Pay it forward.... The other day I was watching the movie, "Pay It Forward..." I'm sure a lot of you out there have seen it... I guess it's sort of a classic for some people... It wasn't the first time I had seen it, but the first time in a long time... For those that haven't seen the movie, it is about a young boy who takes an assignment given by his teacher to the next level... The "pay it forward" movement is when one individual does one nice thing for three people and in return, those 3 people do something nice for 3 people and so on and so on.... (As shown in the diagram above)

It was funny that this movie was one because my pops had recently blogged about this topic as well...

So I challenge you all to keep the movement going... By doing anything you can for someone to lighten up their day... Especially in the difficult times that we are all facing... Compliment somebody whether or not you know them, lend a helping hand, whatever you can do... Just contribute to making a difference...

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

"Real Hip Hop is over here, Real Hip Hop is over here!"

The words of the man, the legend, KRS-ONE himself... Last night I was fortunate enough to make it out to Hampshire College for their annual 'Spring Jam...' Which in my opinion, beats the UMass 'Spring Concert' any day... Not only was it outdoors and the music was great, but it is an event about the community and everyone coming together for a good cause: GREAT MUSIC! The event is an all day event, starting in the afternoon and ending... well, when the cops start trying to shut s*** down basically... Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to catch many of the artists, but I did make it in time to catch The Teacha' himself...

The show was crazy... The energy in the crowd was unbelievable... People were just glad to be out and enjoying the presence of a legend... KRS was killing his set to the point were they blew the sound system! He then started signing autographs as people rushed the stage to get KRS' 'John Hancock' on their clothes, sneakers, iPhones, cds, records, you name it... Through all the madness, his people started tossing out copies of the "Keep Right" album which led to more mayhem... Thanks to several years of Varsity baseball and playing sports all my life, I was able to snag one out the air... (Which I later got autographed after the show) After some running around by the event staff, the speakers were back and going and the show continued...

KRS freestlyed a lot of the night which was great... He invited people to the stage to beat box, break dance, and spit rhymes of their own alongside one of the GREATEST OF ALL TIME! Surprisingly, this was a dope touch to the show... At first I thought it was gonna take away from KRS' show, but it just got the crowd more hyped... It got to the point where the stage actually began to crack...

So I guess I'll just end by saying that KRS literally brought the house down... At least parts of the stage!

Here are some more pics and videos from the show...
ENJOY!











"Rap is what we do... Hip Hop is how we live..."

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose

Hey all!!! So it's been a really long time since my last post, but I have been so wrapped up in school work... This week I had a few art projects due, a paper and a midterm for Art History... But I managed to make it through and it's time to get back to the blog...

I still have not posted all the pics from my trip to New Orleans and I'm not sure if I ever will... There is just so many!!! But I did put together this little slide show that is composed of pictures I took in NOLA... Most of them are pictures that I took on my film camera, where I tried to be "artistic." I hope you enjoy it!



So there it is! Now that I have a little breathing room, I'm going to try to get a few post up this weekend... I just recently went to New York with my art class on a trip to the MoMA and the Guggenheim... I also have quite a bit of pictures from that day that I will share with you soon...

Happy Easter to those who celebrate!

Thanks for tuning in...

Jose