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  • » Name: Amanda Bassa
  • » Location: VA
  • » Member Since: 09/21/07
  • » Bio: student, future change maker, and everything you wouldn't expect me to be.
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The Undisputed Truth

Viewing Posts Tagged "Hip Hop"   View All

Hip Hop 101


January 21, 2008 | Tags: Hip Hop, college

It’s no secret that I am dreading my return to school this week*. Seeing as how I’m four years deep into the pursuit of my undergraduate degree, I’m now at that point where I only need something like two more classes to finish my major’s requirements (in this case, and in true college system fashion, one is a prerequisite to the other and the prereq isn’t being offered this semester – another plot to keep me there longer and keep yanking my loot). You know what this means? Time to load up on the most random of classes, with the most wonderfully rated** professors that I can find.

One of these classes ended up being a course on hip hop that happened to fit nicely into my schedule. I should be excited about this, but I’m afraid it may end up being the first thing I drop in my frenzy to reduce my credit load to the lowest level possible that it can be in order to still maintain a full-time student status. See, I love hip hop. I truly love it. Why? Because it’s a part of my life. I don’t “research” hip hop by reading books on it or sitting through lectures. I live it, by having immersed myself in its elements firsthand. I really believe that it is damn near impossible to do the culture justice when you’re confined to the walls of a classroom. Just ask anybody that’s ever participated in a study abroad program.

Basically, I feel that the course may prove to be a large disappointment. Not only that, but I really detest classes at this point in my college career. And I’ll be damned if I ever experience an ounce of dislike towards hip hop, even if it’s just the fact that I may dread attending a class on the subject.

On top of all of that, I can’t even begin to fathom how I would feel if I had to start writing papers or something for this course. Imagine pouring your passionate thoughts onto paper about something near and dear to your heart…only to have them graded? By somebody supposedly “superior” to you? That thought alone makes me want to throw the textbooks (that I haven’t even purchased yet) at the nearest wall.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I don’t have anything to learn. I’m sure there’s something I could take away from the class – I’m certainly no genius. However, the concept of literally being schooled on hip hop is unappealing to me. So is it just me, or does sitting through a class about a certain topic take the enjoyment out of it?

*Parking services – you can eat shit. That is all.

**Read: lenient, not caring about attendance, easy grading, low workload giving, etc...

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I'm going to keep doing this until I get word that Mr. Paniccioli is getting the support that he deserves. So on that note...have you bought one of Ernie's books yet? By the time you answer that question out loud, he may have released another. Keep your eyes on lulu.com for his latest.


The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

14 Comments             

Hip Hop Did It Again


November 29, 2007 | Tags: Hip Hop, Sean Taylor

I knew it. I KNEW IT! I’ve been telling myself that somebody out there would try to blame hip hop somehow for Sean Taylor’s death.

I saw this coming.

So, as I was browsing some posts on a website I tend to frequent, I noticed somebody had put up a link to a news story at foxsports.com. My curious ass clicked on it. Hell, here, you can click on it too: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7499442?MSNHPHCP>1=10637

The whole article is a little controversially written, but being that this is a hip hop site, let’s just focus on the hip hop element of it.

“You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men.”

OK, so Mr. Whitlock (the author of the article) didn’t say “hip hop killed Sean Taylor”. But the article was kind of centered around Taylor’s death for a large portion of it. Since Taylor was a black male who got killed, then logic says that hip hop played a role in killing Sean Taylor – at least that sentence would make it seem that way. The guy has balls, I must say, because that was a bold statement.

You know what makes me think that I’m right to be pissed at this? My own mother said that the statement was out of line. Yeah, I’m bringin’ mom dukes into this one. I love her, but she ain’t hip hop. She doesn’t know much about the culture because she didn’t grow up around it, and she’s too busy for me to truly enlighten her to it. She’s learning though, I give her props. What I’m getting at though, is that my mom could give a shit less about hip hop (except she respects it since she knows how large a part of my life it is), and would normally ignore a statement like that. The fact that it got a reaction out of her? That means that what he said was definitely at least a little bit out of line.

Anybody out there that wants to criticize hip hop and blame it for society’s ills? Go the fuck ahead. But just wait. Somebody out there is going to shut you down soon, once and for all. Somebody out there is going to prove to you that there is positivity and inspiration embedded within this culture. And I don’t care if it’s me, my mother, anybody reading this blog, or whoever. Somebody out there is going to do it. And I’ll be smiling when they (or I, perhaps?) do.

Until then, I say we find this guy Jason Whitlock’s e-mail address and start flooding it with examples of rap music that doesn’t “celebrate murder, ignorance and incarceration” as he so lovingly phrased it. Prove him wrong. Show him that there’s more to hip hop than Soulja Boy (which was his only specific reference to an artist that promotes the aforementioned negativities, if you didn’t read the article). Remind him that other cultures, music genres, movements, and parts of American history also had their negative sides, but yet aren’t getting blamed for fucking up our society. Maybe I’m being a little irrational right now because, well…I’m a girl and some would argue that I’m just genetically programmed to get a little crazy sometimes. But damn…

Please, if you read no other words of this blog, at least hear me out on this. Every one of you that comes to this site is (well, I’d hope) a fan of hip hop. A person that somehow keeps the movement alive, even if it’s by buying albums or going to an occasional show. Or maybe you’re a b-boy, a graffiti artist, a DJ, a producer, a lyricist…whatever it is, hip hop is a part of you. It’s a part of your heart; a part of who you are. And people like Jason Whitlock are holding something that’s a part of you responsible for people’s DEATHS. I refuse to even indirectly be blamed for the problems of society when I do all that I possibly can to speak out against those issues (which in my eyes do not include hip hop culture as a whole) and help to solve them. And I refuse to let any other innocent person who claims hip hop as a part of their lives be accused either.


The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

41 Comments             

The Other Side of Hip Hop


November 27, 2007 | Tags: Hip Hop, Ernie Paniccioli, films, positivity, justice
Ernie Paniccioli has been documenting the birth, growth, and evolution of hip hop culture through the art of photography for many years, and his contributions to the industry are tremendous. It is my sincere honor to hand my blog over to Ernie for the day. He is truly dedicated to showcasing the positivity that runs rampant in hip hop. Do yourselves a favor and check out Mr. Paniccioli’s various works, such as his book entitled “Who Shot Ya? ". I assure you, as fans of hip hop, you won’t be disappointed.



Here it is, late 2007, we've survived the arrival of Christianity, the Europeans, the land grabs, cultural destruction, decimation of the tribes, slavery, a civil war, an emancipation proclamation, reconstruction, the so called Indian wars, the Spanish American War, two world wars, a major depression, segregation, a so called Civil Rights act, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and more. And how do we celebrate? Every four years we revive a national ritual called, solemnly, "The Presidential Election". And how do we celebrate? We round up a pack of fetid, rabid, racist, clueless millionaires, give them state of the art makeovers, hire armies of public relations manipulators of the public will, ignore public opinion, and meld fantasy, fear, patriotism, hokum and mindless rhetoric only to go through a banal, tasteless, scripted orgy of hype, smoke and mirrors, and blarney that would make P.T. Barnum green with envy. 


In the midst of this madness and mind rot I decided to release a simple, quiet, inspirational movie. No, it is not a Disney film, nor a high minded morality tale, but rather the true story of my life. From the slums of Brooklyn, to homelessness through the Vietnam War, to a magic encounter with Hip Hop, to becoming a legend in Hip Hop Photography and the author of a 30 year look at Hip Hop Photography by one raw, tough, creative, Native American called "Who Shot Ya?".

Did I get your attention?

The film is called "The Other Side of Hip Hop" and it just won Best Documentary in The Big Apple FiIm Festival and features Afrika Bambaataa (the founder of The Universal Zulu Nation), Chuck D of Public Enemy fame, and many other Hip Hop icons. A Martial Arts trained, Native American Hip Hop Photography legend who studied Zen Buddhism and who has lectured at both Harvard and The Nation of Islam and who did a book with Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, and Michael Jordan (“Lift Every Voice and Sing”), and was chosen to be the spokesman for The Temple of Hip Hop at the United Nations and has photographed both the Dalai Lama and Frank Sinatra as well as Jimmy Carter.


If it sounds like a unique man who marches to the beat of a distant drum, you ain't heard nothing yet.


In my studio I've shot an 18 year old Queen Latifah, a young Big Daddy Kane, Wu Tang, Biggy, Puffy, LL Cool J, Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, Bone Thugs, L'il Kim, Master P, The Marley Brothers, Ice T, Foxy Brown, Big Pun, Tupac, KRS1, Gangstarr, Goodie Mob, Public Enemy, Richie Havens, Nas, and Mos Def, to name just a few.

Even though the film may be the first award winning Hip Hop movie and the first award for a Native American, the response from the media has been one of cold silence. Perhaps because the movie was made outside of the monied, structured, colonized confines of Hollywood and because it not only does not embrace, but rather discards all of the clichéd myths normally associated with Hip Hop - including nudity, glorification of thuggish behavior, drug use, macho behavior, general dumbness and arrested development. The movie is an exploration of survival, art, photography, TRUE Hip Hop culture; Hip Hop as a tool of communication, empowerment, self identity, and how to use the basic laws of the Universe to thrive and grow in a dying nation.


In about a week (we move slow, but sure) the website with a trailer will be available at http://www.ourgang62.com/ . For this film to succeed, we need all bloggers, web-site owners, internet dwellers, and those who love life, art, beauty, and Hip Hop, to scream loud and long: "This is the movie we've been waiting for. Here is the raw, naked, ugly, beautiful, unvarnished, truth. And like it or not, it is here."

Peace and thanks,

Ernie Paniccioli


The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

8 Comments