere absence of power. Instead, it is a very real condition, an observable social fact that can play an extremely important role. Secondly, what is most important is not what happens, but what does not happen. In this case, why people do not demand change or rebel tells us more than any actions taken. Finally, all three dimensions of power complement and to varying degrees depend on one another. For example, the ability of the powerful to repeatedly defeat those "below" them can lead to a deterrent effect manifested in the second dimension or a sense of powerlessness in the third dimension.

Source: http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/10/95520/7848