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MarchOn 2005V03.03 \\ STILL FREE

ChiTown, IlliNoize

check this out :: dj3rdrail.com :: chicagoflava.com :: madeulook.com :: formulawerks.com :: artcrimes.org :: chrissilva.com :: koneerok.com :: artisticbombingcrew.com ::

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VERBALVIBES fact // inform// recognize // reviewdeclare // utterance // analysisopinion // truth

CHICAGO FLY PAPERVOLUME 3 ISSUE 3,The Peoples Issue

publisher/editor/ >BboyBhalf-steppin-designer > Tha Donwordsmith-n-wesson >LoLowstaff writers > Joel Frieders, BabylOn, contributorz > Revise-CMW, (grafhead), Phil Patton, Snaps Wilsonsales >Fly Paper is STILL looking for advertising sales people! HELP! people, graphic designers and photographersnorthside distributor >Breaker Reysouthside distributor>FrekOnestreet team >Brave Monk, Offi cer Ryan, Pez1, Asad

contact >bboyb@artisticbombingcrew.comsend all your FLY stuff to >CHICAGO FLY PAPERPO Box 47441, LoganSquareChicago, IL 60647

Thanks for the letters, drawings and ideas, keep them fl owing.

FREEFORALLEASY TO WIN CONTESTby bboyb

Writers Bench, its on

FLY PAPER T-Shirtsshameless plug:

FLY PAPER T-ShirtsAvailable at:

UPRISE 773.342-77631820 N. Milwuakee, Chicago

Street Lingo 773.281-72734619 N. Broadway, Chicago

This goes out to all the kids at the writers bench. Yea I saw you cats hanging out on a Nice Saturday afternoon. And dam, I didn't have to call anyone, make fl yers, or post it on the internet. It just happened.

When I re-opened the bench a couple of years ago, I had to force cats to come out. I had to tell them where it was. In the 80s when the bench fi st started, by ABC, West Side Rockers and writers in and around the hood, it was just a neutral gathering zone. We didn't call it a bench back then, but that is what it was. It was not till the mid to late 80s that the bench was a hot spot for writers from all over the city to meet. It was the center of real Hiphop history in the making.

That is why I am glad to see yet another generation of Hiphoper, writers, bboys and skaters out there on their own. I will be joining in from time to time, but ya'll need to run things. Kill this city baby. Keep the tradition alive.

Respect to all the graffi ti writers in the struggle. If you don't know where the writers bench is, you better ask some body!

HEY YALL! WANNA WIN SOME FREE CDS?

OFFICIAL RULESPLEASE READ THESE OFFICIAL RULES CAREFULLY. BY SUBMITTING AN ENTRY FOR THIS CONTEST, YOU AGREE TO ABIDE BY THESE RULES. THIS IS A LE-GALLY BINDING CONTRACT BETWEEN YOU AND FLY PAPER.

Eligibility. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To be eligible for the FLY Paper “Pugslee Taggums Design Contest” (the “Contest”), you must be eighteen (18) years of age or older, or tell us you are eighteen (18) years of age or older.

Residents outside of the US Midwest are not eligible to participate in the Contest. Employees of the Sponsor, or any of Sponsorís subsidiaries, affi liates, ad-vertising and promotional agencies, or members of any such employee’s immediate families or households, are not eligible to participate in the Contest. THIS CONTEST IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

How To Enter. To enter, you must create a design (the “Design”) in accordance with the contest description

Contest Period. A completed entry is referred to herein as an “Entry.” To be eligible your Entry must be mailed by United States post with a date cancellation, or sent by electronic mail received by FLY Paper, during the “Contest Period” which begins March 15th, 2005 at 12:00 a.m. CST and ends April 20th, 2005 at 11:59 p.m. CST. During the Contest Period, FLY Paper will collect all complete and eligible Entries and submit the Entries to the judge described below to be judged in the manner set forth below. Only a complete Entry form that has been received during the Contest Period will be eligible for the Contest. In the event of a dispute over who submitted the winning entry, the holder of the e-mail account named in the winning Entry form will be deemed the winner.

Number of Entries Deemed Eligible. You may enter as many times as you like within the Contest Period.

Disclaimer. FLY Paper does not assume responsibility for any late, misdirected, delayed, lost, incomplete, scrambled or otherwise damaged Entries or for any hardware, software, browser, computer, online, network, electronic, human, telephone or technical malfunctions, diffi culties or errors that may occur. Further-more, FLY Paper reserves the right to disqualify any Entries it deems, in its sole discretion, to be obscene, unlawful, threatening or otherwise inappropriate. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend the Contest or any portion thereof should any cause beyond Sponsorís control disrupt, corrupt and or compromise the administration, security or proper play of the Contest or for any reason Sponsor deems such suspension necessary.

Odds of Winning. The odds of winning the Contest will be determined solely by the number of Entries submitted and deemed eligible for the Contest.

Prize Details. Prize Winner(s) will be selected by the Judge, on or around April 20th, 2005, from all eligible entries received. Prize(s) shall consist of:

• The new Pugslee Atomz CD: “Playing With Matches” • FlyPaper goodies • a Formula Werks sampler CD and free goodies • Quadraphonics Mix CD by Intel and MadAdam • Pens/Goodies from The Compounder • Your name and winning tag in a subsequent issue of FlyPaper.

Prize(s) are non-transferable and non-exchangeable. Prize Winner(s) are solely responsible for all taxes that may be incurred as a result of winning the prize, including, without limitation, any and all state and federal income taxes. Prize Winner(s) are also solely responsible for any and all prize-related expenses not specifi ed above. If a Prize Winner does not claim his or her Prize within three (21) days of the FLY Paperís notifying a Prize Winner that he or she has won a Prize, an alternative winner will be selected as set forth in Section 10 below. There will be no substitution of Prizes, except at the sole discretion of Sponsor. Prize Winners should allow approximately 90 days for delivery of the Prize.

Judging; Criteria. The Judges shall be FLY Paper and Pugslee Atomz. Prize Winners will be selected on the basis of merit as determined in the discretion of the Judge(s). Entries will be judged equally on the following criteria: 100% on the creativity/originality of the Design.

Conditions. By submitting an Entry, you agree to be bound by these complete Offi cial Rules, and the decisions of FLY Paper and Judges, which shall be fi nal and binding in all respects. All federal, state, and local laws apply. By submitting your Entry you hereby warrant and represent that all information provided by you as part of the Entry is true, accurate and complete, and that you are the sole creator of the Design, the Design is entirely your original work of authorship and that the Entry was not created at your job, using your employer’s equipment or on your employer’s time, or in any other manner that would result in your employer claiming intellectual property rights in the Design. You further agree to indemnify and release Sponsor, and Sponsorís subsidiaries, affi liates, part-ners, agencies, agents and representatives and the offi cers, directors and employees of each from any and all liability for any claims, charges, injuries, losses or damages of any kind caused by, resulting from or arising out of your participation in the Contest, or Sponsorís use of the Entry, or any prize or your accep-tance, possession, use or misuse of any prize.

By submitting your Entry you hereby agree to the following terms: The Design will be deemed a “work made for hire”, as that phrase is used in the United States copyright law, and all right, title and interest in and to the Design will vest automatically in Sponsor. To the extent the Design is not deemed to be a “work made for hire,” You hereby assign, transfer and convey, and agree to further assign, transfer and convey, to Sponsor any and all your intellectual prop-erty rights in the Design.

You hereby represent and warrant that you are eighteen (18) years of age or older and that you are free to enter into this agreement;

You agree that if you are chosen as a Prize Winner you shall promptly sign any documents reasonably requested by Sponsor to evidence or perfect its rights in the Design, such as a hard copy of these Offi cial Rules, before you are eligible to collect the Prize.

Entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. This Contest shall be governed by Illinois law. By participating in this Contest, entrants agree that Illinois courts shall have jurisdiction over any dispute or litigation arising from or relating to this Contest and that venue shall be only in Illinois.

Notifi cation of Prize Winner(s). Once the Prize Winner(s) have been selected, Sponsor will contact the Prize Winner(s) via electronic mail. Sponsor shall use the email addresses that were provided to it on the Entry form and shall not be responsible for any changes of such addresses and has no duty to confi rm the ac-curacy of such information before sending its notifi cation to the Prize Winner(s). The Prize Winner(s) must contact Sponsor and accept the Prize within twenty one (21) days from the day Sponsor send the notifi cation. If only one Prize Winner is selected, and such Prize Winner fails to contact Sponsor and accept the Prize within the required period, Sponsor shall, in the same manner set forth above, notify the contestant that received the next highest score from the Judge. This contestant must contact Sponsor and accept the Prize within twenty one (21) days of the date Sponsor sent the notifi cation. If this contestant fails to contact Sponsor and accept the Prize, Sponsor shall repeat this process with the next highest score until the Prize is claimed. Sponsor is not responsible for any late, lost, delayed, incomplete or misdirected notifi cations.

As a condition to winning a Prize, Sponsor may require the Prize Winner(s) to complete an affi davit of compliance and eligibility that states that such Prize Winner has complied with all of these Offi cial Contest Rules and that such Prize Winner is eligible to receive the Prize. In addition, the Prize Winner(s) may be required to sign a liability release and a publicity release.

Use of Your Identity and Name. You hereby agree to be bound by these Offi cial Rules and that should you be deemed a Prize Winner, Sponsor and Sponsorís designees may use your name, likeness, name of your company or affi liation, and any statements, quotes or testimonials, photographs, software, audio-fi les or other such materials provided by you or requested of you, for promotional and publicity purposes without further compensation.

List of Prize Winner(s) and Additional Copies of the Rules. To receive additional copies of these Offi cial Rules, or a Prize Winner list, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: FLY Paper (fi ll in address here. Chicago, IL 60625, USA. Specify Prize Winner list and/or Offi cial Rules on your request. Replies will be sent after the completion of the Contest. Prize Winner list requests must be received within six (6) months of the end of the Contest Period.

© 2005 FLY Paper All rights reserved.

We at the Fly Paper have teamed with Formula Werks Clothing, Pugslee Atomz and Quadraphonics to bring you an exclusive contest that could EASILY win you THREE FREE CDS and some other goodies!Because of our latest work with Pugslee Atomz, his visible determination to continue creating art and music together inspired us to help inspire YOU. So we have decided to let YOU take the pen into your own hands to WIN PUGS LATEST CD- "PLAYING WITH MATCHES” AND MORE!

This contest is one of the EASIEST TO ENTER AND WIN EVER! Here’s all you have to do: Create the most original, Chi-Illest Pugslee Atomz/Chicago/FLY PAPER TAG and send it to us before 4/20/05 and you COULD WIN IT ALL!

Any form is acceptable! Sketch, paint, etch, scratch, spray, blot, etc. Just capture it, send it in and you could WIN!

Prizes include but are not limited to:

Quadraphonics

• The NEW Pugslee Atomz LP “Playing With Matches”

• FLY Paper goodies that can include stickers, and T-Shirt

• Formula Werks sampler CD and goodies

• A Quadraphonics Mix CD by Intel and MadAdam

AND

• A SIGNED roll of toilet paper from a special guest celebrity! This is the grand prise!

Entries can be mailed to:

FLY Paper Pugslee TAGGUMS - PLAYING WITH MATCHES Contest, 575 W. Illinois Ave. Aurora, IL 60506

or email images to JoeLeo@Rhythm-Records.com

See offi cial rules for details, but WHY READ EM! JUST GET TO TAGGING! This contest starts March 15th and ends April 20th! GET YOUR TAGGUMS IN!

You can also pick up the current issues of FLY PAPER at the same spots, go out and support.

3DA CEMBER

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HipHop, composed of four main elements, is a gateway drug within its own boundaries. As the almighty reefer is purported to lead to a smack or crack addiction (WHATEVER, Professor, a nug never pushed anyone to grab a rock of any kind, more like a TV remote and some Cheetos), so might an interest in breakin’ turn one towards a new passion in lyri-cism, or turntablism, or graffi ti.

With each corner holding an innate reliance on the other three slices, this interior-genre-trans-(hand)-planting is supposed to happen. Not only did U.G. snapper Sarcazm (Them Badd Apples) summarize an entire percentage of the culture in which we live (“Ya’ll think you know me, you don’t know the half of it / Ya see, the only reason I emcee, is cause I couldn’t graff for shit”), he called himself out honestly and it helped many of those listening understand that dab-bling across element lines is more of an appreciation of the culture itself than a display of indecision.

Oftentimes, growing up around so many different types of people can lead a youngster down so many different sidewalks that it is actually surprising a kid can even pick one, let alone progress in a particular craft. Noting the diversity of the people from each of the four domains of HipHop, most should know that there isn’t always an open consortium between b-boys and emcees, or writers and DJ’s.

B-boys aren’t always down with certain types of emcees that do things in excess, such as gloating with words or abusing their bodies with toxins to the point of ridiculousness. DJ’s aren’t always down with the writers because a DJ’s market is his venue, and when visited by disrespectful taggers, a venue turns into an open canvas, and thus the DJ is forced to seek new spinning ground, promoter in tow. Further examples of inter-culture disagreement could go on for a while, but a basic understanding of where each corner is coming from and potentially going that makes HipHop the culture that it is.

These examples of cross-breeding (no, not an emcee dating a b-girl) between sects gives strength and solidity to the entire environment, where an artist is an artist for his creations, and these other artists holding different tools respect this art all the same. We create for ourselves; we share these creations amongst our community and simultane-ously support the artists from inside and outside our participating elements.

One specifi c example of how interests in a specifi c pair of HipHop fundamentals can allow someone to make a name for themselves and their city is none other than Pugslee Atomz.

Chicago’s Man of the People, Pugs has stayed busy over the past decade maintaining a successful presence on WHPK Chi-radio, a steady force in the Midwestern underworld’s HipHoppening promotions game, a decorated graphic design rap sheet, and a healthy emcee reputation. An extremely visible personality throughout Chicago, the Nacro founder has kept his markers and piece book in the same bag as his pen and notebook, directly infl uencing his pas-sion for the mic is his zeal for scrawling.

The communication and participation amongst his peers in the graffi ti world created but half of his extended family within the HipHop community. A list-ing of his crew affi liations is impressive: NOS [Nacro-bats], VET, SAK, AKC, AY, WHO, PDX, RSK, HQ, CCA, CF, XQZ, and IOK are just off the top of his dome.

His musical connections reach into the beat-infested half of Nacro, along with the families of Artistic, Audio8 Recordings (home of Record Playas, Flesh O.N.E. and personal hero Raistlin), Binkis Recs, Birthwrite Records, Bode, Buc Crew, Chi Rock, Clip Art, Cosmo, Credo, Encyclopedia Brown, Erie, Fere,

DJ Flesh One, FlyPaper, Futura, Galapagos4, DJ Intel of the Platter Pirates/The Cankles/Violence Ammu-nition, Maker, Mike G, Mr. Diggs, Polyphonic, Raven, Seel Fresh, Sonryze, Trixter, V Traxxx, Vanish, and WHPK, just to name those directly associated with his latest release, Playing With Matches (Audio8 Recordings 2005).

Even on the eve of this brand new release, new material is constantly being laid down for future proj-ects, and through performing and promoting in and around the city, Pugs continues to uphold his title of “Man of the People.” An easily recognized face, a style all his own, and a visibly rooted connection with Chicago’s art, music, radio, and video scenes, Atomz maintains his schedule accordingly, and you can catch him on any given night, in any given corner of the city, supporting or displaying what he loves.

Pugslee Atomz has become, over time, the writ-er’s emcee, as many of his song subjects touch on his fervent infatuation with the click-clack of the can, the smell of the marker, and the unspecifi c artistry of graffi ti. Sharing many of the same infl uences, experi-ences, and tagging grounds as his audience, Pugs is an even-tempered representation of what many of the writers we all know should strive to be. True, his lyrical skills hav e more of an appreciative ear than his writing half has eyes, but given the right introduc-tion, Pugs can impress easily on both fronts.

His tone is audibly laid back and highly precise, his diction easy to understand and follow, but his abil-ity to sound relaxed and jacked in the same phrase makes even the leisurely jams sound urgent. With a clear and precise cadence, pictures are painted in random syllabic patterns. What’s unique about the

Pugs fl ow is that, on this new album, what he’s telling you is a true experience.

This cool approach to writing lyrics leaks into the performance too, as sharing a stage with any other emcee, Atomz is the perfect stage comrade, trading hype for leads smoothly with Q&A spouts galore. The writer’s emcee is also the emcee’s emcee for this very reason.

Knowing most of Chicago’s artists and perform-ers by name and face, when Pugs walks into a place and you have something to talk to him about, twenty minutes might not be enough time for him to say wassup to all his friends. Having seen this on over a dozen occasions, you see what people see in P: a genuinely nice guy who is incredibly involved in his city and talented in so many ways that it’s almost a chore to introduce him to people. (What do you tell people about him but all of it?)

What do you expect; he’s a man of the people.

March, the beginning of the Midwestern spring season (40+ is a cause for celebration), is a time usually associated in Chicago with a lot of rinsing off. Cars, driveways, sidewalks, homes, bikes, etc. There’s a noticeable increase, if only 25 minutes, of daylight after work for 9-5ers. The thick jacket is replaced by a hoody and skully. It smells like you should be outside, although snow is not far from impossible at any given moment. But it’s noticeable; it’s almost time to open up the win-dows and get some fuckin’ fresh air in this bitch.

Driving to and from work, for me at least, takes on a different signifi cance when the thaw hits. I’m not bogged down and uncomfortable in my fat-ass winter coat. I’m able to reach into my pocket without fi rst biting off my fucking glove. I won’t have to slap all seven of my coat pockets trying to fi nd my keys, lighter, or a CD, ‘cause whatever it is, it could only be in these two front jean pockets or my hoody pouch, dammit. Fuck that coat.

This extremely comfortable change of seasons lightens shit up for me, and my car windows begin to creep lower and lower on each drive to/fro until I have to turn the stereo to blast (with a desperately blown rear speaker) just to jam out.

What I choose to put in is cosmically tuned in to my spring state of mind. I’m choosing jammies from simi-lar random times in my past where this season has hit and I ache for a perfect soundtrack to my commute.

Pre-arranging my visor and door slot with poten-tials, at any given time the feel can change as quickly as I can eject, switch and cue up.

Yet, sometimes, you fi nd the disc that can be played from start to fi nish for days, weeks, and even

whole seasons while in the ride. Last year’s hand-ful of standards contained J.U.I.C.E.’s Tip of the Iceberg, The Opus’s Breathing Lessons, GLUE’s Seconds Away, and Kanye’s College Dropout, and my list for this year’s warm-up just got started.

I received Playing With Matches from Pugs’s personal cut weaver DJ Intel at Lava Lounge a few weeks before its offi cial release date of February 15th, 2005. Wanting to give the CD a proper listen, I kept it secure until the following workweek and fi rst popped it in the ride on the way to work Monday morning. It stayed put for 9 days before I even took it out to listen to anything else.

From the fi rst bump, I knew my spring and sum-mer had a banger on its hands. The opening track, “Escape,” is a sit back and nod, Saturday afternoon, cold drink/hot sun type affair with a classically beau-tiful sample calling on the affects of joy and laughter. I’ve started this song over more than a dozen times because the vibe created with the horns on the verses carries the beat back into the sample and ties a serious one on. It’s addicting.

One specifi c trait that I’ve always found impres-sive in Pugs is that, in his rhyming style, he never hesitates to open it up to let the beat take the spot-light; he’s never tempted to try to fi ll every open bar, and the words he uses in his even-metered cadences never seemed rushed or stuffed in an attempt to seem more skilled. Mr. Atomz is the calm rook of Chicago HipHop, no doubt.

By the fourth track, it’s quite clear what the focus of the album is: Art is everywhere and contributing to the landscape is just one particular way in which some seem to rise above it. “Grab a marker/pen/mic/speaker, and just pass it around.” Interpretation: Your participation in this tag game isn’t mandatory, but the other three elements are always options, and just the mere appreciation of writing/spinning/breaking/emceeing in any form is reason enough to be able to enjoy it any way you see fi t.

So, I’ve commuted every morning and evening since receiving my newest “leave-in” and I’ve learned plenty about a side of HipHop I don’t often have the opportunity to understand from one CD.

Being an avid listener of music in general, this new Pug LP is an eye-opener in a number of ways. Most importantly, I am now a lot more observant of the subtle trimmings taggers consign throughout the cityscape since my fi rst listen. And I’m an even bigger fan of Pugslee Atomz now than I was fi ve years ago.

The fi rst sleeve of my travel case is now reserved for Playing With Matches…if it ever comes out of the CD player, that is.

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PUGSLEE ATOMZ THE PEOPLE’S MANby Joel

3DA CEMBER

PUGSLEE ATOMZ THE PEOPLE’S MAN

FLYVAPORSgraffiti // boming // tagging //scrawling // writing //piecing // art Officially, the FLY PAPER does not condone painting without permission.

This month FlyGrafFlix features graff wrangled up be Joel. The Chicago writers bench has already opened, Saturdays. (email flix to bboyb@artisticbombingcrew.com, w/name/title/local/etc... as name of the pic.

5MARCHON

When I rolled into a Soho parking lot last summer, the richly colored painting on the shed caught my eye right away—I nearly clipped a parked car in my distraction. For a long moment, I thought I was looking at a genuine piece of street art: a cartoon-ish image of the hot new Dodge Magnum station wagon (fig. 1). With their high slab sides and tiny looking “greenhouses” the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum have both drawn comparisons to cartoon cars. They resemble work by customizers who exaggerate the shapes of cars by chopping or lowering roofs and apparently stretching bod-ies by lowering them over the wheels.

The murals had been commissioned by an ad agency for the car company. Global Hue (fig. 2), the Chrysler Group’s “multicultural” agency based in Michigan, hired street artists to paint grafitti like versions of the vehicle in various cities.

The person on the street seeing such murals was, of course, likely to get the impression that the street artists chose the subject themselves, lending street cred to the car. Two or three of the murals, which are fading away or being painted over, were painted in Atlanta (Fig. 3), Houston (Fig. 4), Chicago (Fig. 5), New York (Fig. 6), and Los Angeles (Fig. 7). The Manhattan murals were painted by Tats Cru, an outfit that has cleverly combined painting memorial murals for inner-city victims of violence with other ads for the likes of Coca Cola.

The murals may not be authentic street art, but they are at least more authentic than the recent Chrysler print advertising that depicts the Chrysler 300C in company of scantily clad

female models (Fig. 8). These are accompanied by African American men dressed in the double breasted suits and Bosalino hats favored in the 1970s by Walt “Clyde” Frazier of the New York Knicks—a look that frankly can only be called the “pimp”. “Respect” reads the ad copy. From Ford’s earlier wild posting of illegal posters to gain street cred, car makers have moved to more imaginative promotional efforts that try not to look like advertising. Scion, Toyota’s youth brand, hired “urban” artists to customize scale models and panels of Scion automobiles and shipped a show of art and the cars themselves to galleries around the country. These included the well known grafitti artist Futura and Mister Cartoon, tattooist to Eminem and other stars.

Last year, Nissan set up several “event” sculp-tures, surrealist “vignettes,” including a sculpture of a “hot” Maxima, ostensibly searing walls and melting parking meters. In 2003, Nissan ran an ad campaign including street posters showing its Altima model covered with what appeared to be graffiti coming from a group that listed its website. But ElectricMoyo.com turned out to have been created by Nissan itself, despite a note ex-pressing thanks to the company: “much respect to Nissan for allowing us to use their billboards.”

There’s that word again—respect, which does not seem to be directed at the intelligence of the consumer. Much of the street graphics the car companies offer is about as authentic as the wood grain on their dashboards—and it fades as quickly as the old fake wood station wagons of the 1970s. The SoHo mural is already gone.

ARTSTATE art // graffiti // drawing // tagging //sketching // writing // perfecting //piecing // painting // learning

Customizing GraffitiWritten by , jacked from http://designforum.aiga.org/content.cfm?Alias=voicejournal, Filed in Voice: AIGA Journal of Design

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State of ConfusionHipHop has to be the most widely prostituted culture in America today. The Label “HipHop” has been so mon-strously skewed by media and big business, that the original heart that was once at the very center of our culture has been bled out and exchanged for flashy necklaces and corporate sponsorship. With the likes of such media mo-guls as 50 Cent, P. Diddy, and Kayne West, the promotion of this hip-pop nonsense has reached an all time high. Its everywhere, in every ear, all the time, further diminishing the lines between what the general public believes HipHop is, and what it stands for. What is HipHop then?

What separates the true HipHop community from all these commercial icons and tasteless music then? The answer exists from within the gritty confines of the Chicago un-derground HipHop scene. There in lies a crew infamous for its purity in artistry and dedication to the preservation of HipHop. A crew who’s soul purpose has been the support of a seemingly dying culture. “State of Confusion”, a name that reverberates against the mind with the mighty cry of a D.J.’s wicked record scratch and the distant chanting of an underground militia calling out to its master, check out underthetablemusic.com. HipHop is defined by the very in-dividuals who make up this untouchable squadron. Who are these people, and what makes them all that I say they are? With a history well endowed with penniless show promoting and street hustling to push HipHop, their own and others, this crew deserves the respect given.

A team of seven young entrepreneurs made up of music producers, graffiti artists, lyricists and business minded street kids make up the crowd that face me as I enter the dimly light basement of S.O.C.’s leader/producer, ScanDLS a soft spoken Philippine kid, with a reputation for having the sickest drums. The other players around the table go as follows; Jabba Jaws a.k.a. “Jabba” and RIS, a master of the pen, whether through crafting rhymes or creating a mas-terpiece within his heavily used art pad, Jabba is a man of many faces and a force within the crew. Congo a.k.a. X-Con is the imposing shadow of the crew. Not seen by the general public but known by his fellow crewmates as the glue that holds it all together with mountains of paper work and mo-notonous deadlines, Congo’s shadow finds its home. Comet, poet/screen printing connoisseur is the marketing expert amongst the clan. Producer P.H. Dro executes his musical talents like a blood lusting warlord conquering his adver-saries mercilessly. Xcell One, one of the greatest artists to step on the scene. Xcell’s art dabbles in the fundamentals of urban struggle and HipHop’s hopeful future. The combina-tion of Jabba and Xcell in one crew means a powerhouse of visual art. AdamOne a.k.a. First Adam, Adam of Eternia and me, Snaps Wilson (Pen Pushing Beat Smugglers) , the crew’s young hot headed emcee/poet makes heads turn with his vocal presence.

The mood suddenly shifted from a tense and anxious state to a silence, humming with confidence, as we sat back ready to get down to business. I was here to judge and evaluate their presence in the HipHop community and they knew it. I drew back the leaflet of my legal pad to begin the process of Q&A, when out of the corner came the voice of Jabba stat-ing, “State Of Confusion is the raw essence of what love for something intangible is, in our case, HipHop. It’s the drive to create something beautiful, not just to gain notoriety, but to help influence others in creating art. To me, that’s what HipHop is, an urban art movement. Politics and business didn’t have anything to do with HipHop in its earliest, purest of stages. It seems that when something that is beautiful is exploited by something larger, it loses its value and mean-ing. I kind of feel the same way about how the Christian religions had started, in their purest form, but then was changed by Rome in order to accommodate the belief to those that apposed it prior. Now it’s saturated, much like the mainstream HipHop culture. We aren’t purists. We can’t be. We didn’t create the culture but, we represent the culture the way we see it should be represented, in our own opin-

ions. We aren’t like the youth that is generalized to the eyes of the public by the media; we are intense, talented, intel-ligent and deep individuals. That doesn’t go for just State Of Confusion, but a large mass of young people that have the same feelings as we do.”

Heads nod in agreement from across the table, but I de-cided to push it in terms of seeing if their actions backed up their words. “Ok Jabb, it’s easy to claim something like that with words but without street credibility it means nothing. So what has been your part in the growth of HipHop in Chi-cago, as a crew? What makes S.O.C. stand out amongst the average backpacking HipHop crews in Chicago?”

Jabba took the aggressive questioning in stride and confidently replied, “We are not a “backpacker” crew. We have all been involved in HipHop as a culture for over a decade, (me for almost 2). The term “backpacker” to me is a negative connotation for someone that either, A) just got into the scene because of the recent popularity of underground groups such as Rhymesayers and Def Jux, or B) someone who isn’t into the so-called “Gangsta” side that the media pinned up with HipHop because of the fact that it is considered to be urban music. I for one am not involved in anything that degrades my culture or minori-ties, which I feel the whole “Gangsta” ideology does, which makes minorities seem ignorant, but that’s off the subject. Most of our involvement in the scene had for a long time to do with event coordination and basically throwin’ concert events and pickin’ up tours. Throughout the years, we’ve promoted and self funded (0ut of pocket, no sponsorship or outside funding) shows for acts such as Atmosphere, Eyedea n’ Abilities, Atoms Family, Weightless, Blue-print, Illogic, Sage Francis, Them Badd Apples, Anticon, Nacrobats, Mud Kids, Gravel Records, Birthwrite, Glue, Animal Crackers, ect.. We also involve ourselves in the b-boy culture of HipHop. That’s one thing that I feel we as a group are trying to accomplish, re-tying the severed bond between the groups that practice different elements within HipHop. I feel especially strong about this because b-boying is what solidified my love and involvement in HipHop, and I see how it’s faded throughout the years.”

I felt the passion of this crew drip off Jabb’s tongue with every word he spoke. There was a hunger in their eyes that is only seen in few individuals.

I decided that in order to get a full, well rounded view of State Of Confusion I needed to dive into their rich history and find some past members to talk to. From a line up of past members such as Bane, Dusty Bottomz and Gustav Mandible (Muff 7), D.J. Be Lo, Me Myself and Rhyme, D.J. Umbilikuls, Eddie Partida, IAN and Non-Exhistant, I decided to try and get up with Muff7, Chicago’s newest up and coming act made up of past members Dusty Bottomz and Gustav Mandible, now members of the Pen Pushing Beat Smugglers. Getting a hold of these two was a task in itself, but when I finally got a chance for a sit down internet interview, I could tell that these two had something to say.

Snaps: So you both are previous members of State Of Confusion?

Muff7: Indubidubly, and don’t correct our spelling either, we want to share our ignorance with the world.

Snaps: State Of Confusion has quite a reputation around Chicago throughout the years of being a heavy sup-porter of the underground music scene. You two have been there since jump, so what’s your take on the S.O.C. dynasty?

Dusty: It all fell apart. Nothing was ever done right. Nobody ever listened. Too many egos and your voice didn’t count unless you put in money or equipment. Basically we were slaves.

Gustav: Indubidubly

Snaps: Is that why you and Gustav decided to split?

Dusty: In a nut shell yes. There was never any advance-ment, only pipe dreams.

Snaps: Pipe dreams? Explain.

Dusty: Hey I wanna go to Europe. Hey I wanna be a rapper. Hey I wanna be a producer. Hey, nothing happened.

Snaps: So, you’re saying that nobody ever followed through on their ambitions?

Gustav: That’s correct.

Snaps: What about the plethora of shows SOC has thrown?

Gustav: That’s all they were, a plethora.

Snaps: Here is a line up of acts SOC has brought out. Atmosphere, Eyedea n’ Abilities, Atoms Family, Weight-less, Blueprint, Illogic, Sage Francis, Them Badd Apples, Anticon, Nacrobats, Mud Kids, Gravel Records, Birth-write, Glue, Animal Crackers, etc. How could they be so successful when put up to your accusations?

Dusty: Fine for the fans but what the hell did we get out of it? Nothing. The “crew” got equipment but there was no progress from it.

Gustav: The tunnel just got tooo small and we couldn’t move as a group, so I took a step forward by my self and yeah.....

Dusty: Plus, there were only 3 profitable shows all the oth-ers were flops.

Snaps: I see, so the problem in lies with the general sup-port for S.O.C.’s own artists?

Gustav: If that’s what you wanna call them.

Snaps: When looked on in the light of supporting HipHop period; do you think State Of Confusion has done this, in a pure and selfless way?

Dusty: I’m gonna quote gangstar. “It was all for the cash”, all they did for HipHop was make money off of it. At the beginning it was to better the crew. Towards the end it destroyed it. Can you hurry this up cause unlike SOC we try to get our work done.

Gustav: (Laughs)

Snaps: Damn guys, this is some real beef here. Obvi-ously I sense a lot of hostilities between your two crews, P.P.B.S. and S.O.C. Saying that your roots have grown in

S.O.C. soil, where does this stem from? You can’t tell me that all was bad.

Muff 7: Our roots don’t come from S.O.C. We’ve been HipHop before S.O.C. and will continue to be after they’re gone.

Gustav: It wasn’t all bad. But there was more bad than good.

Dusty: All S.O.C. showed us, was what not to do.

Snaps: Are you guys prepared to be quoted on this if the article gets published?

Gustav: Yeah.

Dusty: Yep.

Snaps: Alright, thanks guys, it was good talking to you again, good luck on muff7 and the album release. When’s that going to drop dusty?

Dusty: April 8th. No S.O.C. invited. (Laughs)

Snaps: Good looking out guys.

Gustav: Hey thanks snaps we had fun.

The interview finally wrapped up and I was blown away. Here I was faced with the exact negative of what S.O.C. put out for me to see. How much credibility was I to give to the bold statements made by Muff 7? Was this just an inner crew dispute turned public? I’m not sure, but I know that I didn’t get the answer’s I needed.

I began to look around my room and gazed upon the mark-ings of HipHop through out the years. Posters of legends such as Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, and Graffiti scrawls too many to mention look back at me and seem to pull into place the essence of HipHop in its purity. We have seen throughout the years the progressive revolu-tion of our culture, crews coming together with a purpose to build and create a unified community, and we’ve seen the same crews crumble under the pressures of greed, inner conflict, and disloyalty.

I look out amongst the glass ridden boulevards of the vi-cious industry this HipHop culture has turned into and hope to see at least a sliver of life left in its desolate streets. State of Confusion stands amongst the ranks of the bright beckons that once paved the way to open the minds of our youth, giving them another way of life besides jail and death. We hold a candle of admiration up to the legacy of State Of Confusion today; what was and what is to come. State Of Confusion, justifiably one of the greatest HipHop crews ever.

BY Snaps Wilson

First Adam and Dusty Bottomz

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THE CANKLES @ BUDDY’S SPORTS BAR

Saturday, 05 March 2005Buddy’s Sports Bar, 9560 Grand Ave., Franklin Park, IL

8pm / 21+ / $5.00

The Cankles will perform their live rock/hip-hop/funk magic alongside Dusty Bottomz, Gustav Mandible, S.O.C., Cypher Bulliez, Children In

Darkness, Alexpathetic & Raistlin, with DJ’s Scan D.L.S., Max Powers & PH Dro. Bring your mothers & grandparents!

Info: www.myspace.com/thecankles <http://www.myspace.com/thecankles> / joelfrieders@yahoo.com

7MARCHON