Speak Power, Breathe LovePortland hip hop collective known as The Renaissance Coalition, features local producers and rappers whose names you’ll want to look out for. With 3 new mix tapes, live freestyles around town, and original videos dropping, this group of young talent is hitting Portland with a fresh sound this spring. Members include music producer Bryce Lang, whose own album Less is More dropped this past Sunday, and emcee’s ZOO?, Maze Koroma, Ton B. Fresco, and Suave. Check out the new video featuring ZOO? and Maze Koroma’s new single “Time Travelers”, off Koroma’s new project Yoshi Breeze scheduled to release this June.
Published May 2013
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Treasure in Clay Jars“Stay current, stay consistent and keep it quality.” A promise from Wes Guy for his debut full-length album, Treasure In Clay Jars, which drops Christmas Day 2012. The album is interspersed with live jazz instrumentals and pretty powerful messages – something we’ve yet to hear from Wes, who’s known for hyping up a crowd with his bangers. “I’d like to put something out to the people”, says the 19 year old rapper, who hopes the album will inspire others. The idea for the album, and Wes’s inspiration, grew from the metaphor of our true identities being represented through treasure in a clay jar, and our need to break past the surface. As he has showed us through his singles and mix tapes over the last years, Wes Guy remains true to his word of putting out positive vibes with a little something for everyone. Enjoy this 15 track album with your friends and family this Christmas! Check out the tracks LIVE for the first time – Friday December 28th 2012 Wes Guy | Treasure in Clay Jars Dropped: 12/25/12 Produced by: Michael Fontaine Featuring: Abigail Press , Galaxy Burns | Spoken word artist Robel | Instrumentals from Ben Seacrest. AVAILABLE: iTunes | Amazon | Rhapsody 1. Epiphany 2. Turn is into Something 3. Che Guervera 4. Autumn 5. No Structure 6. I Wish 7. Frustrations 8. BitterSWEETS 9. Feeling Mellow 10. Golden Lighters 11. Groove 12. Fight the Power 13. Church 14. Love, God, Grace, Peace 15. PDXtra Fly https://soundcloud.com/wesguy | TMK1.com Published December 2012
Abigail Press EP ReleaseJoin Abigail Press this coming Tuesday, August 28th, as she proudly releases her long awaited debut EP “Life Won’t Wait”. A true testament to her vision, “Life Won’t Wait” displays a cohesive mix of ominous afro-beats, with a touch of sensual soul vocals that can be heard through each track. Drawing inspiration from other talented musicians such as Imogen Heap, Little Dragon and many of her past collaborators over the last two years, Abigail was able to harness her stylistic direction in this 6-track EP. Abigail’s ambition to create her own body of work came to fruition in the spring of 2012, when she was introduced to Dan Caplen (D/C) through Portland’s local jazz musician Jeffery Leonard. What began as a side project for singer/songwriter Abigail Press and music producer D/C, turned into a full-blown EP in a matter of months. The album is now available online, and will be sold this evening at her show. Abigail Press will be accompanied by drummer Ji Tanzer on Tuesday, August 28that Valentine’s in downtown Portland, as she performs the album live for the first time. Opening acts include the garage rap duo Starrats, and hip hop collective TMK1’s NEPHxBEATZ and Fluent Sav. Check out “Life Won’t Wait” today on Bandcamp, and pick up your copy at the live showing tonight. Enjoy the sounds from Portland’s up and coming. Published August 2012
On the Right TrackAt last, our future is finally in the right hands. In a society when we appear to be moving backwards rather than forwards, Century High in Oregon offers a glimmer of hope for a better and brighter future for street art. When art departments were under attack in 2008, studies proved that art programs teach students vital life skills, such as questioning their own ideas of reality, and learning from their mistakes. Teaching graffiti and street art is no different from any other art program. In fact, it offers more to students by creating a deeper connection to the youth community through group murals and drawing sessions. While graffiti is being suppressed and dismissed by public authorities, Anne Johnson’s class focuses on highlighting its unique importance in the arts. Each year she teaches her students how to become part of a universal art collective through street art. Her students are not only given the chance to create their own stencils, they get the opportunity to venture outside and actually use them. This year, Ms. Johnson helped prepare a very important benefit called HeART in a Bowl, in which all proceeds went to Little Footprints, an organization supporting the orphans of Haiti. The benefit included all the elements of hip hop we hope to promote as well, including break dancing, a graffiti competition and more! To show our support and help promote such a progressive high school, TMK1 donated 3 pieces to this year’s auction. Published March 2012
Celebrating the Elements of Hip HopOn Friday the 13th of April, the four elements of hip hop were brought together at Highline Community College’s 5th annual Hip Hop Summit. Northwest Exposure consisted of bboys battles, live performances by local and visiting emcees, two killer djs that kept the crowd moving all night, and graffiti canvases that were donated and raffled off throughout the event. TMK1’s very own writers team worked on the 6 canvases, bringing to life the elements of new and old graffiti styles. Riser”, Sektr and Navi looked to the outdoors to create their pieces, each gaining a crowd of viewers at the Portland Waterfront. Each canvas was donated to the event, which means some lucky winners are now in possession of the first collective work from the TMK1 writers team! Join TMK1 on May 11th for our very own celebration of hip hop! Published April 2012
Street Art WarsStreet art by nature is temporary. So when Hamburger Mary’s received notice that the mural of only a few days had to be taken down, our response was simply of gratitude. When the day came for the mural to be painted over, Hamburger Mary’s reached out to the community, asking all their fans to call the mayor’s office and try to save the mural. A few dozen comments later, one thing was clear: the people of Portland are not only pro-street art, they are pro-graffiti art. One Portlander mentioned that she loved the mural, and that “street art is very popular in many places” and she was surprised to see Portland have an issue with it. Sadly, their protests went unanswered and on March 21st, the mural was painted over. However, the situation did bring up a hot topic regarding the legality of murals for businesses. About a decade ago AK Media (which is now Clear Channel) saw murals as a threat to their more corporate forms of advertisement, and sued the city. Since that day, murals are now treated as a form of advertisement and therefore bare the same financial burden on business owners. But art is much more than just advertisement, and even the Willamette Weekly agreed that for one week the otherwise dingy area appeared to be full of life. Street art, and murals in particular, offer a chance for communities to become closer through vibrant colors of expression. Similar to the states, in 1999 Rio de Janeiro drafted a law banning illegal graffiti tagging. However, what came out of this law was something greater than ever expected. Rather than a retaliation against the government, street artists gathered together to paint beautiful, bright murals all over the city. A differentiation was made between taggers marking their territory, and street art in the form of murals. From there a relationship began to form between shop owner and artist, and in an attempt to deter illegal tagging, murals began to pop up on ever corner. To this day, street artist in Rio are credited for bringing the community together, creating areas of informal public spaces for residents to engage with one another. In fact, graffiti murals proved to be such a positive influence on the city that in 2009 a law was passed stating that street art was legal if done with consent from the building owner. What a difference from our story here in the states. We are in the year 2012, and we still live in a world where owning something doesn’t make it yours. Perhaps one day we can at least spend our days in a city rich with color, passion, and a sense of community, rather than homelessness, economic depression and dreary grey skies. Here’s hoping. -TMK1 Published March 2012
Old Town Garage Community Art The Portland skies cleared up for just enough time for TMK writers to complete this 20-foot mural. One of our newest pieces, this mural is one of only a handful of art in downtown Portland. The piece acts as the front door for Old Town Garage, which will be opening this spring. The restaurant is an extension of Hamburger Mary’s, and will mostly be serving Happy Hour in their lounge like “garage”. Stop by NW Couch and 5th street in downtown Portland and see it for yourself. While you’re at it hit up Ground Kontrol for some arcade madness, or Upper Playground and Compound for fresh clothes as well as up and coming artwork. Special thanks to Hamburger Mary’s for supporting local artwork! Published March 2012
Do Something ExtraordinaryAlthough the battle between police and street art is far from over, a glimpse of resolution is on the horizon. In 2011, Auckland police launched an ad campaign utilizing street art as a way to represent the extraordinary acts of their police department. Their choice in medium was based on their desire to recruit potential officers, particularly those between the ages of 18-25. “Telling extraordinary stories through street art allows us to challenge young people to think about becoming an officer in a new way,” says Assistant Commissioner Allan Boreham. This campaign changed the course of history by lifting a barrier that had been placed between law enforcement and street art for nearly 40 years. But while this New Zealand town is doing its best to embrace a culture that is ordinarily shunned by police worldwide, it is going to take more than one campaign to change a nearly a lifetime of bad blood. Some disagree with the campaign and see promoting street art as a double standard, considering many artists have been arrested for creating similar work in the past. However, it is small gestures like these that have the power to influence change on a grander scale – after all one small step can mean a giant one for humanity. Thank you Auckland for paving the way, one country down – only about 200 more to go! Check out how much fun Auckland police had with the campaign: Published March 30, 2012
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