Har l em News Gr ou p B R O N XHARLEM . QUEENS . BROOKLYN . BRONX

The boogie-down Bronx was the

scene of an international hip-hop

 jam at the Casita Maria Center for

Arts & Education, located at 928 Simpson

St., the Bronx. Hip Hoppers and Rappers

know that the Bronx is a source of this

style, and the appearance of the Jogja

Hip-Hop Foundation, a collective from

Yogyakarta, in Java, Indonesia, brings it

all back home.

The opening act was Circa '95,

Rephstar and PattyDukes. Also on stage

was Chief 69, who danced and did b-boy

(break dance) routines. Circa '95's first rap

hit the issues of immigration and educa-

tion, focusing on the huge paper trails fol-

lowing us all. The duo made fun of the

white collar set, with the refrain: "Hustle,

Hustle, Grind, Grind, Kicking that Paper,

Kicking that Paper." Rephstar rapped in a

tenor voice about daily life, while Patty-

Dukes often broke into Spanish riffs, with

both of them talking to "the people" or in

Spanish "mi gente."

The soundtrack then segued into

the next theme, " It's bigger than us now.

Do it for the people, we got it going on."

I like how they rap, reaching a level of 

clarity where you can actually understand

a lot of what they're saying. Rephstar and

PattyDukes are still flashing back to their

childhood and school days: "Public

School Kid, Banging on the tables, Food

Fight…." But, they keep it light and the

language fairly clean.

Rephstar interjected between

numbers that he is Puerto Rican and Pat-

tyDukes is Dominican; both are from

New York City. They have recently

released their first album, Free Lunch.

They did their signature English-Spanish

rap: "All We Need," singing "we're from

the Heights, and Highbridge," and "all we

need is love and a little understanding."

Next on stage, all the way from

Indonesia, was JogJa Hip Hop Collective.

Their rap is mostly in their language,

Javanese, but with an English refrain in

their first number: "We are from Joe

Ja!!!" Hip Hop is now a global style; they

had a DJ "scratching" records, to get that

live rhythmic squeaky sound. Soon JogJa

seemed right at home. The group of 4

men got on stage and rapped, sang and

danced, singing the exotic Asian-tinged

refrains in each number. They explained

in English that they too had their disaster,

the 2004 Indonesian Earthquake, and that

they are donating to help those suffering

from Hurricane Sandy. They half sung,

half rapped a number that they explained

in English was an anti-corruption song.

Center Stage, a project of the U.S. State

Department, brought Jogja to the United

States to tour.

Finally, PattyDukes announced

that all the hip hoppers and rappers in the

room could form a "cipher," a hip-hop-

ping circle on stage, taking turns in rap-

ping, rhyming and dancing in the center

of the cypher. About 10 other up-and-

coming artists got up on the stage with

Circa '95 and JogJa, so the cypher had lots

of energy. Rephstar called out, when I

say hip, you say hop, and the event came

to an end, leaving the audience with a lot

to think about.

INTERNATIONAL HIP HOP JAM IN THE BOOGIE DOWN BRONX

By Howard Giske 

(l-r) * Circa '95 with Chief 69 * Circa '95 * JogJa Collective * Cypher of hip hoppers