THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS! THE CONTEST IS NOW FINISHED!
Congratulations to Gary Pei for winning a free copy of Empire of Funk. You can read his poem below.
Gary Pei is a student at Irvine Valley College who hopes to transfer to the Bay Area majoring in Sociology. He Bboys, Raps, and spends his time reading about Hip Hop culture.
Full Circle
Hip Hop is journey from my soul,
it all started when I picked up that first pair
of converse shoes ,
–
from break beats
to underground,
to neo soul to radio
–
It’s a culture that mirrors a globe.
a group of people
like yourself.
–
An cultural umbrella
that always grows;
yet nostalgic
so real
~felt~like~it~never changed.
–
This mirror gave me chance to grow
given tools, overcome obstacles.
25 years old…-
5 elements…-
started at 14,
ways to express myself:
dance, rap…
kick knowledge.
–
I wanted to show three:
Gave me a chance to find myself soulll searching.-
Dance
I remember, reminisce
My first jam in 07:
Freestyle Session 10.
saw every crew, from every continent.
got to see MZK, up close
battled a European crew
We signedup, an 8 vs. 8,
so we got, four ringers
One from Arizona, three Koreans.
I got to start the battle
similar to a hypeman
2000 people watching,
and hundreds, stacked at stands
I threw in my toprocks with my $20 shoes,
all I could afford was: Footworktojackhammerhandspins
Probably had over 10 rounds back then
I threw 20 more
Bboy Pop from Gamblerz gave me props, for that solo
Ended that set with a stapled chair freeze.
That was the day I felt like I could do anything…
2000 people in the world watching me…
I never had any stage fright anymore…
That was the day I felt like I could do anything…
2000 people in the world watching me…
I never had any stage fright anymore…
I was battling the world that day…
Knowledge
Years later on,
a friend, gave me a book written by Jeff Chang…
Can’t stopwon’t stop made me the hip hop buff I am today.
I spent hours reading Malcolm x, read all the speeches
Read Du bois, and took a steamboat journey back with Marcus Garvey
I could see how folks saw hip hop as the Harlem renaissance…
But personally I found it closer to the Nicholas brothers, and the Bronx picked up Tricia Rose and the Hip Hop wars..
Saw that she loved culture,
Lupe, said never to settle less, ask for more
Pac and Aliyah left my eyes
I bumped her track and it tripped me up: she left her voice behind
Nevertheless
I was kicking knowledge where I was lecturing in my local school
Was talking about the new Jim Crow and four elements
We talked about kendrick and discussed if control would’ve made an impact My 10 minute presi, ended up being an hour lesson
That was when I felt like I was truly a teacher
2013 spring semester
That was the day I felt like I could do anything…
2000 people in the world watching me…
I never had any stage fright anymore…
That was the day I felt like I could do anything…
2000 people in the world watching me…
I never had any stage fright anymore…
I was battling the world that day…
MC
Got into rap, messing around with an xxl cipher track
Only started rapping a year, but luckily got the hang off of that
Had an ear for Hip Hop due to Nas and James Brown ten years back Started from a style: similar to Nasty and Danny Brown accent
A bass voice I cultivated to shout out “Chali Tuna”,
yet wanted it to burn slow like Rick Ross
Had to messed around with harmonies, tripled layered my octaves
10 years in the Hip Hop game
And yet I’m still a freshmen (man)
learning how to make albums ,from nasty, kendrick, and drake

I might lose that feeling after landing my first stake
But it doesn’t go away, it’s just change
Hip Hop always feels like I can still become a kid.
Maybe not 14. But I’m okay with 15. 28.
Check check. 1, 2.
Ad lib. We’ll start from there..
That was the day I felt like I could do anything…
2000 people in the world watching me…
I never had any stage fright anymore…
That was the day I felt like I could do anything…
2000 people in the world watching me…
I never had any stage fright anymore…
I was battling the world that day…
Cypher
This art can make you dance on concrete, pages, and metaphors I was lucky to be apart of three different elements
Knowledge and appreciation
Bboying
And rapping
It’s all about pushing adversity
and staying on beat…
Codename Cassius Clay, is the new identity
Bobbing and weaving like the old Muhammad Ali
Dance like a butterfly
Sting when I speak
Drop the 360, NOI (Nation of Islam)
5 percenter knowledge
Like the cypher makes my Nikes footwears: complex, complete
From something to nothing
I used to have friends that treat this women like it was a game
Now I know better, it ain’t no prize or object,
it’s someone.
A person.
I still love her,
That’s why I make this art
Why I tie my shoes before the session
Why I picked up X, sit in class, kick knowledge
Why I pick up the pen, play with words,
hope to escape the Alcatraz that I built in my head,
unscrew the pinebox
and labels this subtextual world set me in.
Media. Universal Music. Media. Def Jam.
But despite all this marketing: it is also a conscious tool for learning/teaching/art/education
Each one, teach one
Hope my art that she gave me: makes all the difference
Cause God is my Witness:
Nothing was the same, yet I never felt my core ever changed,
and yet I was made to be different.
I know she made me change.