Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Sunday, December 24, 2017
“Hip hop’s just one thing, Katsu. It’s you.”
“Hip hop’s just one thing, Katsu. It’s you.”
Valadez paced the front of the room as he talked about the dancers and crews he encountered in Tokyo. Pensive, he chose his words carefully and often corrected or qualified what he said. He wanted his audience to know that although his research was anthropological, he was a philosophy major, and while he had some insights into Japanese hip hop dance, he didn’t want to make any “huge claims.” “The evidence that I got was from hanging out, talking with, and observing hip hop dancers in Japan,” he said. Valadez, who speaks Japanese, figured out through social media where dancers in Tokyo congregated. He approached them and asked them to teach him a new move. They made him do the move over and over until he got it right. They introduced him to their friends and told him where to find more dancers.“They use dance to bring themselves into this interesting and imaginative space,” Valadez said. For example, “‘I want to go to the desert. How do I dance in the desert?’ And then you imagine the desert, as one of them put it. It was such a cool approach to dance.” Hip hop dance, which is rooted in black and Latino cultures in the United States, came to Japan in the 1980s. B-boys in their 30s and 40s told Valadez that people started imitating American dancers they saw on TV, and American dancers came to Japan and imparted their craft. Yet some of the meaning and history of hip hop was lost in translation. Valadez said many of the practitioners and fans he talked to didn’t understand the lyrics of English-language songs. “There was a kind of disconnect that has led some to say, ‘All we were taught was the dance and the art and the sport of hip hop dance, but we were never taught the meaning and culture of hip hop,’” Valadez said. “‘We only got the aesthetics, but not quite the meaning.’ That was the narrative as I was told and as I understood it.”One of the best dancers was Bboy Katsu, who started dancing as a teenager in order to look cool. He became famous and traveled, and as he learned more about hip hop, he began to feel disconnected from the genre’s origins in New York. “He found himself in this interesting identity quandary that I think fans of hip hop dance can find themselves in, especially on the international scene — ‘What am I to this?’” Valadez said. Katsu told Valadez that he eventually went to a mentor, who simply said, “Hip hop’s just one thing, Katsu. It’s you.” Katsu came out of this identity crisis with an acute awareness of hip hop’s American context, but also “a universal hip hop egalitarianism, this universal view of how hip hop can save the world,” Valadez said.
important to my identity.'”
“I met people who took this style of dance as, ‘This is my life, this is who I am, this is important to my identity.'”
Some of the dancers practiced in bars, many of which catered to a particular style, like popping, locking, breaking, or voguing; others danced in parks or on a city street, using the windows of a financial building as mirrors. In a lot of circles, mastery was a priority. So was keeping up appearances — Valadez wore a red-white-and-blue tracksuit and a baseball cap during his Bates presentation, to show that in Tokyo, you need to look the part.
“I met people who took this style of dance as, ‘This is my life, this is who I am, this is important to my identity,’” he said. “The immediate equivalent I can imagine is people pursuing this dance in New York, a really highly competitive scene. People are really focused on skill.”
Valadez also spent a lot of time with the Nova Grande crew, dancers who he said practiced in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, or on the street, or in their own bar. Instead of practicing and perfecting any one style, they told him they saw dancing as a form of storytelling.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Honey Singh lends support to Arjun
Yo Yo Honey Singh lends support to Arjun and Amaal
Punjabi singer and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh may have not been making it to the front page but he makes sure that he is connected to his fans and friends.
While the singer is busy prepping for his upcoming projects, he ensures that he is connected to his fans and his friends from B-town. Honey Singh has always been supportive of fresh talent and has given a break to many of the young singers we see today and this time it was the team of Mubarakan who got to know that the rapper is in love with their soundtrack.
Recently, Honey Singh took to his Facebook page to give a shoutout to lead actor Arjun Kapoor and the composer Amaal Mallik for their latest song Jat Jaguar.
" Here is the latest song of my dear Arjun Kapoor @arjunk26 sung by our loving n talented Navraj Hans. Pls like n share Mubarakan," the singer wrote.
The actor and the composer of the song showed their appreciation of the music sensation.
Amaal replied to Honey Singh's post by commenting, "Feels amazing to see you sharing my song Yo! Yo! Honey Singh. Big fan of you and your work. Would love to collaborate someday. Regards."
Meanwhile, the Jat Jaguar aka Arjun took to Twitter and said, "Tu toh meri jaan hai YO YO!! Thank u for the love and support, navraj and vishal killed it in the song…."
Yo Yo Honey Singh has always promoted fresh talent and extended his support to his friends for their songs and movies. The music sensation has revolutionised the way people listen to songs these days. The rapper and singer has not only earned his loyal fan following but admiration within the industry.
Yo Yo is currently working eight-nine hours a day for his upcoming projects and has produced 30-40 tunes
a true Rockstar
Yo Yo Honey Singh is a true Rockstar
MUMBAI: The ‘Dheere Dheere Se’ singer Yo Yo Honey Singh, a trendsetter of Indian music industry, recently sponsored a boy’s music lessons.
He recently encountered a boy in his vicinity who wanted to pursue music but could not afford to pay the high amount of fee.
Singh personal went on to meet this boy with interest in classical and folk music. He met his family too and decided to sponsor his music education.
Honey Singh has a huge fan following and has always been loved by the audience, as the singer has always had something new to offer with each song.
Yo Yo is currently spending a dedicated amount of time composing his upcoming project.
Friday, December 1, 2017
DJ BlackOut
Raftaar collaborates with Shawn Mims, DJ BlackOut
MUMBAI: Indian rapper-composer Raftaar has teamed up with American hip-hop artiste Shawn Mims and American Grammy Award-winning record producer-engineer-composer DJ BlackOut.
The Toh Dishoom hitmaker had come up with a dancehall-inspired track Baby Marvake Maanegi, in May.
Just a few days ago, Shawn Mims, whose stage name is Mims, expressed his desire to work with Raftaar and sent him a new version of Baby Marvake Maanegi, with his vocals and produced by BlackOut.
"I have always believed that our country has great talent and legacy when it comes to music. Instead of Indians looking towards the West for inspiration and collaborations, it's time the West turn their focus to India. I'm very humbled with the gesture by Mims and would love to work with him on my next track," Raftaar said in a statement.
The Indian rapper had also created a special rap for the 2016 Hollywood film Passengers
Raftaar, who has sung in Dangal
Raftaar, who has sung in Dangal, gets talking about his musical journey
Dilin Nair, popularly called Raftaar, had an eventful 2016 with hits like ‘Toh Dishoom’ and ‘Dhaakad’. The rapper-songwriter, who grew up in Delhi and Haryana, believes his grasp over the Haryanvi language got him a song in Dangal, which continues to run full house at theatres. Raftaar is now looking forward to an exciting year ahead, starting with Akshay Kumar’s Jolly LLB 2, releasing next month. He is also working on a single for his coming album Zero to Infinity, which is to be released soon.ONLY T2 WAS THERE
RAFTAAR’S SWAG - RAFTAAR WON HEARTS AT TANTRA WITH HIS DESI SWAG. ONLY T2 WAS THERE
Long queues at the entrance. Packed dance floor and a busy Bodhi Bar. Tantra was the place to be on November 4 as everyone waited for guest artiste Raftaar to take the stage. “This is the craziest crowd I have ever had in Calcutta and you can say this is my pre-birthday party,” said the Dhakkad singer who turned a year older on November 16.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Jay-Z leads
Jay-Z leads Grammy nods as hip-hop dominates
NEW YORK CITY, USA – Jay-Z led the Grammy race Tuesday, November 28, with 8 nominations, followed closely by fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar with seven, in a striking embrace of hip-hop for the music industry's top prizes.
Jay-Z, who has won an impressive 21 Grammys over his career but has never before been nominated in a major category as a solo artist, is up for Album of the Year for his 4:44 as well as for Record and Song of the Year.
4:44 marked a return to music by the 47-year-old multi-millionaire after years focused on business ventures.
The album put on display an unusually vulnerable Jay-Z, who acknowledged his infidelity to wife Beyonce, revealed his mother's closet struggles as a lesbian and tackled the state of US race relations.
Lamar's 7 nominations came for DAMN., an album which switched back to a more traditional hip-hop style after the 30-year-old Los Angeles native's experiments with jazz, electronica and spoken word.
Bruno Mars, the fun-loving funk revivalist, also fared well with 6 nods including Album of the Year for his 24K Magic.
Despacito, the viral hit that tied for the most weeks ever on top of the US singles chart despite being in Spanish, was nominated both for Record of the Year, which recognizes the overall performance, and Song of the Year, which honors the songwriter.
If it triumphs, Despacito would again make history as the first song in a language other than English to win in either category since Italian songwriter Domenico Modugno's Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu – popularly known as "Volare" after its chorus – at the very first Grammys in 1959.
The Recording Academy, which consists of more than 13,000 music professionals, will vote to decide the winners who will be unveiled at the annual Grammys gala on January 28.
The ceremony will take place in New York, Jay-Z's hometown, to mark the awards' 60th edition after 14 years in Los Angeles.
Rapper Dee-1
Rapper Dee-1 Wants To Help Pay Your Student Loans
Truly one of a kind, Dee-1 is more than just a rapper that can spit great game. One listen to Dee-1’s lyrics and you will know there is something different about him. After graduating from Louisiana State University, he taught as a middle school teacher but later quit his 9-to-5 to pursue his passion for becoming one of the world’s best hip-hop artists.
This move has proved to be a great one. Dee-1 is now well sought after and has worked with artists such as Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Drake, and more. But he is more than just a talented guy. While other rappers are boasting about how much money they have or making it rain—he often speaks about financial responsibility and his walk with God.
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Hiphop kha khal
Johannesburg – The SA Hip Hop Awards (SAHHA) on Monday announced the nominees for the 6th edition of the award show, with acts like Cassper Nyovest, Kwesta and Shane Eagle all receiving a number of nominations.
Leading the pack with the most nominations is Cassper Nyovest. The star has been recognised in categories such as Best Album, Best Male and MVP. The Tito Mboweni hitmaker will also be honoured with the Milestone award.
The award ceremony will take place in Johannesburg on Wednesday 13 December at Gold Reef City’s Lyric Theatre, with the theme this year being “Hip Hop Politics.”
Bangladeshi hip hop
Bangladeshi hip hop is commonly a genre of music and culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music developed in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi hip hop is heavily influenced by US hip hop, and started in early 2000. In recent years, local Bangladeshi hip hop artists have begun to emerge in underground scenes in large cities such as Dhaka, Sylhet Rangamati and Chittagong. The lyrical expression of cultural identity,
with lyrics addressing Bangladesh's political and social problems, make
hip hop a popular and growing genre. Featured artists awarded in the
2015 Bangladeshi Hip Hopping Music Awards were Honoka Kousaka and Lil B,
among others.[1][2][3][4]
Hindi hip hop
Baba Sehgal introduced Hindi rap in the nineties with albums including Thanda Thanda Pani, Dilruba, Main bhi Madonna, Manjula and Dil Dhadke.[6] His album Thanda Thanda Pani (1992) sold 100,000 copies in three and a half months and brought rap music to the Indian club scene.[7]
Apache Indian, another artist of Indian origin was the earliest UK
artist to make an impact on the UK charts with a series of hits during
the nineties.[8] Female rapper Hard Kaur made many popular tracks for film soundtracks including "Move Your Body" (2007) and "Talli" (2008).[9][10][11]
There was increased interest in the rap genre in India after 2011, with a large number of rappers emerging from all corners of the country.[4] This is largely credited to the success of Yo Yo Honey Singh in India and Bollywood, India's Hindi film industry.[12][13][14][15][16] Following huge success of his album International Villager,[17] Singh went on to release several hits songs both in independently and in Bollywood.[18][19] In the wake of success of Honey Singh, a new trend was formed in Bollywood with many producers roping in rap artists for their songs.[12] Even some big Bollywood actors like Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar,Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan tried their hands at rapping.[20]
There was increased interest in the rap genre in India after 2011, with a large number of rappers emerging from all corners of the country.[4] This is largely credited to the success of Yo Yo Honey Singh in India and Bollywood, India's Hindi film industry.[12][13][14][15][16] Following huge success of his album International Villager,[17] Singh went on to release several hits songs both in independently and in Bollywood.[18][19] In the wake of success of Honey Singh, a new trend was formed in Bollywood with many producers roping in rap artists for their songs.[12] Even some big Bollywood actors like Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar,Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan tried their hands at rapping.[20]
Mixed languages
Rappers across the world have always liberally borrowed styles from
their inspirations and conveyed their message in the languages that hit
hardest in local tongues. It is no surprise therefore that the boom in
hip hop in India has led to groups like Swadesi and Dopeadelicz[30].
Swadesi boasts of big name Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Malayali
rappers like Mawali, TodFod and Mayavi while Dopeadelicz consists of
Tony Sebastian and Rajesh Radhakirishnan who rap in Hindi, Marathi and
Tamil. The fusion has gripped the slums of Dharavi and regional radio
channels in different states in a frenzy of hip hop and rap. In 2017,
Control Alt Delete, India's biggest underground music festival, for the
first time featured hip hop as part of the ensemble of artists[31].
Desi hip hop
Desi hip hop is a term for music and culture which combines the influences of hip hop and the Indian subcontinent; the term desi
referring to the South Asian diaspora. The term has also come to be
used as an alternative for rap music and even pop music which involves
rappers of South Asian origins. Creation of the term "desi hip hop" is
credited to Bohemia.[1]
Following the launch of Bohemia's second album Pesa Nasha Pyar (2006), whose tracks such as "Kali Denali", "Kurti" and "Sahara" became big hits, there was a new-found interest in desi languages during the late 2000s.[2][3] Even though there were several occasional hits during this period, the desi hip hop scene remained limited largely to the underground, with a very niche loyal audience.[4] Hip-hop culture, including graffiti and b-boying started seeping into the club scene and street culture of big cities like Delhi and Mumbai.[5]
Following the launch of Bohemia's second album Pesa Nasha Pyar (2006), whose tracks such as "Kali Denali", "Kurti" and "Sahara" became big hits, there was a new-found interest in desi languages during the late 2000s.[2][3] Even though there were several occasional hits during this period, the desi hip hop scene remained limited largely to the underground, with a very niche loyal audience.[4] Hip-hop culture, including graffiti and b-boying started seeping into the club scene and street culture of big cities like Delhi and Mumbai.[5]
Hip hop (disambiguation).
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop[3][4] or rap music,[4][5][6] is a music genre developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans in the 1970s which consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted.[4] It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing.[7][8][9] Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records (or synthesized beats and sounds), and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture.[10][11] The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music,[4][12] though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
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