Tag Archives: music

KidBreak

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If someone asked me to talk about the culture of the history of the Bronx using one word, it would be breaking. Breaking sums up the constant movement of the people of the Bronx, the joy they find in the trails of moving and finally, its a dance style that first originated in the Bronx!

As a poet and writer, there is so much I can pull out from the word breaking when talking about my people in the Bronx; weather we are discussing Kelling’s 1982 Broken Window Theory or the amount of families that have been broken up due to the harsh housing conditions or if we are discussing perseverance, joy and happiness. Which on that note, the people of the Bronx like to dance through it all! Despite the social condition, the people of the Bronx, find ways to get joy and dance has been a prayer answered.

Its strange. This word. Its strange how the broken window theory came from one sector and dancing came from another but both are built on the same term and in some cases used to define people of the Bronx.

Its even more strange that gentrification has changed the layout of the Bronx and capitalism has changed the nature of breaking; yet the people of the Bronx continue to hold on to its roots and continue to dance. Parents continue to pass on the love of music, dance and history to their children. Churches still hold fiery worship services where souls come and dance into the heat of the night, bars and restaurants still hold jam sessions with live musicians, and community centers still host dance classes where the elders, some who learned dance in the streets, now teach the children using their own pedagogy.

And to prove that the Bronx is still dance, there children born and raised in the Bronx are now on worldwide stages. Today I met Fred, a parent of a children who loves to break. I listened to Fred tell the story of how he and his wife raised their children to also be immersed in the culture of the Bronx, and was intrigued. Fred’s story I noticed didn’t dwell in the past but in the future which was what made his delivery impressive. His son, Kidbreak, stood next to him and shared his experience of what it meant to be a breaker now.

As a child, KidBreak, gained early local recognition. He was taught by breakdancer, Rokafella, (who I interviewed some years ago) and Rokafella’s husband, Kwikstep. KidBreak was seen as a young prodigy, dancing in public spaces in New York City. Today, he’s seventeen and from what I gathered is not only an encaptivating dancer; he has a wonderful personality. He won the Red Bull BC One Cypher New York 2025 competition at just 16 years old and the photo below is featured in the Bronx Museum of History exhibition titled, When the Bronx Moved.

His parents, who grew up in New York City, remembers the time when the people of the Bronx moved and they honor that time. Fred, his father, who grew up in the Bronx, and his mom, Jessica, who grew up in the lower east side, gave Kidbreak the name KidBreak as a nod to the artist Nas who was a boogie boy as a child. Nas’s name was Kidwave thus Kidbreak. Fred and Jessica are immersed in the culture and history of the Bronx. They don’t travel far to give their children the best of the Bronx.

The same way parents line up at Wynton Marsalis Lincoln Center Studio so their children can learn jazz, is the same way Fred and Jessica of the Bronx seek the best educators for their children so the very essence of the culture can stay alive. Fred and Jessica are an example of how parents in the Bronx see the value in their own culture, their own selves and most of all, their own children.

I asked Kid Break a few questions about his career and here is what he shared:

How long have you been breaking? I’ve been dancing for13 years.

How old are you? I am 17 years old.

How does dance look for you in the future?

I don’t really look too much into the future when it comes to things, I’m more worried about what’s going on now.
In my life, I focus on stuff that I need to focus on. But if I would have to think about the future, I think breaking would be in a good place, especially when it comes to the competition level, but I just feel like we just need to be a little bit more united and respected, when it just comes to things in general.


You said you didn’t really think about the future around breaking.
But how do you think about the future of your career and your education? What do you imagine doing? And is breaking part of that?

I imagine breaking being my livelihood.
I already been doing it for 13 years, so I like doing it, I love breaking, it’s brought me across the world. I’ve got a lot of amazing, opportunities. So I’ve just been thinking about that.
I hadn’t really thought too much about, like, college and stuff, but if it does come to that, I was thinking more about, fashion. When it comes to like clothes and stuff, I feel like it might be the best thing for me. I don’t really want to go to college and just like, go for something random that I don’t like because then it’ll just be a waste of my time.

You started dancing when you were five years old. What would you say to that five year old today?

I don’t really know. I think the five year old me will still have the same mentality.
I really liked breaking back then and I still like it now, so just tell five year old me to keep doing it. I guess.

To watch a small clip of Kid Break dancing click here and to watch a video of him competing, click here.

Lift Every Voice and Sing- A Virtual Assembly

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As tradition has it, every first Monday of each month, my school would gather for assembly. We will lift our voices and sing the anthem.

This Monday we were muted. We listed to a muffled Dr. Roland Carter version.

We listened to our Principal tell us the virtue of the month, Resilience. Resilience.

And, just like that, Assembly was over.

When the question was asked, anyone have anything to say, the students unmuted their microphones and said hi. Cries of children saying hi as if they wouldn’t have an opportunity to be heard. Calling teacher names and saying they missed them.

This was the first assembly I cried. The first assembly I didn’t have to speak to any children nor lead them in a rendition of the Black National Anthem.

Another voice came. Assembly is over, please hang up.

No one moved. Everyone stayed. No one spoke. just stayed in the call. Until the call was dropped.

 

Our Voice

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Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. day weekend, I felt super cold, super bless and super special.

I was super cold because it was super cold! I went to Amherst, Massachusetts to view Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards at the Eric Carle Museum and got caught in a terrible snow storm.

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I felt super blessed for many reasons…

  1. I missed my bus from Boston to Amherst and got to the museum after the event with Onawumi Jean Moss ended…but was just in time to see her!
  2. I really wanted to go to the museum for a while and went on the perfect weekend- (sometimes the cold and snow can be a good thing) not only did I get to view the very informative exhibit but Onawumi Jean Moss stayed at the museum almost three extra hours mentoring my sister and I! Which leads me to why I felt super special.

Okay, now I am beginning to think that  feeling blessed and feeling special are the same feelings…anyways…I felt this good feeling because my sister, April, knew how badly I wanted to visit the Eric Carle Museum and when I told her I was going that weekend, she willingly accompanied me and did everything in her power to make sure I enjoyed myself…minus her trying to keep me from exploring cold Boston alone…that’s another funny story.

I also felt special because the education coordinator  at the museum, Courtney, heard about our long trip there and while Onawumi gave me some lesson plan ideas, she went into the museum shop and got me a free copy of In Plain Sight by Richard Jackson and Jerry Pinkney, which is one of the books Onawumi suggested I use in the classroom.

While we were all conversing,  Ms. Custard, an assistant principal at Ahmerst Reginal High School, came in the room to check on Onawumi and joined the very intimate conversation about race and education in America.

After the discussion, I viewed the amazing art work on the walls (the exhibition celebrated illustrators who won the Coretta Scott King Award. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the children’s book award. ) and  I realized I either owned a copy of the books or knew of the books before hand. However, some I did not have…such as….

Ray Charles by Sharon Bell Mathis and George Ford – Most of the teachers in my school teach the children Fifty Nifty States which is a tune written by Ray Charles. This is a grand opportunity to introduce the Rhythm and Blues singer to the children.

I  purchased The Creation  by James Weldon Johnson and James E. Ransome at the museum. I did not know it was made into a children’s book. If you remember, I had read the poem at the Ritz Museum in Jacksonville, Florida. I shared it with the Little Flock (the children at my church) and the response was lovely.

I was surprised to see Jan Spivey Gilchrist and Eloise Greenfield’s Nathaniel Talking,  which is a poem my sisters and I memorized growing up, on the wall. This poem was in our school readers growing up. Our teachers skipped over the poem which made the poem even more exciting to read. We took the book home and memorized it…just so we could rap.

Most times it is very difficult to teach children about the lives of musicians without a children’s book which is why I plan to buy:

Bryan Collier and Troy Andrews Trombone Shorty, Frank Morrison and Katheryn Russell-Brown’s Little Melba and her Big Trombone and Jerry Pinkney and Bille Holiday’s God Bless the Child .

I should also purchase, Kadir Nelson’s We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball because I was never into sports so I am really horrible when it comes to teaching the history of sports……It just so happens that I have a little boy in my class to loves to talk about baseball since he lives right next to Yankee Stadium.

I also purchased, N. Joy and Nancy Devard’s The Secret Olivia Told Me at the museum. I always thought silhouette art was the bomb and so does my students!

Lastly, I want a copy of Benny Andrews’ Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes. I must admit that I was a bit surprised to see the same artist work in two different exhibits in two different cities for two different reasons. I learned about Benny Andrews at the Brooklyn Museum when I viewed, Soul of a Nation. When I saw his work at the Eric Carle museum, I had to double checked to see if it was the same person, which it is.

 

 

 

Yoshio Toyama

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I think one of the fascinating moments in New Oreleans was hearing Japanese trumpet player, Yoshio Toyama, play ‘What a wonderful World’ and actually sound exactly like Armstrong!! Everyone who was standing near the venue and could hear Toyama stopped talking!

I knew nothing about Toyama before going and after hearing him and reading an article about how he and his wife return to New Orleans often to donate new instruments to the schools.

I made a video to post but it isn’t uploading!! Anyway, here’s another video I made.

You can always look him up on youtube.

 

The Whetstonian

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On North Jefferson Street, in downtown Jacksonville, Florida there sits a huge building. The locals don’t see it as much as an outsider. Its there but it’s not there.

The building sits  in beauty amongst   greenery and fine vintage objects like a Harriet Tubman bust, fluegelhorns and trumpets and trombones and piano innards, mannequin parts, tall tin plates emblazoned with architectural slogans by Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright, and human-faced suns in factory cogs.

An outsider wouldn’t know that this building has historical value. However, an insider may know, especially a black insider.

This building sits in Jacksonville’s downtown district area and looks as if it should be a museum.

When my sister asked me what area I wanted to photograph one morning during my stay down there, I  described this building.

“Take me to the building with the broken mirror pieces in the door. You know, the one that is surrounded by green shrubs and have objects in the walls. The one that takes up the span of one block”. I told her.

“Oh,  that’s the building Mother Seabrooks used to go to on Friday nights back in the day before she was saved!!

“Really?”

“Yeah, apparently, that’s where everyone went. She said it was the hot spot for musicians and dancers. It was the center of night life in Jacksonville.

“Wow”.

“Yeah, even Ray Charles and other famous African American musicians. Attached is a hair salon that is closed now. Everyone black would go there to get their hair done.”

“What is it now?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s much now. It’s never opened.”

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Before I  returned home, I began to do research on the building.

My visit to the Ritz Theater and Museum let me know that the entire neighborhood (that housed the building) was called La Villa. La Villa, I gathered was like Harlem in Jacksonville.

Bishop, the young and knowledgeable tour guide who met us at The Ritz gave my sister and I fundamental education about African American history in Jacksonville.

‘You see, the downtown area is really OUR La Villa, he began, La Villa is the name of the very affluent African American neighborhood in which everything happened. We ran shops and stores, we built schools and churches. Everyone who was black and somebody in that time, existed in La Villa”. I listened closely to Bishop as he walked me slowly through the museum and schooled us on Jacksonville’s history.

Then, in the 1990’s  Mayor, Ed Austin, destroyed much of La Villa during his term under his ‘urban renewal’ plan. A lot of the blacks moved out the neighborhood changed and not to many people stayed behind to stop the city from coming in and bull dozing our neighborhood. People probably left before that. Now, La Villa, which was once a plantation, turned popular neighborhood among the blacks,  became a ghost town. Currently, in  LaVilla, stand the old Brewster Hospital, three shotgun shacks, the Ritz Theatre and Museum, and the Clara White Mission. That’s it. And we don’t know how long before something else is taken down.

He showed us photos and told stories of business owners, principles, inventors, preachers and even photographers. It’s  where I found out about Augusta Savage, an amazing African American sculptor who should be celebrated much more for her art work.

The visit to the museum helped me to put missing pieces together. It set up a mental stage for me. La Villa was the place where working and middle class African American’s lived. They were all successful in keeping the dollar in the black community and lifting up each other.

Now I know about La Villa. What about this building.

Why is it closed?

After typing the address and the original name of the place, I came across an article dated 2016. I found out the place was called The Whetstonian and was owned by an African American man named Walter Whetstone.

“If Smithson can have his Smithsonian,” he explained, “then Whetstone can have the Whetstonian.”

The second article I came across was more detailed and written by Jacksonville professor, Tim Gilmore. This article  reaffirmed the little my sister did know about the place, “Blind Blake and Jelly Roll Morton played at the Whetstonian. So did just about any jazz or blues musician you can think of from the 1930s through the 1950s” it states.

Walter Whetstone , experienced his father driving an ice truck and collecting all sorts of things from the trash as a child and pretty soon he picked up the same habit.

Each item he saved was something special. When the city of Jacksonville decided that it would deface the building, he brought it. Then, it became his own museum if you will. The space where his junk from the trash would be stored. Each item placed in a particular spot.

Mr. Whetstone specialized in collecting historical African American artifacts. He knew exactly what to pick and how to use it to create art.  With this niche, he created the Whetstonian, a home for all of his collections.

There’s a lot of black history around here, including me. He told the interviewer.

When this article was written, Mr. Whetstone was already 80 and still fighting to keep it alive and well from the city’s grasp.

I am currently still doing research on this building. I hope it would soon become a landmark and one day open up as an museum.

 

 

One Time In New Orleans

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I was told to take a photo of this wall mural but never saw it until we were in a taxi on the way to the station to leave. We had no time to stop the car and take a photo.

I texted all the people I met there and they texted me their versions of the mural….

Then about three days later, randomly, my mentor Casey texted me and we spoke about what we were doing for the summer.

I’m currently in New Orleans working on a project. She responded.

Really Casey? I just left!

We were so shocked that we both had ventured to the same city for the summer. I was extremely happy that she had texted me because I knew she would capture the image  in the look I  was going for…and sure enough before she left, she sent me this photo of the wall mural.