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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Deuce Cities Styles Checkin' Fab 5 Freddy at the Walker
Wednesday 07 August @ 10:08:25 |
 by Jerah, Locks & Kool Hanz
Entering the Walker was different this time. It seemed like we had just entered a new club that had been built to feel like a school gymnasium, and hip-hop was about to take the court. Recognizable local talent was beat boxin’ on the stairs. Crowds of break dancers cheered and marched through the halls. Graffiti writers searched for artists to sign their black books. It was opening night For One Planet under a Groove and everybody who could afford the $14 cover turned up. Not too bad, considering you could chill with Fab 5 Freddy while listening to maybe the most-slept-on DJ of his caliber, Peanut Butter Wolf.
Sarah Marion, a curitorial intern at the Walker, gave us the lowdown on the history of the exhibit.
“One Planet under a Groove is an exhibition that doesn’t just look at hip-hop itself but how hip-hop has influenced a number of contemporary artists. Particularly artists of a younger generation who are up-and-coming in places like Japan, Germany, San Antonio, Cali, Chicago and New York, which is where the birth of hip-hop took place in the Bronx. The Bronx Museum of the Arts really wanted to respond to some past hip-hop exhibitions that had started at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio that were almost an anthropological look at the culture. When it came to the Brooklyn Museum of Art there was a huge outcry because people felt like hip-hop was being institutionalized—it was being put into a museum as if it was history, a thing of the past and no longer a living thing. The Bronx really reacted to that by doing this show, which is focused on how these new artists are engaging hip-hop in new and radical ways.” This put a lot of the pieces into perspective as we walked around feelin’ how this culture is movin’ folks from around the globe. We made our way into the room where you could bust up old vinyl records and make them your own with paint markers, photos, glue and anything else you could find, the visual art equivalent of what a DJ does. As we found our way up to the beat box karaoke stage we ran into Fab 5 Freddy, who was kind enough to give us some words one-on-one.
THE INTERVIEW
Duece Cities Styles: So Fab 5, tell us a little bit about why you’re out here?
Fab 5 Freddy: I’m just out here to support the show, know what i’m sayin’, my mans.... The hip-hop show, the fine art, and I’m gonna be doin’ a little lecture talk about my history in the game of hip-hop and checkin the Minneapolis vibe, you know.
DCS: Is this the first time you’ve been out here?
F5F: I was here back in the early 80’s, actually, rappin’. Doin’ a little show here at the museum and at First Ave.
DCS: A lot of people probably wonder why you came off MTV.
F5F: Because that was never the plan. I did it a lot longer than I planned to. I was directing videos before I started doin’ that. I don’t want to be on blast like every week. Like that it’s just too much.
DCS: Yeah, we hear you.
F5F: Yeah, I want to be observant, not be the one that’s being observed.
DCS:So how you feelin’ about the Exhibit?
F5F:It’s another aspect of the culture, visual art, not just graffitti, brother, doin’ different things an’ %@!#$&, different ways of seeing it, different ways of expressing. You know, that’s what it’s all about, different ways of EXPRESSING YOURSELF.
DCS:True, true, true.
F5F: No doubt,land I love Minneapolis—the flavor is real right out here. It’s a real interesting city to be in. I like the vibe. People are real cool most of all.
DCS: So what else are you contributing to this event?
F5F: You know, I’m just here gracin’ the place with my face and my presence and just to say a little bit about my history.
And that was it. He was done, at least for the moment, but something strange had rubbed off on us. Suddenly, people wanted us to interview them. It was too much—we had to break out onto the terrace where Peanut Butter Wolf was spinin’ vinyl into the perfect summer night, high above the Sculpture Garden. You don’t believe me? Then check out Duece Cities Styles. It WILL be on.
Duece Cities Styles is a weekly local underground Hip-Hop cable show airing in Minneapolis - Tues. @ 10 p.m. Ch.17; St. Paul - Thurs. @ 11 p.m. Ch.15. To get involved call 612-872-1943
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