This is an excerpt from Episode 1 of Astro Black, a 4-channel video installation informed by the history and politics of Afrofuturism. Early hip-hop culture was heavily influenced by the intergalactic mythologies of Sun Ra and George Clinton, and Episode 1 seeks to draw out these connections. Set in 1974 in the South Bronx, the episode begins in a neighbourhood centre where Sun Ra is discussing his ideas about the intersection of myth, race and outer space. It is here that the three future originators of hip-hop – Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash – are abducted and transported across the galaxy to Planet Rock where they are schooled in the alien language of turntablism.
I had heard about this dude a while back. His Marcberg mixtape got a lot of buzz in 2010, but for whatever reason (I was living in Paris?), I never checked it out. A few days ago, the video for Emerealds dropped, I checked it out, and was blown away.
It’s such a gritty, mid-90s, New York feel. From the voice to the beat to the lyrics. It made me check out that mixtape, and I am kicking myself for not paying attention sooner. The whole thing is definitely on point, but there were two tracks that stood out extra.
Panic sounds like some grimey Wu beat, and reminds me of some early Smif-n-Wessun:
Don Shit is just straight bananas if you came up in rap’s Golden Era like I did:
I am committed to learning the lyrics. There is a rumor of a video out there of me rocking out to this. Text me if you wanna see…
Anyway, I actually went and bought the mixtape. I have NO idea when the last time I paid for an album, let alone bought a mixtape. If anyone buys it and it disappointed by it, I will give you ten bucks.
So Billy had given me Hiroshima by John Hersey a little while ago.
When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, few could have anticipated its potential for devastation. Pulitzer prize-winning author John Hersey recorded the stories of Hiroshima residents shortly after the explosion and, in 1946, Hiroshima was published, giving the world first-hand accounts from people who had survived it. The words of Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamara, Father Kleinsorg, Dr. Sasaki, and the Reverend Tanimoto gave a face to the statistics that saturated the media and solicited an overwhelming public response. Whether you believe the bomb made the difference in the war or that it should never have been dropped, “Hiroshima” is a must read for all of us who live in the shadow of armed conflict.
It was on my “to read” list until he told me about a part of the book describing how in the aftermath of the nuclear explosion, the fallout had inexplicably caused fields of flowers to sprout and bloom. It created an impression on me and after I finished my last book, I finally got around to picking it up. Wow.
Occasionally I have run into works created that simply transcend the genre and medium they are crafted in. Restrepo and Dancer in the Dark come to mind. To simply label them as films sincerely do them injustice. Hiroshima was the first book I read that left me with that same effect.
I was simply dumbfounded. It was Cormac McCarthy’s The Road come to life, with an atomic angle and the twist of Japanese cultural norms. It was unfathomable to consider what I was reading was a work of non-fiction. The stories alone were amazing but there were other reasons I appreciated the book. From a journalistic point of view I was simply in awe. The amount of time and detail that went into crafting the book was first class reporting. I can’t imagine the legwork that must of gone into it. And the writing itself was incredibly well done. From form to structure (overall down to how the sentences themselves were assembled) to voice and tone (a relatively dry and factual telling of the story, letting the hibakusha tell their stories and Hersey making a concerted effort to not let his passion get in the way of their experience), it was a superb piece of writing. I am extremely envious that something of such historical significance could be put together in such a solid piece of journalism. The book could of stood alone on any one of the three tenets (historical perspective, journalism, writing) but to nail all three was inspiring.
As I often do when I become interested in something, I start to dig and research.
It turns out that the book was actually originally a magazine article appearing in The New Yorker. The 31,000 word missive preempted all the other content for the August 31, 1946 issue. (The Aftermath addendum was added 40 years later in a follow up by Hersey.) Not one other article or cartoon appeared in the issue. The idea of doing this was wrought and wrestled over by the publisher and editor. It was executed in complete secrecy with no warning given to staff or readers. The piece was offered with this simple explanation:
TO OUR READERS, The New Yorker this week devotes its entire editorial space to an article on the almost complete obliteration of a city by one atomic bomb, and what happened to the people of that city. It does so in the conviction that few of us have yet comprehended the all, but incredible destructive power of this weapon, and that everyone might well take time to consider the terrible implications of its use; The Editors.
Now, with the benefit of time and distance from the event, it is easy to lose sight of the historical significance of publishing a piece like this. Japan was the enemy. Any attempt to convey the level of destruction caused by the atomic bomb by the Japanese was thwarted by our government. An article like this ran the risk of looking “sympathetic” to our enemy.
It’s everything journalism can and should be. Honest. Bold. Truthful. Compelling. Moving. Significant.
Steve Rothman did a term paper on the book, assembling a good amount of information about Hersey, the book and publication of the article. He turned it all into a website with is worth a visit and read.
The entire piece has also been read on the radio several times. The audio can be heard here.
I was so moved by the book, I came up with a little homage. What that is will have to wait for now…
In the meantime, I knocked off about 100 pages of Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives today.
I had been meaning to post this for a while, and the Ni**as in Philly remix video below reminded me to do it.
I had an apartment in Philly at 18th and Wallace and at some point I was told or realized that you could actually see it in the intro of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. (Click the screengrab below to see the intro.)
The giveaway is the eagle you can see in the background painted on the Roberto Clemente playground wall.
The interesting thing is that despite the theme song which says:
“In West Philadelphia, born and raised/ On the playground is where I spent most of my days…”
is actually in North Philadelphia.
The small rec center used to be one of the most notorious dope spots in the city. They served out of the building and there was a long line of addicts waiting to be served. Security was guys in long leather trench coats, packing shottys underneath. You could score works from the grandmothers that sat on their stoops around the park.
So when I go to bed at night, I need to fall asleep watching something. I don’t have a tv in my room, so I usually watch some sort of documentary on google or somewhere else on my phone. It can take weeks or months to get through one (I fall asleep pretty quick) but eventually I make it through.
It also points out Murakami is pretty reclusive and doesn’t do much press. (He did do a great interview with The Paris Review, and there are some out there, but he is far from a media darling.) He agreed to answer questions for the film, with the stipulation that he wasn’t videotaped, photographed and that his voice wasn’t used.
This first time I bumped into Murakami was in a creative writing class at CCP. There was a kid in there with a worn copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. He swore by it and read it over and over again. Much like I judge a book by its cover, I judged the kid. Sort of a Dungeons & Dragons type. But the fact he was passionate about the book did stick out. Years later an ex-girlfriend gave me Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I was pretty blown away by the book. I tried The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles a few times but couldn’t get in. Last year I tried again and, once again, was blown away. There is something pretty magical about the story and the writing. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles also mirrored some stuff I was going through at the time, more so than any other time I had read a book and been able to identify with the protagonist, at the exact time I was going through similar stuff. At least emotionally. Anyway…
IQ84 is definitely on my list to get to. I just finished Old School and am reading Hiroshima, but I should knock that out pretty quick. Watching this doc reminded me that IQ84 needs to be next on my list.
The film mentions that Murakami translated Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye into Japanese. Turns out he has also translated Truman Capote, Raymond Carver, John Irving, Tim O’Brien, Shel Silverstein and Paul Theroux. Among others. Neat. Made me want to dig around and find some of his short stories and I found two good sites on the author, with both a few interviews and a few short stories: Exorcising Ghosts and Murakami’s official website.
Ish you’re talking