Old Lessons

I was listening the Kendrick Lamar and the Roots the other day, and I must say that I've grown to really appreciate those conceptual songs that really merges literature with hip hop. Just when I was getting bored with what has been coming out these days, my enthusiasm and interest has been rekindled with such genuine narratives and intent to simply tell a story. It was honest and straight-forward, free from the posturing and over-competitive nature that rappers feel that they must always exhibit. While I can often can get caught up in rhyme patterns and cadences, at the end of the day, it is what is being said and not so much how it is said that feeds the soul. It is the content that resonates with me in a way that transcends a form of entertainment. It becomes a part of us. A added perspective. A mechanism provoking self-reflection and analysis.

An old lesson indeed but one that I need to remember ever so often.

-ARISTYLES

Beat Sessions 8 and 9

It's been a pleasure to have some free time to immerse myself into making beats. Below are sessions 8 and 9.

Session 8: From Scratch

Session 9: Percussions and Quantizing

KONY and Why America Needs Ethnic Studies

By now, many of us have seen the KONY 2012 video, created by an organization called Invisible Children which in the past week has received considerable criticism from where the money is being spent and who and how the facts and story is being told. First of all, I am not an expert or would even consider myself fully knowledgeable of the what is happening in Uganda, but I am aware that it is a complex situation that cannot accurately be articulated in a 30 minute video. A accurate understanding of the situation is simply a google search away.

More importantly, the purpose of this post is not to criticize the content of the video, but to bring this discussion back to why America needs Ethnic Studies, or spaces like it. The reason being, is that, simply put, KONY 2012 is a prime example of the exercise of white privilege, in that they, without considering their own positionally and experience, take on the voice of narrating the experiences of the Ugandan people. This is no different from the white historians that have misinterpreted and misarticulated the histories of people of color. This is no different from white scientists who associated race and the size of skulls to intelligence. Furthermore, this reinforces the social and monetary capital that whites had historically stolen, abused, and manipulated to place privilege upon themselves. The privilege to have voice, to consume spaces and positions of influences at the expense of hearing other people's voices. Voices and perspectives that are authentic and true to their own narratives are instead silenced. Furthermore, it is the voices of whites that society continues to place value on over people of color and oppressed groups.

This is no different from the white historians that have misinterpreted and misarticulated the histories of people of color.

I am not implying that people should not address injustice unless it concerns the communities they belong to, I am simply asking,"Where are the authentic voices?" Where are people that can authentically speak on these issues or why is it that those who have spoken out do not receive as much media attention, reposts, or retweets than those (KONY 2012) who have misarticulated the issue. Have we, as a society, digressed to simple-minded bandwagoners that co-signs anything that goes "viral" or becomes "popular"? Have we been bamboozled by the fireworks and theatrics of Hollywood-documentary-like dramatization? Have we lost our ability to use our heart as well as our mind? To feel but to also consume media with a critical eye? If this is the case, then there is a lot of work to done, both on a personal and institutional level.

Have we lost our ability to use our heart as well as our mind? To feel but to also consume media with a critical eye?

And so I return to the question of why we need Ethnic Studies. Contrary to what Arizona politicians that supported SB 1070 might think, Ethnic Studies or spaces like it attempt to allow authentic voices, people of color, to articulate their own stories. To rewrite history as it has been written in the past and to write history as it exist in the ongoing present. It is not writing for the sake of simply having ink on pages of books but to transform Eurocentric perspectives that dominated the way institutions had affected people of color. It is about, yes, redistributing power. The power of voice that in turn influences attitudes and minds, which in turn influences action. Action, that is hopefully concerned with equity and social justice.

-ARISTYLES

Cousin Brenda

Today

the world wept

reminded of

how life can be short

how time is spent

how you

are

were

I feel like a part of my childhood

died today

the kind of childhood

where it was

OK

to burp loudly at the dining table

to make faces and giggle

to over-eat on eggs and pan de sal

to let white rice stick to t-shirts

to color outside of the lines

to wipe mouths on the sleeves of Christmas sweaters

to feel like

everything

is

OK

because

the absence of

your smile

your laughter

your heart

and all that you have given on this earth

is a hard pill to swallow

a pill that only dissolves

with time

with love

with healing

with trips down memory lane

photographs

stories

projected onto the walls of my mind

and colored into my memory with permanent crayons

And so I am only left to act

in admiration

in honor

with lessons

that I will

take with me

in how I will

Teach

Learn

Love

and

Live

I suppose...

this will...

do....

until we meet again.

Wake the F--- Up

This is a piece I did way back and, yes, it is controversial. I believe that it does spark some dialogue when one begins to consider why I would write and perform such a piece. Also you should recognize that the tone of this piece is somewhat light and humorous. Being politically correct or over cautious can be silencing and, in turn, oppressive, and that is something any artist should refuse to fall into. Risk is necessary.

I often appreciate passionate dialogue with some tension in it and I hope that it moves folks forward into further unpacking issues related to race and ethnicity. And just to clarify, I am not against interracial dating, I simply dislike dating that is motivated by self-hate or stereotypes. But then again, what do I know, I'm an Asian male, right?