ROCK THE BELLS 2011 Review “NEW YORK CITY STUCK OFF THE REALNESS” by Simone A. Santos



Mobb Deep Photos by Prolo Photo


                      On September 3^rd, ‘Rock the Bells’ 2011 festival arrived at Governors Island for one of the most highly anticipated hip-hop events of the year. The four city, four stage event is presented by Guerilla Union who hosted their first annual festival in 2004. Earlier this month, over one hundred thousand fans floated across on ferries from the Battery Maritime Building, located at 10 South Street, in Downtown Manhattan. Hip-hop fans stood on thick lines for hours. It was all about being a part of this grandiose hip-hop extravaganza. It was hot, approximately 88 degrees farenhiet.

 "Rock the Bells is always a special occasion to me,” said hip-hop fan and artist ‘Sav Killz’, also known and Jamel Rockwell. It’s an occasion comparable to the seventies tribute to rock-n-roll, Woodstock. The Daily News reported Chang Weisberg, a Guerilla Union, Rock the Bells Tour representative saying, “If rockers can acknowledge the respect and awe awarded certain works, why can’t hip-hoppers… It’s an education, a way to learn where hip-hop came from,” said Weisberg.

The line-up included Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas, Erykah Badu, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Black Star, Immortal Technique, Slaughterhouse, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah, Genius GZA, Mobb Deep, Black Moon, Childish Gambino, Masta Killa, Maino, Cypress Hill and much more. Albums including Nas’1994 ‘Illmatic’, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah’ 1995 ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’, Mobb Deep’ 1995 ‘The Infamous’ and Lauryn Hill’ 1998 ‘Miseducation of  Lauryn Hill’ were all platinum hits, according to Billboard that were performed in their entirety on this year’s monumental tour. On Columbia records, ‘Illmatic’ sold 59,000 copies in its first week. The album certified gold in January 1996 after selling a half million records and then went platinum in 2001. Over one million copies sold in the U.S.
“This is my biggest production, and it only makes sense to do it on the best rap tour,” Nas told the Daily News. 

 From Los Angeles, to San Francisco, New York to Boston the venues are all sold out on show day.  The grounds, flooded with echoes of percussive triplets, melodic instrumentals and soulful samples sent vibes through fans who bopped, swayed, and screamed flowing spiritually united with the emcees. The real hardcore knowledge and experienced based lyrics were telling and the masses recited some tracks verbatim. Almost everyone recited the words to ‘The World is Yours’ where in verse two Nas shouts out his borough, Queens. He politics controversy, stating;

“To my man Ill Will, God bless your life It's yours!-To my peoples throughout Queens, God bless your life- I trip we box up crazy [explicit] aimin guns in all my baby pictures, Beef with housin police, release scriptures that's maybe Hitler's,Yet I'm the mild, money gettin style, rollin foul, The versatile, honey stickin wild, golden child, Dwellin in the Rotten Apple you get tackled, Or caught by the devil's lasso, [explicit] is a hassle, There's no days, for broke days.”



Nas Photos by Prolo Photo

               The golden and platinum era is when Raekwon & Ghostface Killah gave all the hip-hop “honeys” a chance to find their ice cream flavor. “French vanilla, butter pecan, chocolate deluxe, even caramel sundaes…” are the lyrics in the hook off of the platinum hit and early 1994 summer single from the album ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Linx’. Crateworthy.com posted a video of Lakers forward and Queens native Ron Artest at the Los Angeles festival on August 20^th. He was enthusiastically reciting lyrics on stage with former fellow Queensbridge Housing Project residents Mobb Deep’s, Prodigy and Havoc.

Everything about the atmosphere on Governors Island was 1990’s and certainly brought mid-twenty to forty year olds back in time. In this common place people smiled, shared their memories with strangers, and expressed who they were “really” there to see. There was a nostalgic presence on the scene. Hundreds of vendors sold food, drinks and hip-hop paraphernalia. Antoine Hamlin, a twenty year old hip-hop fan and guest of the Wu-Tang Clan said “next year they need to come down on the food prices. Six dollars for a pizza is way too much. It wasn’t even that good.” Tee shirts were a huge seller. For anywhere between $15 and $30 you could get an originally designed tee shirt expressing images and messages correlating you to your favorite artist, group and even album or song. One message read, “Hip-hop is bigger than the Government”. Another read, “I Got You Stuck Off The Realness”, the first words in the bar from Mobb Deep’s 1995 hit single Shook Ones Pt II from ‘The Infamous’ album. Rock the Bells revived the essence of "real" hip-hop in its traditional resonance. Hip-hop was back where it all got started; in New York City.

“It’s all about keeping things real and conscious in hip-hop,” said Hasan Salaam, an emcee in his twenties from Brooklyn. He had a booth selling CD’s and tees, where he gave away fliers that read, “MCMI Apparel- In Hip-Hop We Trust” and stickers saying “Mo Danger- www.mohammaddangerfield.com”, styled in the old ‘Yo MTV Raps’ logo.

The prominence reigned across New York City’s five boroughs. Areas throughout Queens such as Queensbridge, Southside Jamaica, and St. Albans delivered artists such as Nas, Mobb Deep, A Tribe Called Quest and LL Cool J. The Wu-Tang Clan comes “straight from the slums of Shaolin” also known as Staten Island, Park Hill and Stapleton to be exact. The Wu Tang Clan consists of nine artists including the late Old Dirty Bastard (who passed away the same year Rock the Bells started in 2004), Method Man, RZA, GZA, Raekwon ‘The Chef’, Ghostface Killah, Inspektah Deck, and Masta Killa. In the 1990’s, among these names remains some of the strongest and most influential players in the game. Twenty-nine year old producer and engineer, Ben Wollner from France says, “as far as Nas and the Wu, they have of course influenced me and the music that I produce, the spontaneity of it. They have influenced the way that I perceive music overall.”



Raekwon & Ghostface Killa Photos by Prolo Photo

          From boom boxes to walkmans, discmans to iPods- rap has been and is evolving audibly and by societal perception. In the 1990’s, hip-hop serenaded the tops of the Billboard charts. It was becoming the new music culture of the generation. The appeal has evolved majorly over the past decade, whereas the face of hip-hop is more colorful than ever. People from all walks of life come out to share one thing in common; love of hip-hop and the artists and groups that have helped pioneer the movement of it. Now, hip-hop can be found in all areas of society from marketing to university education. As profoundly international as it has become, hip-hop was as born in New York City. 9^th Prince of Wu-Tang Clans Killa Army, RZA’s younger brother says “Rock the Bells is history in the making. It’s legendary hip-hop in its purest form.” 

MATH HOFFA "What It Amounts To" via @MATHHOFFA

A week before Math Hoffa of Brooklyn faces Calicoe of Detroit for the Smack battle competition, scheduled August 7^th , he kicked it with Simone ‘SasAppeal’ Santos & Young Amsterdam to distribute his mixed punch of emcee and artist. He considers himself “a creator,” “aren’t we all,” he says.

In the beginning, “emceeing was a great tool that helped build my self-esteem which in turn inspired me to appreciate it from a more creative position, as an art.”  Today, he’s comfortably able to express himself, battle and make music. Math’s creativity manifests potentially dangerous. He “dares niggas” to believe battle rappers can’t make music or be artists “we’re that new breed… niggas can’t do what we do,” he boasts sharply like the smack of a double-edged sword. “Now, I’m inspired by the competition,” he basses invitingly.

He told Young Jack Thriller on Thisis50, earlier this year that his name ‘Math’ represents an acronym whose calculations amount to the truth. “You can calculate, whatever you do- you will not get a wrong answer as long as you do the right thing, that’s what you get from me; not that industry standard,” he states.  

“Music tells a story,” says Math.  It’s been confirmed that he’ll give a “dose” to anyone who pokes their fitted in the way of him telling his. Yea… he’s the guy who put the smack in Smack, back in ’07 and from an emcee he’s developed into a growing artist proclaiming, “I mean we’ve had our thug era.” His witty punch lines, aggressive flow, and charming BK swag have already placed him on the top of the battle rap game but at 6’3”, he’s not playing ball he’s ready for business,… independent business that is.

Math’s album, entitled ‘A.C.M.D. 3 (All Competition Must Die) received a great amount of views on Youtube and was promoted via all the hip-hop websites and blogs popping. It dropped in the spring and features artists such as Q-Tip and Method Man. He stated that while creating the LP he was at a point in his life where he needed to grow, aspiring to make music for more than the “streets”.

The track “Beautiful” featuring Q-Tip and produced by J. Glaze grooves an early ‘90’s appeal. The sound is something dreamy and dynamic combined with sensual yet appropriate lyrical content regarding a woman. With this he strays far from the typical battle scene and creates music that you will still bop your head to. However, in this case you might just want to get up and dance.

Exposed and absorbed since the “classic golden” and “platinum” eras of hip-hop, Math said simply, “it was out there and I just grew up listening to it.” His earliest memory takes him back to the late 80’s classic by LL Cool J “I’m Bad”. He recalled that his cousins’ walkman always had that cassette on deck. Math would sneak off with it for hour’s rocking and rhyming while hiding, trying to avoid giving it back and wishing his cousin would forget it. “He never forgot.”

Respectfully, Math attributed homage to some of the pioneers he grew up listening to such as Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Redman, Digital Underground and of course, fallen soldiers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

He came through in a Yankee fitted, Penny Hardaway’s, Giorgio Armani shades and a crispy white-T. He’s still BK all day but he didn’t fail to mention that “this aint no $4 white-T!” Laughs were shared when he responded “It’s not silk, probably Egyptian cotton or some shit.”

“We rock the building with straight bars,” said Math. His long awaited battle versus Calicoe on Sunday will also bring Math’s NYB fam, Hollow Da Don face to face with Hitman Holla of the Lou. Although, Math did not want to predict a winner he declares, “I’m always a winner.” When asked how good he believes Aye Verb, Goodz and T-Rex are at “his”profession, emceeing he responded, “Fat boys aight… but nah, fuck all them niggas!” “I’m the next best thing__ the proof is in the pudding.”

-Simone A. Santos

WU-TANG 'Legendary Weapons'- coming July 26

1. Start the Show (feat. Raekwon and RZA)
2. Laced Cheeba (feat. Ghostface, Sean Price and Trife Diesel)
3. Diesel Fluid (feat. Method Man, Trife Diesel and Cappadonna)
4. Played By The Game
5. The Black Diamonds (feat. Ghostface, Roc Marciano and Killa Sin)
6. Legendary Weapons (Ghostface, AZ and M.O.P.)
7. Never Feel This Pain (feat. Inspectah Deck, U-God and Tre Williams)
8. Angels Got Wings
9. Drunk Tongue (feat. Killa Sin)
10. 225 Rounds (feat. U-God, Cappadonna, Bronze Nazareth and RZA)
11. Meteor Hammer (feat. Ghostface, Action Bronson and Termanology)
12. Live Through Death
13. Only the Rugged Survive (feat. RZA)
14. Outro