Not even. Me an my boy go there and not only were they mad expensive, (which graff specialty places tend to be) but i didn't feel welcome there. It was run by a white guy, which aint nothin cuss the scrap yard is run by a white guy an he cool, but this place had like a boutique feel to it they had a gallery, and sold like skater sneakers vans an shit. Not really my typa joint. Plus even tho they just opened the guy was mad shady wit me and my friend.
Now look this aint about me being pissed because the guy was being wierd ta us or nothin, it takes more then that ta get me tight. What gets me tight is this has alot to do with the crazy gentrification that happening in North Brooklyn ask anyone in WB, Bushwick or Bedstuy, and they can tell you, but the crazy shit is that these yuppies, or hipsters call them what you will, love street culture but are made super uncomfortable by street people. They culture jacking and this store is only an example of that shit.
Why is it that "real" hip hop now needs to completely disassociate to a certain extent from the street? Why is Asop Rock and Slug deep and meaningful and Joell Ortiz or Saigon "too street" even tho they drop mad knowledge? Shit Ortiz is from Greenpoint, the hood this graff store was in, and he wasn't allowed to perform at "Brooklyn Hip Hop" festival that was taking place there. It was a hipster festival for "real" hip hop and he wasn't "real" enough. I have a sneaking suspicion it has more to do with the fact that that event is a hipster thing and they don't want neighborhood kids comin out the P's and the tenements to go to their little party.
Why is it that hip hop that is marketed to the streets is so often devoid of anything worth listening to, and intelligent shit marketed to upper middle class college kids? I know its tempting to say "well people in the hood are stupid". Look I'm in college, but my brother from another mother and my long time crew member don't even have a GED but he deeper and smarter then alot of the kids i know in Baruch. I don't paint, or even associate myself with people i don't respect, if you know me you know i only fuck with street philosophers, if you don't know me now u know.
What the fuck happened to street knowledge. Its like now street rap is a fuckin stereotype of poor minorities, shit can be painful to watch. At the same time "real" shit is completely disassociated from the street. I mean Rakim Allah, The WU, Nas, and even like Mobb Deep back in the day were street but they were smart, almost mystic in thier approach to the world, and they were marketed to the street. Same could be said about the likes of Ortiz Pap and Sai. Now I'm not saying it all gotta be about the street either,Tribe is my shit but they really weren't hood like that. Problem is these Bougie elements in hip hop are pushing this notion that if its smart it cant be street and if its street it cant be smart. Thats cultural piracy, I don't got nothing against hip hop going world wide, but does that really mean that here in the heart of NY where it was born, the very children of the generation that created hip hop have in effect been gentrified out of our own culture?
Why is it that alot of the new acts that run the line of the true emcee or at least seem to, like lupe (Im not a fan but I recognize talent), or other artist like him marketed just to middle class kids and not to the streets? Why does hipster hop exist??? An MC is an MC why they gotta put a label on it that alienates the hood??
Truth is if Brooklyn babies swarmed that hip hop festival the people who claim to love our culture would have to love it in front of us. Hip hop is a way of life, my way of life but I see it becoming a hobby for these irony loving outta towners with no respect for the traditions of it in the NY context. Even in the graff world shit is split between kids raised on street bombing schooled in graff from older writers, and art school students that are completely ignorant of the culture.
Props to DYM for having mad balls.
So this is my beef with the hipster graff store, and the takeover of our culture in general; you wana be a part of Hip Hop thats fine. You wana earn your rep and respect from the hood, I got nothing but love for that; but if you wana trample our traditions, alienate us, and say your shit is the real shit we gunna have a problem.
I got my start writing in GP and have spent many a night up there working on my technique, and to be given funny looks by a graff store owner 10 blocks from where i first threw up my initials at age 13 is ridiculous.
That shit needs ta stop
I do wana shout out to All The Right in Corona Queens and Scrap Yard in China town for keep it its real for all the writters lookin for those crazy colors home depot just don't carry.
I wana as always shout out all my real bruthas and sistas in the 5 boroughs of death and Strong Island.
Be real my people, and hold dear ta whats yours and don't let no one take Hip Hop from us.
Peace to my Brother Mat, and the whole ASAP Crew
Peace
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