The rhymes were flowing and beat was strong. And I had a big, huge, grin through the whole night. It was the first night of Hiphopistan. I skipped the panel - as each panel skipped, adds 10 weeks to my life span - and showed up in the middle of Kabir’s set. I got to meet Yogi B and Natchatra - what great, genuine, and nice guys. Che Malabar was superb - and his Postcards from Paradise was the highlight for me. Things were political, things were tight. At one point, the taste at the back of my mouth and the incessant beat in my left ear, and I was transported to another place, long ago, in East L.A. when I went to my first hiphop concert. Ice Cube, who began the set with Assalamalaikum, mfers. Respect. Tonight, I will take pictures, and update this post. I am just happy. Long Live Desi Hiphop!
update: We will talk soon about this. Until then, enjoy the pictures and, below the fold, a couple of videos in crappy youtube (I will put up nicer streaming verisons on the hiphopistan website):
and
Salaam -
I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t mention Abstract Vision - my cousin.
yes, sorry Asad. I am greatly looking forward to him tonight. I got there too late and missed his set.
Great!…sorry to call you out on that!
Thanks for turning me on to Che Malabar. Postcards from Paradise is awesome… I can’t decide if I like the Himalayan Project version better. They are both very haunting and beautiful. In my South Asia history class we are reading Rohinton Mistry’s “A Fine Balance”. This song is almost a perfect soundtrack for the section I am reading right now about the slum community. I am definitely going to share this with my fellow classmates.
“…Even a rose grows through cracks in concrete
and a lotus floats hope in a stream of the ganges…”
I mean to say, Chee Malabar…
Thanks for sharing this! Malabar’s “Postcards from Paradise” is tight. I’ll look out for your streaming versions at the Hiphopistan site.
Peace.
Really wish I had been there to witness this!