B-Boy Teknyc

In this episode we talk to Joel Martinez aka Teknyc. He is a b-boy, writer, educator, cultural ambassador, spy award recipient and represents Skill Methodz Crew and Fame City Kings.
 
We have an in-depth conversation on his early days, how he got his name, his passionate pursuit of his diverse talents, the Spy award, the Go-off, the Coffee Break, and his views on the social justice issues.
 
You can find Teknyc on:
www.instagram.com/teknyc/ 
www.twitter.com/teknyc 

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:05):
Welcome to Souls of hip hop, a podcast for hip hop heads
the aims to bring inspiringpeople together to share their
wisdom, passion, and uniquestories.
My name is Candy, and I'm DJRazor Cut.
And together we are Soulidarity,connecting souls organically.

(00:27):
On today's show, we welcome JoelMartinez, aka Teknyc.
Teknyc is a B boy, writer,educator, cultural ambassador,
and spy award recipient. Herepresents Skill Methodz and
fame city kings.
Welcome to the show.
Yeah, welcome to the souls ofhip hop podcast
dope. Thank you for having me.
First and foremost, a big shoutout to both of you.

(00:50):
Let's start at the verybeginning. What was your first
encounter with hip hop,I was born and raised in Puerto
Rico. My first encounter withhip hop culture was in the mid
80s, I was only a kid I was bornin 77. And the movies like Wild
Style and Style Wars, they hitPuerto Rico like a meteor, just
like as it did everywhere elsein the world, the phenomenon

(01:11):
that hip hop became, it was nodifferent in Puerto Rico. So
that was my first encounter withhip hop was at the height of his
of its like, explosion.
So how would your parentsdescribe what you do?
I think my mom says something tothe degree of like, Joel is

(01:35):
answering to his calling. AndJoel is living his dream life.
When I was a kid, I will saybefore, you know that that
encounter with the explosion ofhip hop. It's funny, because I
was always a kid that I love. Iwill always be trying like comic
books, like I try to draw, youknow, so I was crap. By the way,
I wasn't. I wasn't good at it.
But but there's a there's aparallel there in my my affinity

(01:59):
for the arts as a kid minute,something that wasn't really
still for my parents, no dis tothem. It wasn't a thing where
they were like, you should draw.
It was just something I'vegravitated towards, you know,
they encourage it for sure. Butit wasn't like a home thing. The
only thing I would sayartistically in my home was

(02:20):
music. My dad played the guitarand other indigenous instruments
like weed or things like that.
Can you explain what that whattype of instrument that is? For
people that may not know? Yeah,sorry. So the Guido is a seed
that grows from from a tree,imagine like a giant teardrop.
And the material is almost likewood. And so what Puerto Ricans

(02:42):
do culturally, they drill twoholes on the inner side to get
your index and thumb through it.
And then on the opposite side,we carve carefully, multiple
lines, I would say like over 100groups. And then we take a metal
brush and rub it against it andit kind of creates this. So

(03:07):
there's a wrist movement thatyou have to do with the with the
hand that's holding the metalbrush, like a pig brush, if you
will. And then there's movementholding that wheel too. So it's
like an accompany, obviously toall the other instruments that
create our traditional music ofboom by playing ourselves in

(03:27):
actually which is kind of like ayoung young genre but but is
that sound that you barely hearin the back? Is that my dad that
plays that?
Did that inspire your love forpercussions
100% at home percussion was wasthe joint and so it's funny
because Wiggles, he noticed thatvery early on in me He's like,

(03:49):
like you gravitate towards thedrum, as to obviously like
there's some horn sections thatwe when we dance we naturally
hit, I think that I naturallyDon't try to like forcefully hit
horns for the sake of life. I'mon beat because I'm naturally on
B by going to the natural tempoof the song. So I know this is a

(04:11):
bit of like, off topic, but likewhen the whole thing of like
writing the beat came about itseemed very unnatural to me. I
understand that I know that it'sa skill. But for me and my
generation, it's the thing thatis kind of it was very like, I
started calling it like karaoke,dancing. I follow the red.to
every instrument in every part.
And it seemed very unnatural,you know, because you like,

(04:33):
again, there's a skill to do itwhere it's so dope that you're
in different movements. You'rehit hitting lyrics, horns,
drums, so that's cool. Like towatch. It is amazing, but it's
not something that I ever saidlike, oh my god after these 15
years now I got to learn thatI'm comfortable in knowing that
when a song starts, I'm going togo in and I'm going to catch the

(04:54):
wave. And I mean literally, it'slike surfers, when they're like
paddling and they say Stand up,you've got to ride the wave
that's already been created, thesong is already been created.
You always been a deep guy,first of all, always, always
dropping knowledge since we met.
And I have to say I thought yourreal name was technique when we
met. I thought that that secondtechnique where your real names

(05:17):
are probably that you likereally hippie parents. When I
was like, oh, they're nice andtechnique and abstract. My real
name is candy. That's what mymom gave me. So I was like, the
only one that has like this sortof, you know, nickname. It's
like a real real name. But I'minterested in finding out how
did you get that name.

(05:38):
So I got the name technique frommy boy mugs, who was one of the
earliest teachers that I hadwhen I got reintroduced to
breathing. So I need to do alittle backstory there real
quick. So as I mentioned, I wasmy first encounter with breaking
was in the 80s in Puerto Rico,right, my brother was it before
became a people during thattime. So now let's go through

(05:58):
the dark ages of like breakingdoesn't like it kind of went
away, especially in Puerto Rico,right. So now my family, we
migrate to the United States, mybrother at this point, this is
early 90s, my brother had becomea jockey, a horse like horse
races. So daughter bred horses,and he brought my family to 10.
So that's when we migrated tothe United States. At this point

(06:20):
is the height of 90s. GoldenEra, not brick breaking To me,
it was done. I now say fastforward a year or so later, I'm
old enough to kind of go out onmy own with my friends. And we
go to Ybor City, which is like astrip in per se, like the
downtown of Tampa. And we sawthat I saw this really big crowd

(06:43):
of people that I never seen onthis trip, I'll say what the
heck is going on. So as Iapproach, I'm hearing a drum
sound, but it was coming fromlater on, I find that it's
coming from buckets. And therewas a squad of guys, clown mugsy
came in jazz and came out. Priorto kick that came out that we
know that we became to know thiscame out stri hitting era came

(07:04):
out. So these guys were streetperforming and breaking and
having jokes that had a full ontheater show on the street that
ended with a grand finale ofpulling about mugsy at that time
was pulling about 12 people fromthe audience while standing
there would bend from the waist.
And the finale was him runningfrom half a block, take a leap

(07:24):
in the air dive dive style. Andthen right at the very end, tuck
forward and land on his feet,clearing 10 to 12 people. But in
between the show had breakingroutines. Cloud was poppin. I
was like oh my god, they'restill doing that. So I
approached these people rightafter I go, I used to break as a
kid, my brother Can I do this.

(07:46):
And they were just like comingto me. They invited me like they
didn't even know me, there wasno introduction, there was no
hanging out. There's nothingjust like, come next week. I go
the following week, I joinedthem, I'm trash. My best move
was to suicide, which I damnnear broke my spinal cord doing
that to like, kind of do my partof bringing some hype to the

(08:07):
show. So as I'm progressing andlearning and they're teaching me
foundation six that kind ofguided me every so often I would
approach mugs and I'd be like,yo, how was that? Am I getting
any better? And he's like, yeah,your technique is good. And keep
working at it. So he was kind ofdissing me, but also encouraging
me, right. So I will keepasking, I will keep asking. And

(08:30):
then it was like, it just got toa point where he just kept using
the word technique as a pleasantway of saying, like, just keep
practicing. You have a long waythat became a yo we're gonna
call it we're gonna call youtechnique. Now dispelling TK NYC
we want to go make uniforms forsome event that was happening
like gasparilla or something. Sowe wanted to make crew shirts to

(08:53):
st perform to make money. Sowhen we went to go put our names
on the back of our shirts, te chni q ue me or went from shoulder
to shoulder when you had mugs.
Clown came it was like four orfive letter nicknames and they
were like, Yo dawg, your name isman long. So mugsy also came up
with the spelling Tikka NYC tobe small and more compact, and

(09:18):
also a hip hop way of sayingtechniques. You know, you
wouldn't need some long asswalls to write technique.
You know? Yeah, imagine doing apiece like and that was another
thing like we'll get to thatlater when I started writing. It
was still problematic becausetraditionally is like four

(09:38):
letters, right? So with sixletters I was like, I'm just
gonna write tech and big ups tomy teacher sees an Ewok they're
like dog there's so many tagsthat's like the most cop out
name because I tech one a Tecnine. You know what I mean? The
killer tech, and they're like,yo, your name is the technique
you need to push through thewall and learn How to do pieces

(10:01):
mistakes letters like it is whatit is deal with it. And that was
that. So I think I've only donein my life, I would, I'm gonna
say maybe a handful of techpieces only because of the space
when I got to a mirrorless andshit. But then, most recently
that I did, I was in that samesituation and I refused to do
tech. So I did Tex TK s, whichis also a variation in text as

(10:25):
in text, footwork, you know, andI mean, and so I'm probably sure
someone else right writes text,but for me, it was like, This is
the space that I have. And I cando a technique piece. When did
you start actually writing2004 2005 I moved into a Carmen
was not a part of it was a housewith multiple rooms in Jersey

(10:47):
City with a walk in sees. I wasliving in Brooklyn at the time,
and I like the lease was so Ihad to move I have to find a
place that was affordable. Atthat point. Brooklyn was already
done, like the rent that I waspaying. I was like the last the
last, you know, affordablehousing, if you will. So I had
to move out of and why. And Ihad met, he walked through the

(11:11):
scene. I started reaching outjust kind of like putting out
feelers like Yo, I'm lookingforward room or apartment and
he's like, yo, there's a roomavailable. And in this house
that I live, come check it out.
So it was exactly that it was aroom in a house. So every floor
had two to three rooms. Soeventually I lived it was
myself. He walked sees Marjorie,rest in peace. Why not?

(11:34):
Marjorie's fiance gas, who's adancer and a writer. And yeah,
it was like the hip hop house.
We named it the barracks. And soin any case, that's what I was.
So living there, scene, he wasworking constantly on canvases
and seas, and also going outpainting and coming back and

(11:55):
showing me footage, we startedkind of trading skills like he
was already or people tradingskills. And now you're like, try
this move for some breakingshit. And he gave me an outline
and started breaking down. Thefoundation of graph like this is
where graph comes from, you needto learn your letters in a block
style. And from there, youevolve this balance their style,
your arrows should be part ofthe letter. They shouldn't be

(12:19):
like skinny like littlespaghetti arrows when your tea
is matte dope and fat. So andthen he would also use parallels
to break and he's like, you seethat dash piece from Fink city?
That's like Ken Swift. And yousee this other piece by so and
so that's a circus runawaypiece. Like that's that
approach. He's like do yougravitate towards I'm like, Nah,

(12:41):
that's not pleasant. I don'tlike that style graph goes
right, because these guys thatpaint this way. That's the
equivalent of a rock steady ofincredible breakers. So I appeal
to the FC style to dondi. cope,FBA that style that really
captures that very mugsy b boyask parallel to breaking, if you

(13:04):
will. And so yeah, so I mean,big shout out to Ewok. Because
that's the true skill of ateacher to speak to someone in a
language they already understandin order to teach them something
that they want to convey tothem. And so right away, I was
like, oh, and then intil and hisbrother view were already
writing at that time. So hewould also be like, yo, member

(13:28):
tears. And of course, that's myboy. I've known him since 97.
He's like, well, look at feelspieces. I will Oh, that looks
exactly how to breaks. You knowwhat I'm saying? Like, it's
straightforward, even in hiswild style to also be like,
well, that's what teal doespower and gets up with his
mountain and his like, his B boystands like, that's the
wildstyle version of teal. Butit's still the B boy style. And

(13:51):
so it started clicking, I waslike, Okay, I need to model the
way I'm going to write in thatway, because it has to, I still
have to represent technique, thekeyboard technique, the writer
is not a different person.
So I think it's a interestingthing you mentioned, you know,
with mentorship and also findingyour way of how you master your

(14:12):
craft and you've mastered somany different crafts, from
breaking to writing to cookingto bartending. What would you
say is the most important thingfor somebody to focus on when
they're trying to learn a newcraft?
It has this has been true, triedand true prior to me in the
history of humanity. foundationis the key to creativity. And

(14:38):
that's the motto and skillmethods. It has been true to us.
It has been true to form toeveryone in any practice. If you
learn the foundation in yourhonor the foundation in any
craft or anything you getinvolved in, you will succeed in
evolving in that craft. You knowwhat I'm saying? Like, same goes
when we learn alphabet when welearn Language what it's the

(15:02):
fundamentals are essential, theyare called fundamental
foundation for reason. If youagain pair that word to the
foundation of a home of astructure, without a solid
foundation, things will crumble,it will be weak. It is true to
any form photography, DJbreaking graph, BMX

(15:23):
skateboarding foundation is key.
A lot of people know I've beenbartending for a long time, aka
mixologist, right? mixologist,by the way is the equivalent of
breakdancing to the bartenderworld. So it's like a term,
that's not really like a thing,right. But in any case, that is
the type of bartending that I dotaking really old recipes to
create a final product, theparallels in creating a proper

(15:45):
cocktail, a delicious cocktail,a classic cocktail, it has the
parallels to foundation inbreaking foundation in graph, in
that you have to have a wellbalanced set of ingredients to
achieve a final product. Soagain, when I

(16:05):
started learning this type ofbartending, I approached it
having already learned breakinggraph, hip hop culture. So when
I approached it, I excelledreally fast. Because I
understood that you have to havefundamental ways in creating
cocktails and understanding theold g cocktails in order to

(16:27):
learn the newer ones. And thenalso in order to create your
own, you know what I mean? Soeven in something that's like,
alchemy, if you will, foundationis key. Since I've known you,
you've always been open aboutsharing anything, you know, you
know, from like, 10 lyrics tolike breaking down, you know,
break down, whatever it is thatyou're sharing, and I really

(16:51):
appreciate that because that'slaid the foundation for me, you
broke it down in a way where wewere able to take the
foundation, and people thoughtwe had been breaking way longer
than what we had at the time. Ontop of the fact being female, or
no, both females squad, I wantto go back to.

(17:12):
We know you're a fan of dozegreen.
That's my boy, that's mybrother, I assisted Doze. I had
the honor. So that was like, abucket list. I was like, let me
aim high. Let me ask him if Icould assist them. You know, cuz
I was like, I I don't see myselfgoing to college, university
anytime soon. And if I'm justgoing to continue to pursue the

(17:33):
arts. This is a person that Ihighly model myself after. And
you never know if you don't try,right. So I asked him and within
I never forget, he must think hewas already on Instagram. He
responded to me, like I wroteand right away I saw typing.
Like I asked him, Hey, I willhave to assist you sometime like

(17:55):
if the opportunity everpresented itself typing. He's
like, Yes, actually, I have thisbig project in Arkansas. Started
conversation. I took two weeksoff from work, where I was
working at the time and he wentand assisted those for two weeks
on a project called the sparksproject in Arkansas sparks it's

(18:16):
all theater. It was the lasttheater to be desegregated and
bought by some new young peopleand now what is the our walk
part of the city in our inArkansas, and they they repaint
like those repainted? Like it'sbeautiful. Is this whole concept
thing? It was the experience wasjust like there's no words, I

(18:38):
can't really go into it.
Let's take one step back. Forpeople that don't know, tell
them who Doze is.
yes, so Doze Green is anoriginal member of the legendary
Rock Steady crew, a B boy andgraffiti artists. That is it,
you know, obviously extremelywell known from his membership

(18:59):
of the Rocksteady in hiscontribution to our community,
not only as a B boy, but as agraffiti artist, including the
subway train error. And thenalso one of the most recognized
and influential contemporaryartists of our generation who
just happens to be one of thefundamental Foundation, fathers
of our culture, those his styleof art that includes Cubism.

(19:25):
Obviously, there's somepolitical statements, some kneel
African indigenous elements thatpull inspiration from Hip Hop
graffiti, and our indigenouscultures is one of a kind and is
probably one of the mostprolific artists of multiple
generations.

(19:46):
As we're talking aboutRocksteady is one of the
Rocksteady anniversaries youreceived the spy award. Can you
also let people know what thespy award is and what it meant
to you to receive oneYeah, that was in 2011. The Spy
award is named after a legendarypeople named spy who all the
legends that we admire. That'swho they admire that was their

(20:10):
local hero from the hood, by thehood, per se, right? spy was sub
named by the community demand of1000 moves, he is considered by
many, undeniably the best be boyof that generating a man who,
who had 1000 moves. So spy waslike the first superhero, if you

(20:36):
will, right, his completeunderstanding of breaking made
them bigger than life, hisinfluence on the dance and the
culture made him bigger thanlife. So the rock steady crew
created a spy award in honor ofhim to then honor young people
who the culture acknowledgeshave complete understanding of

(21:00):
foundation that dance in theculture and uphold this dance to
the highest degree of integrity.
Despite award is given to ahandful of people who the
community agrees she receivedthis award for members of the
community who have achieved, youknow, a similar position in our

(21:21):
community.
So how did it make you feel thatyou received such a prestigious
award, I was today, the highestaccomplishment I've received
because it was from thecommunity and it was a way of
saying, your hard work, yourdedication, your trials, your
tribulations, your battles,literally and figuratively, have

(21:46):
not been unnoticed, having putmy reputation on the line and
not only competing, butbattling, having had wins and
losses, to learn from it andapply it in my development. It
led to the combination in 2011where I was nominated and then
won despite award that year withdizzy from supernaturals is the

(22:11):
highest compliment is thehighest achievement in that the
ruling body is Rocksteady, who'sa pillar of our culture. And the
voters were our people. You knowwhat I mean? Like is my my
community including the peoplethat I battled with? Not just my
crew, not just my friends, like,I know for a fact people that I
battled that at the time, weweren't seeing eye to eye though

(22:33):
they were like, yo, like, I getmy you get my vote. You know
what I mean? segwaying intobattles was what is your most
memorable battle, it would beone of the many battles I have
versus came out. So as Imentioned earlier, cane mill
I've known KML since before theformation of skill methods. KML
is one of my longest friends.
And so anybody that knows KMLKML is controversial. He likes

(22:58):
to challenge people friendlyslash unfriendly, the ultimate
outcome is going to be thebetterness of both people
meaning himself and the personhe's having the controversial
moment with, you're going to endup better even when chemo
smokes, you know, I'm saying sochemo and I had the last battle
that we've had, we had many manymany words at cipher attics,

(23:21):
where there was like some issuewhere he thought I said
something about one of the youngkids next month which on record,
I never said anything aboutthose kids. But he went and ran
with it. Recently, he was on ona live with tired Juan and I had
to address it. And he wasprobably Yeah, tech probably
didn't say anything. But I wasconvinced that I wanted to just

(23:41):
battle. So it's though becauseit's documented. You know, like,
I knew that the next time I sawKatie, it was going to be on. So
my boy barmac is like, Yo, I'mgonna document this shit. So we
embark on that role. He'sdocumented, documenting the
whole thing. I'm walkingdownstairs to the basement,
that's the place that it wascalled work skills was throwing
decipher attics. I go in, I paymy money. And the first cipher

(24:04):
right in front, like right afterUK, K's in there. So I literally
walk and it's on and poppinimmediately, and it just went
on. You know, it was thoughbecause you know, KML has his
approach. I have my approach.
And I felt like we bothobviously walk with something
out of it. For me, it was a wayof showing my philosophy on

(24:25):
dance that I've tried to teachin workshops, it was best
showcased there against one ofthe Tabby boys and one of my
closest friends, one of the mosticonic eaters of all time, in
that practices that I apply formyself. Like when you're tired,
don't grab your knees. Don'tbend down, you know, like,
maintain your composure. Ifsomeone starts rocking against

(24:46):
you, like my mentality is like,I'm not gonna upgrade. That's a
different dance. I'm here tobreak against you. If people
want to debate that with me allday, they're going to have to
bash their head against thewall. You're not going to
convince me otherwise. Sothere's a moment where he's like
Just throwing punches of racketagainst me my composure, I'm
gonna flinch and move intomuscle one because I know Kamala
is not going to punch me. He'smy brother, and two, like,

(25:08):
you're not going to get aresponse out of me. At one point
he starts to show because we'rehuman, he is tired, he's
throwing a lot of moves. Andhe's kind of getting tired. I go
up to him with a knee, makingsure that my eyes are still
facing my opponent, kind of likeBruce Lee says, like, always
keep your eye on your opponent.
I'm looking at him bending downon money, like, Yo, I'm telling
him stand up, stand up, likeyour history is here on the

(25:32):
line. Don't show weakness.
There's still wonderphotographer, cat, that moment
is caught on foot and photographalso where I'm like this, I'm
telling him Yo, stand up, don'ttake a knee, don't show
weakness. Right now, this, thisis a moment for both of us.
There's a moment where I go out,obviously his turn to respond.

(25:53):
He doesn't respond. And I go outagain, which has been my
philosophy, like, keep going,you have to have strategy about
it, but keep going. So of coursethere's the opinion lies in in
the audience in that they cansay what KML got that and then
some people are like, tech gotthat, for me ultimately, is
like, I was able to showcase myphilosophy in dance after so

(26:17):
many years of maturity. learningthat up until that point. That's
where like everything that Ihave adopted. For myself how I
wanted to present myself, itcame out in that moment, how it
comes full circle from like,initially, meeting them in
Tampa, getting into now callingthem out in a cipher in a

(26:41):
basement. Because I saw thefootage. It's like very tight
space. Yes, tight. I'm reallyglad it's documented.
A lot of times, those kind ofthings are not documented.
They're notand you know, the thing is, like
Kamal and I come from an erawhere that was our every other
day at gems. People like Jamesabstract, like the whole era.
Chino, Josh, we came up in anera when I was a regular. So for

(27:04):
that to be documented from twoguys that live. That lifestyle
is showing like our trajectory.
And yeah, like we were exposedto the world, from the
competitive side of things,meaning competitions. But Timo
and I are a product of that partof the scene. You know what I

(27:25):
mean? So it was important thatlike there, I'm not doing like
my windmills, elbow halos toswirls to hollow back which
people know, those arecombinations that are like kind
of trademark of me who I which Ilearned from quickset, right,
like my power moves. There.
we're showcasing also theteachings of quickset, which is
in a tight circle, you have toyou have to adjust to the space

(27:47):
and still not crash and stillexecute. You know, I'm saying
those are things that we learnedfrom Quickstep and Rockefeller
who we came out and I were bothstudents of quiz seven
Rockefeller, like the messagethere is bigger than, okay, no
smoking or technique did better.
The amount of information ifpeople pause for a second,

(28:09):
they're like, yo, all that shitwhen they're talking about Oh,
remember, like the HouseConference. Remember this other
gym, and all these undergroundgems, that shit was like a
glimpse of what we were doingevery week in New York every
fucking week.
How has New York influenced youas a person now we're going back

(28:29):
to New York,fundamentally, like with my
family, the hustle the thehunger to constantly learn new
things, and to always createavenues for yourself that
started home base, you know,growing and Puerto Rico coming
from a family of immigrants,culturally, it's about always
doing multiple things, right. Sothat's fundamentally
foundationally. That's that. Butliving in New York and wanting

(28:50):
to live off of the arts, youhave to create different
avenues, otherwise, you willdie. New York City is not for
like, if you are a basic mindedperson, if you're lazy, you're
gonna die. The organism that itis New York City, that if you
really want to go after it, youcan make it happen, the ability

(29:12):
to go to the streets and makemoney until you make you know
the fact that to get from pointA to point B, if you don't have
a car, you have to take thesubway train system and you have
to account for that space intime to make it on time. It
builds the way that you moveconstantly fast. If you miss the
train like that. Those areseconds minutes that add to the

(29:35):
goal that you're trying toachieve. So I still carry that
work to the point where it'salmost like there's this. I
know, I definitely like haveanxiety. I know that and I'm
aware and I recognize it. I'llsay this when you recognize
things like issues with anxiety,you have to take the power from

(29:55):
the thing that takes power fromyou. So what I've done is I've
turned my Anxiety into learningnew things I'm constantly not
satisfied with. I became, youknow, a dope B boy, I excelled.
I excelled in graph, I'mconstantly like, Where do I put
this anxiety to where itbenefits me. So I put an anxiety
into learning things I know Ican control my anxiety into

(30:18):
being able to use itproductively. And you know,
what, like, I'm sure aprofessional will be like, will
probably say, well, anxiety isnot productive, you have to
treat it with this, I don't denythat I don't deny that anxiety
deserves treatment. But abovethat anxiety deserves,
acknowledging it, and thenbreathing and saying, What am I
going to do right now? What am Igoing to do right now? Am I

(30:41):
gonna submit to thisdeteriorating condition? Or am I
going to come out on the otherside, having produced something,
I can see why you've mastered somany things. Are there any other
ways that you balance, you know,your just your health in
general, I mean, you know, it'slike,

(31:04):
this whole thing of which isextremely valuable, like what
they call like quality of life.
Meaning when people say, like,make sure you go to that, for
example, work out good eatinghabits, things like a simple as
a hike, or reading a book, orgoing camping, kind of like this
whole thing of disconnecting, Itry to apply all the things that
we have not discovered that canhelp lead a better, healthier

(31:27):
life quality life, because we dostill have to work right, you
know, like work is a part oflife, we have responsibility and
commitments financially to ourbrand, food, etc. So we have to
find time and space to havethings that ease, you have to
carve out time that createsquality of life, to the person

(31:50):
to you. Obviously, that includeshealthy eating habits, reading,
putting down the technology,dialog, for me is important.
It's important for me to talkabout anything and everything
with my wife, you know, so like,I relate, you know, with my
wife, we're in essentially in arelationship. And she seen
firsthand now with quarantine,those anxieties that I've

(32:14):
mentioned, and how I deal withit. So I'll give you an example.
Like she saw the development oflike the coffee break, she saw
the development of new canvasesthat I've been working on, on
top of custom orders on top ofthe cipher sniper t shirts on
top of I took the quarantinetime and I learned a program on

(32:37):
my iPad, procreate, something Inever knew before that is
helping me with graphic design.
So I overwhelmed myself inquarantine, with so many things
that there were days that Ididn't carve out my time. Proper
were then it affected us. It wasaffecting us. And we're here

(32:58):
stuck together. So I took on somuch that anxiety and being like
that I was like, in my mind, Iwas like I'm being productive.
Look how much I'm doing. I'mkilling it. But it's I didn't
realize that it was affectingus. It was making me disconnect
from us. Something that I'm veryaware of is that something that
I didn't know. But if I didn'thave the ability to accept that

(33:20):
dialog, or hold space with adialog, I was like, you're
right, I need to manage my timebetter. For me, I need to write
down the goals for the day. I'mgonna work on technique piece a,
I'm gonna work on custom piececrystals. And I need to do the
editing, promo clip for skinRichards for the coffee break.

(33:40):
And once that's done, I'm goingto do that from 11am till 4pm.
And after that, as you and Ispoke recently, can the
boundaries done, ideally, and mesaying it That sounds perfect,
but I'm still not perfect at it.
Because a lot of times, I stillget consumed past let's say that
four o'clock time slot. And I'mstill just like talking engaging

(34:03):
at home, but I'm still doodlingon the iPad, so I have to be
mindful. And I have to be ableto accept when some people think
they're being called out likewhen she's calling me up. I have
to be like, yo, like, Oh shit,my bad. The ability to excel in
defeating something like anxietyis to acknowledge when you're

(34:26):
suffering from it when you havein an episode, and there's
someone from the outside that'sbeen affected by it. They are
watching it happen. So you haveto be like, Oh, yes. Okay, cool
that Oh, that's happening. Oh,yeah, you're right, that's
happening. And lastly, I'll say,Krista, my wife, her last advice
to me was with one team, we havebeen given a gift, the gift the

(34:49):
time when I said like qualitylife like the commitments that
we have to our nine to five andthen there's other there's time
for Rest, there's time forsleep. quarantine didn't take
anything away from us is how weset our point of view, her and I
have been given a gift, the giftof time, time together, time to

(35:10):
build time to reflect time toreinvent. However, if I miss
manage that time, when we goback to whatever normal will be,
we will look back and be like, Iruined that gift. I didn't take
advantage of the gifts that wewere given is delicate, you
know, and there's something thatwe were not trained, we're not

(35:32):
equipped to do this. It was likeone day I went to work and the
next day, they're likequarantine, we have a pandemic.
Good luck. Figure it out. We'redoing our best. But I think the
key to succeed is to havecompassion to have. Oh my God,
my favorite word. Now my wifeused to have grace. We have to

(35:52):
give each other grace.
I always think about you when Iwhen people have catchphrases,
and I always thought youespecially with like, like
really like kids, where I makelike a point where and then I'm
like that's it cancel Christmas.

(36:14):
Like what?
I need to make a T shirt thatsays cancel Christmas. There's
like a cancel Christmas societyand my inner circle like my boy
connects my boy uncle chip.
They're constantly like, cancelChristmas. Oh, no, that's not
possible without technique. Ithas become like this thing that
is synonymous. You know, it'sfunny like with them. And with

(36:35):
you. I remember the first timesaying it and the few people
that have adopted it. It's athing where it's like when I
said it, it made sense. Itencapsulated the moment of it's
like Capitol Christmas is likeoh, that means everything's
over. You know what I mean? It'sso funny. Like my boy uncle
chip. He's like, yo, that's justthe funniest shit in the world.

(36:56):
Like, when you say cancelChristmas, this is done.
When when attribute that I feellike you have and it's always
something that I wish otherpeople had was like, just humor.
Where does that come from? Mymom,
my mom and my sister. Yo mamalike So recently, my wife and I

(37:16):
we went to visit, socialdistancing. We went down to see
my mom, you know, she's watchingthis show is like, what is that
ninja? ninja shows where peoplego through the obstacle. A Ninja
Warrior Ninja Warrior. Okay, soin Puerto Rico, they have that
but in teams, right? Like aversion of that with team. So my
mom apparently this is her jam.
Every whatever. Tuesday is like,theme Leone is versus the

(37:40):
Cobras, right? So she knows allof their names. She She has the
one that she disliked the most.
In any case, she was like, oh,that girl. She went like this.
She did. She put her thumb toher chin. Close her fist. And
then they're like a, likecutthroat. And that was I never

(38:01):
seen my mom do that. I was amom. We just started dying. I
knew what it meant. But I waslike, that's not a thing. Nobody
does that. And I said, Well,what does that mean? And so, you
know, she's like, it meansthey're fucked. So my mom's

(38:21):
English is pretty good. But sheliterally said that in English
because Kristen, she doesn'tspeak Spanish that well. She
understands and more than shespeaks it. So she's like, oh, it
means they're fucked. And Yo, mysister You don't even know
you're my sister is odd. Funny.
like, yo, she is loud. Funny.

(38:42):
She laughs at everything. You'llhear her laugh is her laughter
is so contagious. So I grew upin this environment, you know,
where it's like so loving andfunny and coming up with words.
That doesn't mean shit to thepoint. But it makes sense like,
creating a word. That meanssomebody knows like a cancel
Christmas to refer to like, yo,that person got smoke.

(39:05):
That's how I remember you.
That's the first time you werebasically just talking about
somebody getting smoked and youwere like, rotisserie fried.
Like you just went through allthe words that could mean
getting smoked, torched.
You just kept going though islike no, you just kept going and

(39:29):
then he was just like,cancel Christmas. Yo, and you
know what's funny like? Nowadayslike my my sense of humor is
very like exaggerated. You're Iwas with flashback and Ellie
yesterday. I've got to say bigshout out to my boy Ellie rock.
He is my biggest fan when itcomes to my the way I speak

(39:50):
because he will laughuncontrollably to the point
where he can't breathe. So hekind of exits You're on and I
just keep going. And so like,the people that know me, like
you say, Kenny, like, I'm a bitlike, I exaggerate things to the
point where it's like, it's notliteral. It's exaggerated to
make you laugh. When I moved toCali, I had a really difficult

(40:12):
time. Because people would takeme serious, I would say cancel
Christmas, and people will likethat. December 25, it would just
take the power away from mysense of humor. When I move back
to Florida, like, flashback andEllie, you know, they're like
they get it, you know, my wifegets the abstract, we just be
saying the wildest wrench intoit makes no sense. But if you're

(40:35):
open to it is that Oh, that'syou've been exaggerated for a
reason. You know what I mean?
Like, but in any case, thefoundation to that is my mom and
my sister, for sure.
Earlier, when we were talkingabout balancing, you mentioned a
number of things that we wantedto talk about too. One of them
being you know, you're creatinga lot of canvases. And you're

(41:00):
also doing custom canvases forclients. One thing that's dope
about that is that you startedproviding a certificate of
authenticity. Can you give usany of the backstory of how you
came up with that, and what themeaning and purpose of it is,
I want to address something,again, a little bit of backstory
behind the intent and the idea.
In graph, there's this thingEwok wrote, I remember, he was

(41:23):
riding a team, he had wrote anote, took a picture and posted
it on Instagram, and it said,the 70s writers hate on the 80s.
writers, the 80s writers hate onthe 90s writers and the 90s
writers hate on the 2000writers, right. And he was
saying, like, they're alwaystrying to one up, Oh, you didn't
do the steel, or you wasn'tthere, because so like, no

(41:46):
matter what your efforts are,you're never good enough to the
generation before. Even if, sayfor me, like technique. I've
been doing this for 27 years,but this generation, and there
are individuals that will never,like, never respect me and know
my voice. But I still don't geta pass of longevity consistency.
Because I wasn't there in the80s. My father, I was born in

(42:10):
77. Like that's beyond myability. But guess what, when I
did come into it, I've beenconsistent. I've been ambition
non stop, right? And I'm goingto tell you why this makes sense
to the certificate ofauthenticity. First, I want to
acknowledge that, by the way, inthe art world, you don't give
out a certificate ofauthenticity in a gallery

(42:32):
setting. That's like a big No,no, but I'm not in a gallery.
I'm an independent artist, and aperson that was built by the
community for the community. Somy intent with certificate of
authenticity, they saying this,I can never be a dondi or I can
never be any other Oh, geez,original writers, even those

(42:54):
green, I'm not, I'm just simplynot going to get that pass. I
wasn't there during the trainer.
I didn't hit steel. So I cannever win that I can only do
what I can do in carryingtradition. So I can never also
compete or even be invited to agallery when the market is so

(43:18):
over saturated and alreadyoccupied by those people that
did all of that. If I take anumber and get in line, my sheer
will be the year 3030 My turn.
But for me, I was like Well,what do I do? I need to carve
out a lane I need to create alane without I'm not stepping on
anyone. I'm not biting over andshit. I never will never would.

(43:41):
I'm not I'm just not taking fromanyone. So I said all right,
well, I'm going to provide aservice. If you would like to
have a custom piece made by mefor whatever my worth is worth.
I will in return give you apromise that you let's say,
candy raiser. If I were to haveanother client in the future

(44:04):
that once candy also or Mike,there's another Mike, my
commitment to you my promisewith your money. My feeling is
that I will never reuse thatoutline. Again. Yours is the
only one that exists. I want tolet you know and I want to give
you my signature my commitmentthat yours is the only one that
exists in the world. So I had towrap my head around how do I

(44:27):
carve a brand of somethingthat's mine specific to me. I'm
not done never will be I'm notcope never will be I never hit
steel. I never will be insubway. Or what I can do is say
when someone supports me, I cangive them my commitment that
I've never used that outlinebecause it's their name. So I
used to practice in the artworld where that there are

(44:52):
instances where certificate ofauthenticity are used. I use
that insane every person that'ssupports me is my commitment,
you have my signature in sayingI will never use that again. So
for me that added a sense ofcommitment, a sense of pride and
a sense of value to the productthat I'm selling. You know, like

(45:13):
all the oh geez have alwayssaid, If you read or hear any of
the interviews were like those,they always said that their
mentors, they're always toldthem do other people's names.
When the OD writers will go tothe trainer I recently heard
teak, it was on Museum ofgraffiti when there and he was
like, Yo, I was doing otherpeople's names like the

(45:37):
outlines, because I needed toget better, I had to pay dues, I
had to crack outlines andfillings, but it made him better
when he went back to his ownname. So in return is not only
monetary, what I'm getting, it'salso like, Yo, I did a letter in
a sequence that I never didbefore. I can do a name for a B

(45:58):
girl, out of Cali, she Her nameis crazy, spelled Kr AZZY. I was
like, Fuck, I'm not, I could notz, z y, that's going to be I'm
just going to come out so wack.
But the challenge was accepted.
The commitment was there, shecommissioned me, and yo is one

(46:18):
of the nastiest pieces I've donein figuring out how to put a z
on top of a z. And it's now it'slike what now I have developed a
format in formulating letters islike an each one is different,
and the color scheme isdifferent. And when they receive
the certificate of authenticityis like hand painted with
acrylic brush, spray paint inthe background, which I'm using

(46:40):
the medium that I will use on awall, they're getting it on the
canvas, so there's elements ofthe real shit in it. And on top
of that, there's no other likeyou haven't done that, like
these are my last words inregards to that lane that I've
created for myself as as aservice that I can provide to
the community and anyone isshowed me that through my own

(47:03):
talent, I can create somethingthat is tangible, and not depend
on anyone, it completely fallson me to make it happen, meaning
how I promote it, my reach andthe amount of effort I put into
each one, which is the integritythat you have to have to each

(47:26):
Canvas, no matter how many otherones I have, how much commitment
how much chaos, I may be havingmy commitment to that person,
every Canvas has to be banging,I never have fast on any one of
them. So over time it has everyyear it has double, if not
triple the demand. And it showedme that it's like you'll I don't

(47:49):
have to be at the mercy of anentity to make it happen.
Whether it is dance, or art, Ican honestly humbly say I am an
independent artist. And I thinkthe community, including myself,
at one point, didn't realizethat I my skills, my intent, how

(48:10):
I carve out my time, I hold thepower to what I want to become
to what I want to do, when wegive that power to a thing or to
someone to to guide you to leadyou to a place you are a
derelict ship with no direction.

(48:35):
I think within the community,there's more and more people
that are learning that. But Ifeel also there's this big
overwhelming amount of fear forthe risk. You're proof that it
is possible. As an artist,you know, you're so multi
dimensional. And one that Iwanted to talk to about too is

(48:57):
your course and cocktails. Maybeyou can give us a bit of a
backdrop of of how you cameabout with that concept and
throw in a little promotion ofyourself as well.
Yeah, sure. Um, first andforemost, I want to give a big
shout out a thank you an eternalamount of gratitude to my

(49:20):
mentor. His name is Kevin Dunn.
I just want to say like how Icame into mixology, as they call
it, bartending was at a point inmy life when I was living in
California and the dance workwas not panning out. And so I
had to turn to the workforce.
I've never been a stranger towork. I was working at Apple
Store at the time. I got a parttime job and then I had to find

(49:43):
another job to essentially endup with a full time job. So long
story short, I applied at a barrestaurant, as to work as a
barback. I had never in my lifework at a bar. I never frequent
bars. I didn't know bar cultureat the time. If I ever had a
drink, I'd be like a Roman coat.
Like I just didn't knowanything. They do the interview.

(50:04):
Obviously, as you guys know memy personality and haven't
talked about my history as a Bboy, they fell in love with me
to hire me on the spot. Butstill, I didn't know shit. So I
was a barback, kind of like theperson that had to provide the
ability for the bartenders toexecute cocktails in a high
volume, high demand place. I hadto make sure that they were

(50:26):
constantly filled with thethings they needed to make
cocktails. So Kevin Dunn isstill the head bartender and
curator at the misfit in, inSanta Monica. He's so my
potential based on my workethic, he was like, do you just
work nine hours at Apple? Andare you coming here and we have
a 12 hour shift? And you're theYo man, you're that guy? And

(50:47):
you're going there with my headdown. And then when he found out
technique, he was like, What?
Why are you working here?
Because I have to work. And hewas like, Yo, I have so much
respect for you. And he's like,I am going to teach you how to
bartend you need to become abartender inside of a month,
which I think is a short time, Iwent from barbacking having

(51:07):
never worked at a bar orrestaurant in my life. I became
a bartender at the misfit inCalifornia. One of the dope is
you know, mixed drinks likecocktail forward, you know, a
farm to table restaurant likedope. And I couldn't be more
thankful It was like learningfrom Ken swift himself in
bartending. So fast forward towhat you just mentioned, you

(51:31):
know, now after many, many yearshaving been in the industry, I
recently started doing like popup menus, like private dinners,
if you will, I've been pairingwith a homeboy ton. Big shout
out to tongue out here inOrlando mF kids. And we as soon
as I moved in, he was like, yo,let's do a pop up. Let's let's
do this private menu, I'm goingto come up with a seven course

(51:52):
meal come up with sevencocktails, including beer, wine,
and non alcoholic drinks andexperience. And that experience
includes a soundtrack like musicthat we curated that we're
playing in the background, howwe dress, the environment, the
story behind the dish, and thedrink the ingredients, how we

(52:12):
came about the name of thecocktails, are influenced from
hip hop. So we still were B boytechnique and B boy tongue, but
chef tongue, and mixologisttechnique like providing these
influences that we use in thisthing that we're very passionate
about. So we did our first onejust before COVID-19 or boy Leto
came through my wife was thereand and a lot of people from

(52:36):
different walks of life thatcame through and support it. And
the experience was just like abig shout out to abstract you
know, his passion for for film,he came through and donated his
time to film the pop up. And heput together a clip that really,
really does show the vibe ofthat night, it was really
beautiful. I look forward todoing many, many, many more with

(52:58):
tongue and see where it goes, Ithink we can we definitely have
something there like a B boycooked it a B boy make the
drinks and a B boy film it. Andthis is in the culinary world.
Anything B boys and B girls puttheir minds to outside of the
Cypher, we would smash youcancel Christmas.

(53:22):
Straight up New York, the go offwas one of my favorite times out
there. And I think about thattime. I just remember that
energy. And I know we get verynostalgic thinking about those
parties. I would like ourlisteners to feel nostalgic as
you describe a go off. So atthat time, you know, I was still
living in New York. And therewere many parties that were dope

(53:43):
at that time. Not that thoseparties didn't do it. It was
more like I went through theparty I want to go to I had just
recently met schema at thattime. As soon as I'm a scheme
scheme bridges big shout out. Iwas like, This dude is the
truth. As a person, this dude isunreal. And on some skills like
the shit that he's playing,nobody's fucking with this dude.
I was like, Yo, I want to do aparty called the go off. There

(54:06):
was a mixtape that had asoundbite from someone and that
soundbite there's a scratch thatgoes into the first record. And
the person says something to thedegree of like, I was doing this
before it was called breaking itwas only called the goal off and
the beat comes on. And I waslike wait, wait, wait, wait. So
there are unsung pioneers,historians people that were

(54:30):
there to have knowledge on thisculture that is not used that
has hasn't been adopted. I wantto give you another example
really quick. In Star Wars.
There's a moment where frostyfreeze recipes and take one
there are the part and frostyfreezes is going that's not the
hump that was called theheadache. You could barely make

(54:52):
it out because he's talking overfor us if we see goes something
like man does those all moves.
So with That means is thatfrosty freeze was telling us
what that foundation is. Thesewere the moves. And him as the
young buck who cannot do thechair freeze, that baby freeze.
He's like, yo, those are thoseold moves. But Frost is trying

(55:14):
to tell us something. And so tomeet when I heard the soundbite
of this person going back in theday, it was just called the
goal. Yo, what are you doing?
I'm going off. I was just like,Yo, I'm gonna name my fucking
party that go off, we're gonnago off. So that's how the name
came about. I reproach Ewok. Hedid the design smash that those

(55:36):
letters that flyer people usedto steal the flyers I used to
print them out and staple themto the wall, scheme. Richards
and Uncle chip and sit rock thetime, the venue was called
identity bar. We I never chargedat the door, it was free to get
in. And I just wanted people toparty. I remember the first one
some cats rolled up with kneepads and had spin hats and we

(56:00):
were like, yo, you can't comein. This is not the thing. It's
not a practice spot. It'sSaturday night downtown, like
you supposed to be flying,you're gonna bring you got to
bring in your flagship, but it'snot a breaking journey, to me is
still one of the best partiesthat I've ever been to. And it
went on for two years,bartenders, they're the owner,

(56:21):
they love the party. They'relike you want to do it every
week, I'll say no, once a month.
You know what I mean? Like justonce a month.
I just have great memories. Andthere's so much fun. You're such
a connector, though. utilizingall these different people
within the community to make anidea happen within your means as
a fundamental aspect ofentrepreneurship. You want

(56:42):
to hear some ill shit that Ifound out later was happening at
the go off. So uncle chip is agraphic designer for clothing
brands. He's had his resumes,he's worked with a lot of
clothing brands. And on his endof promoting it, he was drawing
designers like people from likeyoung heads, hip hop heads that

(57:03):
were in the fashion industrylike that had a click. So it was
drawing people who have nowbecome so influential in
fashion, that there's this thingthat later created a name like
they call it mixers where peoplego in there like a creative.
I've been told that the goal wasone of the first mixers of

(57:25):
creatives he wanted to designand it was clear that those
fucking letters was he was theone that did that shit. So
writers will come obviously onmy end, the B boys scheme had
like the super old t officialvinyl DJs like a real DJ and
throw uncle chip and Sara saidrock with elite camp being a
dope DJ squad. But alsodesigners were pulling these

(57:49):
fashion forward hip hop peoplein this little fucking space is
so dope.
Talking about connectingdifferent people. Right now
during this time. You've beenconnecting a lot of people
through the coffee break. Canyou give us a bit of a story of
how you decided to get intothat?
Big shout out to Banham onenight, you know, Venom's still

(58:11):
in California, he's three hoursearlier than I am, he hits me
up. And you know, we're seeingall the lives, you know, the
nice had a hit a million viewershave morons and all the DJs. And
then we're kind of seeing theverses and all the different
things that are, again, peopleare utilizing the gift of time
that we were given warranty. Andso venom is like, Yo, I want to

(58:33):
interview you on a live tonight.
And I was like, yo, let's do it,you know, and then we could we
could all take turns and doskill methods. Like we would
interview one another let's do askill methods back and forth. I
was like dope. We should call itsomething What do we call it?
He's like, because he's threehours earlier. He's like, I'll
make a cup of coffee when I callyou when we go live. Go it'll be

(58:54):
like eight o'clock my time butfuck it, I drink coffee doesn't
matter. And he goes, let's callit that, you know, the coffee
break. And I was like, yo,that's fucking perfect. That's
it that there was no rhyme orreason or extra od overthinking
it was like the coffee break.
venom interviews me on that one.
And then his private lessonsonline. Literally the next day,

(59:17):
they fucking blew up. He's beenkilling it. And so he kind of
was his commitment to that isthat you're I can't do this
thing. So I just kept runningwith it. And when you guys see
the logo, what I the story Itold before about, you know,
learning the program on theiPad, which I've never done
before. That logo was a test ofme learning how to do multiple

(59:40):
layers airbrush over the littlesmoke in the coffee like it was
a project of learning how Icould use this to my advantage
from my graffiti shoe. So it wasreally funny in like being able
to interview people create alogo like a graffiti thing which
inspired By he walks, they'll gooff the coffee break and stuff.

(01:00:01):
I was like, What is this goingto be? So I said, Well, I know
that I do match it that peopledon't know, maybe they do know.
And I know that my peoples aredoing other ships and the shit
that we know them for. So I wantto be able to give them a space
that we can talk about theirhistory, I want to go back like

(01:00:22):
I'm curious as to how the fuckyou got your name Lego, you know
how the flip side kings comeabout things like that, right?
And then be like a, what are youup to now is quarantine? What do
we need to know about you thatwe could get involved in? How
can we support that? I know howawesome I want someone else to
sound geeky about their shit, Iwant to take a break and be

(01:00:45):
like, see, you're a geek.
That's definitely what we'retrying to do with our podcasts
too. You know, we feel likethere's so many great stories
that are not being told enoughthat we want to just highlight,
you know, all of these uniquepeople that are so talented and
that we look up to and thatinspire us.

(01:01:07):
What's next for you. Obviously,we spoke about the coffee break
the pop up menus, I'm hopingthat one's COVID-19, we get to a
point where we have some sort ofvaccine, and we can go back to a
place of whatever normal isgoing to be, I hope to come out
of this with enough pieces forour show, a body of work that I

(01:01:28):
can share, I want to come out ofthis, hoping that we have
created we the community havecreated enough ideas to create
gems nationally, that, thatmaybe we could create like a
voter Drive type event. And thatwe can create more grassroots

(01:01:48):
events, you know, to educate onfinancial literacy, voting, you
know, just as in our communitiesin our country, and just, I want
to make it sexy to be to beabout this kind of shit, were
being dope as a B boy or B girlis kind of not enough. It's kind

(01:02:09):
of like, we need to make thatlike, well, that's you have to
do that no matter what. Soactually, the shit that's gonna
make you fly is that you're youregistered to vote. And you
actually went out and votedlocally. And you wish you're
sharing like your soul, doesthis person running for Sheriff
because that's like an electedofficial, and they actually have
commitments to their community.
I stand by that person, and thatwe get hype about things like

(01:02:33):
that. Because in hip hop, we'reso inclined with the conspiracy
theories, and the New WorldOrder Illuminati and all this
shit. And Yo, I love that asmuch as the next person. You
know, when they say like theshow must be paused. I say this.
How about we pause theconspiracy theory for one year?
And we say let's try the thingthat we haven't tried before.

(01:02:57):
let's actually go out and vote.
Let's see what happens.
Is there anything else that youwant to talk about? Last night,
at around 130 in the morning, Iposted a video in regards to a
topic that I have been veryvocal about for a long time
about a certain entity. I wantto mention that we are currently

(01:03:20):
as we are recording this andholding that space. We are now
in two weeks of the protestsafter George Floyd rest in
peace, George Floyd, rest inpeace, Brianna Taylor, rest in
peace, Ahmad arbury. And all theblack lives that have been
unjustly taken by policebrutality. This is something
that we've been dealing with inour society for a really long

(01:03:40):
time. With like the perfectstorm of COVID-19 quarantine,
people are hurting financially,emotionally. And this is a thing
that has been ongoing now. Theworld is seeing this last one
with George Floyd was really theturning point in where we're at

(01:04:01):
as a society. That was reallyhard to watch. I just watched
it. I'm very right before that,you know. Sometimes the only
thing that people have, that canbring a sense of feeling like
you exist, is acknowledgement.
Even even on a miniscule scale,like I say you create something

(01:04:27):
that would be capable ofgraffiti artist we started
writing. for someone toacknowledge the piece that I
did. It made me visible. Peoplesaw I felt like people saw me. I
can only imagine what it's liketo have this car like Black
Lives Matter like Can you seeme? Can you see

(01:04:52):
I made a post last night inregards to the silence. of say
like a rebel BBC One Seems sofocused on one company. But it
does speak to other guests inour community that have been
silent. And it's hurtful thatthey've been silent. Because I

(01:05:15):
community, we have people ofcolor, this culture was created
by people of color. When thesecompanies, not just red, blue,
these companies came in and showtheir support to us. It was at a
time when we didn't havecorporate support. And if we
did, it was rare. So it feltlike for like a win. Oh, you got

(01:05:39):
like, you got our back. 10that's ill, we celebrated them,
we tense with them. And whenthis now is happening in the
community, all they're saying islike, stand with us. They say it
with us. They're not just words,they made you visible, it make

(01:06:02):
you real. And there's been allthese emotions flowing, you
know, like, how do I saysomething, you know, without
attacking the people that theyhave supported? It was really
hard to formulate feelings andthoughts, without maybe hurting

(01:06:22):
or accusing colleagues in thecommunity that I work with rebel
are sponsored by rebel, like, myintentions are not to attack
them, you know, because it's nowso black and white that Oh,
like, they're bad. Is that that,right? How do I formulate these
feelings? And we're like, aheightened state of emotions,

(01:06:45):
right. So again, it's likepulling back breathing and
trying to convey a message.
That's very intricate. And thenI started thinking, Okay, what
did it look like? And what didit feel like, when it didn't
matter if an entity spoke out,and to me, it's back to the
goal. It took me back tooutbreak and all the local jams

(01:07:07):
like there's so many cipheraddicts, every week, a little
jam people summit, freestylesession, like our gems, there
was a, there's a time that wetook so long to create a
landscape of gems in ourcommunity. And then I remember,
when we celebrated this giantthat came in and say, Yo, I

(01:07:27):
acknowledge you, and I want tobe part of that. Let me give you
my support. Wow, you see us. Andover time, they set the bar to
work. That's the goal. That'sthe gym, whatever happens
continuously in our grassrootslevel. Now, it has to lead to

(01:07:48):
that crown, it absorbed ourlandscape that took so long to
create. And now, we need you, weneed your voice. Your silence is
like you absorbed us, wecelebrated you, you betrayed us.
So everything that we spokeabout about entrepreneurship

(01:08:09):
enterprise, being an independentartist, an independent community
of any external forces, we mayneed to get back to that. And we
may need to have some checks andbalances with anyone that comes
in. Because when we invited as acommunity, and we allowed rebels
to do what they did, we feltlike we were visible. I can only

(01:08:33):
imagine what it's like for blackpeople. To hear anyone say Black
Lives Matter. I'm visible. Yousee me, you're protesting for
me, in the middle of a pandemic.
Okay, you matter, rebel, allthey have to do is just say it.

(01:08:55):
They don't have to go andprotest in the middle of
COVID-19. We're doing the work.
And so it's been a moment ofreflection, to say, we need to
recreate the landscape. And thething about us, our culture, our
seeing our community is that, asmy wife says, We have grace. We
do what we do. We do it withgrace. I try my best to say what

(01:09:15):
I'm wanting to say with grace,there's definitely anger,
frustration, but I want it to beas graceful as I can, you know,
a world that is where we live inequality and peace, benefits,
everyone.
What is hip hop to you?
Hip hop to me is community,fellowship, unity, family and

(01:09:40):
culture.
Thank you so much to our guestJoel Martinez, aka Teknyc for
taking the time and being soopen while sharing your
perspective with us.
Some of the gems we took awayfrom this interview were
the mentality of mastering askill through hard work and
practice does not only pay offin that particular skill but can

(01:10:02):
be applied to any and all areas.
A grassroot movement on a locallevel managed to create a
landscape that becameinteresting for corporate
sponsorship. But it is importantto remember that the hip hop
culture and community can thriveindependently.
Speaking up against injusticeand complacency while others
remain silent requires courage.
But this type of leadership canmake a difference in people's

(01:10:25):
lives.
Our theme music was beatbox byDenis the Menace and produced by
Zede, a big shout out to thebrothers from Switzerland.
Also a big shout out to Kristawho is an avid listener of our
podcast. We appreciate yoursupport.
We would love to get yourfeedback questions and any

(01:10:46):
suggestions you might have. Youcan reach out to us on
Instagram, Twitter or Facebook@soulidarityLLC or via email
[e-mail].
If you liked today's show,please tell a friend about our
podcasts. Or as Phife Dawg wouldsay: tell your mother, tell your
father, send a telegramIn our next episode, we welcome

(01:11:06):
Christie Zee. She is the CEO ofDMC USA, the most prestigious
and longest running DJchampionship, as well as the co
founder of tools of war Parkjam, a publicist and event
coordinator. Thank you forlistening to our podcast.
No seriously though. Thank you.
I am candy. I'm DJ Razor Cut.

(01:11:28):
This is Souls of hip hop