Saturday, 5 March 2011

B BOING DANCE

Notes on Planet B-Boy, by Eduardo Navas
in B-boyz, E. Navas Critical Notes, Film, Hip Hop, History, Remix Culture | Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 | Trackback
Image source: Youtube, still from Planet B-Boy Excerpt
I just saw Planet B-Boy, directed by Benson Lee at Ken Cinema, in San Diego. I was hoping to get more of a historical overview about B-Boying, similarly to how Scratch, by Doug Pray, took a historical survey of turntablism but this was not the case. The film does provide a brief history of B-Boying in the United States, then quickly shows how it became a global movement. The cooption of Breakdancing by the media is briefly mentioned, to then move to 1991, when an annual B-Boy competition was started in Germany which today is globally recognized. The actual investment of the film, however, is not in B-Boying globally, but B-Boying in South Korea. They’re the best, as far as I can tell–something I knew before I saw the film–and this film was made to prove just that.
Anyone who views Planet B-Boy on the big screen will not be disappointed. All the crews, even those from Latvia, and Greece, make brief but impressive appearances. But in the end, I was left with the desire for a film that is truly sensitive to the global power of Breakdancing. What Planet B-Boy does show is that hip hop is no longer U.S. centric; today, it is owned by the world, just like soccer. A concise historical film about Breakdancing as a global movement is yet to be made. Planet B-Boy does not come close to that, but it will have to do for now.
Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies is a book by music journalist Brian Coleman which covers thirty-six classic hip hop albums, based on interviews with the artists who created them, also providing a track-by-track breakdown for each album entirely in the words of the artists[1][2]. It was published by Random House in 2007.
It is an expanded and updated version of the book Rakim Told Me[3], also by Brian Coleman, and it features a foreword by Questlove of The Roots[4].

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Albums covered and artists interviewed

The book features interviews with the following groups/artists about the following albums.[5]

[edit] Reception

The book has received positive reviews from numerous press outlets[6], such as Entertainment Weekly[7], AllHipHop[8], ALARM Magazine[9], and The Onion/The A.V. Club[10].
Some criticisms of the book are that it is missing certain classic albums and that it has very few female artists covered[11], and "little attention is given to the outlining societal conditions"[12].
Brian Coleman has explained in interviews that he didn't intentionally leave any album out of the book, but there were difficulties in arranging interviews with certain artists[13][14]. He has also commented that he wanted to focus on hip hop artists and what they have to say, rather than on academic subjects surrounding hip hop – "I don't really wanna read what critics have to say about the stuff. I wanna read what the artist has to say”[15]. He adds –
I've never really been interested as much in the sociological, sociopolitical, academic view of hip-hop and where it exists in popular culture. I think the artists are sick of that. I like the music and I want to know about it. That is why, I think, [in these interviews] they kind of really settle into the groove and really start getting into it. Like Erick Sermon - when I was talking to him, [it was] like he was talking about somebody else. I mean, how many people ask Too Short about how the records instead of asking about the more sensational parts of his personality? My goal was to get to the core of it. I think it proves that not enough people have really talked to these artists. To actually give them the respect they deserve as musicians, I think they appreciate that. They certainly open up accordingly.[16]
This approach has been praised by critics - URB comments on his "mercifully non-academic approach”[17], and ALARM Magazine says –
The best part about Coleman taking on the job is that he does it so well… where others might want to intellectualize the stories of an urban artist's rise from obscurity to legendary status, in Coleman's hands these tales are anything but academic.[18]

[edit] Differences from Rakim Told Me

Although Check The Technique is the longer book and covers a greater number of albums than Rakim Told Me (and covers many albums not covered at all in Rakim Told Me) Rakim Told Me does include a handful of albums not covered in Check The Technique.
Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies is a book by music journalist Brian Coleman which covers thirty-six classic hip hop albums, based on interviews with the artists who created them, also providing a track-by-track breakdown for each album entirely in the words of the artists[1][2]. It was published by Random House in 2007.
It is an expanded and updated version of the book Rakim Told Me[3], also by Brian Coleman, and it features a foreword by Questlove of The Roots[4].

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Albums covered and artists interviewed

The book features interviews with the following groups/artists about the following albums.[5]

[edit] Reception

The book has received positive reviews from numerous press outlets[6], such as Entertainment Weekly[7], AllHipHop[8], ALARM Magazine[9], and The Onion/The A.V. Club[10].
Some criticisms of the book are that it is missing certain classic albums and that it has very few female artists covered[11], and "little attention is given to the outlining societal conditions"[12].
Brian Coleman has explained in interviews that he didn't intentionally leave any album out of the book, but there were difficulties in arranging interviews with certain artists[13][14]. He has also commented that he wanted to focus on hip hop artists and what they have to say, rather than on academic subjects surrounding hip hop – "I don't really wanna read what critics have to say about the stuff. I wanna read what the artist has to say”[15]. He adds –
I've never really been interested as much in the sociological, sociopolitical, academic view of hip-hop and where it exists in popular culture. I think the artists are sick of that. I like the music and I want to know about it. That is why, I think, [in these interviews] they kind of really settle into the groove and really start getting into it. Like Erick Sermon - when I was talking to him, [it was] like he was talking about somebody else. I mean, how many people ask Too Short about how the records instead of asking about the more sensational parts of his personality? My goal was to get to the core of it. I think it proves that not enough people have really talked to these artists. To actually give them the respect they deserve as musicians, I think they appreciate that. They certainly open up accordingly.[16]
This approach has been praised by critics - URB comments on his "mercifully non-academic approach”[17], and ALARM Magazine says –
The best part about Coleman taking on the job is that he does it so well… where others might want to intellectualize the stories of an urban artist's rise from obscurity to legendary status, in Coleman's hands these tales are anything but academic.[18]

[edit] Differences from Rakim Told Me

Although Check The Technique is the longer book and covers a greater number of albums than Rakim Told Me (and covers many albums not covered at all in Rakim Told Me) Rakim Told Me does include a handful of albums not covered in Check The Technique.
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