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Archive for June 6th, 2009

IT’S JUST BEGUN!

Didn’t let the rain hold us back yesterday. In true support of DJ Disco Wiz we trooped it to the book launch of  It’s Just Begun! at Powerhouse. Performances by our peoples Rebel Diaz, Patty Dukes & Rephstar, and T-Weaponz. Sound at this place bites, but the community LOVE for this amazing man was def where it needed to be!

It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop’s First Latino DJ By Ivan Sanchez and Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño

“If there are words to describe DJ Disco Wiz they would be ‘true survivor,’ born in a time when war and injustice was the state of America. This book is a must-read for all fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and educators alike, so that one may understand the pain that so many young people born in harsh conditions have to endure.”
—Jamel Shabazz

“It’s Just Begun has opened my mind up to so much more about hip-hop history than I could’ve imagined, and is a sure-fire tool to help younger generations understand the volatile 70s decade in all its mess and glory. DJ Disco Wiz represents for all Latinos who have ever grabbed a set of headphones since. Estoy tan orgulloso de él.”
—DJ Bobbito Garcia

Congratulations DJ Disco Wiz!!!

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Rebel Diaz is a Hip Hop group from Chicago, based in the South Bronx, making music for freedom fighters and revolutionaries. Fronted by the Afro-Boricua songstress/mc Lah Tere and Chilean brothers RodStarz and G1, Rebel Diaz reports from the trenches on life, love, the streets, and the struggle. From welcoming Hugo Chavez to the Bronx, to opening for Rage Against The Machine at a political rally for migrant farm workers, they represent the pulse of the active left. They have also shared the stage with the likes of Common, Public Enemy, dead prez, and Mos Def. Recently chosen by URB magazine as one of “The Next 100 groups of 2008,” Rebel Diaz looks to take their bilingual flow and global view on Hip Hop into the 21st century and beyond.
http://www.rebeldiaz.com/

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Circa ‘95
is much more than your average Latino Hip-Hop group. The trendsetting duo, has taken over NYC with various projects. PattyDukes (Dominican) and RephStar (Puerto Rican) are performers, emcees, writers and tech savy-multimedia artists.  Performing throughout the country, working with youth based organizations that promote Hip-Hop as a tool for social change. Hosts of the #1 Internet radio show on UrbanLatinoRadio.Com, Circa ‘95 is  live every Sunday from 2-5pm.  Patty and Reph were recently featured on HBO Latino in shows like RoadTrip and Habla.  On stage, PattyDukes and Rephstar will be acting in  Caridad “La Bruja” De La Luz’s  Boogie Rican Blvd this Summer at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater.   PattyDukes and Rephstar are the recipients  of the 2007 BRIO Award and the 2008 UAI (Urban Artist Initiative) grant.  They are the 2007 national Cuervoton winners, walking away with a demo deal from Roc La Familia.  PattyDukes and Rephstar are currently in the studio working on their first album. http://www.circa95.com/ http://www.myspace.com/circa95music

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T-Weaponz is an explosive lyrical trifecta hailing from the streets of Brooklyn’s East New York, composed of brothers IzReal and Arkitek and their neighborhood friend Psalmz. After meeting at an impromptu neighborhood ‘CIPHER’ (term used to describe a circle of emcees rhyming together) and later discovering how many similarities they shared both in terms of their life experiences and their ideals they soon came together under the moniker Tomorrow’s Weaponz, which they later shortened to T-Weaponz, representative of how the trio lives for today and hopes for a tomorrow using their own weapons-thoughts and wits. http://www.myspace.com/tweaponz

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It’s always a blessing to see Jamel!

Jamel Shabazz’s work has appeared in publications such as The Source, Vibe, Trace, British Elle, Jalouse, Dune, GQ, and French Vogue. In addition, his photographs have been exhibited in Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, at Xhibiton Transition in Chicago, and at Trace Magazine: True Signs in Paris. Shabazz is a Teaching Artist with Rush Arts Foundation, where he mentors at-risk youth. He is a philanthropist who supports organizations like The Harlem Art Project, The Queens Council on the Arts, and Project Hope. He has published three books with powerHouse: Back in the Days, A Time Before Crack, Seconds of My Life, and Last Sunday in June (2001, 2005, 2007, and 2003). Shabazz was born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in 1960.

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Good Times;)

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