Dahlak

iLL-Homies: Bambu “Old Man Raps”

Dahlak — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:06:40 +0000

I watched myself grow as an artist over the past few years - very intimately. So intimately that I forget my peers were growing and going through the same process. This new video from the homie Bambu just rocked my world. Not only was the song amazing, but the way he utilized it to soundtrack an incredible short story is genius. Much props to you, fam. I love seeing the growth.

via iLL-Literacy

iLL-Event: iLL-Literacy Performs at the first ever American Beatbox Championship

Dahlak — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:00:34 +0000

The first American Beatboxing Championship is coming to Brooklyn and iLL-Literacy is performing! Brooklyn, come through and support your new neighbors. Please spread the word!

Event: American Beatbox Championship
Date: July 31st
Time: 7:30
Place: Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY

The tickets are on the pricey side but well worth it for what you are about to experience. On top of seeing your favorite crew perform :D, you are going to witness some of the most amazing beatboxers from around the WORLD! BET will be in the building. That means nothing to me but maybe it will for some of you. I don’t know.

Buy your tickets HERE. And holla at us for the promotional discount code! See you there!

iLL-Homies: New Album from DLRN (Delorean)

Dahlak — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:19:37 +0000

Alright, ya’ll. We gonna keep posting this amazing dynamic duo on this blog until you stop sleeping. DLRN (did ya’ll change the spelling upon meeting the rock Delorean at SXSW?) has released a follow-up to their 2009 No More Heroes entitled The Bridge.

May I say that I am impressed once again. I mean, seriously. I didn’t think I would be. But nope. Jon Reyes keeps solidifying the sound while 5th Ave continues to take his flow to new levels. Man, fuck ya’ll.

Click the cover to download an amazing piece of music for FREE. I’m on it as well. Search thoroughly…for now check out this track featuring two greats Illecism and Prometheus Brown (Geo of Blue Scholars).

Kweli + The Roots at our nearby park!

Dahlak — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:51:34 +0000

This happened around the corner from where I live. I’m loving Brooklyn in the summertime. I was there but I was like “eh, I’ll just sit outside of the gate and listen to the music”. Sometimes its good just to know you have the access. Metric will be performing in the same place on August 5th! I won’t be on the bleachers for that!

THE ROOTS AND TALIB KWELI from beatmakersedition.com on Vimeo.

via Nah Right

Facebook and Twitter Posts For Oscar Grant

Dahlak — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:50:37 +0000

It’s amazing how Facebook and Twitter has become such an outlet for even the tiniest of voices. Continue to speak. Let us not forget.

“Tell me what a BLACK LIFE’s worth” #Oscargrant

“Ask Rodney, Latasha, and plenty more - it’s been going on for years, there’s plenty more.” #Oscargrant

“When they ask me when will the violence cease, when your troops stop shooting niggas down in the street” #Oscargrant

If it was okay for Bush Sr. to speak out against RAP MUSIC, then by all means, Obama, feel free to speak out against this! #Oscargrant

At this point, I’m not interested in changing this system. I just don’t want to be apart of it. I feel corrupted at the thought that I am. It makes me sick. #Oscargrant

The argument for the officers is always, “We don’t want the police to be afraid to use whatever force necessary”. But yes we do! Be very afraid before taking a life! #Oscargrant

“Shoot first, ANSWER questions later” #Oscargrant

I mean…what is the pillow talk between Barrack and Michelle like TONIGHT? #Oscargrant

This is the moment when Pookie throws the garbage can into the window of Sal’s pizzeria. How am I s’pose to do the right thing? #Oscargrant

Behind this injustice is money, positioning, and power. I can’t be mad at Lil’ Wayne and other leaders of our generation for not caring about anything else. These picket signs haven’t been working for a while. #Oscargrant

Sunday Sermon: The Meaning of July Fourth For the Negro

Dahlak — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:14:46 +0000

What does the 4th of July mean to the Negro? It means posting something about it a day LATE!

Just kidding.

But for real though. Coming off one of the best 4th of July’s I’ve ever had, I thought it was important to take a second and recognize what exactly I was celebrating. And in order to put things in perspective, I had to call on Mr. Frederick Douglass and assess the relevance of his famous 4th of July address: The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.

Yup. Still relevant.

But despite his denouncement of America’s crimes against humanity, he concludes his speech with the same idea our first black president ran on: HOPE.

There is hope for this beautiful country. And that’s something to celebrate.

Frederick Douglass, ya’ll!

…I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn…

…What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour…

…Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from “the Declaration of Independence,” the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe…

To read the full speech, click HERE

iLL-Homies: In the Studio with Delorean

Dahlak — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:14:06 +0000

I know, I know. I’m suppose to be on vacation. But when I told Jon Reyes I was home, he told me he had just talked to 5th Ave about featuring me on this beat that he had just made as the closing song to the project they were finishing this coming weekend. The stars had aligned. I barely made the cut for Delorean’s new project The Bridge, which drops on July 20th. We are all in for a treat!

For now, study up on the group by checking out their first album, No More Heroes, being released for FREE on their website tomorrow! Don’t sleep. I’m on “Chillin’”, “Young Super” might be one of the illest hip-hop beats you’ll ever hear, and the intro/outro makes me feel like I’m hearing Saul Williams busting at the Nuyorican for the first time.

By the time you’ve gotten over the first one, you’ll be prepared to cross The Bridge. Take a peek and see for yourselves!

HiStakes Presents Outkast DeepKuts Vol. 1

Dahlak — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:10:55 +0000

Here’s a mix of Andre 3000 and Big Boi’s features and b-sides from 1992-1999. Although I am a huge Outkast fan and I often find myself craving for music from them that I haven’t yet thoroughly investigated, I will not cosign that every song on this mix displays the true talent of this dynamic duo. Still, if you are as big of an OutKast fan as we are here at the iLL house, it’s so dope to hear music from them that doesn’t make you want to quit rap and move back to California. Even they had their process it seems. It’s like watching Kobe Bryant’s middle school basketball game (Go Lakers!). Witness the road to greatness.

Click the picture or here to download.

iLL-Homies: Absolut Brooklyn

Dahlak — Sun, 30 May 2010 17:38:29 +0000

I don’t drink it. Adriel hates it. Nico’s margarita-making ass is probably too good for it. But I must say, Absolut Vodka is killing it with it’s new campaign that I am posting only because one of my heroes and one of my homies are co-signing it. Spike Lee is heading Absolut Vodka’s new venture, Absolut Brooklyn. He has asked fellow Def Poet, big homie, and Brooklyn native, Lemon Anderson, to put into words what he has put into style and taste: Brooklyn. Not an easy feat but if anybody can capture it in a bottle, it is definitely these two. We might have to make an exception here at the iLL house. What say ya’ll? Vodka shots on me!

Wednesday Word: Jodie-Ann Geddes

Dahlak — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:37:01 +0000

Dear Jodie-Ann,

You are one of my most difficult students. You tell me to shut-up when I give you directions. You backtalk. You talk shit. You laugh at me when you know you’ve successfully pissed me off.

Some might find it curious that I would then post you on my blog. Well, let’s just say you’re lucky you can write good. You’re lucky you are getting better every day. And soon every one will see your gift, intensity, and passion as I do, and like me, will also not be able to deny you.

So I typed your whole name into the YouTube search box and found but one result that featured the young woman I know as Jodie-Ann Geddes. I was hesitant. It was posted 11 months ago and God knows when it was recorded. I was afraid the viewers of this blog would not see the full potential of such a rapidly growing artist.

I told a friend this past weekend that none of my poetic/slam/spoken word/Youth Speaks peers have made it far into their twenties without a sense of jadedness and contempt towards the artform - which has consequently stunted our writing. We have fallen. And Jodie, I see you falling.

So if not for the edutainment of our viewers, I post this blog for you, Jodie - and for all others who can see the sparkling fire in your eyes. Look at yourself, Jodie. You see how that smile holds conviction? You hear how you speak when you believe that what you speak is truth? I ask you to remember. Relocate that place in your body where you believe that your words can change the world. Because they can. And if you allow that beautiful idea to be forgotten for too long, you may forget how to remember it. Like a dream that grows hazy as the day goes on. Record your dream, Jodie. Then bring it to our reality. Because we need it. The world is built on it. You hold a position of importance.

Speak, Black Woman, speak.