Kadeem Lundy

Photo Credit: Hard Rock NYC/Jouvir

On Thursday (September 7th), rapper/actor Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins was the latest musician to be inducted into the Hard Rock Hotel’s memorabilia collection. Hard Rock Hotel’s Times Square location in partnership with Chase Republic hosted ceremony commemorating the induction as well as celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. Special guest in attendance included Ja Rule, Chase Republic founder Harold Wilkerson, Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion of LVMH, N.A Corey Smith, Hard Rock Vice President of Entertainment & Nightlife, Joseph ‘Mongo’ Mongeluzzi, Vice President of Memorabilia and Design Giovanni Taliaferro. Media Personality Angela Yee, Rapper Bang of Junior M.A.F.I.A, Rapper Chi Ali, Bronx Councilman Kevin Riley, Hip-Hop Activist Mysonne Linen, Media Personality Rocsi Diaz, Actress Tationna Bosier and a host of other industry tastemakers were also in attendance.

Ja Rule gifted a custom Off-White suit by the late Virgil Abloh worn during the BET Award ’23 Awards Hip-Hop tribute performance to the Hard Rock Hotel. “”Hip-Hop is not just about the music, it’s an art form, there’s elements to Hip-Hop. It’s about the way we walk, the way, we talk, the fashion and I’m glad we had this 50 year anniversary honoring the impact so we can celebrate all of the elements!”, Ja Rule said during the ceremony.

Corey Smith spoke specifically about working with Abloh who designed Ja Rule’s suit that was on display, “”Virgil was arguably was one of the most impactful designers of this era, I had the opportunity to work with him before his untimely passing, his attention to detail and the way he incorporated music into fashion through design was a testament to how genius, he changed the culture!”

During the star-studded ceremony, Chase Republic founder Harold Wilkerson surprised Ja Rule with the Inaugural Essential Hustler of Hip-Hop Award. Wilkerson spoke about his long connection with Ja Rule from the first time they met on a movie set in Canada. Wilkerson also noted that his own daughter served as inspiration for Chase Republic.

Just a few miles away from where the annual West Indian Labor Day parade will be held in Brooklyn, the Kings Theatre in Flatbush held the first ever Caribbean Music Awards last night (August 31st). Wyclef Jean served as host for the show which included a number of nominees and performers from various genres of Caribbean music.

The show opened with a performance by Karnival Bounce Crew and featured performances from various artist such Ding Dong who performed his known songs including Genna Bounce, Fling, and Happiness,and Wyclef Jean himself who performed an acoustic version of his Mary J Blige hit 911. Ding Dong also won Dance Song of the Year for his 2022 song, Bounce.

Throughout the night seven special honors were presented. Machel Montano received the Lifetime Achievement Award, David Rudder received the Elite Calypso Music Award, late music artist Mikaben received the Kompa Music Award, Majah Hype was honored with the Elite Entertainer Award, Chrissy received the Social Media Personality Award, Buju Banton Foundation received an award and Beres Hammond received the Elite Icon Award. Hammond also received a special honor from the NYC Council celebrating his work in the Caribbean community.

Besides the special honors award recipients various artist won in competitive categories. Kes won the People’s Choice Fan Favorite Award, Spice won Dancehall Female Artist of the Year award, Next to Me by Popcaan and Toni-Ann Singh won Video of the Year Reggae/Dancehall and Vybz Kartel won Artist of the Decade. Kartel wasn’t in attendance however Spice accepted the award on his behalf. Prior to the show The Knockturnal spoke to Kes who said about Soca , “It’s the soundtrack of our lives and it really and truly promotes togetherness. I think in a divided world Soca music is key.”

Grammy Award winner Mya and Doug. E, Fresh and choreographer Tanisha Scott also made appearances as presenters. “First of all to do anything that is inspired by Caribbean music you have to do it straight from the blood. It is something that is authentic to us the way we hear the music the way we move is something that you can’t just teach you just have to do. So my advice to any up and coming choreographer if you want to do anything within the realms of dancehall or Soca is you have to be true and authentic to what it is because the movement does not lie and that’s what makes us so special”, Scott told The Knockturnal.

The ceremony wrapped up with a trio of performances by Wayne Wonder, Cham, and Dexta Daps. Daps went on to receive his first-ever award in Dancehall Performer of the Year category.

Photo Credit: Caribbean Music Awards

Six weeks ago restaurant owner Randy Narod and his brother in law executive chef, Joseph Anzalone brought their vision of introducing open faced flat bread bagel sandwiches to Brooklynites with the opening of Filthy Flats. Filthy Flats opened in Downtown Brooklyn at 32 Court Street. Prior to opening Filthy Flats, the duo operated the Long Island based Long Island Bagel Café. In intertwining their Long Island Bagel Cafe with the Filthy Flats concept, hand rolled and boiled flat bagels are baked fresh daily at their bagel factory in Baldwin, New York and shipped to Filthy Flats in Brooklyn.

Once the bagels arrive at Filthy Flats, they are topped with various protein options including braised Korean beef short ribs, pastrami, ham, turkey, chicken, pepperoni, tuna, eggs and cheese to create their signature flat open faced bagel sandwiches for their breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. the restaurant which is set up like a corner store deli without seating also features desert bagel options such as cannoli and strawberry cheesecake and smores.

During a media tasting The Knockturnal got a chance to sample some of the shop’s signature sandwiches. After arriving the first sandwich sampled was the Korean BBQ Short Rib. The predominant flavor of the sandwich is the sweet soy based bbq sauce with a hint of fruity sweetness. The sandwich is stopped with cheese which give it a savoriness and crispy fried onions. The bagel tasted like a pizza topped with sweet savory barbecue sauce with oniony crunch. Also sampled was the Mike’s Hot Honey pepperoni pizza bagel sandwich, the cheese wasn’t too thick, and the hot honey mellowed the spiciness of the pepperoni and the savoriness of the cheese. The Filthy Pastrami Reuben sandwich which Filthy Flats takes on in mini form, while most sandwich places create a Reuben that is too big to finish, Filthy Flats gives just enough meat on the sandwich to be finished in just a few bites. The pastrami is neither dry nor overly peppery as some New York pastrami tends to be. Also the sauce on the Pastrami Reuben is far less pickle relish tasting than typical thousand island dressing style sauces used on Reuben sandwiches. Lastly for desert we sampled the cannoli bagel which had a contrast between vanilla and chocolate flavor.

The bagels themselves had a fresh softness to them and weren’t overly chewy or dense. The lightness of the bagels allowed for the meat and toppings to fully shine. In addition to open-faced sandwiches, Filthy Flats also offers Filthy Tots, tater tots available dressed in cheese sauce, cheese and bacon, or served plain. Their grab-n-go options include toasted Filthy Flat bagel chips paired with homemade Tuna Salad, Cranberry Chicken Salad, Hummus, and Avocado, perfect for a quick and healthy snack option.

Hip Hop Commune, a rap group made up of Chinese rappers Yitai Wang, Pact and Castle$ Deniro have been paying homage to their rap influences as this year marks the 50th anniversary of hip hop. The trio made waves during their first appearance in the US a few years ago when they freestyled to Eminem’s My Name is on the radio program Sway in the Morning which has since garnered 2.5 million views on Youtube. The Knockturnal chatted with the trio as they were in the states for The Grammy Awards earlier this month.

Speaking on Eminem who greatly influenced them Yitai stated, “When rap came to China when the internet became popular Eminem was the guy he was at the top around 2002.” He went on to further note that other musical influences of his include D12, Jay Z, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Castle$ who was born in Philadelphia mentioned fellow Philly born rapper Cassidy as an influence as well as Meek Mill, Lil Wayne, The Roots, Black Thought and Gillie Da Kid. He also stated that he raps in both Chinese and English. Pact noted Tupac Shakur as an influence.

“Hip hop is kind of new in China, it is just coming up. It just became really mainstream. So people still have a lot of stereotyping and like they think we’re trying to be gangsters and we’re trying to be somebody else that we are not. But for us because we’re in a game for maybe over a decade we really think we don’t need to play the rule, and then we just be ourselves keeping it real,” Yitai spoke about how hip hop is developing in China and fighting stereotypes about what it means to be a rapper in China. And a lot of a parents in China, they don’t want their kids to do hip hop or do be a rapper because they might drop out of school or they might start doing bad things, but like most of the kids that I know, they good, they straight and then they are just focusing in on their dream,” he added.

As this year marks the 50th year of hip hop, Castle$ spoke about what the milestone means to him and driving Chinese hip hop forward in the future. “I want to say first of all, it’s amazing how far hip hop has came as the 50th anniversary, and I think it’s a blessing how this music changed my life and it reached cross borders,” he stated. “It reached everywhere in Asia and was a big influence to Asia, in the beginning. Through the music, with a lot of people initially it was like a lot of copy and pasting, but then later on, people started to develop their own style. And I just want to say now that it has become on a bigger platform and more mainstream more people are getting to hear the music, which is a great thing, but like my boy brother Pact said there’s a lot of Og Chinese MCs that weren’t getting recognized,” he added.

I feel like what we can do as hip hop heads ourselves and as kids that love the game, what we can do through our music is we can explain the culture and have our individual style and to show the world what Chinese hip hop is about,” Castle$ said.

Hip Hop pioneer and Public Enemy founder Chuck D is helping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop by joining with PBS and BBC Music for a docuseries called Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World. The four part docuseries examines not only the history of hip hop, but also how the music genre helped change the world. The series which borrows it’s name from Public Enemy’s signature song Fight the Power also looks at how hip hop both inspired political movements and how political movements utilized hip hop in delivering messages. On Monday (January 23rd) a special community screening of part one of the series was held at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture with Chuck D along with producing partner Lorrie Boula, PBS Vice President, Multiplatform Programming & Head of Development and journalist Nelson George in attendance.

Following the screening, George moderated a Q&A with the producers and Gardner. “It was always on my mind like damn this narrative has to be protected but I’m not gonna have no conversations with big corporations because we don’t really talk well.” Chuck D said. “So I would always go to Lorrie, we had done some things managed some things and I said you know when do we start making making important great things that are more than just popularity and this is when conversations started with places I respected like PBS, and BBC as opposed to Viacom”, Chuck D added. When George asked Chuck D about what sets this documentary apart from previous ones, Chuck used Ice T’s Art of Rap as a reference point stating that while Ice T’s documentary examined the art of rap, Fight the Power goes in depth to explore the history of the music genre in an effort to serve as an extension of that documentary.

“One of the beautiful things about human beings is that even though the South Bronx and New York City as a whole were under siege, people will still find their joy and know how to make art,” Lorrie shared about the time period during when hip hop was born which also highlights the docuseries mission to show how Black people are able to utilize their creativity in unfavorable socioeconomic circumstances. Lorrie also shared that the project took longer than expected due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the goal was always to release the docuseries in connection with the 50th anniversary of hip hop. She also expressed that the BBC were great partners that gave them the space to do what they needed to do. Lorrie also pointed out that the docuseries will present angles that will show the range of depth that hip hop creators have possessed that the media often doesn’t touch upon.

Gardner expressed that in conversations with the producers and the BBC he iterated in letting the people who lived the story tell the story that represents a lot of our lives, rather than just have the commentary from the experts.

Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World will premiere on PBS January 31st. Chuck D will also release an art book titled Livin’ Loud which will be published on February 7 by Genesis Publications (ChuckDBook.com). The book features over 250 artworks created by Chuck D himself, along with engaging commentary which will guide the reader through his thought process and inspirations, from his early experiences growing up in the Sixties through his early roots in hip hop and the central figures that critically shaped him and his voice, the formation of Public Enemy through to their Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction, his time with Prophets of Rage through to current day world affairs