“My momma went to Mack,” brings rappers to school.

by Bonita Tindle

Nobody was shot on Wednesday. Except in the lyrics.

About 45 people were there. I walked in to the auditorium and saw  that only the first three rows were filled for what was billed as a rap concert. Even for a small school, that is bad.

Of course, that didn’t stop the few students who were there from dancing. Energy levels ran high as a string of performers hit the stage. The crowd interacted as one act sang: “If you love life, say ACTION!”

Students screamed as the feature act, Erk tha Jerk, was introduced on stage. The music cut off.  Erk tha Jerk, in the middle of his performance, sat down on the stage, then mumbled, “Ya’ll not havin’ fun.” He asked students to gather closer and they did, right around him.

As they recognized his lyrics, students went wild. Singing along and dancing. This lasted about 2 minutes until the show ended.

Before the show, I interviewed students about Erk tha jerk. Guess what they said! Students had no idea who Erk tha Jerk was! Sadly, the only reason some students came was because a friend forced them or that they were bored. This is no surprise. Students not showing up for a performance — whether it’s Erk tha Jerk or President Obama — is typically Mack.

Mack students learn about resistance, struggle and dance

By Pamela Tapia

Askari York swayed to the beat of African drums. At the emotional intelligence workshop, Taylor Murray learned that the love you receive as a baby can affect your entire life.  ‘It gave me new ways to help my friends,” said Murray.

Focusing mostly on activism, immigration, leadership and hip hop, twenty students from McClymonds joined several hundred students from around the Bay Area to participate in the tenth annual Ethnic Studies Conference on the UC Berkeley campus Wednesday.

The conference included workshops on the history of walk outs, the Aztec calendar, mass exodus of black people from the bay to suburbs, and creation of social groups like the Black Panthers and Brown Berets.

It opened with a bang. To the beat of drums, UC Berkeley students, wearing authentic traditional Aztec ritual costumes, with colorful feathered headdresses bells around their ankles, performed traditional Aztec dances.

Asian students played synchronized instruments like the gong and drums. The ceremony concluded with Northern African drumming., during which York was invited on-stage by one of the African performer to beat the drums and to dance a few steps of traditional African dancing.

“That’s my people,” said York after returning to his seat exhausted.

Following a workshop on the brief history and organization of major walkouts in East Los Angeles during the 60s, a class of UC Berkeley students walked out of their classrooms and poured into the streets with signs, shouting chants and making demands for “education for all.”

How One Offensive Song Went Viral

By Pamela Tapia

The situation:  five guys, most of them athletes about to play in the football championship game, produce a song called “Fat B******” in Mack’s recording studio, where they are supposed to be making beats. They refer to several girls by name. The song  — with foul language –goes viral.  The girls are angry and hurt. The school administration has to take action.

You’d expect the guys to be suspended. Yes, they were for three school days but NO FOOTBALL GAMES. You’d expect them to have to apologize: yes, they did, in a private letter to the principal, but not publicly, and not directly to the girls.

“Boys will be boys,” is what one girl reported being told before leaving our school. Another girl reported being told, “Well, you girls STARTED it: you yelled at the boys in the hallways, you were disrespectful. This is just tit for tat.” Their answer: “We were direct, and we didn’t embarrass the guys in front of the entire community.”

According to attendance clerk Sam McNeal, all but one of the girls named transferred to other schools.  Before the girls left, they retaliated by creating a song of their own  — even McNeal found it tame –against the boys who created the original song.  “The boys were to supposed to apologize publicly.  I don’t know why it didn’t happen,” said McNeal.

I feel that the lack of real punishment has affected the culture at my school.  Are we saying athletes deserve better treatment? Are we afraid to hurt their chances of getting recruited?  The boys have not made a public apology to all who were affected by the creation and release of the song. That includes me. I may not have been named in the song, but I found it offensive to all women.

Kanye’s Fantasy is Not So Dark

by: David Michael

The most hated yet beloved rapper-singer-producer Kanye West is back with a powerful mix of hip-hop and pop.  His fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, combines rap beats with contemporary melodies in his inimitable boastful style.

The thirteen track album starts off with a choir and the heavily British accented voice of  Young Money’s own Nicki Minaj, which is the first time in history that Kanye has worked with a female rapper.  That first track “Dark Fantasy” is produced by The Rza of the legendary hip-hop group The Wu-Tang Clan, which adds edge to an otherwise tame album.

Another outstanding piece on the album is the star-studded “All Of The Lights.” Almost a modern day “We Are The World,” the track features vocals from artists including Rihanna, Alicia Keys, The Dream, Fergie, Ryan Leslie, Drake, and even Elton John. This song, planned as a third single, has everything it takes to top the charts — except its own video.

The album is a bold statement for not just hip-hop but music as a whole. What other artist has the guts to feature Rick Ross right after a stadium-rock guitar solo? What other artist has “rap” songs lasting over five minutes? It’s almost as if Kanye is mocking the critics with this album, freeing himself from the unwritten rules of modern music.