Labancamy Jankins
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ART

Brought to You by a PRO: Blap Master 

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13 January 2019
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Pro, East Palo Alto's finest, is back at it again with BLAP MASTER––featuring performances by B-Legit, Too $hort, Ladybug Mecca, Clyde Carson, Prof. Thee, and other. Get your copy on iTunes today!!!
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Most of the world has been unknowingly under Pro's influence since the 80's and remain addicted to his flavor and grooves. Pro got his start as Cap'n -Crunch in the 1985 seminal rap sensation Rated X. Rated X's album sales and ‘party-till-you-drop’ live shows caught the attention of hip hop ‘Generals’ such as Shock G (Digital Underground), Chuck D of Public Enemy (Flava Flav is Pro's cousin), and Paris, who sought Pro's talents for their projects as hip-hop continued its musical penetration into the marketplace. Cap'n Crunch shortened his moniker to C-Funk and went solo. In the midst of a successful solo career he produced tracks for Digital Underground (Tommy Boy), Public Enemy (Def Jam) and produced the highly successful Conscious Daughters (ScareFace).
His production lists reads like "who's who of hip-hop"; E-40, The Click, JT the Bigga Figga, Bloody-Mary, San Quinn, and Messy Marv. Even such sports luminaries as Ricky Walters (now retired NFL running back) have enlisted his services for their albums. In 1998, he was the youngest artist to be inducted in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame & the San Francisco Hip-Hop museum.

In 2001, C-Funk changed his name to ProHoeZak and took his considerable talents to the next level. He has starred in an HBO feature film titled "Who Makes the Rules" (Sagg Films) and racked up production credits for Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Kokane, Suga Free, Yukmouth, and Night Owl (P.
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In 2003, Pro teamed up with the band  Sugar Ray, as a writer and guest vocalist for "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" on their fifth album, entitled In the Pursuit of Leisure. Impressed with the artist's versatility, style, and charisma, Sugar Ray's lead vocalist Mark McGrath invited Pro to tour with the band and appear in the video of "Mr. Bartender."  Pro appeared on Good Morning America as well as The Jay Leno Show with the band.
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In his current incarnation, Pro's sense of groove not only draws from the current and future sound, but packs enough 70's vibe to insure the preservation of the motion of hips worldwide.  Blap Master is sure to get your hips moving. Visit iTunes today and get your copy.



Blap Master on iTunes

Celebrating Belle da Costa Greene: An Examination of Medievalists of Color within the Field

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21 November 2018

Belle da Costa Greene was a prominent art historian and the first manuscript librarian of the Pierpont Morgan collection. She was also the first known person of color and second woman to be elected a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (1939). Join us in celebrating Greene's life and the field she so passionately pursued November 30-December 2, 2018 at The Center for Global Citizenship on the campus of Saint Louis University.

​Learn more about the conference here.

Listen to "The Ballad of Belle da Costa Greene," originally composed and performed by Big Piph specifically for the conference. 


Sean Fresh West: The Lost Tour
9 August 2018

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Sean Fresh says,
"While chasing your dreams, sometimes you will look around and not acknowledge how far you have come and you don't know how much longer you have to go. But you keep praying, you keep working, you keep grinding.
During my sojourn....I have lost some things that I can't get back. I have been lost in the thought of obtaining greatness.
This tour is for everyone running to there dreams....Let's get lost together."

​This Saturday, join the LOST TOUR in Dallas.....More dates and details to come but this Saturday if you are in Dallas...Sean Fresh and The Nasty Fresh Crew will be performing at Braindead Brewing located at 2625 Main Street, Dallas, TX 75226. Doors open at 9pm!!! If you know anyone in Dallas, please share. 

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Learn More

Flash Fiction: Jordan Turner's "LIFE"

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Saint Louis's own Jordan Turner has struck a blow for the young folk when it comes to literary production. This young man has, literally, dozens and dozens of short stories and pieces of Flash Fiction to share with the world. Below is his piece entitled, "LIFE." Click on the link and give it a read. It's less than 500 words, but powerfully constructed. This youngster has an amazing mind. 

Read "LIFE"

SOCIAL COMMENTARY

#Big Piph "GLOW(S)"
9 August 2018

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We thought we'd heard the last from Piph with the uplifting Celebrate. He explains otherwise:

"When I told folks that "Celebrate" was my last album, they mistook it to mean that I was done with music. Nah, brethren. My soul shall forever swim with the beats, melodies, and rhymes from a therapeutic art that just so happened to serve as my career. A brotha stays performing. Also, if I ever feel moved to make another album, pride won't be the barrier. Still now, I feel led to a few other creative outlets with larger goals in mind. (Plus, who says music always has to be packaged in a 10-12 song format every time?)
'Nuff talk though, as the first of my new creative projects is my one-man stage show entitled, "The Glow". It's kinda like a TED Talk meets a hip hop concert with an OG Spike Lee narrative. Music, chop-it-up, crowd interaction, visuals and the folks Corey Harris as music director. I'm also proud to premiering it in the ACANSA Arts Festival in North Little Rock, on Sat. 9/22. You can check out more about it below as well as purchase tickets. Forever growing mane... 
#iamnotthem #theglow 
https://acansa.org/the-glow/" 

Click on the button below and join in The Glow.

Join "The GLOW"

Youth Activism, #BlackLivesMatter, and The STL: Dr. Stefan Bradley

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Dr. Stefan Bradley is a former professor of History and African American Studies at Saint Louis University; he current teaches at Loyola. Marymount University. He is the author of Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s  http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/69erx5xt9780252034527.html and
co-editor of Alpha Phi Alpha:  A Legacy of Greatness, The Demands of Transcendence  http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=2583. Dr. Bradley is currently working on a book focused on the origins of African American youth activism at Dartmouth College. ​In light of the youth activism that has recently occurred in the streets and on college/univeristy campuses, please check out this timeline of black student activism that Dr. Bradley contributed to the New York Times​ and this interview on youth and Black Lives Matter that ​took place with NPR Illinois  NPR Illinois.  
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Watch Interview

MASCULINIST ISSUES

A Male's Perspective on IVF

My perspectives on the process. Coming soon.
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Fanon's Repressed Motivation

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Frantz Fanon has long been championed as a pioneer in Black Liberation Theory and self-determination for black peoples the world over. However, I can no longer ignore that which i find problematic in his seminal work Black Skin, White Masks. The essay which follows centers on the role and function of Mayotte Capecia in Fanon's paradigm regarding the liberation of black men and black women in a post-colonial environment.

Read Essay