DC Saturday night. Stacy Kidd, Dan Soda, Double07, All Good Funk Alliance, John Johnson. $10

411 NY Ave NE

Bonus - Sam Burns just called to let me know Sunday at ESL is FREEEEEEEE

Brandon Barker over at AOL News gets all philosophical about this piece’s meaning. The use of the corner make me think of this:

More details coming soon:

Upset The Setup and Catalyst Skateboards Present

Wed 5.21.08 at the Velvet Lounge

Dr Becket

Peace Justice Universal aka DJ Eurok (solo Hip Hop set)

DJ Provoke on the 1s and 2s

Extra special guests TBA

Doors at 9

FREE

Ok so the mega HIP HIP TOUR OF THE SUMMER featuring EVERYONE is coming to DC. Well sort of, but they will be at the Merryweather Post Pavillion on July 27. Tickets are presale, go on sale official tomorrow.

The line up has errybody hyped: A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, NAS, MOS DEF, DE LA SOUL, RAKIM, METHOD MAN & REDMAN, RAEKWON & GHOSTFACE, IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE, DEAD PREZ, MURS, SPANK ROCK, KID SISTER, JAY ELECTRONICA, WALE, B.O.B., KIDZ IN THE HALL, AMANDA BLANK

I’m keeping the date open but there is part of me that agrees with user #1 The Minister: “too much. too expensive. too far. too old“

UPDATE: Damn, Dave at work just shoulder surfed the post and made me come back and edit so as to further explain why this show is more of a headache for us grown hip hoppers aka The Hip Hop 401K set.

1. Traffic and Parking (see Radiohead show at Nissan Pavillion)
2. Expensive Beers and food and ticketses
3. A massive crowd of 90’s babys now old enough to pile in their mom’s Civic to totally have an awesome time that will define their teenage hip hop experience.
4. Not so kid friendly for the hip hop parents although Lil Luke would be ruffing cats for their goods
5. I have a feeling there will be lots of police undercover narcs
6. Expensive Merch

I guess I have to qualify this all with the following: I will be there if I’m playing and/or get tickets for free.

LOL

Noted Hip Hop author Jeff Chang has recently joined the team at Vibe as their political blogger. Zentronix d+h is now live. Check him out and by check him out, I mean subscribe to the RSS.

and a side note, whats up with the registration app at Vibe.com that doesn’t have DC as an option for state…

thanks for the link motts.

The GoingOutGurus were reporting yesterday that this summer’s annual Fort Reno concert series may be closed due to EPA findings of Arsenic in the Fort Reno Park. The summer concert series at Fort Reno is a DC tradition and I hope the NPS, the EPA, and the folks organizing the event can get to the bottom of this.

Here is an announcement from FortReno.com

Dear friends,
On Wednesday, May 14th we were notified by the National Park Service that there is evidence of reportedly high levels of arsenic in the soil around Fort Reno requiring closure of the park and further testing. At the moment nothing is confirmed, only reported - we don’t even know if the stage area is affected - but the park is currently closed. The Park Service, EPA, and others are looking into the situation and keeping us posted. Check back here where we’ll share updates and details as they come in.

Head-Roc, Noyeek and I got the chance to play Fort Reno in 2005 (I think we were the first Hip Hop act ever) - flicks over at Head-Roc.com

UPDATE: I just donated to the Northwest Youth Alliance/Fort Reno Concert Series. Please give them your support

Bomb The Suburbs - William Upski Wimsatt
Paper | 5.5″ x 8.5″ | 176 pgs. | ISBN: 1-887128-44-5 | List: $13.95 | 03/1/2008

A copy of William ‘Upski’ Wimsatt’s Bomb the Suburbs anonymously arrived in the mail in 1995. I read the book furiously, consuming Upski’s tales of Chicago graffiti, Hip Hop and hitchhiking as well as his observations on race in Hip Hop and society. A well worn, paint stained copy soon became the foundation of my grand unified theory of Hip Hop, providing me a parenthetical reference for the taxonomy of 4 elements. (Page 71) It took me a few years to fully comprehend the genius of Bomb the Suburbs, and by then I was dismissing its second wave of readers as intellectual lightweight poseurs trying quote Upski in freshman seminars.

It was the summer of ‘99 when Upski came to work in DC. His second book, No More Prisons was about to come out and we met on a playground in Columbia Heights. We talked Hip Hop, technology, graf, and he shared his ideas for the No More Prisons movement, the Hip Hop compilation, the tour and the crowdsourced graffiti spree. Honestly, it’s the framework for everything I do now - a non-stop self financed DIY punk rock hip hop peace machine for social change: UPSET THE SETUP.

By the turn of the millennium the ideas of his two books were catching on with a generation that was beginning to think about Hip Hop as a real movement. Having realized that “writing a book doesn’t change shit,” he turned to organization building and new philanthropy efforts. A few co-edited books later and Upski was building an army of young activists, forging virtual organizing methods and finally working to found The League of Young Voters – Hip Hop’s first 527 Political Action Committee.

Bomb the Suburbs captures an era of Hip Hop thinking in a way that has rarely been produced as a book. Upski gave us his view of where the culture had been, where it was headed and what it needed to watch out for. He was the voice of white boy’s inner Hip Hop conscious before white boys everywhere began trading in alt rock for gangsta rap. A critical self-observer, he knew that his voice wasn’t the only perspective that needed sharing and glorification, and through interviews and stories he introduced us to characters from all walks of life to pen a uniquely Hip Hop story – one that is especially relevant 15 years later.

Tupac Shakur called Bomb The Suburbs “the best book I read in prison.” You can’t really top a recommendation like that. So go on ahead and cop the fresh re-issue from Skull Soft Press (includes an interview by Jeff Chang) and please randomly mail a copy to an aspiring hip hopper.

-PJ Urquilla
UpsetTheSetup.com

Get ready…aqui viene las racistas

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

Cobb bar protested as racist for Obama T-shirt

Good Morning America helps promote “Obama is Muslim” lie

Reproduce and Revolt: A Graphic Toolbox for the 21st Century Activist
Edited by Josh MacPhee and Favianna Rodriguez

Reproduce and Revolt is an extensive bilingual (English/Spanish) collective of radical imagery collected from around the world. A clip-art collection of visual protest, the book includes over 500 public domain images that are ready to become posters, stickers, t-shirts and stencils in your local freedom movement. The striking one color designs encompass a wide range of good causes familiar to the liberal arts protest crowd: anti-war, pro-womyn, anti-capitalist, pro-bicycle, pro-indigenous, pro-environment, anti-globalization and a number of other movements you should either be for or against.

The visual landscape is one the key battlegrounds in the modern culture war and global struggles for liberation. Using tools that have been perfected by the Hip-Hop generation, this book provides a starting point for activists and culture-jammers to add their voices to the mix and counter the pro-empire marketplace of global commercial design.

In their collection, Macphee and Rodriguez stray from the elements of the modern street-art scene that lean towards the intellectual navel-gazing stylings of the art world. Not content to simply paint the public space pretty, Reproduce and Revolt aims to mobilize these methods into a movement, all while leaving a mark and making a point to upset the setup.

Order online

Josh MacPhee & Favianna Rodriguez (eds.)
Reproduce & Revolt/Reproduce Y Rebélate

$18 ($19.95 cover price) |196 pages | 10.5″x8″ | Soft Skull Press

(Oh yeah, Upset The Setup - now we do book reviews…. READABOOKREADABOOKREADAMOTHERFUCKINGBOOK!)

Dear Readers - go to BuyOlympia.com and order 25 Free copies of this poster. (They are currently out of stock, but when they re-up you can help distribute them)

UPSET THE SETUP

Peaceaholics will be holding this town hall event on Tuesday night to discuss ’snitching’ in the community - looks interesting. Anyone who attends, please hit us up with a report.

Tuesday May 13
The Historic Lincoln Theatre (Across from the U Street Metro)
6:00 - 830 PM

Vasallos del Sol arrive in the United States

Press Department - Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington DC. - May 7, 2008 Vasallos del Sol, a Venezuelan group with more than 15 years on the stage and five records, will begin a tour in the United States of America. This internationally-recognized group skillfully blends music, singing and dancing that mirrors Venezuela’s diverse cultural heritage.

In this tour, the audience will be able to enjoy concerts in different locations, as well as dancing and percussion workshops designed to let the public get acquainted with the plurality of Venezuela’s culture. They will also allow audiences to experience the advances made by this South American nation in its cultural policy, a policy that emphasizes a multicultural vision.

This series of events are sponsored by CITGO Corporation jointly with the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United States and the Bigott Foundation. All events are free.

National Museum of the American Indian
Fourth Street & Independence Ave, S.W.
Washington, DC 20560

7:00pm – 8:30pm

Don’t sleep. Racist nationalist paramilitary russian skinheads got beef…and nukes

UPSET THE SETUP. contra-racista hasta la victoria

WASHINGTON - A woman committed suicide inside a D.C. police station Monday night, police said. An investigation was under way to determine if police protocols were followed correctly at the Fourth District Station in Northwest D.C.

Via MSNBC

We were at a stop light yesterday on Florida Ave NE when we pulled up next to an SUV. The woman in the front passenger seat was heated, straight wil’ing out.

“Young, they will fuck you up! You know they can do whatever they want and cover it up. They will fuck you up and get away with it.”

We idled and listened, wondering who/what she was talking about.

“You see what they did in New York, the cops shot that man 50 times and got away with it. They will fuck you up youngn and they will cover it up!”

My homeboy interjected and gave her an “I know that’s right sister, tell em!”

At that point, she told us about what happend up at 4D on Monday night. Then she told us she was Shante Parker’s cousin.

The family is heated. They’re not buying that official story. And whats this about the camera not working??

A cell surveillance camera that would have monitored Shante Parker was not functioning, according to a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is being investigated

This doesn’t seem right…

FULL INVESTIGATION. TRANSPARENCY.

UPSET THE SETUP. SHANTE PARKER REST IN POWER.

so much real shit in dc and the so called DMV hip hop elite is rapping about their sneakers and bourgeoisie tastes…

Empower DC does really great work for this city and are having a benefit show at The Rock and Roll Hotel on Saturday. Come out and support a great cause.

Saturday, May 10th
The Rock and Roll Hotel
Doors Open @ 8:30 |Tix $10

Drop Electric

with special guests:
S.O.N.
vishal kanwar
Damn Right!

A large percentage of artist proceeds will benefit Empower DC!

Loss Prevention Strikes Again

whoa. that flyers big,.

DC MC battle. Get in on it…

Well thats just fucking awesome!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The D.C. police department plans to give patrol officers assault rifles to protect them against criminals with high-powered weapons

Um, will somebody tell Cheif Lanier that the problem with crime in DC isn’t DC police officers ability to out-firepower the crimnals. The problem is that Chief Lanier doesn’t know how to run ths city’s police department with anything other than symbolic shows of force. Oh, and the rank and file have no respect for her because they know…

Important info about copyright and the Orphan Works Act.

If you don’t register every photo and work of art in government-certified private databases, you are about to give anyone the legal right to infringe on your copyright.

Take Action: Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work

As a DC citizen I don’t have a voice in Congress so please spread the word on this.

UPSET THE SETUP