New Music Stright from The Party

Written by Lissa Alicia

Hip Hop Party For Them People member, Pilli X recently dropped new music.

The EP “Patience Of The Saints”, which dropped on October 19th teeter-totters the line between trap music politically aware rhymes. The North Philly rapper gives nods to Hugo Chavez on  “How Can I Lose”, and boasting about getting chicks on “For The People”. This combination serves as a crossover for those who don’t normally listen to politically charged music.

To find out more about Pili X check out his post here on the Hip Hop Party For the People Website. Click here for “Patience Of The Saints”

Philly Stand Up Artist Speak Out

August 17^th 2013 marks the date of The Second Annual Philly Stand Up! “The Take Over” Youth Walk And Parade.  The walk, starting at Love Park (15^th and JFK) at 11AM, and ending at Broad and Erie, will encourage “youth-led movement” while discouraging “violence and hopelessness”.

Last year, the walk brought out over 300 youth from across Philadelphia, to speak out against the unfair curfew that was implemented after a surge of “Flashmobs” that popped up across the city. This year, there is a fair share of social issues that are plaguing the youth, not only Philadelphia, but throughout the country.  The most outstanding is the justice free death of a Trayvon Martin and the closing of dozens of Philadelphia public schools.

In addition to creating unity throughout communities, this year’s youth walk with serve as a proverbial stage for a handful of young local talent.  Between Love Park and Black and Nobels, dancers and emcees will exemplify that teens can do more than create negative uproarious energy, but transfer said energy to create beautiful art. HHPP got a chance to get up with some of the Hip-Hop artist who will be preforming at this year’s Philly Stand UP youth walk.

                The youngest performer on the bill is Raw D, a fourteen- year-old emcee originally from Tallahassee, Florida. Before moving to Philadelphia, two years ago, Raw D, was already rapping. He wrote his first song at ten-years-old, and despite a few haters, he never gave up. “When I was 8, I used to just freestyle all the time, and by the time I turned ten, I wrote my first song. Nobody liked it. They were like, ‘That jawn corny. That jawn wack.”  But I’m ten-years-old so I’m like “Ard whatever.” It encouraged me to continue writing.

Coming from another school district, Raw D missed most of the 7^th grade, This now allows him to go to an untraditional school that allows students to complete two years’ worth of work in only one. Although Raw D has not has not experienced the Philadelphia School District to its fullest, his take on what’s going on in the city is valid. “I feel like there are a lot of kids not getting their chance at education because of the schools closing. Their block [neighborhood] schools are closing, so they have to go all out of town to go to another school. So they are wasting money and education.” With so much insight as to what’s going on in his community, Raw D understands the importance of a movement like Philly Stand Up. “I think it is positive for the kids in the streets that don’t have nothing to do, because of the school cuts and all of that. So they really gonna be in the streets. I think it’s cool for them to have something to do for the summer.”

                Fifteen-year-old Khari Wynnefield exudes great positive energies in his words and lyrics, which was also shown when it came to trying to save the now closed Lamberton High School. “We did everything we could to keep that school open. We did a walk. We were on the news . We put up signs. We passed out fliers to tell everybody come out and support us when they were about to close. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough.” Its rough for Khari, he expected to grow up with his classmates, and he doesn’t seem to understand why that it’s not possible. ”Like I said it sucks because you want to grow up with the people you went to school with, and just see that you can no longer do that, it doesn’t make sense. It’s a learning experience. We move on from it. Just because the kids failed the test, it doesn’t mean they can’t improve. I feel like they didn’t give us a chance to show them what we could really do.

As well as Raw D, Khari has dealt with his fair share of hecklers and haters. In a rehearsal for his first ever performance at his High School’s talent show, a group of cheerleaders decided to mock and laugh at him while he was on stage. This would be a blow to almost any guys esteem, but instead of feeling sorry for himself or questioning his skills, Khari ended up making a positive impact on the crowd the next day at the show.  “I came out and people were screaming. I really did my thing up there. Then it clicked in me ‘that everybody is not going to like your music, but at the same time if you trust in yourself and believe you can do anything that you want to do you’ll be good.’ My first performance was awesome!”

                Sixteen-year-old North Philly native, Sy Sossa, seems to be the most dedicated of the bunch. Everything he does is in promotion of himself as an artist. Every social media update he post ends with the hastag #teamsysossa. Hailing from 11^th and York, Sy has experienced the loss of love ones, whose deaths ultimately stemmed from a lack of organization, love and unity throughout communities. “Philly Stand Up is a great movement, that’s why I am taking a role inside of it. The violence as far as teens is crazy. A couple of my close friends like Lance, Tracy and all them, they got killed too. Philly Stand Up would make a big difference. It will let people know that people is out here trying to change things. If everybody participates and everybody from different communities come into it, I think we can.”

Like many teens, Sy Sossa is beginning to see the unfair methods of operation that the city is choosing to use. There is an infamous myth going around stating that prisons are being built based off of the test scores of third graders. Apparently this story must have reached Sossa. “I think it’s crazy. They are closing schools to build a prison. It’s basically for all the dropouts, people that are messing up.” Amid all of these horror stories and failing schools, Sy maintains focus. “I don’t worry about the whole school, I worry about myself. I always try to shoot high. I don’t feel like I am under pressure.”

When twenty-two-year-old rap artist, Microwave Frank was attending the now closed Strawberry Mansion, he didn’t have that many extracurricular options to choose from. Luckily, art was an option for the multi-talented tattoo artist. “There were really not too many avenues unless you were JROTC or something like that. The ones that were available were art. I picked up art. I am a tattoo artist. I love to draw.”

As far as Philly Stand Up goes, Microwave Frank is expecting a rather large turnout simply because he finds it to be what the city needs. “I think it is something very beneficial for the public, it changes the environment. Once you get people who live in an environment, to see this Philly Stand Up movement, I am quite sure that it will become beneficial, marketable, and valuable. People will want to come. Curiosity kills the cat so people are going to want to come and see what it’s all about.”

Being the oldest set to preform, Microwave Frank gave some sage advice for teens in the arts and in general. “Keep raping. Keep playing with your words. Start doing more stuff so you can have more stuff to rap about, as long as it is the positive. And be productive. A productive mind keeps an ongoing mind. I can sit in my room and write a thousand raps but when I was young, I could sit in my room and thing about a thousand other things I could do. Over time I found that motivation and understanding that this is a gift and I need to use it. If you got a gift, its time to go use it. Be smart. Don’t follow. You don’t have to be a product of your environment. You don’t have to be a product of Hip-Hop’s environment if it’s negative. Just be yourself. You know what’s right and you know what’s wrong.”

Philly Stand Up is expecting a great turn out for this year’s youth walk. All the performers are excited to be a part of such an influential movement and are grateful to have the chance to exhibit their art to the community. A hard feat, when many things in their life seem to be going against them. This day will serve as an eye opener for many youngsters who feel as if they are hopeless when it comes to not being a product of their environments.

The Hip Hop Party For The People Encourages EVERYONE to come and participate in The Second Annual Philly Stand Up! “The Take Over” Youth Walk. For more information contact Keturah Cesar at 267-237-5127. Donations are welcome.

The Fame Points

Fame hosting break dancing battle at The Rotunda.\
Photo Cred: Keturah Caesar

Before I met Fame in person, I decided to look him up on social media outlets to get to know him a little better before the interview. I spent about 20 minutes straight, going through his Instagram uploads and archives. What I peeped was variety of subject matter in his post that ranged from motivational quotes and photos of his daughter to tough as nails hip hop artist comparisons.

When we finally met up at The Gathering, Philly’s longest running Hip Hop event, Fame was all energy, bounding off the stage to greet me. We stepped outside West Philly’s Rotunda so I could get to know and hear him a little better, away from the break beats and the set-up of Red Bull BC One 10 break dancing competition being held inside, running in conjunction with The Gathering. “I would like to consider myself to be an entertainer, more so than a b-boy, dancer, host, or promoter, hiphopologist as I call myself. I like to guide the culture, the ones who are younger than me to do the right thing, as well as feed off of the teachings of the older culture and the generations before me. Im just trying to be a hip hop scholar all around. You have to know the key pillars of hip hop. You have to know where they originated from: Key people and movements, or points in the culture of hip hop. Hip hop is not just rap music or b-boys dancing. It’s a whole culture. It is about how you talk, how you walk, how you sing and how you dance, how you go to work every day. Hip hop is an incorporation of all that. People really don’t understand that. But when y’all see grandma’s on TV. saying ‘my bad’ and all that you don’t realize that’s a part of hip hop culture.”

Fame knows his stuff and he knows it well. When talking in detail about The Four Pillars of Hip Hop, his passion for the art and culture was obvious. “Rap, B-Boying, (which is the dance of Hip Hop) is the original dance from Kool Herc, the godfather himself, as well as Afrika Bambaataa.  Another pillar is Graffiti, the other visual art of hip hop. I prefer everyone to not use walls in the city, but if you’ve got to please do. Just don’t get caught. You didn’t hear that from me though. Last but not least is the DJ who gives the music. He is a maestro with two instruments, turn tables that he uses to formulate the party, the atmosphere.  They should know the musical selections as well as their crowd. Those are the four pillars. I would like to say that I have my hand on every pillar. I try to jump off to the sub-genres of hip hop too. Some people consider skateboarding hip hop, we dub that. Its not, it has its own culture. A lot of things fuse into hip hop. Hip hop comes from a lot of things. It would be stupid for it not to make other branches.” Fame’s love of Hip Hop goes deeper than the surface. Along with knowing the facts and history behind the craft, Fame is involved. As far as myself, if I know where it came from, and if I can see where it is at right now, and can kind of judge where it is going, I think I would have to have my hand in every bit of it. DJing, B-Boying, MCing and Graffiti. I won’t say I am a master at all, but ill damn sure say that I know about all of them and you can’t out speak me on that.

As we are chatting outside, Fame comes off mad comfortable yet excited about the battle that is beginning in a few minutes. It is not every day that you host an international breakdancing competition. Even at The Gathering. “Well the gathering is the most ill the most raw, the most authentic jam for hip hop in Philly for the past 16 years+. For those who don’t know, the gathering is somewhere where free expression, originality, and creativity, is fully expressed and appreciated. Even if you don’t b-boy, but if you have something to express, get off your chest and get out. We don’t discriminate. We let everyone come in and express themselves exactly how they want to without judgment.

With such a longstanding and legendary event, one could wonder how Fame got the opportunity to host The Gathering and be a part of history in the making. “My man TuPhace, hosted the gathering before I hosted it. When he would get on stage, I would get on stage and clown around with him, never really taking the mike. I would go two three years straight, every gathering and watch him. He would incorporate me the gathering happenings. After a while, the owner I would say of the gathering, my uncle IB say like ‘I wouldn’t rather have anybody else take it over but you. I could do it, but my generation, is not fully in here like we used to be.’ Right now it is about Fame, Ai-Que, and IB.”

`                               Hip Hop lives and grows in the past, present and future of Fame. Michael Jordan likely remembers the first time he made a lay-up. DaVinci probably remembered the first union he created between paint and canvas. Just the same, Fame remembers the first time he experienced the Hip Hop culture. I was about 5 years old and me and my father were cleaning up our one room apartment at the time. He put on MC Hammer, ‘Too Legit To Quit’ We cleaned up the whole house to the album. Ever since then, “I have to find out what this hyper active music is about?” Ever since then I had to get into this culture.

Just as he was brought up in the lifestyle that he holds so dear, he is following in his father’s footsteps by raising his daughter Nia the same way. “About six years ago I had this daughter and I named her Nia. Nia is purpose in Swahili. Ever since I had my child, I have found myself. And that has helped me stay focused in what I am doing. Nia has showed me that I have a purpose in this life. When I found Hip Hop or I should say, when Hip Hop found me I found purpose. My purpose in doing all this is for my daughter so that I can give her a sense of culture. I want to let my daughter know that you were made because I love you and this music that I love brought me to know that you are more important than anything. The music that I listen to made me a better father and human being. Without this music I don’t know where I would be. My daughter is the reason why I do this.

Being a self-proclaimed “hiphopologist” is far from a cake walk.  “The biggest struggle for me is staying true to myself. Because within this culture, there has been an infestation of suits that come in and try to tell you what you should be doing in the culture that you were raised in. Trying to tell them that they are wrong, for trying to tell me that what I’m doing is wrong is always hard, because you have to have a good point and back it up with facts and stability. With myself, I have to stay true to myself. That is the integrity of what hip hop is. You have people that try to take the gathering into what their light is. And try to take it and change it into something more ‘neo’ I would say. I don’t really want to make it neo hip hop. They already tried to do that with neo soul. Soul has no end to it. There is no Neo that should go in front of it. It is just soul.  I don’t try to change, I just try to cultivate it and make sure that the intregrity of it remains the same. You can grow and branch out and do all those other things but everybody must know what the grassroots and the oil of the culture are.

At the moment, Fame is actively creating his future by teaching the people everything that he knows and adding in the positive advancement of his culture by voicing his reasoning as to why the current disconnect in Hip Hop music exist. I never try to do a whole bunch of major things. I have a really big focus problem. I try to focus on one thing and get that out of the way. So right now my focus is teaching the culture, as well as dance moves if need be. Teaching awareness. Teaching peace and tranquility. My next and most consistent thing would be to educate and find as many people that would take my education so my legacy won’t die. There is a generation gap. The older generation refuses to cradle and nurture the youngins. The younger generation really does not have any respect for the older generation because of their lack of nature. When it comes to hip hop now, I feel like it is in a state of peril. You have to get respect back from each party, that is the older and younger generations, as well as a sense of balance. I’m not going to sit here and say that I don’t like the horrible, ghettoest, ratchetest, songs on the radio, but should they be played before the more inspirational, the more loving, the more emotional songs? I don’t really believe that. But the thing is, those ‘suits’ sort of have a kind of a handle of what gets played on the major market. Us, as a people, the culture of the people, not just the race, come from a culture of research and development. I feel like the more people learn to research. I think that this is going to happen as the younger generation get older, they are going to go back and be like: ‘why do I like this particular song? Why do I like this particular beat? What kind of sample is that beat? Oh that sample is from this song that came out in the 70’s. Oh let me research about what happened in the 70’s for them to make this song. Oh snap! We were in the struggle in the 70’s too to get appreciation from another culture? Oh wow, it all connects some way.’ It all really connects that what. Right now we got to get back to research and development.

Love peace unity and having fun. What person in the world says they don’t want to do one of those things? Hip Hop, from the birth of it was destined to be worldwide and every culture was destined to know it.

It is safe to assume that Fame supports a stronger more unified version of Hip Hop, one where it is further engrained into the everyday life of citizens. “I feel like Hip Hop runs the globe. This world we live in is submerged in hip hop culture and no one even knows it. Everybody is saying and doing hip hop things; slang words and mannerisms. I feel like hip hop has changed the way people have made money. Before, ways of hustling, ways that people in poverty ridden area used to hustle was a secret. Hip hop gave a voice, a loud and embolden voice of what people who don’t have a lot of income actually do. So if the politicians all the way up at the top level would actually listen to the people who are digging themselves out of the poverty whole, it would be a closer connection between the top and the bottom. They tend to not listen to us. They don’t listen to us because we don’t have as much money as them to talk to them. The resilience in my people, we don’t wait for anyone to ok us for anything.  We go get what we got to get and we go get it however we got to go and get it. My culture of hip hop as always produced a sense of hustle. A sense of go get it by any means necessary.”

Fame outside The Rotunda
Photo Cred: Keturah Caesar-

After we wrapped up the interview, and a few photos are flicked outside The Rotunda, fame shows some love to a few people hanging around the entrance. Some could be friends or family. Maybe just a familiar face. I can say with confidence that they are to him, members of his beloved Hip Hop culture. After the daps and hugs, Fame saunters inside and onto the stage with a flava incomparable to anything.

Young Leaf interview by Lissa Alicia

Young Leaf Interview By Lissa Alica
1-10-13
Young Leaf is a 23-year-old Philadelphia born and raised rapper. His first mixtape, “A Grandparent’s Favorite Rapper”, dropped in Autumn of 2012. Along with familiar instrumentals, one can hear a classic influence in his beat selection. Socially aware lyrics and ideas make Young Leaf an exotic fish in a sea of dull guppies.
Lissa Alicia: Tell us a little about your background.
Young Leaf: I am from North Philadelphia, 25th and Allegheny, born in a rough neighborhood. I’ve been through a lot of drama in my life with people who I knew around the way. Been through a struggle with my family; my mom. She was on drugs. I had to get away from that. When I was about 8-years-old, I left her and came home to my grandma in North Philly. And, I’ve been there since then.

Lissa: When and why did you start doing music?
Young Leaf: Music was my thing since I was a youngbull. Basically, it was my mom. She was always listening to old music. That’s what really influenced me. She would just stay in the house, blast music every day, every hour on the hour. And, when I was there, I was always listening to it. I say about when I was in the 7th grade, I was in a music group called Common Boyz. We were all singers. There were three of us. I was, like, “Singing is not really for me”, so I switched it up to rapping. I started really rapping when I was in the 10th grade. That’s when I started going to studios. There was this lady who was my drama teacher and her name was Tiffany Baker. She put me in the studio and I recorded at least three songs from there. But, then again, I was slacking with school, so I fell back from the music stuff and got back into my education. After I graduated high school, I waited for like a year then I got back into the music game.

Lissa: How would you describe your musical style?
Young Leaf: I’m not really an Old School rapper, but I like to listen to old stuff and put that in my raps.

Lissa: What was the concept of your mixtape, “A Grandparent’s Favorite Rapper”?
Young Leaf: There was one old lady who got on the bus, who asked me if I was a rapper. She told me that her grandson listens to me and that she liked my music. That’s how I came up with it. I know if that one old lady likes my music, who[ever] else that’s old out here likes to listen to my music.

Lissa: Have your grandparents heard any of your music?
Young Leaf: My grandma stay listening to my stuff. She has a Facebook, so whenever I post something on my page, she always listens to it. She always gives me some type of feedback like, “I don’t like this. It’s too much cursing. Do something positive”. So that’s when I did a song called “Mama Said”. Once I did that song, she was going crazy. She was like, “Oh, I like this song! Keep on doing songs like this and then you will go somewhere far.”

Lissa: What is “Mama Said” about?
Young Leaf: It’s a message to the young people, like “Don’t do dumb stuff”. Let God get into your future and you will be good. Mama told you this, mama told you that. Stay strong. Stay focused. Drop the guns. Don’t do drugs. That’s what the whole song is about.

Lissa: As a young black male in Philadelphia, what are some of the struggles that you face?
Young Leaf: Not being able to find a job. Drama in the neighborhood. A lot of family crisis. And, going through stuff with my mom. Especially since it’s a recession. You don’t got no type of money; you trying to make money the positive way, instead of just doing stuff out of pocket that will get you locked up or in jail.

Lissa: What is something that you find rewarding about being a black man in Philly?
Young Leaf: Just being heard by Philly people. The support system.

Lissa: What changes would you like to see in Philly?
Young Leaf: I hate violence and I want to talk against it. Gun violence is high as crap in Philly and I want to put the message out there to young people to not do it. My EP “Stop the Violence” will be dropping in the end of January. During the Put the Guns Down School Tour, we will hit different high schools and colleges, and have different types of artists or dancers (or whatever the case may be) to put the message out there to younger folks, so they can understand that gun violence is not the way to solve anybody’s problem. You can always solve your problems without violence or fighting. Always talk things out to people. Because, when you talk it out, it is always more respectful.

Lissa: Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?
Young Leaf: Well yeah, my New Year’s resolution is to stay focused and do what I got to do; to get my family up and connect as a family more.

Lissa: Are there any side projects that you are part of?
Young Leaf: I am actually with this group, Heat Wave. I did a couple [of] collaborations with other people, like Reese Rell, Haddy Mack, Brick Man; all types of people, because Philly gotta support Philly.

Lissa: Can you tell us about your track “Don’t Get Burned Out”?
Young Leaf: It was all about Miss K. She was telling me about how she was coming out with an event called “Don’t Get Burned Out”. She was looking for artists to do a song about it. I don’t know how many she asked, but I know she asked me. And, she used my song because, well, I think it was nice. I was putting the message out there that people gotta get tested. You don’t want to lose your life over something nasty. You always gotta get tested or stay protected. You gotta get that message out there so people can start being safe. Big ups to Miss K and Brother Tommy, too, for putting me on to that event, so can express how I feel.

Lissa: What can we expect musically from Young Leaf in 2013 and beyond?
Young Leaf: You are going to hear a lot. Sometime in May , I’ll be dropping a new mixtape; “A Grandparents Anthem II”. That mixtape is going to be live. The school tour and getting that done. The “Stop the Violence” EP. I was actually talking to my manager about a movie; I want to shoot a mini movie called “House Party 5”. I’m just trying to stay focused through the whole year.
Philly gotta support Philly. I want to thank everybody for taking their time to listen to me. Big ups to my manager. Big ups to my fans. This year is going to be crazy.

To reach Young Leaf and hear his music check out his multiple social media platforms.
http://www.youtube.com/leafybuck
http://www.reverbnation.com/youngleafmusic
http://www.facebook.com/youngleaf89
http://www.datpiff.com/profile/l39f

Philly Stand Up August 25

Greetings neighbor!

Philly Stand Up! is a new committee of area youth led-groups, clergy, and community organizations that work with the city’s youth and their families to overcome histories of poverty, despair and to gain hope for the future. We have come together for the purpose of holding a major youth walk on Broad St. Saturday August 25th 2012 to bring together the city’s youth for social awareness, positive development and success.Our main message for Philly Stand Up! is “BE THE CHANGE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE WORLD”

The objectives of this walk are to:
1.encourage the youth led-movement for positivity, self-awareness and social change
2. raise resources for area organizations which serve the youth in areas of mentoring,
education and wellness
3. discourage violence, hopelessness and despair among the youth and general public
with a optimistic message
4. highlight the positive contribution of the city’s youth led-organizations. 

Participating groups include:

1.Jr Music Executive

2.Beat Rhymes and Life Multimedia and Peer Mentoring Program(BRL)

3.HipHopPartyforthePeople(HHPP)

4.NewMoneyEntertainment

5.DollarBoyzInc.

6.MurdaTeamTwerkers

7.CoolKidsJr.

8.PhiladelphiaCoalitionoftheHeart(PCOH)

9.RawTalent:Philadelphia(RT)S.W.A.G.(SharpWithArtGroup)

10.S.W.A.G.(SharpWithArtGroup)

11.ViolaBondFoundation

12.ExpressUrSelf/JailisforSuckers

13.FormerCityCouncilAtLargeCandidateandHipHopartistPiliX

14.ArtistsAgainstViolence

15.SustainableStreetSoljahs

16. TeamRevolution

17.ATM

18.YolaGang

19. RawstiemFamily

20.Hip2KnowCampaign

21.Philadelphia Community Institute of Africana Studies

22.Above Average

23.Hea tWaveInc

24.Allhotness.com

25. Ancestral Movements.

26. Raw Stein Family

27. Caution Community Youth Drum Line Band.

 The event will feature a Youth and Community Walk that begins at Love Park at 15th and JFK and ends at Broad and Erie. Following the Walk, we plan to have an awards ceremony, food and drink, along with musical performances and vendor booths for our sponsors. We expect a large number of youth and community walkers at this inaugural Walk for Change.  We ask that you consider joining us as a Walk endorser and partner with us in an effort to show a united community effort regarding the health and well-being of our city’s
youth.  Please attend our meetings on Wednesday August 15^th , Wednesday August 22^nd from 6-8pmand Friday August 24^th from1-3pm@1652RidgeAve). If you have any questions about Philly Stand Up! Be The Change Youth Walk or please don’t hesitate to contact Keturah Caesar at 267-237-5127 or at phillybethechange@gmail.com

We look forward to a positive and revolutionary event for our entire community.

Sincerely ,

Brother Tommy Joshua

Philly Stand Up Committee

Thank you for your time

Lil Wanye Explains “BREAD OVER BED”

HHPP Daily: Rapper, teacher hits international stage

Written by Trenae V. McDuffie

Creatively executing raps that evoke social, political and economic change while balancing life an as educator seems effortless for Philadelphia rapper Aquil Heru. As he prepares for his debut on an international stage, Aquil (his stage name) has placed a mark with hip-hop enthusiasts and legendary producers.

Aquil will perform at Toronto’s North by Northeast Festivals and Conference (NXNE) on June 14. The seven-day festival will host 650 bands and screen 40 films from June 11 to June 17. Aquil accredits this new travel experience to Internet technologies and non-traditional ways of showcasing his music.
“Social media has helped me network and meet people that I never would have known. Social media has allowed me to reach a few people that actually listen and give my music a chance. Without Sonicbids.com I wouldn’t have performed at the Brooklyn Hip-hop Festival or NXNE,” Aquil said.
He is no novice to music festivals. In the summer of 2010, Aquil performed at the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival.
“I got to see how festivals work; the good and the bad of performing at those type of events. I got to meet a lot of people that I never thought I would or people that I consider legendary like De La Soul, Pete Rock and Buckshot.”
To date, his career has yield four albums: Blues People, Darkroom (of my mind), On the Ascendant and The Bright Lady Sessions.
From the collaborative project of The Bright Lady Sessions, Aquil worked with South Jersey rapper, Yahzilla, and hip hop producers 9th Wonder and the Soul Council. Recorded live at 9th Wonder’s North Carolina studio, Aquil explained that completing the nine-track EP was a memorable experience.
“It was great. They invited me and Yahzilla down to record with them in their studio called Bright Lady Studios for the entire weekend. We went down there from Friday to Sunday and basically recorded all day and all night and they let us record for free. They didn’t charge us anything. They gave us beats for free. Everybody was feel friendly.”
Aquil did admit that the experience taught him to be creative more quickly.
“I basically got an introduction to doing things on the spot, coming up with ideas and songs and basically completing them right on the spot,” he said.
Currently, he is working on his fifth album Land of Synth — which will feature soulful sounds of synthesized instruments. The project will be released in late summer.
Along with his music career, Aquil balances life as a first- and second-grade teacher at K.W. Reed Christian Academy for Boys. Teaching reading, science, math, English, social studies and language arts, Aquil said being an educator has given him new skills.
“I’m basically the mentor, big brother, teacher and it’s been a great experience. I learned a lot about weaknesses and strengths and also how to reach people. I’ve learned a lot from them as far as just how to communicate better and get ideas across.”
And with a teacher who appreciates composition of music, respects timeless artists and takes notes from different music genres, Aquil’s students are exposed to Stevie Wonder, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Ahmad Jamal in the classroom.
His career as a musical artist and teacher remain separate, but Aquil makes efforts in both areas to combat negative stereotypes of rappers.
“I don’t try to fit into the stereotype of what people think being a Black man is. I don’t try to fit in the stereotype of being a gangster, or a thug or a former drug dealer. I don’t front like I came up from a certain type of environment even though I’m from North Philly.
“I do music as true to myself as I can. I write from my experiences or even from my imagination, but it’s not from a point of view where I’m talking about a heist or crime spree. I’m talking about things that I imagine. I try to write what I think and feel, but at the same time, what I imagine how things could be.”
Join Aquil at his next Philadelphia performance at Silk City, 435 Spring Garden Street, June 20 with Afloe, WrittenHouse, Sela, Yahzilla, Electric Lady, Arckatron and Aeon

Got Bars? Battle For The Championship

The Political Hot Spot(TPHS) What is the Hip Hop Party?

The Hip Hop Party for the People (HHPP) is a newly found political party for the people by the people to have voice in city, state, and national politics. We were founded in Philadelphia in 2011 to challenge the Domination of the two party systems through our 6 point platform: Fielding Candidates in  Local, State and National Elections, Community Control and Independent Institution Building, Coalition Building, Mass Mobilization and Education of the People, Youth Leadership, and Representing Hip Hop Culture to the Fullest.  https://hiphopparty.wordpress.com/

The HHPP advocates new leadership, new concepts and new approach for all of Philadelphia. One of our 6 focus points are, Mass Mobilization and Education. We intend on doing that through the HHPP Political Hot Spot Gatherings. The TPHS are political education forums are for the community to have open dialogue on social issues in education, art, politics and culture. These political education gatherings will consist of guest speakers, presentations and performances. The first TPHS is February 23rd, 2012 from 6:30-8:30pm titled “What is the Hip Hop Party for the People”?

Members of the party will be discussing our platform in building a whole new city, registering voters, membership, and work of the city. We the HHPP declare that Hip Hop is the universal synthesis of human culture, which gives continuity to the most advanced forms of social expressions. Please come join us.

DollarBoyz brings hundreds of youths from the streets to the dance floor and beyond

On a typical weeknight, earsplitting beats and a pounding bass line would provoke the ire of next-door neighbors.

But the opposite held true for the sounds of the DollarBoyz dance practice blaring onto 29th Street near Susquehanna Avenue last week. The North Philadelphia residents who shared the 2200 block with the group welcomed the noise, stopping to check out the music and congratulate the dancers for “doing great things” for the community.

DollarBoyz and DollarGirlz is the brainchild of Tyree Dumas, a 22-year-old entrepreneur who has brought hundreds of area youths from the streets to the dance floor and beyond.

DollarBoyz is more than just its members’ break moves. The group hosts movie trips, cookouts, bowling nights, and parties throughout Philadelphia in addition to having a large social media presence. It’s not uncommon for the Facebook statuses of the group’s rising stars to receive several hundred likes in an hour, said Dumas.

Created as a for-profit company in 2005, DollarBoyz Inc. has become a youth movement whose CEO is equal parts organizer, older brother, and inspiration.

“We have to reach them where they are, and that is exactly what Tyree does,” said John Brice, a colleague of Dumas’ and a Philadelphia program manager at the national mentoring initiative CBM Cares. “He uses hip-hop; he teaches them about being self-motivated. When we go out, we’re wearing the same T-shirts, and he teaches them about equality.”

Dumas, who last month received a $35,000 Black Male Engagement project grant from the Knight Foundation, founded DollarBoyz at age 14 under the umbrella of his nonprofit Y-NOT, “Youth Now on Top.” He wanted to target his own demographic of students who were not interested in traditional nonprofits and who would often find camaraderie in gangs and drug dealing instead of school.

“At the end of the day, a drug dealer on the corner will care about you, but for all the wrong reasons,” he said in a recent interview.

At first, Dumas’ idea to give young people another option was simple: Get a group of his cousins together to shoot dance videos. Now, DollarBoyz’ YouTube videos have six million views total, and from 30 to 100 youths contact Dumas per week, he said, including his first international student, from the United Kingdom, last week.

Dumas’ friends and family attribute his success with DollarBoyz to his relative closeness in age to the group’s members and his commitment to a phone that rings constantly with requests for help.
He has been on panels and in meetings with city officials to combat flash mobs and has encouraged his group’s members to “stay positive” instead of causing trouble.

“Why would somebody at his age be worrying about 5- to 6-year-old kids?” said Tamir Austin, the group’s choreographer, known in the group as “DB Havocc.” “Normal 22-year-olds care about girls, money, and jobs.”

Calling himself a “problem child” who used to follow the wrong crowd, Austin described how Dumas approached him at a party three years ago and said he should use his dancing talent in a positive way for DollarBoyz. The chance meeting proved a turning point for Austin, whose manners and speech make him seem far beyond his 15 years.
“I learned to be a leader, not a follower,” he said.
Dumas’ mother, Eva Wanamaker, said the DollarBoyz and DollarGirlz often see her son as the one person who will give them the attention they need.
“You can have all the money in the world, but there’s nothing like that time one-on-one,” she said.

Having envisioned DollarBoyz as an alternative to dropping out of school to earn money, Dumas often connects members with singing, acting, or dancing abilities to agents and other organizations that can help them turn their talents into profit while still in school.

“Right now society looks down on you – you can’t be 10 and own your own business,” he said.

Dumas said he planned to expand DollarBoyz in the next year through partnerships with companies and organizations in the city. Plans are being considered for a collaboration with the clothing company Villa Inc. that will give members the chance to design products for sale in Villa stores, as a possible gateway to starting lines of their own.

With a recent activities grant from the city Department of Recreation, Dumas also will have access to three locations for dance practices. The grant will pay for additional instructors and snacks for the students.

Experimenting with a “school of the future,” Dumas has opened preregistration for DollarBoyz Academy, in which students who have trouble in traditional school settings may enroll at Pennsylvania Leadership Academy Charter School, an online school. It will work with Dumas to help students complete their core curriculum in addition to business and music-industry classes twice a week.

A 2012 PLACS graduate, Dumas has always been an entrepreneur, starting with childhood games in which he and his sister imagined that bits of paper were money. His mother recalled that as a middle schooler, he even turned the cookies she brought home from her job at Kraft Nabisco into a business.

“I would always wonder why the cookies would be low in the cabinet,” Wanamaker said. “I found out he was selling the cookies to the kids at school.” Those memories and the nickname “Top Dollar” from his father provided Dumas with the inspiration for DollarBoyz.
From toddlers to high schoolers, the

DollarBoyz logo of two hands making a “DB” was on every shirt at last Wednesday’s dance practice at the First Responders Banquet Hall. But the popularity of the group is also seen in its message, which 10-year-old “DB San” Alhassan Dumbuya summed up in one question:

“What’s the point of wasting your time on the streets?”