MICHAEL FRANTI & MYSTIC HOOK UP FOR PEACE CONCERT
Props go out to Michael Franti of Spearhead as he gets ready to
mobilize and bring people together for his 4th annual 9-11 Fest.
Every year in September he puts on a free concert in the Park to bring
attention to Peace and Social Justice causes as well as the fight to
Free Mumia... In the past it was known as 9-11 Festival. This year
his annual concert for will go on but the name 9-11 Fest is being
downplayed for obvious reasons. However the line up and the cause
'Power to the Peaceful' is being highlighted. On the bill will be
Mystic, Jello Biafra and some surprise superstar guests. In the past
everyone from The Coup to Digital Underground to Talib have performed.
The concert usually draws around 10 thousand people. Last year it was
so large as more then 15 thousand folks showed up. Hence the event
had to be moved from Dolores Park in San Francisco's historic Mission
District to Golden Gate Park which is the Bay's equivalent to Central
Park. Currently Franti is on tour with Tre Hard of the Pharcyde and
is promoting the event. An estimated 20 thousand people are expected
to show up.. All this is going down Sunday September 7th 11 am -6pm
at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park For more info:
http://www.spearheadvibrations.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOTS TO TEACH AT OAKLAND HIGH SCHOOL
As the start of the school year draws closer, the city of Oakland is
buzzing with the new teacher set to join the ranks and help turn
things around for the students. Boots Riley, lead rapper of the Coup
will be doing double duty this year. On weekends you may find him in
the studio or on stage turning out a show. During the week from
8am-3pm you will find Boots wiping chalk from his huge afro as he
teaches his high school class 'The Social Justice Issues of Hip Hop'.
Students will be presented a rigorous course that will examine the
economic and social conditions here in the US that have accompanied
and impacted the development of Hip Hop.
The school Boots will be teaching at is a new school set up by the
city of Oakland called 'The School for Social Justice and Community
Development'. It is located at the Family Life Center in the heart of
East Oakland on the campus grounds owned by Allen Temple Baptist
Church. For those who are unfamiliar Allen Temple is one of the
city's largest churches and most influential churches in the Bay Area.
The Principal of this new school is recent Mayoral candidate and
former Oakland City Council member Wilson Riles Jr.
Boots and Riles will have their hands full as this new school will be
dealing with some of Oakland's hardest to reach, 'at risk' kids. Many
will be coming from neighboring Castlemont High which in recent years
has been deemed one of Oakland's most notorious schools. Riles
explained that the curriculum will take a deeper look at the subject
matter the youth are required to study and it will be made relevant to
the political and social realities facing them. This new school will
not be a place where folks simply remember facts and figures and
regurgitate them out to the teacher. They intend to really develop
self sustaining thinking and analytical skillz.
Now many are probably wondering if Boots the rapper can handle the
challenge of teaching. For those who know Boots it's an emphatic
'Hell Yeah'. I remember a few years ago when Hip Hop and youth
organizations came together and fight against California's Juvenile
Crime Bill-Prop 21, Boots was a main organizer who did what many
politicians and even activist simply refused to do. He would go into
some of Oakland's roughest neighborhoods and spend time talking to
young 'thugged out' cats. He would give 'political education
classes'. I bore witness as he managed to get hardened street cats
politicized and active in the struggle. Boots noted that he did not
want people joining any sort of struggle ill prepared, so he along
with cats like the late graf artist Mike 'Dream' and members of the
Black Dot Collective put in hard work reaching out to the
'unreachable' with teach ins, community forums, one on one mentoring
sessions and a community newsletter. They spent a considerable amount
of time working with local street rappers.
After these young artist were brought up to speed and familiar with
the issues at hand, Boots rented out a flat bed truck and would take
these young artist and do impromptu concerts in the streets of West
Oakland. Many of the cats that were taught went on to be viable,
articulate dynamic spokes people during the Prop 21 fight. Many of
the guys Boots reached out to, permanently changed their lives and to
this day they are out and about trying to make a change in their
community.
Prior to the Prop 21 fight, Boots had struck a major chord when he
organized the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. This was a popular
edutainment/academic/ social justice program which used the arts and
Hip Hop as a tool to educate people. This was all being done in the
late 80s early 90s and was one of the first programs of its type in
entire the country. Over the years Boots has done everything from
organize Book drives to put together community forums to organize
large scale rallies all in the name of educating the community. He
also taught classes over at the La Pena Cultural Center called Art and
Organizing. As he gears up to bring put all this wisdom to a formal
classroom setting, I see the subject matter he discusses resonating with his
students. If we look at the political conditions and climate that initially
gave birth to Hip Hop expression in the of the early 70s, then you see
that Boots will have more then enough to talk about.
For starters,during that time period in the early 70s, we're talking
about New York City experiencing the worse fiscal crisis in American
history, the passing of the Rockefeller drug laws and President Nixon
declaring a 'War on Youth'. Very few kids will turn a deaf hear to
the discussions around those aforementioned topics. If Boots decides
to look at the social political conditions that gave rise to Hip Hop
here in Cali, he will have them eating out the palm of his hand. As
he examines the politics during the time we had our 'Paid In Full era'
the 'Afrocentric/Message Rap era and now our Bling Bling era', he will
change lives for the better. Heck there are cats who are trying to
figure out how to simply audit this class just so they can be better
informed. Boots' class looks to be ground breaking. It also looks to
be a bright spot in a city that has now experienced a horrific crime
wave with more than 70 murders.
Principal Wilson Riles noted that; "Boots teaching a class is
phenomenal. His class the 'social justice issues of Hip Hop' are at
the core of young people learning things that are relevant and that
they are interested in and will be faced with in life."
Props go out to Michael Franti of Spearhead as he gets ready to
mobilize and bring people together for his 4th annual 9-11 Fest.
Every year in September he puts on a free concert in the Park to bring
attention to Peace and Social Justice causes as well as the fight to
Free Mumia... In the past it was known as 9-11 Festival. This year
his annual concert for will go on but the name 9-11 Fest is being
downplayed for obvious reasons. However the line up and the cause
'Power to the Peaceful' is being highlighted. On the bill will be
Mystic, Jello Biafra and some surprise superstar guests. In the past
everyone from The Coup to Digital Underground to Talib have performed.
The concert usually draws around 10 thousand people. Last year it was
so large as more then 15 thousand folks showed up. Hence the event
had to be moved from Dolores Park in San Francisco's historic Mission
District to Golden Gate Park which is the Bay's equivalent to Central
Park. Currently Franti is on tour with Tre Hard of the Pharcyde and
is promoting the event. An estimated 20 thousand people are expected
to show up.. All this is going down Sunday September 7th 11 am -6pm
at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park For more info:
http://www.spearheadvibrations.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOTS TO TEACH AT OAKLAND HIGH SCHOOL
As the start of the school year draws closer, the city of Oakland is
buzzing with the new teacher set to join the ranks and help turn
things around for the students. Boots Riley, lead rapper of the Coup
will be doing double duty this year. On weekends you may find him in
the studio or on stage turning out a show. During the week from
8am-3pm you will find Boots wiping chalk from his huge afro as he
teaches his high school class 'The Social Justice Issues of Hip Hop'.
Students will be presented a rigorous course that will examine the
economic and social conditions here in the US that have accompanied
and impacted the development of Hip Hop.
The school Boots will be teaching at is a new school set up by the
city of Oakland called 'The School for Social Justice and Community
Development'. It is located at the Family Life Center in the heart of
East Oakland on the campus grounds owned by Allen Temple Baptist
Church. For those who are unfamiliar Allen Temple is one of the
city's largest churches and most influential churches in the Bay Area.
The Principal of this new school is recent Mayoral candidate and
former Oakland City Council member Wilson Riles Jr.
Boots and Riles will have their hands full as this new school will be
dealing with some of Oakland's hardest to reach, 'at risk' kids. Many
will be coming from neighboring Castlemont High which in recent years
has been deemed one of Oakland's most notorious schools. Riles
explained that the curriculum will take a deeper look at the subject
matter the youth are required to study and it will be made relevant to
the political and social realities facing them. This new school will
not be a place where folks simply remember facts and figures and
regurgitate them out to the teacher. They intend to really develop
self sustaining thinking and analytical skillz.
Now many are probably wondering if Boots the rapper can handle the
challenge of teaching. For those who know Boots it's an emphatic
'Hell Yeah'. I remember a few years ago when Hip Hop and youth
organizations came together and fight against California's Juvenile
Crime Bill-Prop 21, Boots was a main organizer who did what many
politicians and even activist simply refused to do. He would go into
some of Oakland's roughest neighborhoods and spend time talking to
young 'thugged out' cats. He would give 'political education
classes'. I bore witness as he managed to get hardened street cats
politicized and active in the struggle. Boots noted that he did not
want people joining any sort of struggle ill prepared, so he along
with cats like the late graf artist Mike 'Dream' and members of the
Black Dot Collective put in hard work reaching out to the
'unreachable' with teach ins, community forums, one on one mentoring
sessions and a community newsletter. They spent a considerable amount
of time working with local street rappers.
After these young artist were brought up to speed and familiar with
the issues at hand, Boots rented out a flat bed truck and would take
these young artist and do impromptu concerts in the streets of West
Oakland. Many of the cats that were taught went on to be viable,
articulate dynamic spokes people during the Prop 21 fight. Many of
the guys Boots reached out to, permanently changed their lives and to
this day they are out and about trying to make a change in their
community.
Prior to the Prop 21 fight, Boots had struck a major chord when he
organized the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. This was a popular
edutainment/academic/ social justice program which used the arts and
Hip Hop as a tool to educate people. This was all being done in the
late 80s early 90s and was one of the first programs of its type in
entire the country. Over the years Boots has done everything from
organize Book drives to put together community forums to organize
large scale rallies all in the name of educating the community. He
also taught classes over at the La Pena Cultural Center called Art and
Organizing. As he gears up to bring put all this wisdom to a formal
classroom setting, I see the subject matter he discusses resonating with his
students. If we look at the political conditions and climate that initially
gave birth to Hip Hop expression in the of the early 70s, then you see
that Boots will have more then enough to talk about.
For starters,during that time period in the early 70s, we're talking
about New York City experiencing the worse fiscal crisis in American
history, the passing of the Rockefeller drug laws and President Nixon
declaring a 'War on Youth'. Very few kids will turn a deaf hear to
the discussions around those aforementioned topics. If Boots decides
to look at the social political conditions that gave rise to Hip Hop
here in Cali, he will have them eating out the palm of his hand. As
he examines the politics during the time we had our 'Paid In Full era'
the 'Afrocentric/Message Rap era and now our Bling Bling era', he will
change lives for the better. Heck there are cats who are trying to
figure out how to simply audit this class just so they can be better
informed. Boots' class looks to be ground breaking. It also looks to
be a bright spot in a city that has now experienced a horrific crime
wave with more than 70 murders.
Principal Wilson Riles noted that; "Boots teaching a class is
phenomenal. His class the 'social justice issues of Hip Hop' are at
the core of young people learning things that are relevant and that
they are interested in and will be faced with in life."
