Tag Archives: Sacramento Knoxx

Pushing the Tracks: “Beefed Out” by Sacramento Knoxx

BEEFED OUT

If you follow this publication at all, you’re more than likely familiar with the work of producer/MC Sacramento Knoxx. Born and raised in Detroit, Knoxx incorporates hip-hop into his work as a community organizer and activist. For the last three months Knoxx spent time in Oakland and San Francisco, California as an artist in residence at the School of Unity and Liberation and the Arab Organizing & Resource Center.  As violence between Israel and Palestine intensified this summer, Knoxx’s work to address anti-arab racism, speaking out about the injustices of the Israeli Apartheid and teaching youth from a social justice lens became even more crucial .

Today we feature “Beefed Out,” from the recently released The Trees Will Grow Again, the culmination of Knoxx’s summer in California. As he explains:

“Beefed Out” speaks to the increased militarization of U.S. police in our communities. We call on our communities to continue fighting back and resisting state violence and repression. Understanding prisons, borders, surveillance and policing as tools of global repression is critical to building and maintaining powerful movements for liberation.”

Behind the heavy and frantic war drums of DeathStar Kic’s Dustin Haffner, Knoxx successfully sums up the plight of the hood at home and abroad. He does this with lines such as, “Feeling like I’m facing King Koopa/ They quick to shoot ya/ That violence, repression, that new old message” and “De-fund activities with the police/ War on terror, war on drugs, border security/ R U phvckin kiddin me?/ This is the land of the free.”

The entire The Trees Will Grow Again project is another reminder of how hip-hop can be to unite people and raise consciousness when used to speak on the social, political and economic platform. As events continue to unfold in the United States, the Middle East and around the globe, our hearts and minds are with those continuing to do battle against oppression.

More information, the link to the song and instrumentals, are here: http://sknoxx.bandcamp.com/track/beefed-out

This was produced along side fellow DeathStar Klic producer, Dustin Haffner. www.soundcloud.com/dhaffner

 

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Pushing the Tracks: “VIVA PALESTINA” by Sacramento Knoxx

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By: Sacramento Knoxx

“What the world is witnessing is a colonial regime using its deadly power to crush a people’s will to resist.” -Lulu Palestina, Palestinian poet from Oakland in the Bay Area.

I have been doing an artist residency with SOUL (School Of Unity and Liberation) as a cultural worker interning at AROC (Arab Resource & Organizing Center). This instrumental is a part of a collection of cultural work we are collectively producing out here in the West Coast. This instrumental is mixed with speeches and chants from the marches, demonstrations, and protests held in San Francisco led by the Arab Youth in the bay area with amazing support from various organizations and communities of color building solidarity and joint struggle against imperialism as this current project of colonialism in Palestine continues.

When an injustice to humanity is going on and you sit silent, you are taking the side of the colonizer who is perpetuating the oppression. In this case, I’m making loud ass beats and disrupting the avenues of the internet and social media with messages of love and resistance and education to what is happening to human beings across mother earth. This genocide taking place in Palestine is not a war. With the media lying, fabricating, and co-opting the narratives of the people it is important we all tell our own narratives and be self determined in this liberation movement. Even more so, as artists, and as we build our cultural resistance, it is important to create, educate, motivate and inspire the masses to make collective action. Part of my creation is the production of cultural work of media, creative design, music, film & video, poems, spoken word, and rap.

As we continue to unplug people from the matrix with our actions, education, and art, we have to look at the larger picture, and make these connections of our tax dollars that are being used to maximize profits of the oil companies through military weapons, ammunition, equipment, and stores that help with the genocide of Palestinians as Israel is the foot soldier for U.S. Imperialism. Colonization always involves the violent taking of land and the extraction of natural resources, which is the current port area in the Mediterranean Sea next to Palestine with the Zionist occupation. That in turn is connected with private prisons, the criminalization of black & brown communities from the “war on drugs,” dehumanizing Arabs as terrorists with the “war on terrorism,” using “border security” to increase the dehumanizing process and repressive control of “undocumented” peoples in their indigenous home of occupied Turtle Island, and the violent process of gentrification happening in our current communities.

Israel receives $4 billion in “aid” from the United States each year. This money is being used to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“600+ Palestinians killed, 3,460 injured, 18,300 have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters, and 43% of Gaza is under evacuation orders/no go zones.” -BBC 

This is a historical moment for humanity that will determine if conditions get better or are made worse for people of color and the oppressed.

This is a deliberate campaign to terrorize and break the Palestinian will for self-determination, resistance, and freedom. When our future generations look back at this moment and question us with “what did you do during that horrible part of history?” I hope that we can all say that we stood united, around a vision based on the principles of dignity justice and the liberation of all Palestine.

“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” -Nelson Mandela

More info: 

In San Francisco, an energized crowd of over 6,000 people flooded and shut down Market Street this past Sunday. This comingSaturday, July 26th, as Israel continues to massacre Palestinians and the Palestinian resistance fights back, the Bay Area is mobilizing to show its support for justice and humanity.

Saturday, July 26th, 1pm

Justin Herman Plaza, Embarcadero BART Station, San Francisco

https://www.facebook.com/events/1480712518836310/

VIVA PALESTINA! 

End US Aid to Israel!
Stop the Attack on Gaza now!
End the Apartheid State of Israel!
Free all our political prisoners!
Solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Knoxx is an Ojibwe/Anishinaabe & Xicano MC, music producer, motion picture artist, multimedia designer, & cultural worker.

With 7 years of foundation in latin jazz, swing, funk, blues, and indigenous music, IshKote Nene also known as Sacramento Knoxx, has brought a hybrid blend of performance & engagement within the digital media arts & the hip hop arts to audiences across Turtle Island & globally through digital spaces! 

Through his multidisciplinary artistry, his creations inspire, educate, heal, motivate, engage & reach youth & elders alike in communities of color. Being a prominent music artist from Southwest Detroit with his cultural stories of love & resistance, raw hip hop sounds, and evolving style, Knoxx is a radical composition of a free soul.

“Music Is Medicine”, as Knoxx says, and through this work, his narrative provides a voice for creative expression of identity, love, and healing as his musical pieces creatively challenges & bravely confronts many social ills faced by many communities. As an emerging national artist, @Knockzarelli seeks to leave a beautiful blend of melodies that are harmonic to the next 7 generations for the world through arts, music, and culture. 

 

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Pushing the Tracks: “Bill Cosby Sweater” by Cam Minor

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Cam Minor is a promising young artist coming out of Southwest Detroit. We first met him during a trip down to the Urban Arts Academy in 2013, and during a quick post-interview cypher he laid down some electrifying bars.

On “Bill Cosby Sweater,” Cam takes those bars and puts them into studio form. Over a quick-cutting beat that gives room for his lyrics, Cam admittedly declares on the hook: “I’m yelling out, ain’t nobody better/ I’m overconfident in a Bill Cosby sweater.”

Maybe it’s overconfidence, but here it simply looks like confidence. From start to finish, Cam’s delivery is strong and clear, and mirroring a slight similarity to Earl Sweatshirt’s vocal tone, there’s intrigue all over. What’s especially exciting is a mix between Cam’s confidence behind the mic and his ability to easily weave lines together. During his first verse he spits, “Hello, hello, goodbye/ Hit the party looking fly in some two-year-old Levi’s.” Later on he answers his critics: “I’m getting lucky like rubbing on a Buddha head.”

It’s this forthcoming style that makes Cam Minor someone to watch. As an artist with confidence, clear flow, clever rhymes and good production to back his songs, there’s nothing stopping Cam from releasing more worthy songs.

Peep the song below and enjoy!

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Pushing the Tracks: “528Hz (solfeggio & fibonacci)” featuring Knockzarelli & Row & Nora Yvelle

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Right on the heels of Sacramento Knoxx’s new track “May 14th Transformations,”–a uniquely bound ride into production prominence–comes “528HZ (solfeggio & fibonacci),” an ear-opening cut featuring Knockzarelli, Row and Nora Yvelle, with production by XXYYXX.

“528HZ…” is an attention-grabbing song that ensnares you at numerous points. From XXYYXX’s low-buzzing melodies that swirl into beautiful waves of artistic vibes to Row’s dominating presence behind the mic to Yvelle’s free-flowing singing, “528HZ…” is a wonderful work of music on all sides that truly represents the strength behind Southwest Detroit’s culture. “Fuck the system I see these Donald Sterling’s lurking,” Row spits. “Searching every way to keep our voices from merging.”

On the song’s mystifying vocal coda, Yvelle beautifully backs Row’s inspiring bars: “Just always know, you’re not alone… Together we can make it known.”

instagram: @Knockzarelli
Knockzarelli is an emcee from Southwest Detroit, with a multidisciplinary artistic vision, this hybrid culture creator spreads messages of love, resistance, and knowledge that promote creation & healing. And with this piece he inspires us to dodge the lies and wanted to remind us of our true divine beauty we all have within ourselves. Catch him at www.sKnoxx.com #RAIZup
Row Mendez
Row is an up and coming artist, emcee, & culture creator from Southwest Detroit. His artistic imprint to the universe leaves strong leadership for the youth, and assures that our ambition will carry us through our struggles. follow up: www.rowmendez.bandcamp.com

Nora Yvelle
Nora is a vocal artist, community activist, and culture creator she plans on singing your ears into a trance, a place of peace, and understanding. “This track personifies the visions of youth in the community bringing awareness and striving for change and showing a beautiful way. Music is a way of healing through the ears.” Nora is from Hitsville, Detroit, Michigan.
contact: Norasingz@Yahoo.com

produced by XXYYXX
recorded at The Urban Arts Academy, Detroit, MI

 

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Pushing the Tracks: “May 14th Transformations” by Sacramento Knoxx

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When you think Detroit hip-hop, one of the biggest names that should never be forgotten is Sacramento Knoxx. As an activist, educator, producer, filmmaker, picture artist and musician, Knoxx is an individual that’s everywhere in the game. When he’s not teaching the youth or building his community, he’s working tirelessly in the studio, polishing off songs left and right.

As a producer, Knoxx is a mastermind. T. Love from Okayplayer called him a “mad scientist,” and to refute that claim would be stupid. Knoxx’s production is lush, with sounds hitting you on all sides. The construction of each track is carefully worked into a perfective state, and when certain tracks hit, they hit. His magnum opus, Rise of The Turtle, brilliantly showcases the work, detail and imagery Knoxx puts into his songs, and how creative he can get with the absence of lyrics.

“May 14th Transformations” is Knoxx’s newest cut. Having been released today (on his birthday no less!), “May 14th” is a spiritual ride into the hip-hop tao. It’s a commanding beat, while at the same time keeping everything calm and cool. The sampling is perfectly placed, with stuttering, bangs and a gliding melody. “Give a little back,” the sampled melody professes, and if you could find a silver lining it would probably be that, because Knoxx once again gives back and supplies it all.

Happy birthday Knoxx!

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Hip-Hop and Transformative Teaching for the Community: Bonus Cut Visits #ULITT2014

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By: Daniel Hodgman

On Saturday, Gus and I headed over to Brody on the campus of Michigan State University to attend the Urban Literacies Institute for Transformative Teaching (ULITT), an annual event that supports teachers, educators, students, youth organizers, activists and community leaders that engage in social justice and hip-hop pedagogy. One of ULITT’s most important missions is to explore critical issues affecting today’s youth, and through this ULITT uses spoken word poetry and hip-hop as powerful tools and a lens to explore language, privilege, youth development and community action. ULITT is held by CAITLAH, a campus program organized by one of the directors David Kirkland, dedicated to further understanding teaching and learning through the fields of arts and humanities. CAITLAH works with educators, students, families, communities and schools to better the advancement of language and literacy for life.

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The Tragic Story of Renisha McBride and What Needs to Be Done

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By: Gus Navarro

Early in the morning of Saturday, November 2nd, a 19-year-old African-American girl from Detroit named Renisha McBride was shot and killed.

Reportedly, she was shot to death early Saturday morning outside a home in Dearborn Heights where her family believes she was asking for help after a car accident. The details of this case are highly contested as the Dearborn Heights police disputed early statements by the family that McBride was shot in the back of the head as she turned to leave the porch and that she was hit in the face after the shooter accidentally fired his shotgun. There are questions as to when the car accident occurred, what time Renisha was shot, what transpired between these two events and if the shooter even called 9-1-1 or if it was a neighbor. The identity of the shooter is still unknown, an arrest has not been made and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement saying that it is awaiting further investigation by Dearborn Heights police before deciding whether any criminal charges will be authorized in the case.

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