“Hip-Hop” and “Family” are two terms rarely associated with each other. Hip-Hop in many forms of today’s media and culture is associated with violence and degradation, among other aspects of life that don’t seem to blend with the ideals of what family oriented content represents.
Interestingly enough, the culture has always been about the young people, and the kids are always the people who embrace and direct the movement and direction of each step that the music takes.
When looking at the big picture, Hip-Hop is all about the youth, all about the community, and all about the family. On July 10th 2010,
the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival’s Family Day truly illustrated that connection, using elements of Hip-Hop, positive recreation, and creative energy to display a component of the culture that often gets lost in translation when thinking about the general attitude of what it represents.
From poetic performances to double dutch, beat boxing, to ice pops, DJ showcases to mentor recruitment, the BHF’s Family Day was filled with energy, progression, and plenty of entertainment for even the shortest of attention spans.
“I’m having fun, it’s like a block party and a real concert at the same time…I see my friends on stage, everyone running around, everyone having fun” Those were the words of Jamal Lorford, a 12 year old Brooklyn resident who attended the festival for the first time this year.
He mentioned one of the active members of part of the Urban Art Beat, a New York based organization which offers kids an alternative creative outlet to occupy their time and take advantage of their talents. Their presence was definitely felt as they showcased spoken word artists, singing groups and rappers who were all rewarded with cheers. Creativity, artistic vision, and positivity were definitely cool things for at least one summer day in Brooklyn.
The kids weren’t the only ones adding to the environment though. The entire event was carefully structured and organized with some talent that kids don’t get to see everyday.
Chesney Snow, a NY based artist and youth activist, highlighted a crew of artists who put together an original beatbox performance accompanied by dancers and an emcee. He’s also been active in organizations like Project Reach Youth and others, and couldn’t wait to keep the music and energy flowing into the next generation on this day. Saying, “People forget that family is the nucleus of Hip-Hop…It’s all about exposure. My generation got into beatboxing through guys like Rahzel…and we’re out here doing the same thing. Without the youth Hip-Hop would die out”.
We’re all familiar with the cliché, “Children are the future” but on Saturday the 10th, those words rang true in such an immediate sense. The vibrancy in the air was written all over the kids faces. Little boys and girls and their family members couldn’t wait to see what was next, and you couldn’t wait to see them enjoy it. It was like everyone at the festival was part of the same celebration, and the energy you felt with the kids was something you felt replicated the music you came to hear, and the artists you came to see.
With the performance day events just next door, everyone was a part of everything. This connection was even felt by the artists performing on the main stage.
yU of Diamond District, a group who performed for the crowd, mentioned that “It’s really important to have something like that, because you know I want to perform to my music and lyrics a certain way, and its good to know the kids can be here and have they own thing, having fun and that’s still a part of what we’re doing, but its not affecting them in a bad way.”
The Family Day wasn’t just a compliment to the overall festival, but it felt like a necessary component of what a celebration of Hip-Hop is supposed to be. This was an event done right, and those involved came away knowing that not only Hip-Hop, but the family that really bonds us all, is alive, well, and better than ever.
READ DE LA SOUL INTERVIEW
READ PETE ROCK INTERVIEW
BHF FAMILY DAY 2010 SCHEDULED FOR JULY 10th
Brooklyn, NY
May 18th, 2010
Parents and children of all ages, get ready for some family fun under the Brooklyn sun! As part of the 6th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (BHF), Brooklyn Bodega, along with F.O.K.U.S., presents BHF Family Day 2010 on July 10, featuring live performances, give aways and all around joy for the Hip-Hop kid in all of us.
"We understand that Hip-Hop is about more than performing and spitting clever rhymes. It's also about community. We strive to do whatever we can to bring Brooklyn together through the BHF. That's why family day is so important. It gives people of all ages a chance to participate in the festival through arts, crafts, performance, music, education, activism and entertainment. With BHF Family Day 2010, we continue one of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival's richest traditions."
- Wes Jackson, Executive Director, Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival
"F.O.K.U.S. is proud to be collaborating with the Brooklyn Bodega Family for a third time to make the Family Day an explosive, creative and educational event for everyone! Brooklyn is a home for family; the BHF festival its reunion day - so bring Grandma and the little ones out for a summer day of pure family entertainment."
- Allison Maritza Lasky, co-president of F.O.K.U.S.
Family Day will kick off the sixth and final day of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Through a family centered block party, Brooklyn Bodega hopes to spread a message of peace and unity while celebrating the central themes of Hip-Hop. Come out and celebrate with the Bodega Fam, enjoying all-day activities such as blow-up bowling, arts and crafts, face painting, poetry writing, DJing lessons, a community mural, yoga for kids, a graffiti workshop, a children's dance party, give aways and more!
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Special performances will be given by: Circa '95, Black Girls Rock, Inc., Angoleiros do Brooklyn, Brooklyn StepUhs, Urban Art Beat and BK Steel, to name a few. Black Teen Empowerment, YOUNITY, Hip Hop Association, Metropolitan Hospital, SohNup Industries, lifeBeat, Books Under Brooklyn, Brooklyn Crescents, Brooklyn Bodega, F.O.K.U.S., are amongst the community artists and organizations participating in this year's Family Day event.
Brooklyn Bodega and F.O.K.U.S. present BHF Family Day on July 10, 2010. Brooklyn Hip-Hop Big Top under which creative projects, health education, performance art, family workshops, music + movement and community activism energize individuals to be the stars in the greatest show on earth - life!
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What: Brooklyn Bodega and F.O.K.U.S. present BHF Family Day
When - July 10th, 2010, 12-4p.m.
Where - Tobacco Warehouse in the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park at New Dock and Water Street
Damage: $15 per Adult, Kids 12 and under get in FREE
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Tickets are on sale now at www.BrooklynBodega.com, the official home of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.
In line with its commitment to keep Hip-Hop affordable for the masses, Brooklyn Bodega is also announcing several economic ticket packages:
Perfect for Family Day attendees is the Family 4-Pack which allows those that purchase 4 tickets to save $10.
all kids under 12 get in to Family Day for FREE.
PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE 2010 BHF HERE
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Other Packages:
The Deluxe Package Features: A badge that gets you into every BHF10 event during the week of July 5 - July 10 Price = $60 (savings of $15)
The Long Weekend Package Features:
Entry to the Salute the DJ event on 7/8
Entry to the Kick Off Party on 7/9
Entry to the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival & Family on 7/10
Entry to the After-Party on 7/10
Price = $45 (saving of $10)
The Main Day Package Features:
Entry to the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival & Family Day on 7/10
Entry to the After-Party on 7/10
Price = $20 (saving of $5)
PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE 2010 BHF HERE
PLEASE NOTE: Those Bodega Soldiers who purchase their tickets by May 21st will get access to premium packages at no additional charge. Anticipated perks include being on a priority mailing list that receives all Festival announcements prior to the general public, admittance to a reserved section next to the stage, ability to enter exclusive raffles, priority check-in at the Main Day venue and a FREE commemorative souvenir. Bodega Soldiers will also automatically be entered to win backstage VIP packages.
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The calendar for the 6th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival kicks off with Show & Prove on Monday, July 5th. This Hip-Hop showcase highlighting independent and local talent is the final event of Brooklyn Bodega's three month Show & Prove competition.
Tuesday, July 6th will feature the Bodega Education Initiative, a day of panel discussions and seminars about legendary producer, J Dilla. Speakers include Q-Tip, Ma Dukes Yancey, DJ Spinna and more.
Wednesday, July 7th is a mini Film Festival featuring a variety of Hip-Hop films followed by Q&A with established and aspiring filmmakers.
Thursday, July 8th is a night dedicated to the backbone of Hip-Hop: the DJ. It will feature performances by the best DJs from across the country.
Friday, July 9th is the kick-off party to formally welcome Festival goers, past and current artists and community leaders to the 6th Annual BHF.
Saturday, July 10th is the culmination of the 2010 Festival. De La Soul will headline the 6th Annual BHF on the DUMBO waterfront. The festivities kick off with Family Day - a block party for families and children celebrating Hip Hop's central message -- social change and individual empowerment.
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F.O.K.U.S. (Fighting, Obstacles, Knowing, Ultimate, Success)was founded in 2003 and sets out to inspire and supports artists and audiences by producing engaging events such as workshops film screenings and concerts; in addition to publishing INSIGHT magazine.
F.O.K.U.S. believes the arts are universal language that allows individuals, cultures and communities to come togethere, regardless of any differences. To learn more and how to get involved visit our site at www.onefokus.org.
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Brooklyn Bodega is a multimedia content production and branding company. Our brand extends into event production, journalism and critical media analysis, digital and grassroots marketing, radio, video, and content distribution. While The Bodega is best known for producing New York City's largest Hip-Hop event, The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival our expertise also manifests in Brooklyn Bodega Radio, Bodega TV, our blogazine and online home BrooklynBodega.com, and most recently Savannah Boogie Music and Song - a digital content distributor.
The Bodega is made up of an extraordinary group of cultural programmers, marketing professionals, writers, designers and academics who have heeded their own personal call to action and have dedicated themselves to the celebration and preservation of Hip- Hop culture. For our daily musings and more information on how you can be a part of our team of super heroes please visit
Facebook
Twitter
For more info on The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival visit our Facebook page, website and follow us on Twitter
The Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival is an annual event celebrating Hip Hop Culture and the borough of Brooklyn as a premier cultural destination. Now entering its fifth year, the BHF has become a summer staple in NYC.
This year Brooklyn Bodega, F.O.K.U.S. and DJ Misbehaviour reunite to produce Brooklyn Hip Hop Family Day.
On June 20th, 2009, families are encouraged to head down to beautiful Empire Fulton Ferry State Park for an afternoon of Hip-Hop, community building, and fun.
Family Day will take the main stage from 12 p.m to 4 p.m.
From 4p.m. to 8p.m. Family Day will move to the North Lawn of Empire Fulton Ferry State Park while the main performances round out the day. Families, teenagers, and kids are all welcome to this all ages event.
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Here is a quick preview of some our participating arganizations
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Beacon, an organization that provides education in various art disciplines for youth in the Tri-state area will bring youth DJ's who will be providing the music for the entire day. The DJ team of young adults are students of Bodega Family and Family Day co- organizer DJ Misbehaviour. She will be making sure the Family Day tunes stay soulful and fresh.
Black Girls Rock is a mentoring outreach organization that targets "at risk" teenage girls of color. It aims to provide positive and healthy images of women of color in the mass media. For Family Day, BGR will be providing steel drum, dance, DJing instruction and a rhyming and poetry workshop.
Sohnup Industries will provide a "Make Your Own Paper Plush Toy" station with Mr. SpazeCraft, an interactive DIY character. The youth will work with the artist to make toys out of 100% post consumer recycled paper. They will draw features such as clothes, hairstyles, and facial features using markers and colored pencils. It is a fun and interactive activity that teaches character development and encourages eco-conscious recycling.
Metropolitan Hospital will be providing health education on family planning, teen and adolescent services, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, breast health, HIV & STD prevention, asthma, and smoking cessation. They will also provide blood pressure, blood glucose, and peak flow screenings. All those that qualify will be able to receive clinical appointments and applications for health insurance.
Urban Beats will be providing workshops with mentors gifted in DJing, and MCing. There will also be youth ages 12-18 performing original songs.
Brooklyn Crescents Youth Lacrosse launched three years ago with the mission of bringing the sport of lacrosse to the youth in Brooklyn and the outer boroughs. The Crescents have introduced the oldest sport in North America to hundreds of boys and girls as young as four and as old as fifteen. Coaches and players will be celebrating the end of their Spring season at Family Day as well as giving clinics and demos to parents and children alike.
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Brooklyn Bodega, and Family Day co-producers, F.O.K.U.S. and DJ Misbehaviour, have done a great job of marrying the two Family Day concepts by bringing together a coalition of community groups as well as local and international brands, free giveaways, great food, dance, art and a whole lot of fun. All are encouraged to stay for the performances, which will begin at 4pm.
Brooklyn Hip-Hop Family Day will take place June 20th , from 12 noon - 4 p.m at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park located at the corner of Plymouth and Main Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival is an annual event celebrating Hip Hop Culture and the borough of Brooklyn as a premier cultural destination. Now entering its fifth year, the BHF has become a staple of Summer in NYC.
This year Brooklyn Bodega and F.O.K.U.S. reunite to produce,
Brooklyn Hip Hop Family Day. On June 20th, 2009, babies, toddlers, young teens and families are encouraged to head down to beautiful Empire Fulton Ferry State Park for an afternoon of Hip-Hop, community building, and fun.
Family Day will take the main stage from 12 p.m to 4 p.m. From 4p.m. to 8p.m. Family Day will move to the North Lawn of Empire Fulton Ferry State Park while the main performances round out the day.
Children, families, teenagers, and kids are all welcome all day to this all ages event.
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Family Day will feature music, performances, demonstrations, and seminars from a host of organizations including
Black Girls Rock, Metropolitan Hospital, The Beacon Program, The League of Young Voters, CityYear, Brooklyn Crescents Youth Lacrosse Team, and SohNup Industries NYC to name a few. More organizations will be confirmed as the event approaches.
The mission of Family Day is to provide positive and inspiring programming for an often forgotten demographic, what organizers call Hip-Hop Families.
Wes Jackson, Festival Executive Director and President of Brooklyn Bodega, “Now that Hip-Hop is over thirty years old there are Moms and Dads who grew up on Rakim and Slick Rick. ‘My Melody’ and ‘Children’s Story’ are our classics. We were the original B-Boys and B-Girls. Now we are homeowners, car owners, taxpayers, business owners, and parents. We grew up with Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder as our soundtrack. Now, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Mary J. Blige are the songs my kids hear around the house. We are a Hip-Hop Family. What is happening to Hip-Hop now is what happened to Rock-N-Roll in the 80’s. As the baby boomers aged, so did Rock N Roll culture and business. The same maturation is happening in Hip-Hop. Brooklyn Bodega, Family Day and the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, as a whole, is about ushering this new era. Family Day is our direct appeal to this growing segment of the Hip-Hop population.”
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Organizations interested in participating should contact John Davis at j
ohn@brooklynbodega.com and visit
www.brooklynbodega.com.
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The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and Brooklyn Hip-Hop Family Day will take place June 20th, from 12 noon – 8 p.m at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park located at the corner of Plymouth and Main Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn.
Performances on the Main Stage will include
Pharoahe Monch, Styles P, Smif N Wessun, a live mixtape produced by J Period, the winner of the ‘Show and Prove’ competition and more.
This year’s Festival will also, for the first time, feature a second stage for local and up and coming artists.
Brooklyn Bodega is also in the midst of organizing several lead up events including a photo exhibit documenting and celebrating the first four years of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, a kickoff party, and the Official After Party at Southpaw.
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Brooklyn Bodega are the creators and producers of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. They are a collective of cultural programmers, marketing professionals, writers, designers and academics dedicated to the celebration and preservation of Hip-Hop culture. Their daily musings can be found at www.brooklynbodega.com.
About F.O.K.U.S.
F.O.K.U.S. is an organization with the mission of creating a diverse community using the arts as the common medium. We believe the arts enable people to rise above barriers in society and our events unite diverse audiences with various art forms. F.O.K.U.S. aims to bring together art forms, both "traditional" and "non-traditional", to support the concept that we need to expand our definition of what is considered art because art surrounds us as it is part of life.
“Hip-Hop” and “Family” are two terms rarely associated with each other. Hip-Hop in many forms of today’s media and culture is associated with violence and degradation, among other aspects of life that don’t seem to blend with the ideals of what family oriented content represents.
Interestingly enough, the culture has always been about the young people, and the kids are always the people who embrace and direct the movement and direction of each step that the music takes.
When looking at the big picture, Hip-Hop is all about the youth, all about the community, and all about the family. On July 10th 2010, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival’s Family Day truly illustrated that connection, using elements of Hip-Hop, positive recreation, and creative energy to display a component of the culture that often gets lost in translation when thinking about the general attitude of what it represents.
From poetic performances to double dutch, beat boxing, to ice pops, DJ showcases to mentor recruitment, the BHF’s Family Day was filled with energy, progression, and plenty of entertainment for even the shortest of attention spans.
“I’m having fun, it’s like a block party and a real concert at the same time…I see my friends on stage, everyone running around, everyone having fun” Those were the words of Jamal Lorford, a 12 year old Brooklyn resident who attended the festival for the first time this year.
He mentioned one of the active members of part of the Urban Art Beat, a New York based organization which offers kids an alternative creative outlet to occupy their time and take advantage of their talents. Their presence was definitely felt as they showcased spoken word artists, singing groups and rappers who were all rewarded with cheers. Creativity, artistic vision, and positivity were definitely cool things for at least one summer day in Brooklyn.
The kids weren’t the only ones adding to the environment though. The entire event was carefully structured and organized with some talent that kids don’t get to see everyday.
Chesney Snow, a NY based artist and youth activist, highlighted a crew of artists who put together an original beatbox performance accompanied by dancers and an emcee. He’s also been active in organizations like Project Reach Youth and others, and couldn’t wait to keep the music and energy flowing into the next generation on this day. Saying, “People forget that family is the nucleus of Hip-Hop…It’s all about exposure. My generation got into beatboxing through guys like Rahzel…and we’re out here doing the same thing. Without the youth Hip-Hop would die out”.
We’re all familiar with the cliché, “Children are the future” but on Saturday the 10th, those words rang true in such an immediate sense. The vibrancy in the air was written all over the kids faces. Little boys and girls and their family members couldn’t wait to see what was next, and you couldn’t wait to see them enjoy it. It was like everyone at the festival was part of the same celebration, and the energy you felt with the kids was something you felt replicated the music you came to hear, and the artists you came to see.
With the performance day events just next door, everyone was a part of everything. This connection was even felt by the artists performing on the main stage. yU of Diamond District, a group who performed for the crowd, mentioned that “It’s really important to have something like that, because you know I want to perform to my music and lyrics a certain way, and its good to know the kids can be here and have they own thing, having fun and that’s still a part of what we’re doing, but its not affecting them in a bad way.”
The Family Day wasn’t just a compliment to the overall festival, but it felt like a necessary component of what a celebration of Hip-Hop is supposed to be. This was an event done right, and those involved came away knowing that not only Hip-Hop, but the family that really bonds us all, is alive, well, and better than ever.
READ DE LA SOUL INTERVIEW
READ PETE ROCK INTERVIEW
