David Gonzalez/The New York Times A paint-flecked floor is Nelson Seda’s stage. When the weather is too cold or wet, he clears the chairs from his bedroom, turns up the music and dances, his arms and legs a blur of impossibly graceful angles. An hour later, he may pick up his markers and draw – on canvases, old posters, shoeboxes, anything. And for good measure, he might end the day freestyle rapping.
SIDE STREET David Gonzalez reports from corners of the city in words and pictures. Nelson is a young man possessed – in every sense – of a singular idea. For him, the various aspects of hip-hop have become touchstones, inspiring him to push himself and share his art with others at workshops, after-school centers and parks. Only 20 years old, he’s always being told that he was born 25 years too late for the culture’s heyday.
But he’s catching up.
"I have to find my own way,” said Nelson, who goes by the name Chief 69. "It’s something I can’t ignore. We have to find that expression. We all seek that voice. We all look somewhere to be accepted.”
Nelson was born in Brooklyn. His family moved a lot – to Florida, Harlem, and the Lower East Side, before he settled near West Farms in the South Bronx. It wasn’t until he was in New York in the third grade that he heard his first rappers. By the time he reached high school, graffiti writers and dancers entranced him.
The world made perfect sense.
"I ended up meeting people dancing in the hallway and I said ‘Yeah!’” he recalled. "I was never a dancer before. I mean, I danced if my grandparents gave me a dollar to dance salsa with my little sister. I had to be bribed.”
By the time he graduated from high school in 2009, he was intent on making his mark in hip-hop. He went out and promoted his paintings, taking every chance to exhibit them. He became a familiar face at summer park jams in Harlem and the South Bronx, often being the first to arrive and the last to leave. Jorge Pabon, known as "Popmaster Fabel” and a legendary old-school B-boy and vice president of the Rock Steady Crew, took note.
"He’s an ambitious young puppy who started out a little awkward trying to get into the groove of all this,” he said. "But he’s passionate about the dancing. He’s got the right spirit. He’s using his intellect. He’s really a philosopher of sorts.”
Inside his bedroom, where the hiss of the radiator blended with the blare of music from a neighbor’s apartment, he smiled modestly at the compliment. He admits to spending a lot of time thinking about what it means to follow this path, which others would dismiss as childish or trivial. Even some young people on his block – which is down the street from a youth center that hosted storied rap battles in the 1970s – have little idea of the culture he has embraced.
That’s why he has been busy hosting workshops and panel discussions about hip-hop. And when he has an exhibit, he’ll often just give away his work. He thinks having a piece made by someone you know from the block is worth more than anything bought in a variety store.
He once wanted to be famous. Now he just wants to make art accessible. He hopes to land a job at an after-school center. That would make him happy.
"It’s always good to assure yourself that you have some impact,” he said. "We have to. That’s why when we walk out our doors every day, we decide to put a smile on someone else’s face. Sometimes when I dance, it’s not for me.”
The weather was too cold this week to go outside to the park. His radio was busted – the battery had melted. Undaunted, he followed the example of an earlier generation of Bronx B-boys and improvised. He turned on a small television and tuned it to a cable channel that played ’70s disco and funk. He smiled as he heard the chugging guitar of "Shame, Shame, Shame” by Shirley & Company.
Can’t stop me now. Hear what I say. My feet want to move, so get out my way.
In a tiny room where the walls are covered with his art, Nelson Seda, Chief 69 and founder of the Floor Royalty Crew, spun and popped, dipped and darted, gloriously and happily. For now, he danced for no one but himself. And there was no shame.
Break down of what the Vital Nonsense movement/band is and about. All proceeds of performances go to secular childrens charities. Download entire album at www.gaberosales.com FREE and or donate to the cause.
After rocking the Beat Swap Meet and playing live beats on tour, Mnemonic is back with yet another Instrumental album, available now on itunes and Cd Baby
With “God Save the King” Copywrite delivers another brutally honest record that reaches for new creative heights with all of the crazy punch lines, deep metaphors, true wordsmithing and all of the technical razzle dazzle anyone could ever ask for.
Man Bites Dog Records is proud to announce the release of Copywrite’s “God Save The King” which will be released on February 28th, 2012. Included is the video for the LP’s first single “Swaggot Killaz” featuring Jakki Da Mota Mouth and produced by !llmind.
The last we heard of First Serve it was 3am in a Parisian suburb at an out of control house party with ‘The Goon Time Mixtape’ blasting into the night. That was just a taste of things to come from De La Soul’s Plug 1 & Plug 2 present ‘First Serve’; a dynamic hip-hop group, an album, a concept, the soundtrack to a movie that has yet to be made and a fable for our times.
‘First Serve’ is many things, but at its heart it is the story of two young boys from Queens, New York with big dreams and larger rhymes. Two friends, Deen Whitter (aka Plug 2 / Dave) and Jacob ‘Pop Life’ Barrow (aka Plug 1/ Pos), friends from seventh grade, are by their own admission, “different, but the differences seem to complement everything we do.” Their name ‘First Serve’ comes from their motto, “First come, First Serve, get what you deserve.”
We get a glimpse into their world in the form of the ‘Mrs. Whitter’ skit where we see the duo during the early days in Deen’s mother’s basement, the location of years of laying down demos and mixtapes on the hustle in the hip-hop game. With Deen’s mother Eleanor giving them endless flack, the duo don’t get much peace and quiet to sip on a 40oz beer and smoke a joint in their hyper-colour, animated world.
Due to hit the streets in April 2012 (4-2-2012), the ‘First Serve’ album tells the story of two dreamers in a basement struggling to start their musical career, the battles they face, through to the point that they eventually release their debut single, ‘make it big’ and their hard work and persistence finally pays off. As we know that is rarely where the story ends and the story of ‘First Serve’ is no different. Taking place in an animated world that could have been imagined by Hawley Pratt on Magic Mushrooms, the high spirited and often hilarious journey is pure old school hip-hop; skits, disco, beats, funk, quips, burns and hustlin’ all included.
