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In
the summer of 1964, like many other
college students in Brazil at the time,
budding musicians Gilberto Gil and Caetano
Veloso were enjoying nights out with
their friends—expanding their minds,
chasing girls, and playing guitar on
the beach. All the while, just beneath
the lushes of rain forest and sandy
beaches, a military coup was being prepared
to take control of the Brazilian government.
The events that transpired during that
time would forever change the young
musicians’ outlook on their country,
politics, and music.
By
1968, the Brazilian government had passed
decrees that forbade any type of music,
art, or media that supported opposition
to the ruling government. By this time,
though, both Veloso and Gil had already
established themselves as a vocal “free-thinking”
duo. Determined not to back down, they
soon recruited younger musicians, such
as Os Mutantes, initiating a new anti-establishment
musical movement aptly called “Tropicalia.”
Veloso and Gil's music and ideologies
were a perfect match for a generation
growing discontent with the sitting
government, and soon their movement
had spread to Sao Paulo and beyond—which
in the eyes of the sitting regime was
simply unacceptable. Having been warned
about playing in public and spreading
their liberal messages, both Veloso
and Gil were arrested and imprisoned
for their seditious acts. After being
released several months later, and after
a series of threats, both major figureheads
of the Tropicalia movement fled the
country they dearly loved, finding exile
in London.
After
three years in England, Veloso and Gil
decided to return to Brazil, with some
newfound musical interests and ideologies
in tow. Once back in their homeland,
they came to learn that the very regime
that tried to squelch their voice and
movement was crumbling underneath the
weight of a collective demand from the
poorest and middle working classes of
Sao Paulo and beyond. The Tropicalia
movement, which was short lived at best,
had actually helped plant necessary
seeds that would change Brazil forever.
THE MISSING MUSIC
They paved Rock Candy and
put up a parking lot / It was the
spot for a minute it was hot / And
the cops lit it up when the thugs
fisticuffs / And the mayor was quick
to up and pin it on hip hop / Shows
got dropped when the cinder block
crushed / What’s left of the scene
rose up from the dust
—Blue
Scholars, “The Inkwell”
At
one time, Seattle was a star starting
to shine on the hip hop map, thanks
in part to the success of Sir Mix A
Lot's "Posse on Broadway"
single, or "Nasty Nes" Rodriguez's
popular radio show, "Rap Attack,"
on the UW-affiliated public radio station,
KCMU (now KEXP). It was a time most
northwest hip hop heads revel in, but
those "Swass" days have passed.
And
when the unlikely duo of George "Geologic"
Quibuyen and Alexei Saba "Sabzi"
Mohajerjasbi met at the University of
Washington and found common ground in
hip hop, unfortunately for them and
other Seattle hip hop enthusiasts, the
Emerald City had become almost solely
a rock town. Few if any local promoters
or venues would touch any touring, or
even local hip hop acts. This was supposedly
due to a string of factors that included
a shooting incident at an Ice Cube show
in the early 90s, as well as the draconian
city wide teen dance ordinance that
infamously restricted all-ages shows
in Seattle from being promoted and supported.
Geo
and Sabzi (who is also one half of another
Seattle hip hop duo, Common Market),
along with UW compatriots Marc Matsui,
Melissa Darbi, Jason Norcross, and Samuel
Chesneau, set out to revive within Seattle
an authentic interest in hip hop. S.H.O.W.
(Student Hip Hop Organization of Seattle)
was created to help accommodate booking,
promotion, and performance functions
for city wide, all-ages hip hop concerts.
And in 2002, Sabzi and Geo combined
their creative talents to form the hip
hop duo, Blue Scholars.
S.H.O.W. is no
longer an active organization, but its spirit
and legacy of
DIY activism are still present in Seattle. The founding members remain quite
active, and through
their efforts and
those of other conscious souls around
the region, Seattle
is again becoming home to a myriad of
hip hop artists. "Last year was
a monumental year,” Geo stated. “All
these cats dropped hard albums—Boom
Bap Project, Abyssinian Creole, Cancer
Rising, Framework, Grayskul, Ricky Pharoe,
RA and Sabz's Common Market album. Producer-wise,
Vitamin D, Jake One, Bean One, Silent
Knight, Amos Miller, Lifesavas, and
Cool Nutz are reppin' the NW lovely.
It's a new Seattle with new beats and
blood, but the same defiant spirit to
stay original outside of a real industry
to support itself.”
Geo
(vocals, rhymes) and Sabzi (beats, cuts,
turntables) have played over a hundred
shows together as Blue Scholars since 2002, with the
likes of De La Soul, Lyrics Born, Del
the Funky Homosapien, Slick Rick, Kool
Keith, and even Pedro the Lion. Last
year, they released the Blue Scholars’
self-titled debut full-length, which
is still growing in acclaim and availability
(the full-length was recently picked
up for distribution by Seattle’s Light
In The Attic Records). And for 2006,
the Blue Scholars released an 8-song
EP (plus a re-mix of “Sagaba”) in December
titled, The Long March (which
they call a “transition between the
old and the new”), and landed themselves
a slot on the Sunday main stage at this
spring’s Sasquatch Music Festival (May
26-28, Gorge Amphitheater in George,
WA). All of which was accomplished independently,
and bolstered along by organic local
support.
"KEXP
opened a lot of doors for us, especially
introducing us to a rock audience, but
I'd say that we got an initial buzz
in the progressive arts community,”
Geo commented on Blue Scholars’ rising
notoriety. “I think there’s this perception
that college radio made this all happen.
It has played a big part in introducing
our music to folks we never expected
to dig it, but it was really the community
that Saba and I come from and work in
that has helped us break into ‘alternative’
circles. On top of that, our political
message drew the attention of radicals,
liberals, and labor organizers ... and
one right-wing talk radio nut.
“Unfortunately,
we didn't have a noticeable following
at UW until after we graduated,”
Geo mused. “But we've always had one
foot in the local hip-hop ‘scene,’ and
another in community organizing circles
... whether it be youth programs, political
action groups, etc."
THE
ORGANIZED CIRCLES
Hold
your head high soldier it ain't
over yet / That's why we call it
a struggle / You're supposed to
sweat
—Blue
Scholars, “No Rest For The Weary”
On
top of being a husband, father, and
rhymesayer, Geo (who majored in economics
at UW) is an active member of the Isangmahal
Arts Kollective, an exhibit coordinator
at Seattle's Wing Luke Museum, and most
fervently a member of BAYAN-USA (bayanusa.org)—a
nationwide campaign to oust dictatorships,
such as former President Marcos and
current Philippine President, Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo (aka GMA).
"My
identity as a Filipino is rooted in
the struggle to see the country free
and self-determined,” Geo said. “I couldn't
possibly claim my heritage without also
claiming the unfinished revolution in
which our national identity was born."
Recently
in the Philippines, Napoleon Pornasdoro—an
opposition leader and high school teacher—was
shot dead by an unknown assailant. Pornasdoro's
suspicious murder and other more overt
crackdowns and threats—aimed at the
educated, the artists, and the generally
outspoken—by the GMA regime seem to
echo the Brazil of the 60s that forced
Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso into
exile. Earlier this year, the Philippine
Senate condemned President Macapagal-Arroyo’s
retaliatory actions against opposing
party members, and its hijacking of
the media, but the GMA regime quickly
moved to control opposition with Proclamation
1017. The proclamation essentially allowed
GMA to call upon the military to suppress
all forms of violence and to enforce
obedience under her direction—which
also includes Martial Law. In February
of this year, GMA declared a national
state of emergency under the authority
of Proclamation 1017.
"GMA,
like her comprador predecessors, has
proved herself to be nothing more than
a puppet of U.S. political, military,
and economic interests,” Geo commented.
“Although Proclamation 1017 has been
officially lifted, GMA's regime continues
to impose a defacto Martial Law on the
Filipino people, particularly cracking
down on progressive organizations."
Geo’s
opposition to the GMA regime also stems
from seeing a grave and worsening economic
disparity in the Philippines. “Of the
87 million Filipinos on the entire planet,
ten to twelve million live and work
outside of the Philippines ... two million
in the U.S. alone,” he stated. "About
fifteen hundred people leave the Philippines
a day to find work. Over a third of
the Philippine population lives in absolute
poverty. That is, they live off of less
than one dollar a day. Over half live
off of less than two dollars a day."
THE
RACES
The
Blue is for the collar / The Blue
is for the water / The Blue is
black / The Blue is white / The
Blue is brown
—Blue
Scholars, “Bruise Brothers”
“It's
a twisted sort of assimilation,” Geo
admitted when asked about being a Filipino
emcee in an originally African American
art form and movement. “The majority
of Asian emcees I've come across try
to de-emphasize their ethnicity. I suspect
some of them even have some insecurity
issues about being Asian, so they try
to pretend it ain’t there. It’s a struggle
for Asian emcees [to gain respect in
the states], because our credentials
are always being checked. But at the
same time, many folks recognize that
Asian cats have been contributing to
hip-hop from the get go."
It
is indeed arguable that most Asians
in hip hop don't get enough credit for
the groundwork that they put in. Lyrics
Born (Tom Shimura) and The Emcee (Jin
Au-Yeung), for example, are both outstanding
showmen and architects in what they
do; and while relatively successful,
they are still slept-on
stateside in so many ways.
“I've
noticed some younger cats are on this
‘AZN pride’ tip,” Geo added, “and while
it's cool to see cats embrace rather
than reject their ethnic identity, it's
a limited perspective if there isn't
a sense of history and struggle behind
the identity.”
Citing
Pinoy inspirations such as DJ Q-Bert,
or PNW hip hop pioneer Nasty Nes, Geo
believes that it's only a matter of
time until hip hop sees a drastic change
in the racial makeup of both emcees
and deejays. “I think we have that in
DJ Q-Bert and hella other Pinoy DJs,
which is a direct correlation to the
massive number of young Pinoy cats who
are into DJ-ing and turntablism. Nowadays,
young Asian cats have a handful of emcees
they can point at and feel inspired
by to chase that dream. I think we'll
see a whole lot more Asian emcees in
the next five to ten years because of
that."
Despite
Geo or anyone else’s best benevolent
predictions of a coming hip hop melting
pot, it cannot be denied that the majority
of faces at hip hop shows, especially
in Seattle, are white. It's not that
white folks don't have any place within
the movement—the apparent obstacle to
a more racially united hip hop is that
most hip hop shows are strategically
targeted, promoted, and sold to only
a white audience.
"My
perspective is that these racial issues
are the surface-level of a deeper class
divide,” Geo commented. “And you can't
separate race from class, with whites
in this country having built their power
on the exploitation of working people,
who are disproportionately people of
color. People only see and talk about
the surface—that the audiences, the
consumers, and even the hip hop artists
themselves are increasingly getting
whiter and whiter.
"Individual
hip hop heads who happen to be white
are not the problem,” Geo clarified.
“Nobody talks about the record label
employees, radio personalities, media
tycoons, promoters, managers, publicity
firms ... all the folks who are getting
paid off of hip-hop culture ... almost
all of whom are white. If there is a
racism problem in hip hop, and there
definitely is, then a finger must be
pointed at those who have both the racial
and economic power to enforce their
dominance. Like a certain local rock
radio station, which shall remain nameless,
that seems to have no problem playing
hip hop—as long as it’s hip hop made
by a non-black artist....
"I've
been attending shows for awhile now,
and Seattle is seventy percent white—a
smaller fraction of folks of color compared
to other big cities,” Geo continued.
“Show demographics tend to reflect the
city population. The majority of cities
we've performed in had similar demographics.
It would be nice, though, to see more
and more Filipino and Asian cats attending
shows, and more folks of color in general,
but like I said ... economics. A lot
of these middle class kids see a ten
dollar ticket price for a show and go,
‘What a great deal! Let's go!’ While
some of my own friends are like, ‘Ten
dollars? Man, that's almost half a tank
of gas. Maybe next time.’ And wittingly
or unwittingly, promoters and venue
owners tend to weed out crowds of color,
from ticket pricing to venue location,
to who gets handed a flyer ... and who doesn't. All these things add
up to the demographics you now see at
hip hop shows.
“Race
and hip-hop is a contradiction that
I can only break down with an economic
analysis, and it’s one that can't be
resolved until the bigger contradiction
between the rich and poor is resolved.
So, I'd be wasting my time if I sat
around lamenting the lack of color at
hip hop shows. Which is why we don't
just leave it up to bars and clubs to
connect with an audience. You can also
find us doing workshops with youth,
visiting schools either in the city
or in the burbs, rocking colleges, chillin'
at the community center, etc."
THE
BEATS
In
the Blue School / Class is in session
/ Ask us a question
—Blue
Scholars, “Blue School”
As
a developing prominent voice in the
still burgeoning Seattle hip hop community,
the Blue Scholars take seriously their
opportunity to help raise the consciousness
level of the crowd. But in approaching
that responsibility, Geo and Sabzi have
found a balance in their music and outlook
that ranges from radical revolutionary
themes to just good ol' beats and practical
candor. Sure, Geo can be serious as
a heart attack, but what good is a revolution
if the very thing being fought for isn't
enjoyable or evident in the process?
Listening to the Blue Scholars’ self-titled
LP, or their follow-up EP, Long
March, a fine-tuned symmetry is
revealed that manages to escape from
being either too preachy or too soft.
It’s an articulated journey throughout
a people’s struggle in prose that is
both autobiographical and collectively
historical.
The
Blue Scholars may not yet
be directly subject to the same degree
of State oppression Gilberto Gil and
Caetano Veloso faced in 60s Brazil,
but they seem to share that ready-to-resist
spirit, the desire to initiate
real life revolutions from musical ones.
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