The element hip-hop family gathering
THE ELEMENT IS A THING THAT NEEDS TO RE-HAPPEN. So, e had a few different spots that we ended up being fortunate enough to set up in and run out of. It’s not everywhere that has enough room for recording space, writing space, decompression space, beat-making and production space… each has it’s own atmosphere and you don’t want to mix some things. Some rooms can be loud, while other spots you need quiet to mix or to think… or sleep. ALKEBULAN in Pasadena Ca. had all of those rooms. There we hosted an event called THE ELEMENT (A HIP-HOP FAMILY GATHERING) which was open EVERYTHING: Open mic, open dancefloor (nice hardwood floors too, I should know, I waxed them myself when working there), open “turntables” (we had a laptop you could play beats on) and open piece/tag space (had a piece book that floated around until we could get actual walls). All you had to do was bring your open mind. THE GRAFF LAB is a magical place also that is nothing but open wall space. There’s beyond amazing artwork there. Shout out to Biser and DS-One over there. Thanks again for having us over. That place is a blessing. Anyways, so at ALKEBULAN… it was dope. Even the planning meetings were fun. I remember doing the fliers and stickers, hiking down to the KINKOS and the other printshop next door (which was faster, cheaper, and better quality and I used them more) on Colorado & Lake to get everything done… cutting them out on the little paper cutter. Everything about it was hip hop. It was real. It was human. When it came down to showtime we were blessed to have a lot of great artists come out, some brought merch (open merch space too) and everyone had a great time. It was just a fun spot where all of the elements of hip hop could hang out and just vibe. When you felt like it, go up and rock whatever you rock, the floor, the mic, the tables…. Hip Hop Playground is what we were building. It was an amazing experience the few shows we hosted, and… yeah… that needs to happen again. Whatever footage we have will get added to the playlist. I remember there was an episode segment of The Adventures Of… shot right after one of the shows let out. We were still cleaning with beats thumping in the main ballroom. Great times.
The element Videos
To navigate the playlist: in the top right corner there is a drop down menu (three horizontal lines in a square) with the number “1/64” of the video you’re watching. That dropdown menu pulls up the rest of the playlist to pick from. Have fun on this video adventure!