April 18, 2024 • 19 mins
Step into the vibrant beats and powerful narratives of Milwaukee's hip-hop scene with the visionary Aldermen Khalif Rani, freshly inducted into the Milwaukee Hip Hop Museum. This episode is a heartfelt homage to the man behind America's first Hip Hop Week, a movement that resonates far beyond entertainment, knitting the community together with threads of tradition, support, and empowerment. We reminisce about the electric energy of the first event graced by DJ Kool Herc and how KKhalif'sdream blossomed into a phenomenon, fostering celebration and change within the local African-American community.
Let's journey through the transformative rhythms of hip-hop as it shapes lives and forges indelible connections. From the lyrical prowess of Jay-Z to the raw emotion of DMX, we share tales of how these icons propelled us through the toughest moments and inspired resilience. Our discussion loops in personal favorites and underrated lyrical geniuses, shaping our top five rappers list and sparking a dialogue on how hip-hop culture is a vessel for community activism. With MiMilwaukee'sip Hop Week as the backdrop, we look at its potential to engage youth and promote health. We consider the future of hip-hop in the community endeavors as we step into new chapters and continue championing the beats that unite us.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everybody.
This is your host D-Star herewith Ottoman Khalif Rani City,
milwaukee.
Man, I don't even know what tosay.
Man, welcome.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
I don't know if I can welcomeyou to your own city.
We're at the Hip Hop Museumright now.
This brother, it's a lot.
We're going to unpackeverything, but first what we
(00:23):
want to do is we would like tohonor you today.
From Out of the Box Podcast theMadison.
I mean the Madison, theMilwaukee Hip Hop Museum, and
Holy God's Clothing.
We would like to formallyinduct you into the Milwaukee
Hip Hop Museum today.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
What does it all consist of?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That consists of you being recognized, wow, and.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Look at this.
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Thank you, Khalif Rainey, for all your
contribution to the hip hopcommunity here in Milwaukee.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Man.
I appreciate that manAppreciate you.
Thank you very much.
I'm going to put this on themantle.
Thank you, no problem.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Appreciate that you did it.
You've done a lot, you continueto be of service and we just
really wanted to celebrate you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I never got a hip-hop award, so this is my first time
getting an award associatedwith hip hop.
So thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well, and it's funny because you created the first
hip hop week in any city inAmerica, so it's only right.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Thank you again.
I appreciate it.
The idea of hip hop week.
You know I saw like fashionweek.
You know I saw a restaurantweek.
You know I saw like fashionweek.
You know I saw a restaurantweek, you know.
So, to me I'm thinking like noduh, we need a hip-hop week,
right, right, you know so when Isaid that, you know, my wife
was like you know, you gottamake sense of it, though, like
we just can't be out therespinning on our heads for a week
(02:00):
.
You know we have to actually,uh, make it a value to the
community.
So for me, you know, beyond thehip-hop, beyond the culture,
you know, we have to actuallymake it a value to the community
.
So for me, you know, beyond thehip hop, beyond the culture,
you know, beyond the art, hiphop week is really about
creating a platform to bringmembers of the community
together to get resources,information that they can
improve their quality of lifewith.
So we have a lot of fun, weenjoy the seven days, but what's
(02:21):
most importantly is connectingwith people with the resources
that they can change the qualityof their life Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So kind of take me through its inception.
What gave you the idea to startthe hip hop week?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know, it really was as simple as I just
mentioned.
You know, like I was, I saw, Isaw a fashion week.
You know that's something thatthe city supports.
We have restaurant week, wherewe highlight several other you
know restaurants in the city andyou know I thought it was
important that we celebrated theculture that was the most
dominant culture in the world atthat time.
Right, I believe it still is,still is, still is.
(02:58):
So I'm thinking, like you know,this is a good way to bring
people together, especially inthe community that's faced so
many challenges.
You, you know this is a goodway to bring people together,
especially in the communitythat's faced so many challenges.
You know, bringing peopletogether, bringing resources to
the table and celebrating andhaving fun.
So that really was the premisebehind the idea.
And you know I've enjoyed everysingle hip hop week we've had.
You know we had some verycelebrated people come to the
(03:19):
city and participate and I hopewe can continue that going
forward.
What?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
are some of the most memorable moments that you've
had in Hip Hop Week Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I must say, the first year when we had DJ Kool Herc.
The one thing I must mentionabout Hip Hop Week was when I
actually introduced the idea,the Common Council, we passed a
policy before I had even one actto come and perform for the Hip
Hop Week.
But once I mentioned it, onceit was public, once it was in
the papers and the news, so manypartners from the city started
(03:51):
contacting me saying, hey, wewant to be a part of it.
You know, we want toparticipate.
How can we be a part of it?
So you know, it's somethingthat the city has been behind,
you know, and it's a verydiverse group of supporters.
I got to thank Associated Bank,I got to thank Leslie and Joe
at the Rave, I got to thank MattTalbot so many people who come
together to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
So you know, I had the idea, but without the
community support, you know, itwouldn't go anywhere, Absolutely
so did you expect for thecommunity to embrace it as much
as they have.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, you know, knowing hip-hop, like I know
hip-hop, I anticipated that theywould.
I anticipated that this issomething that they would want,
knowing that we lost AfricanWorld Festival and we lost some
of the community activities thatwe celebrated over the years.
Why is?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
that.
What happened?
Because I know that was likethe biggest one in the country,
right, the African Fest, africanWorld Festival.
Yeah, what happened with?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Because I know that was like the biggest one in the
country, right?
The African Fest, african WorldFestival.
Yeah, what happened with that?
I'm actually a former boardmember of African World Festival
.
I was a part of the team thatbought it back, you know, after
it went defunct for a while, webought Charlie Wilson and others
to celebrate African WorldFestival.
Shout out to Charlie Wilson,shout out to Charlie Wilson.
I love Charlie Wilson.
How can you not?
One of the challenges was andthe thing that I'm trying to
(05:06):
avoid with Hip Hop Week is therewas an act of violence that
occurred at African WorldFestival and that kind of sent
it into a tailspin.
So I kind of designed Hip HopWeek with that in mind, like,
yeah, I know that rap battlesare part of hip hop, but I try
to avoid things that could mar,you know, the the image that hip
hop week has here in the cityof milwaukee and keep it
(05:29):
positive absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Um you, you're using um hip hop in such a unique way,
so you're using hip hop as acatalyst to bring in the youth
and to bring in their parentsand give them information,
education and resources.
What gave you the idea to?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
mix the two.
Excuse me.
Well, you know, in my role asan alderman, I'm really just
doing my job.
You know my job is to connectmy constituents, the people, the
residents of the city ofMilwaukee, with resources.
That's my goal.
So this is the way that Ifigured that I can serve some of
my constituents.
I represent like 53206.
I represent probably one of theMost African American districts
in the city of Milwaukee, andknowing the affinity that we
(06:13):
have For hip hop, so you sayit's young people up to their
father.
So the three tenets of hip hopweek are health, financial
literacy and civic engagementright.
So we talk about finances andhip-hop we talk about getting
our money, getting our moneyright.
Let's really explore that,though.
Let's really talk about how dowe create a pattern of healthy
(06:33):
spending and saving, like, whatare some of the opportunities
for us to be entrepreneurs?
So during hip-hop week, wereally dig into that.
This past hip-hop week we hadDame Dash and he talked about,
you know, what he experiencedwith being in entrepreneurship
and some of the things thatcould catapult us or could
possibly be our downfall.
When we talk about health, wehad the likes of Master Ace.
(06:55):
Shout out, master Ace, hesuffers from MS.
So we talked about the thingsthat he do to live a healthy
lifestyle, how he avoids certainthings and how he maintains his
health.
So when you talk about youngpeople up to adults, that's a
different conversation, right?
We could talk about sexualhealth to young people, or talk
(07:15):
about avoiding drugs and thingsof that nature.
Now to your father, we couldtalk about prostate cancer.
We could talk about et cetera,et cetera, high blood pressure,
whatever.
So it goes from one extreme tothe other.
We can talk to young people toold people and we can still talk
in the same context, which iship-hop.
So you said the civicengagement.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Civic engagement.
I'm sorry, Can you tell us alittle bit more about that?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
When we talk about civic engagement.
That's essentially what we werejust talking about before we
started this conversation on air.
We were talking about peoplevoting, getting involved in
their community.
How do you do that?
What that look like, right?
So we had the likes of likeStickman from Dead Prez.
He's coming, he's talking aboutbeing civically involved.
We had Scarface from Houstonwho at the time was running for
(07:58):
office, running for the CommonCouncil in the city of Houston,
and he came and shared why hewas running for office and what
that meant in the sense of hiphop, right, and we had a good
conversation.
But, yeah, we touching thosethings health, financial
literacy and getting peopleinvolved in their community.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So is it at one central location or is it
multiple locations around thecity?
How does it work?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We hit every part of the city.
We on the south side, we on thewest side, we on the north side
we want this to be a citywideevent.
Every part of the city.
We on the south side, we on thewest side, we on the north side
we want this to be a citywideevent.
And so, wherever you at, wewant to make sure it's
convenient for you to get up andcome, walk over to an event.
So we had, like DJ Envia G'sClippers.
We've had people inestablishments that was easy for
people to come to when theevents are free.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Wow, it's totally free, so it doesn't matter you
know what budget, what age.
It's all age.
It's all you know appropriate,it's clean and it's educational
and it's filling a need in thecommunity.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yep, absolutely, and the conversations are free.
Those are typically held at,you know I mentioned the
barbershop, sherman Phoenixcommunity institutions.
But when we talk about concertsyou know I mentioned the
barbershop, sherman Phoenixcommunity institutions but when
we talk about concerts, you knowthose are ticketed events.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, I mean, of course you know you have to
Absolutely.
What are some of the thingsthat you really hope for the
future, for Hip Hop Week?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You know some of the things that I hope to do that
have that I haven't done yet forhip-hop week.
You know I was talking to aphotographer by the name of
jonathan manion.
He's shot some of the most epichip-hop photos in history of
hip-hop.
You know I want to work withthe art museum and have an
exhibit there where I'm reallywant to introduce the community
(09:43):
at large to different aspects ofhip-hop.
Like I'm pretty sure peoplewouldn't even know there's a
photography aspect to that rightthere's a film aspect like
cartoon absolutely cartoon.
And and when you're talkingabout artistry, like you know
tattoos, right, you knowgraffiti, graffiti, absolutely
yeah, things like that I thinkit's an opportunity for for
(10:04):
those who love hip-hop, you know, have an affinity for it, they
can come enjoy some of thosethings in their own community.
And then I also think it's anopportunity for people who may
not know much about hip hop andwhat it's about to come
experience it in a capacity thatthey're not accustomed to and
find a new appreciation for it.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
So where did your love of hip-hop start?
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
my mama had that Sugar Hill Gang record right
there and it's funny becausewhen my parents got divorced the
biggest assets was thephotographs and the records
right.
So music was very important inour home.
Music was always playing and itwasn't hip-hop.
I was born in 1980, so hip-hopwas around, but it wasn't as
(10:54):
prominent as it is now and forme it just brought so much color
to the world.
It just really showed me as ayoung black man it was a whole
other life that I could live.
So I've always had an affinityfor hip-hop.
I love not just rap music butmusic in general.
But it's really been a a voicethat has catapulted me through
(11:15):
life, like when I'm in thelibrary in college and jay-z
dropped the blueprint.
I thought I was jay-z, thoughtyou was jay-z I thought I was
jay-z.
Now you're jay-z in the library,in In the library I was Jay-Z
studying.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
You know what I mean, so you know.
For me, I'm in this greatcollege, I'm doing great and
you're talking about it's hardnot life, hey, but listen for
those who really dig deep intoJay-Z.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
You know that he has inspired you Right.
You know what I'm saying.
And he I was in there Trying tomajor To be a political science
.
He was doing Whatever he wasdoing, but the energy, it was
kinetic energy that he wasgiving to me To go do what I
needed To do where I was atRight, absolutely.
I don't want to Not underscorethe importance of that.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I mean it is important, and I do that in jest
, but hip hop has guided methrough a lot of rough times in
my life.
I'm a huge, huge, huge DMX fan.
Nothing wrong with that, youknow.
And people say, man, peopleused to say X is the best DMX.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
he didn't drop no album when I was in the library,
though.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right, right, right, it would have been different if
your energy would have did forme.
People used to say man.
People used to say X is thebest.
No, he still is.
I mean X fans are very, very,very different Right To the core
.
We love them to the core.
Good, bad, ugly doesn't matter.
I'm an X fan.
(12:37):
I put X at number one in my topfive.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Go ahead and finish the rest of the five, though, oh
.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
God, I knew you was going to say that, so I'll fire.
Though, oh god, I knew he wasgonna say that, right, so I do,
I'll do x.
I gotta put x, I gotta.
You know, I'm from the midwest,so I'm gonna, I'm gonna put
twister in there, ain't wrong?
Yeah, I mean that's just whatit is he's a legend yeah, um, I
gotta put oh god, I can't say, Ican't believe I'm doing this on
camera.
So x twister jada kiss.
All right, absolutely.
(13:03):
This is a weird one because XTwista Jadakiss.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
All right, absolutely .
Speaker 1 (13:07):
This is a weird one because I know I'm going to get
a lot of flack, but I love SheikLush Absolutely.
That's just my guy.
I like your list, so far.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I love Sheik and man, that's a hard one, man, you did
pretty good.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I don't know, man, I'm going to have to say the
last one.
Just give me a second, becauseit's like three people.
Nah, it's on you.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm going to come a little different.
You know I'm going to name likefive unsung rappers.
Okay, elzai, elzai, elzai.
I like Elzai.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Shout L's Eye.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
L's Eye, l's Eye, I like L's Eye.
Shout out L's Eye.
I like Cormega.
Okay, cormega shout out.
Cormega, I like who else?
My man Sky Zoo shout out SkyZoo.
He actually mentioned me on hissong Bodega Flowers man, I
appreciate that okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
What was the bar?
Go ahead, give us the bar youcan check it out.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
you can show love.
What was the bar?
Go ahead, give us the bar.
You can check it out.
Man, as soon as we done withthis, right here, bodega flowers
.
But um, who else?
Uh, man, benny the butcher,that's my guy.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
That's my man right there.
Yeah, I'm gonna put.
I'm gonna put a 50 on there.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There you go For the five.
You have four, okay, so let mesee who else I'm going to meet.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
That five is hard.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
That fifth one is so hard.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I was looking for my phone, my bad.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Got it.
I was looking for my Spotifyreal quick.
I'm going to say Rock Marciano,okay, rock Marciano absolutely.
And Knowledge the Pirate aswell.
Solid, two good people, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I also like to do an honorable mention to Tech.
He's incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
He speaks for himself , absolutely yeah, he's
incredible man, Serious, serious, serious lyricist.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So what's next for the city?
What's next for you?
What's next?
Because I know that you saidsome things, so I just want to
know what's next.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know what's next for me personally, this current
election.
I'm not seeking re-election for.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I was going to let you say it.
I didn't know if that waspublic.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I'm not seeking re-election for Alderman the 7th
Alderman of the District.
It's definitely been a pleasureand the honor of my life so far
to serve the great people ofthe 7th Alderman of the District
, but I'm still a young man.
I want to pursue some otheropportunities.
You know, before I'm unable todo that, so I don't know exactly
what's next for me in theimmediate future.
But you know it is a plan ofmine to continue hip hop week
(15:34):
here in the city of Milwaukeeand I think with the community
we have people are reaching outsaying you know, how can we
bring it back?
How can we keep it going?
And I think if we work togetherwe can keep this going.
And I see other communitiesaround the country.
I see Baltimore.
They had a hip-hop week.
I've spoken with the mayor of StLouis, I've spoken to some
elected officials in Baton Rouge, louisiana, and other
(15:56):
communities are excited about it.
I mean, I think every communityfaces some of the same issues
Like what do we do to engageyounger people?
You know, how do we give themum, purposeful work, you know?
I mean I think that this iswhat it does and everybody can
kind of curtail it for what theneed is in their community.
These are the things that youknow.
Health that's a real issue forafrican-american people here in
(16:18):
wisconsin we have one of themost obese african-american
populations here in the country,you know and finances we have
some of the biggest disparitiesbetween the white family and the
black family in the country.
So the way that I customizedHip Hop Week here it was
specifically to speak to thoseissues.
But other communities, you knowyou could take the platform and
really set it up the way youwould like or fits the issues of
(16:39):
your community.
So I'm excited about it.
I'm excited about seeing itgrow.
I think that every city in thecountry needs a Hip Hop Week,
would you agree?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, I would agree too, I'm going to say
internationally.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think internationally.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, because it's everywhere, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Everybody should, and I think there's ways.
And I incorporate the library.
They publish a list of hiphop-related periodicals, so I
try to incorporate everydepartment in the city.
Y'all got houses for sale.
Let's do a workshop on sellinghouses during Hip Hop Week.
If you dig through the schedule, we try to touch on every
(17:14):
aspect of quality of life here.
It's about hip hop, but youknow hip hop is it's really not
the focus of the week.
You know it's probably the mostexciting thing of the week.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
We'll be focused on so much more than just the music
and art yeah, and, and you guyshave done just a an amazing job
um charting the course for theentire country to follow that
blueprint, to use hip-hop, and.
Um, the way that it wassupposed to be used in its
inception, the way that thecreators wanted us to use it.
(17:48):
They didn't want us to use itto divide us.
It was supposed to be to shed alight on issues in the
community and bring educationand knowledge to one another.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I see other bodies of government following the lead.
I see Jamal Brown.
He's a congressman out of NewYork.
He created a hip-hop task force, I think about two weeks ago.
Then I saw over the summer thepresident, the vice president.
They hosted a hip-hop concerton the lawn of the White House.
So government is recognizingthis is a platform that we can
(18:22):
use.
It's not going away, it's notgoing away but, most importantly
, how can we use it effectively?
Right, you know what I mean,because there's many aspects of
it in which people blame hip-hopfor ills in the community, but
how can we utilize the platformto make improvements in our
community?
And I think that's what we'retrying to do with Hip Hop Week.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, I think that's what you are doing, sir.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Appreciate you you, thank you, a thousand thank yous
from everybody here at themilwaukee hip-hop museum,
madison and the entire country.
We really appreciate everything.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, shout out, madison man don't get up there
enough.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I need to get up there absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I'm d star until next time, guys.
What's up everybody.
This is your host D-Star herewith Ottoman Khalif Rani City,
milwaukee.
Man, I don't even know what tosay.
Man, welcome.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
I don't know if I can welcomeyou to your own city.
We're at the Hip Hop Museumright now.
This brother, it's a lot.
We're going to unpackeverything, but first what we
(00:23):
want to do is we would like tohonor you today.
From Out of the Box Podcast theMadison.
I mean the Madison, theMilwaukee Hip Hop Museum, and
Holy God's Clothing.
We would like to formallyinduct you into the Milwaukee
Hip Hop Museum today.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
What does it all consist of?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That consists of you being recognized, wow, and.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Look at this.
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Thank you, Khalif Rainey, for all your
contribution to the hip hopcommunity here in Milwaukee.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Man.
I appreciate that manAppreciate you.
Thank you very much.
I'm going to put this on themantle.
Thank you, no problem.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Appreciate that you did it.
You've done a lot, you continueto be of service and we just
really wanted to celebrate you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I never got a hip-hop award, so this is my first time
getting an award associatedwith hip hop.
So thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well, and it's funny because you created the first
hip hop week in any city inAmerica, so it's only right.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Thank you again.
I appreciate it.
The idea of hip hop week.
You know I saw like fashionweek.
You know I saw a restaurantweek.
You know I saw like fashionweek.
You know I saw a restaurantweek, you know.
So, to me I'm thinking like noduh, we need a hip-hop week,
right, right, you know so when Isaid that, you know, my wife
was like you know, you gottamake sense of it, though, like
we just can't be out therespinning on our heads for a week
(02:00):
.
You know we have to actually,uh, make it a value to the
community.
So for me, you know, beyond thehip-hop, beyond the culture,
you know, we have to actuallymake it a value to the community
.
So for me, you know, beyond thehip hop, beyond the culture,
you know, beyond the art, hiphop week is really about
creating a platform to bringmembers of the community
together to get resources,information that they can
improve their quality of lifewith.
So we have a lot of fun, weenjoy the seven days, but what's
(02:21):
most importantly is connectingwith people with the resources
that they can change the qualityof their life Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So kind of take me through its inception.
What gave you the idea to startthe hip hop week?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You know, it really was as simple as I just
mentioned.
You know, like I was, I saw, Isaw a fashion week.
You know that's something thatthe city supports.
We have restaurant week, wherewe highlight several other you
know restaurants in the city andyou know I thought it was
important that we celebrated theculture that was the most
dominant culture in the world atthat time.
Right, I believe it still is,still is, still is.
(02:58):
So I'm thinking, like you know,this is a good way to bring
people together, especially inthe community that's faced so
many challenges.
You, you know this is a goodway to bring people together,
especially in the communitythat's faced so many challenges.
You know, bringing peopletogether, bringing resources to
the table and celebrating andhaving fun.
So that really was the premisebehind the idea.
And you know I've enjoyed everysingle hip hop week we've had.
You know we had some verycelebrated people come to the
(03:19):
city and participate and I hopewe can continue that going
forward.
What?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
are some of the most memorable moments that you've
had in Hip Hop Week Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I must say, the first year when we had DJ Kool Herc.
The one thing I must mentionabout Hip Hop Week was when I
actually introduced the idea,the Common Council, we passed a
policy before I had even one actto come and perform for the Hip
Hop Week.
But once I mentioned it, onceit was public, once it was in
the papers and the news, so manypartners from the city started
(03:51):
contacting me saying, hey, wewant to be a part of it.
You know, we want toparticipate.
How can we be a part of it?
So you know, it's somethingthat the city has been behind,
you know, and it's a verydiverse group of supporters.
I got to thank Associated Bank,I got to thank Leslie and Joe
at the Rave, I got to thank MattTalbot so many people who come
together to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
So you know, I had the idea, but without the
community support, you know, itwouldn't go anywhere, Absolutely
so did you expect for thecommunity to embrace it as much
as they have.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, you know, knowing hip-hop, like I know
hip-hop, I anticipated that theywould.
I anticipated that this issomething that they would want,
knowing that we lost AfricanWorld Festival and we lost some
of the community activities thatwe celebrated over the years.
Why is?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
that.
What happened?
Because I know that was likethe biggest one in the country,
right, the African Fest, africanWorld Festival.
Yeah, what happened with?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Because I know that was like the biggest one in the
country, right?
The African Fest, african WorldFestival.
Yeah, what happened with that?
I'm actually a former boardmember of African World Festival
.
I was a part of the team thatbought it back, you know, after
it went defunct for a while, webought Charlie Wilson and others
to celebrate African WorldFestival.
Shout out to Charlie Wilson,shout out to Charlie Wilson.
I love Charlie Wilson.
How can you not?
One of the challenges was andthe thing that I'm trying to
(05:06):
avoid with Hip Hop Week is therewas an act of violence that
occurred at African WorldFestival and that kind of sent
it into a tailspin.
So I kind of designed Hip HopWeek with that in mind, like,
yeah, I know that rap battlesare part of hip hop, but I try
to avoid things that could mar,you know, the the image that hip
hop week has here in the cityof milwaukee and keep it
(05:29):
positive absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Um you, you're using um hip hop in such a unique way,
so you're using hip hop as acatalyst to bring in the youth
and to bring in their parentsand give them information,
education and resources.
What gave you the idea to?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
mix the two.
Excuse me.
Well, you know, in my role asan alderman, I'm really just
doing my job.
You know my job is to connectmy constituents, the people, the
residents of the city ofMilwaukee, with resources.
That's my goal.
So this is the way that Ifigured that I can serve some of
my constituents.
I represent like 53206.
I represent probably one of theMost African American districts
in the city of Milwaukee, andknowing the affinity that we
(06:13):
have For hip hop, so you sayit's young people up to their
father.
So the three tenets of hip hopweek are health, financial
literacy and civic engagementright.
So we talk about finances andhip-hop we talk about getting
our money, getting our moneyright.
Let's really explore that,though.
Let's really talk about how dowe create a pattern of healthy
(06:33):
spending and saving, like, whatare some of the opportunities
for us to be entrepreneurs?
So during hip-hop week, wereally dig into that.
This past hip-hop week we hadDame Dash and he talked about,
you know, what he experiencedwith being in entrepreneurship
and some of the things thatcould catapult us or could
possibly be our downfall.
When we talk about health, wehad the likes of Master Ace.
(06:55):
Shout out, master Ace, hesuffers from MS.
So we talked about the thingsthat he do to live a healthy
lifestyle, how he avoids certainthings and how he maintains his
health.
So when you talk about youngpeople up to adults, that's a
different conversation, right?
We could talk about sexualhealth to young people, or talk
(07:15):
about avoiding drugs and thingsof that nature.
Now to your father, we couldtalk about prostate cancer.
We could talk about et cetera,et cetera, high blood pressure,
whatever.
So it goes from one extreme tothe other.
We can talk to young people toold people and we can still talk
in the same context, which iship-hop.
So you said the civicengagement.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Civic engagement.
I'm sorry, Can you tell us alittle bit more about that?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
When we talk about civic engagement.
That's essentially what we werejust talking about before we
started this conversation on air.
We were talking about peoplevoting, getting involved in
their community.
How do you do that?
What that look like, right?
So we had the likes of likeStickman from Dead Prez.
He's coming, he's talking aboutbeing civically involved.
We had Scarface from Houstonwho at the time was running for
(07:58):
office, running for the CommonCouncil in the city of Houston,
and he came and shared why hewas running for office and what
that meant in the sense of hiphop, right, and we had a good
conversation.
But, yeah, we touching thosethings health, financial
literacy and getting peopleinvolved in their community.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So is it at one central location or is it
multiple locations around thecity?
How does it work?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We hit every part of the city.
We on the south side, we on thewest side, we on the north side
we want this to be a citywideevent.
Every part of the city.
We on the south side, we on thewest side, we on the north side
we want this to be a citywideevent.
And so, wherever you at, wewant to make sure it's
convenient for you to get up andcome, walk over to an event.
So we had, like DJ Envia G'sClippers.
We've had people inestablishments that was easy for
people to come to when theevents are free.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Wow, it's totally free, so it doesn't matter you
know what budget, what age.
It's all age.
It's all you know appropriate,it's clean and it's educational
and it's filling a need in thecommunity.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yep, absolutely, and the conversations are free.
Those are typically held at,you know I mentioned the
barbershop, sherman Phoenixcommunity institutions.
But when we talk about concertsyou know I mentioned the
barbershop, sherman Phoenixcommunity institutions but when
we talk about concerts, you knowthose are ticketed events.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, I mean, of course you know you have to
Absolutely.
What are some of the thingsthat you really hope for the
future, for Hip Hop Week?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You know some of the things that I hope to do that
have that I haven't done yet forhip-hop week.
You know I was talking to aphotographer by the name of
jonathan manion.
He's shot some of the most epichip-hop photos in history of
hip-hop.
You know I want to work withthe art museum and have an
exhibit there where I'm reallywant to introduce the community
(09:43):
at large to different aspects ofhip-hop.
Like I'm pretty sure peoplewouldn't even know there's a
photography aspect to that rightthere's a film aspect like
cartoon absolutely cartoon.
And and when you're talkingabout artistry, like you know
tattoos, right, you knowgraffiti, graffiti, absolutely
yeah, things like that I thinkit's an opportunity for for
(10:04):
those who love hip-hop, you know, have an affinity for it, they
can come enjoy some of thosethings in their own community.
And then I also think it's anopportunity for people who may
not know much about hip hop andwhat it's about to come
experience it in a capacity thatthey're not accustomed to and
find a new appreciation for it.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
So where did your love of hip-hop start?
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
my mama had that Sugar Hill Gang record right
there and it's funny becausewhen my parents got divorced the
biggest assets was thephotographs and the records
right.
So music was very important inour home.
Music was always playing and itwasn't hip-hop.
I was born in 1980, so hip-hopwas around, but it wasn't as
(10:54):
prominent as it is now and forme it just brought so much color
to the world.
It just really showed me as ayoung black man it was a whole
other life that I could live.
So I've always had an affinityfor hip-hop.
I love not just rap music butmusic in general.
But it's really been a a voicethat has catapulted me through
(11:15):
life, like when I'm in thelibrary in college and jay-z
dropped the blueprint.
I thought I was jay-z, thoughtyou was jay-z I thought I was
jay-z.
Now you're jay-z in the library,in In the library I was Jay-Z
studying.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
You know what I mean, so you know.
For me, I'm in this greatcollege, I'm doing great and
you're talking about it's hardnot life, hey, but listen for
those who really dig deep intoJay-Z.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
You know that he has inspired you Right.
You know what I'm saying.
And he I was in there Trying tomajor To be a political science
.
He was doing Whatever he wasdoing, but the energy, it was
kinetic energy that he wasgiving to me To go do what I
needed To do where I was atRight, absolutely.
I don't want to Not underscorethe importance of that.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I mean it is important, and I do that in jest
, but hip hop has guided methrough a lot of rough times in
my life.
I'm a huge, huge, huge DMX fan.
Nothing wrong with that, youknow.
And people say, man, peopleused to say X is the best DMX.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
he didn't drop no album when I was in the library,
though.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right, right, right, it would have been different if
your energy would have did forme.
People used to say man.
People used to say X is thebest.
No, he still is.
I mean X fans are very, very,very different Right To the core
.
We love them to the core.
Good, bad, ugly doesn't matter.
I'm an X fan.
(12:37):
I put X at number one in my topfive.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Go ahead and finish the rest of the five, though, oh
.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
God, I knew you was going to say that, so I'll fire.
Though, oh god, I knew he wasgonna say that, right, so I do,
I'll do x.
I gotta put x, I gotta.
You know, I'm from the midwest,so I'm gonna, I'm gonna put
twister in there, ain't wrong?
Yeah, I mean that's just whatit is he's a legend yeah, um, I
gotta put oh god, I can't say, Ican't believe I'm doing this on
camera.
So x twister jada kiss.
All right, absolutely.
(13:03):
This is a weird one because XTwista Jadakiss.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
All right, absolutely .
Speaker 1 (13:07):
This is a weird one because I know I'm going to get
a lot of flack, but I love SheikLush Absolutely.
That's just my guy.
I like your list, so far.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I love Sheik and man, that's a hard one, man, you did
pretty good.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I don't know, man, I'm going to have to say the
last one.
Just give me a second, becauseit's like three people.
Nah, it's on you.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm going to come a little different.
You know I'm going to name likefive unsung rappers.
Okay, elzai, elzai, elzai.
I like Elzai.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Shout L's Eye.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
L's Eye, l's Eye, I like L's Eye.
Shout out L's Eye.
I like Cormega.
Okay, cormega shout out.
Cormega, I like who else?
My man Sky Zoo shout out SkyZoo.
He actually mentioned me on hissong Bodega Flowers man, I
appreciate that okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
What was the bar?
Go ahead, give us the bar youcan check it out.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
you can show love.
What was the bar?
Go ahead, give us the bar.
You can check it out.
Man, as soon as we done withthis, right here, bodega flowers
.
But um, who else?
Uh, man, benny the butcher,that's my guy.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
That's my man right there.
Yeah, I'm gonna put.
I'm gonna put a 50 on there.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There you go For the five.
You have four, okay, so let mesee who else I'm going to meet.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
That five is hard.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
That fifth one is so hard.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I was looking for my phone, my bad.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Got it.
I was looking for my Spotifyreal quick.
I'm going to say Rock Marciano,okay, rock Marciano absolutely.
And Knowledge the Pirate aswell.
Solid, two good people, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I also like to do an honorable mention to Tech.
He's incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
He speaks for himself , absolutely yeah, he's
incredible man, Serious, serious, serious lyricist.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So what's next for the city?
What's next for you?
What's next?
Because I know that you saidsome things, so I just want to
know what's next.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know what's next for me personally, this current
election.
I'm not seeking re-election for.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I was going to let you say it.
I didn't know if that waspublic.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I'm not seeking re-election for Alderman the 7th
Alderman of the District.
It's definitely been a pleasureand the honor of my life so far
to serve the great people ofthe 7th Alderman of the District
, but I'm still a young man.
I want to pursue some otheropportunities.
You know, before I'm unable todo that, so I don't know exactly
what's next for me in theimmediate future.
But you know it is a plan ofmine to continue hip hop week
(15:34):
here in the city of Milwaukeeand I think with the community
we have people are reaching outsaying you know, how can we
bring it back?
How can we keep it going?
And I think if we work togetherwe can keep this going.
And I see other communitiesaround the country.
I see Baltimore.
They had a hip-hop week.
I've spoken with the mayor of StLouis, I've spoken to some
elected officials in Baton Rouge, louisiana, and other
(15:56):
communities are excited about it.
I mean, I think every communityfaces some of the same issues
Like what do we do to engageyounger people?
You know, how do we give themum, purposeful work, you know?
I mean I think that this iswhat it does and everybody can
kind of curtail it for what theneed is in their community.
These are the things that youknow.
Health that's a real issue forafrican-american people here in
(16:18):
wisconsin we have one of themost obese african-american
populations here in the country,you know and finances we have
some of the biggest disparitiesbetween the white family and the
black family in the country.
So the way that I customizedHip Hop Week here it was
specifically to speak to thoseissues.
But other communities, you knowyou could take the platform and
really set it up the way youwould like or fits the issues of
(16:39):
your community.
So I'm excited about it.
I'm excited about seeing itgrow.
I think that every city in thecountry needs a Hip Hop Week,
would you agree?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, I would agree too, I'm going to say
internationally.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think internationally.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Yeah, because it's everywhere, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Everybody should, and I think there's ways.
And I incorporate the library.
They publish a list of hiphop-related periodicals, so I
try to incorporate everydepartment in the city.
Y'all got houses for sale.
Let's do a workshop on sellinghouses during Hip Hop Week.
If you dig through the schedule, we try to touch on every
(17:14):
aspect of quality of life here.
It's about hip hop, but youknow hip hop is it's really not
the focus of the week.
You know it's probably the mostexciting thing of the week.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
We'll be focused on so much more than just the music
and art yeah, and, and you guyshave done just a an amazing job
um charting the course for theentire country to follow that
blueprint, to use hip-hop, and.
Um, the way that it wassupposed to be used in its
inception, the way that thecreators wanted us to use it.
(17:48):
They didn't want us to use itto divide us.
It was supposed to be to shed alight on issues in the
community and bring educationand knowledge to one another.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I see other bodies of government following the lead.
I see Jamal Brown.
He's a congressman out of NewYork.
He created a hip-hop task force, I think about two weeks ago.
Then I saw over the summer thepresident, the vice president.
They hosted a hip-hop concerton the lawn of the White House.
So government is recognizingthis is a platform that we can
(18:22):
use.
It's not going away, it's notgoing away but, most importantly
, how can we use it effectively?
Right, you know what I mean,because there's many aspects of
it in which people blame hip-hopfor ills in the community, but
how can we utilize the platformto make improvements in our
community?
And I think that's what we'retrying to do with Hip Hop Week.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, I think that's what you are doing, sir.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Appreciate you you, thank you, a thousand thank yous
from everybody here at themilwaukee hip-hop museum,
madison and the entire country.
We really appreciate everything.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, shout out, madison man don't get up there
enough.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I need to get up there absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I'm d star until next time, guys.
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