“Made In Japan” is a retrospective of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat. It’s the first comprehensive exhibition of the artist ever in Japan. At Roppongi’s Mori Art Center Gallery, 130 paintings, drawings, notebooks, video installations, and objects span Basquiat’s whirlwind of a short-lived career. In the early 80’s, his career blew up. He became history’s first internationally renowned “black” artist. Though Basquiat was made in America, Brooklyn, New York, to be exact, the show’s title is emblematic of Japan’s failing efforts …
Category: Writing
Several months ago I came up with a list in my head of all the things I’ve wanted to do in my lifetime, but haven’t done yet. Either fear, procrastination, money, or time had gotten in the way of accomplishing the things on this list. I’m in my mid thirties and found that there was so much I wanted to experience in this life, but haven’t yet. Days went by, before I woke up in my apartment feeling …
“It’s ill, ‘cause this is the first interview I’ve done in a while. Call it an interview if you want, but I’m really just venting about a lot of shit that’s been going on,” said Anthony Marshall. A cool, well-mannered Virgo, Marshall, 33 co-founded the legendary MC showcase Lyricist Lounge along with partner and best-friend Danny Castro in the early 90’s when hip-hop was called anything, but music. The Lounge started in New York City as an open mic for …
Recently I wrote an article about East Africa’s rising electronic music scene for bandcamp. Read it here. As a 90’s kid, when Nas said, “Hip-Hop is dead” it seemed like something that needed to be said, albeit shortsighted. Responding to Nas’s 2006 proclamation, Palestinian kids were saying “Hip-Hop is not dead it lives in Gaza.” In Kenya, the disputed 2007 presidential election made the country explode into mayhem. 1,100 people were killed in two months. Most of them were hacked …
To give some perspective on rapper and producer Uncommon Nasa, here’s an interview with him back in 2013. Shout out to Nasa for spinning 45’s and putting together this exclusive TMG mix, Four/Five. Since this article was published, Nasa has continued to make music and release a growing catalogue of albums over the years. Just recently, he produced The Last Sons’ Chekov’s Gun (Uncommon Records), a disquieted record full of wasteland sentiments. Nasa has also become a published author with …
