Ernie Paniccioli - REMEMBERING WHO WE ARE

Brother Ernie Paniccioli is a legendary hip hop & culture historian, humanitarian, and self-taught photographer who has been ‘documenting the culture since the start.' 

My first meeting with Brother Ernie was in Vancouver where he said the feeling of being seen—truly seen and known—was more alive because Indigenous people are "everywhere." Unlike in Brooklyn where he grew up eight blocks away from Biggie Smalls.

In this conversation, we track the history of hip hop as a global voice—a global power—and how it can teach us to inhabit a consciousness that promotes our collective wellbeing over a collective violence that he says, knowingly, only leads to the perpetuation of more violence. 

Here's a quote to kick us off, "If you're gonna love Tupac, if you're gonna love Biggie, then you have to look at it through a different lens—and that lens is how do we not hurt each other? How do we not expand on that violence? How do we not relive it? They say, History's best qualified to teach you, whether it's Germany and the Holocaust or the American Native situation. Unless you know your history, you're condemned to repeat it. So, my thing is very simple: let Tupac and Biggie rest in peace, but more importantly, learn from that and learn that violence creates more violence. What you eat, what you see, and what you absorb is what you become," he says before leading us into a list of recommendations to enlighten the mind and lighten the heart.

Also, special side note, if you're catching this at the time of air, Brother Ernie's work is currently being displayed at the GRAMMY Museum Experience, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The feature exhibit is called, “A Hip-Hop Life: Five Decades of Hip-Hop Music, Art and Culture" and displays early & exclusive, behind-the-scenes photos of Hip-Hop legends: Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Naughty By Nature, Lauryn Hill, the Fugees, Ice T, Chuck D, Queen Latifah, and many many more.

WORKS:
- Dig into the history (see Ernie's prints for sale here)
- Hip Hop Hall of Fame in 2014 
- Served as the chief photographer for the hip hop magazine, “Word Up!” for over 20 years
- Spokesman at The United Nations for The Temple of Hip Hop during the Hip Hop Peace Conference
- Published several books, including “Who Shot Ya”
- Featured as the subject of the award-winning documentary, “The Other Side of Hip-Hop"

TOOLS:
- Stories that help guide us into a deeper knowing of ourselves
- Wisdom that appeals to the importance of history, knowing it, and using it to shape the future
- Spiritual truths that guide us out of violence and into regular, good fun
- Legendary tales that remind us to celebrate the ones who gave us what we have today

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

BETTER is recorded on the unceded and ancestral territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, and has been stewarded by them since time immemorial.
 

BETTER with Mark Brand is produced by Pamela Rothenberg of I HEAR YOU STUDIOS and Adam Karch with Orbyt Media