Hip-Hop has gone all directions and people in their lives dedicate a portion to it. This is why it is so beautiful not forget the culture. Remember when you were helping a friend with fliers or paying a steep price at a show to see your buddy rap? Do you remember dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur and sharing your love for life and hip-hop with all? What happened to the innocence? If we loose it then the youth will find their answers in our solutions. Instead we loose faith in our people and the causes we fought so hard for. We find ways to forget by burying ourselves in other objectives and projects. We loose our way from hip-hop all the while using it to gain respect, notoriety and security. Not even in the name of hip-hop but in the name of something different.

When we loose our way, we choose to live our life with balance and all of the ups and downs that come with it. When we are high we are at our most supremeness. We invite opportune individuals who are in their unique environments for the cause. When we are at our lowest, we use what we know instead of gifting it and blessing it. Humbleness is archaic so we feel as if we are elders yet assume hypocrisy.

When we have hit the grit and the dirt feels like heaven, we look back up towards hip-hop and all it has given. We loose control and allow our senses to communicate our beliefs within our realms. All of the people around us are in different spaces therefore we can not have one realm of thought… but many. When we find this, we are not humbled but realistic.

Finally we bring back to the youth and the culture with a mix tape or an event or festival. We open ourselves free allowing the stank of aeresol to form on dark, grimy walls and cheap ink, etched into flat, scotch cotton. Our minds open and words flow as free as they did when we were just babies in hip-hop and this is when we allow others to really see the majestic nature of what hip-hop has opened for us.

Our lives open and everyone seeks us. We feel on top of the world for the wisdom we speak because it is knowledge in the streets and in the hearts of ourselves. Finally we have come to be. We are hip-hop.

By Aaris A. Schroeder
November 5, 2011

Mr. P Chill
All Seriousness Aside
Released 2011

Sacramento Emcee that has been releasing hip-hop albums worth talkin’ about on a positive tip since 2003.  With his innovative web presence and west coast tour networking abilities, Mr. P Chill has now released what he wants to call his, “best album ever.” 

Within just a few short months and since recently becoming married to his wife Heather AKA Mrs. P Chill, this emcee has written, recorded and released a true local gem.  “All Seriousness Aside” is nostalgia and love of hip-hop and the veteran status that comes with it all mixed into a fresh, fun album.  Mr. P Chill has music dedicated to finding work, the love of his life, calling out emcees and feelin’ himself on some “freshness” but definitely not ghost-ridin’-the-whip! 

Plus Mr. P Chill has some great emcees and DJs on this album, including Crazy Ballhead [local veteran status hip-hop performer and three-time Sacramento Music Awards [SAMMIES] winner. Sacramento News and Review throws an awards ceremony every year and not only Crazy Ballhead but Mr. P Chill has also received nominations and awards.  Also featured on this album is poet and spoken word performer, SupaNova.  Emcees Oso and Negro also make appearances.  Not to mention Los Angeles based Emcee, DJ and Musician, Lumis.  There has also been word that Lumis may be producing more work with Mr. P Chill and other Sacramento musicians and emcees.  Mr. P Chill’s featured DJ on, “All Serious Aside” is Mike Colossal, a local DJ who is becoming a favorite in the hip-hop community and more of a staple at Sol Collective.

Mr. P Chill has live performances on a monthly basis throughout the Sacramento area and also tours the West Coast at least a couple times a year.

“All Seriousness Aside” is dedicated to Kirk Parker AKA The Screen Master, a poet and philosophist and close friend to Mr. P Chill and to Daniel Blak, an emcee that Mr. P Chill had the opportunity to make music and tour with.  Both of these people passed away in 2011.

More information about Mr. P Chill events, album releases, how to get one of his hand-made stickers or printed t-shirts, go to www.mrpchillmusic.com.  Mr. P Chill is also networked at www.Facebook.com/mrpchill and Twitter.com/mrpchill916.

By Aaris A. Schroeder

Back again at Patris Studios for round two of Screen Printing with A.C.  This time around, the classes will take place, Sundays, October 30, November 6 and 13, 2-6 pm and it is all about screen printing for the holidays.

Our first class, Sunday, October 30 will be about printing bags for Halloween.  Bring your kids for this one!  For $20 you get to learn techniques, get all the supplies and take home a study bag to go trick or treating in!  If you have a flat stock bag or hard cotton/hemp that you would rather print on, we encourage you to bring this but remember that if you mess it up it is always at your descretion. There may be some sort of afterparty in the mix too so be prepared if you want to be involved! 

Next, Sunday, November 6, we will be fashioning holiday cards for thanksgiving.  So come with ideas! Each class, you get to make four copies of your card to take with you.  So this can be something that is general for your friends and family or it can be specific.

Lastly, we will be creating creative cards or posters Sunday, November 13.  Use your imagination.  Remember that Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are all just around the corner.

The classes may change up a little bit and this is the place to be notified!  If you want to be put on a mailing list for the workshop, simply reply to this thread here or send an e-mail to: ubohammer@gmail.com.  You can also view www.facebook.com/ubohammer or SHGRAFFIX FACEBOOK for constant updates.

Already in effect on its second Sunday, Sept. 25, SledgeHammer Graffix is offering round two in its gallery-traveling screen printing three-part workshop .  Taught by long time screen printer and business-owner, Leon Willis will show you step-by-step how to create a screen printed card or poster, using a one-three color process. 

The series that began Sunday, Sept. 18 will resume Sunday, Sept. 25 at 2 pm and the last class is Oct. 2.  Classes are located at Patris Studio @ S12 Gallery on 1200 S St.  The class is taught to those willing to learn that are ages 9-years-old and over.  This is perfect for parents and children, couples, business partners, college and high school students and art students.

Come join in the fun and take your projects home with you for $20 a class. If Children are under 13-years-old, they pay just $10.  This class is a great way to start off your week and to spend some quality time learning a new craft!

For more information on workshops, printing goods for your business or one-on-one screen printing classes and internships, visit SledgeHammer Graffix and check us out on Facebook too!

Arriving to the garden on 4th and 39th Ave. in Oak Park, one of ten other “Freedom Farms,” I see Program Manager Kory Grant Clift making three fresh new beds for summer time vegetables and pulling weeds from around a varietal of lettuces. Clift explains to me that there are three major influences that helped him and his partners start Freedom Farms in Sacramento, CA.

The idea of Freedom Farms began with Fannie Lou Hamer, a Civil Rights Activist in Ruleville, Mississippi. Her job was to convince young people to cast their ballots and vote. This activist who had no trouble talking to youth about the importance of voting was also a gentle soul and a singer, who recorded the now infamous song, “This Little Light of Mine.” In ’69, Hamer helped start the Freedom Farm Cooperative whose goal it was to provide food and economic independence to local people. Hamer saw the connection between education, jobs and political influence.

   Another influence is the local non-profit, Freedom Bound Center whose business it is to address health advocacy, social justice and cultural activism for its community youth. Clift has worked with this organization for many years. One of the off springs of F.B.C. is Sol Collective whose motto is to provide artistic and educational programming, promote social justice and empower the youth.

The Freedom Development Group was born from F.B.C. and thus was born Freedom Farms, one of seven other community-related services that are offered to the Sacramento region and beyond.

Another influence was Mama Jaseriah Freedom School, which was taught out of the Wo’se Community church, who believes it is best to work together for community unity within the teachings of Africa extend to truth, justice and righteousness. Mama Jaseriah’s educational courses were a sort of “Saturday-School” and were taught by community members. The Wo’se has connections with The Global African Presence, African Americans for Balanced Health and The Black Panther Party.

At this point in the interview with Clift, I feel rest assured that he is a man who knows his path in life. He is here to work within his community, to educate by teaching farming. Freedom Farms helps to educating teachers, parents, community leaders to empower themselves and youth with farming and healthy eating.

A young African-American man is on the other side of the fence in the church school yard, tending to a garden. Clift stops talking to me and gets up to address the young man. He tells me to follow him so I can see his garden. I am introduced to 18-year-old Don-Jesus Clemons who founded a collective called Focus Minds Youth Council. He works with the youth but from their conversation, it seems that there is some trouble that Clemons has fallen into personally plus he doesn’t have a water outlet for his garden. He has been bucketing water from the faucet that Clift uses on the other side for his garden.

“Hard workers keep their hands dirty,” Clemons exclaims with great energy. Then he goes about his way.

Less than one percent of all farmers are African-American owned, this is a fact. It is also a fact that Freedom Farms is the only non-profit black-owned farm and local garden service in the entire Sacramento County. Clift says that there are other African Americans out there that farm, that want to create a similar program but that there is systematic racism in the system that has held his non-profit back from receiving grants and other, mainly white-owned co-operative gardens the opportunity to reap the benefits of a plentiful harvest.

“We’ve been [active] for six or seven years. Due to technology and the system of capitalism and exploitation, [African-Americans][ have turned away from working the land. Now there is a rebirth and that is important for [the] economic condition we are in,” says Clift.

At one time, Freedom Farms had 30 active gardens and then Grant went to Humboldt University and received a Masters in Social Science with a focus in New Urban Ecology. He was able to use educational facilities to test and create urban rejunification.

Clift says that he does not support the planter box mentality, rather for just $100, he and his team will come to your property and install a 10X10 garden. He also states that they work with a variety of people with different interests, ethnicities and situations. He is working state-wide and works within programs in the Bay Area and Davis, CA and the Native American College. Freedom Farms also helped support a perma-culture certification with the Regenerative Design Institute.

Freedom Farms also works with local high schools teaching cooking demonstrations and teaching agriculture. Currently, Clift has been working with Sacramento City Unified School District’s Healthy Foods Task Force, helping to improve healthy cafeterias and food consumption for children. Clift says that it has been a slow process but he now has the ears of the superintendent.

“Through Agriculture and eating healthy, we can improve test scores and overall improvement in students,” according to Clift who also says it only costs three dollars a day to feed a child at school.

Through the CA Department of Education, Health Services and Food and Agriculture there have been educational models that connect schools to farms. These are models and are supported by these state-ran entities, let us state but these departments are not purposefully starting these programs. It is taking people like Clift to get involved with Food Task Force. Fortunately, this is a tool that has been set up for people like Clift and his non-profit Freedom farms to work to implement, one school at a time.

According to Clift there are meetings that parents can attend even though they aren’t necessarily invited to. Clift calls this systematic racism since groups of parents from specific schools are discouraged from getting involved. He says that he has experienced this first-hand and has worked hard to get where he is at with his non-profit and will not stop.

In ’05, Clift received a grant from Health Education Council in which Freedom Farms created their own curriculum with community members to work with other community members and the youth to create sustainable gardens and eco-systems.

He currently teaches Agriculture 101 at American Legion High School and participates in the Farm Stand Project that works to teach youth leadership and useful job skills all while running several local urban farms and working with Healthy Foods Task Force.

“We have been growing for five years with no help from the Oak Park Neighborhood Association only help from individuals such as Community Pride,” says Clift.

There are several other programs that have been developed in conjunction with Freedom Farms and the Freedom Development Group, Inc.

Freedom Farms – Agriculture (Thesis project)

Freedom Transport – Automotive/ Transportation

Freedom Flowers – Women’s Empowerment and Young Mothers Support Network

Freedom City – C.H.E.F. Model (Clothing, Housing, Energy and Food) Venture in Sustainable Living

Freedom Life – Music, Theatre, Art, Dance

Freedom Movement – All of the FDG Network (Business partners, sponsors, supporters, contacts, relationships)

Freedom Academy – The FDG Learning Process (How we make it all happen and train and educate along the way), Saturday Scholars

For more information visit Freedom Farms

By Aaris A. Schroeder
August 9, 2011

Rebbecca Gerhardt, also known as Blaze has been through it and back.  As an emcee and a transitional nomad, this young lady has gone from poetry to singing to rapping by the age of 15-years old.  Her travels are deep and her life is continuing to change and grow.  She trusts herself and moves to the beat of her own drum.

Born in Sonoma County and moving, after her parents split up to South Lake Tahoe, Blaze found her passions in her quiet hours.  Her family then moved to Gardenerville, just outside of Tahoe and at Douglas High School she met a couple guys who were already performing their hip-hop music at high school dances.

Her drive to succeed in the music world drove her to rap on “Battle Boards,” a phone-based network for up and coming battle rappers.  There she met an east-coast rapper named Shakespeary A.K.A. Shakes.  This is where she received a lot of lessons in hip-hop.

Blaze quickly understood the independent way and became a hustler of her own skills.  Once graduated, Blaze moved around; different jobs, different cities and all the while focusing on her music.  Landing in Sacramento in ’99, Blaze was infiltrated with the Drum and Bass scene and found a way to collaborate her spoken-word gone live rap into the mix.

Working along side Sacramento super stars such as Tufu, Yuckmoth, Booyah Tribe, Sho Nuf and Dimiza Hibiki, Blaze’s eyes were set on the prize.

She was an instant success.  Coming on stage at The Press Club, a small venue known for indie rock and dance nights in Sacramento allowed her to network further.  She became resident at a local venue known for jazz, open-mics and rock bands, Fox and Goose.

“A chance to step my game up,” says Blaze about her experiences and growth.

Soon after, Blaze was offered a record deal with Virgin Records but because the label wanted to change her physical appearance and lyrics, she declined.  Blaze was performing multiple times a week and also attending college, taking courses in color theory, hip-hop dance and theater.

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was released in ’05, produced by Numinous in South Lake Tahoe.  Since then, Blaze has been working with Sacramento emcees such as Mr. P Chill and Tribe of Levi.  Recently, Blaze was inducted into The People’s Revolution [T.P.R], Tribe of Levi’s crew.

Blaze is currently working on producing an album and collaborating with local talent.  She is still a free spirit and growing in her own skin.

In the oversaturated business of photography, one person, Rebecca Knoblauch has been able to get through to the other side and she is not stopping there.

Knoblauch is best known for her involvement as a photographer in the regional hip-hop community however her passion in photography started at a young age capturing stories through images.

“I never wanted to be on the other side of the lens [as an adolescent],” says Knoblauch who is more of a watcher than someone who is looking for attention.

Early images that she has captured are of serine natural beauty.  Finding the beauty in something so simple is Knoblauch’s passion and mission.

It apparently all started with a disposable Polaroid camera and then evolved into a 35 mm camera.  Once Knoblauch was in junior high, it became more than a hobby.  Knoblauch caught a lot of her high school’s sports team on camera and had work published in Union Mine High School’s year book.  Knoblauch graduated in ’03.

Briefly attending Sonoma State during ’03-‘04, Knoblauch spent her free time shooting random photographs with her roommate who was also a photographer. After her educational experience, she moved to Elk Grove and worked for a private photography company who took pictures for schools.

In ’05, Knoblauch jumped into the music scene.  She listened to a lot of different kinds of music but definitely had an ear for hip-hop.  She started shooting Second Saturdays in Sacramento and attending different music events to network and shoot.

In ’07, Knoblauch joined Ultra Mega Collective with DJ 7evin, Rodg from Feva In Da Funk House, Aaris A. Schroeder and Cosie [who doubled as an advertising manager for a local newspaper].  The collective worked together with their skills to produce an issue of UBO Magazine.

Once the collective dissolved, Knoblauch continued to take photographs at live events and also stills for local performer’s press shots. Knoblauch was known as one of the top forerunners in the local entertainment industry along side Amanda Lopez.

Around this time, Knoblauch felt as if she wasn’t getting all that she could from the local music scene and took a step back to analyze her photography business and figure out a way to construct her passion into a fulfilling career.

Now Knoblauch shoots anyone from music to babies and models to brides and grooms.  Her business is growing and she has at least three studios that she works out of.  Her goals are to eventually open a photography gallery that doubles as a place of business to notarize documents.  Knoblauch currently lives in Sacramento and is dreaming big.

Visit Stimulate Photography Today!

July 13, 2011

I have got some great stories for you that I have been working on this summer.  I am really excited to tell you all about Rebecca Knoblauch of Stimulate Photography and Kory Grant Clift of Freedom Farms.

This summer has just been amazing.  We have had some of the mildest days this summer mixed in with some exciting thunder and lightning and days hot enough to send your steaming body into a cold pool.  Oh and don’t worry, the pool at Red Lion is waiting for you – with all different types of sexy bodies and some of the hottest local DJs.

If you’ve wanted to go out once the heat has subsided, several local performers have and are still releasing albums and EPs this summer, including Max Bundles, Mr. P Chill, Doey Rock and C Plus.  There is definately more to come.

Looking for some get away time?  The Sustainable Awareness Festival at the Auburn Fairgrounds at the end of July or the The One Love, One Heart Reggae Festival, in September near the Sacramento River are all sure to help you get your groove on and meet some really awesome people!

We are just getting started.

We arrived at 3 pm and there was not a soul in the building for the workshop, Memorial Day Weekend was in our midst.  Just a few people showed up for the workshop but that was okay.  There was a nice food spread to celebrate the last workshop at Beatnik, hoping that it will not be the last ever.

The ambiance and visuals of Beatnik Studios offered the screen printing workshop a wonderful artistic aura that just wouldn’t be the same anywhere else.  The lighting was just right as the sun peeked in through the windows and traveled to the back of the first half of the building and students smiles are accentuated as they posed with their prints in the soft shadows and flickering light created from the oak trees just outside.

By this time, students have heard what is up or are returning for yet another session of screen printing at Beatnik.  This time it is May 22 and the workshop is full with people of all ages, youngsters in elementary school, middle school, college aged as well as people in their 30s and 40s.

Instructor, Leon Willis AKA AycRock used this phenomenon to his advantage and made sure that everyone has been paired up properly to make the workshop go by with a breeze.

Students are getting more and more creative as the workshops go on.  This time more students were on time and we had lots of fresh new faces as well!

May 22, 2011