Murals DC 2011 Presents: Chocolate City Burning (and gallery show)

Please join the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Department of Public Works, Busboys and Poets, and Words Beats & Life for an Art Double Feature:

From 6-6:30pm, we’ll celebrate the arrival of new artwork by Jamila Okubo (a graduate from Words Beats & Life’s Urban Arts Academy, and Arts Apprentice in Murals DC 2011 who is headed to Pratt University this fall), along with the art of Ayo Okunseinde and Violetta Markelou.

Stay with us for a screening of the documentary film, “Chocolate City Burning: The Untold Story of Dot-Com,” by local filmmaker and photojournalist Apoxy One. A conversation with the director, will follow. Take a look at the films official trailer.

The documentary chronicles one of the most prominent crews to emerge from Washington DC’s graffiti-boom of the 1990′s. “Chocolate City Burning” follows an oddly mixed group of three friends; Sime, Demon and Mega, as they gained notoriety throughout the city in the late 90′s for doing enormous, elaborate, three dimensional murals. As Con, a noteworthy writer from Baltimore says: “It wasn’t just another piece on a wall…the Dot-Com pieces stood off the wall, they created a whole environment.”

Eventually the crew would spread out to other cities, and the three founding members grew older and farther apart. Demon moved to Japan for many years as a world-class industrial designer, Mega would spend the next many years in courtrooms and rehabs and Sime continues to live, paint and bomb in Washington, D.C. Now all in their 30′s, their interviews and reflections on their youth make very clear that, when all was said and done, graffiti was about more than painting, it was a coming of age and a crossing of worlds.

FREE & open to the public on a first-come, first served basis.

This event is however a fundraiser for “The Redline D.C. Project”,

Questions? Call 202-667-1192 and ask to speak to Mr. Mazi Mutafa

WTOP aired a piece about Tuesday’s Panel “The Art of Vandalism”. Check it out here!

The Art of Vandalism: A Close Up Look at Graffiti in DC

How do you feel about the graffiti in your neighborhood? Is there a place for it in DC? What is your impression of the people who illegally tag? How would you like to see graffiti handled?

Join MuralsDC as it launches its 2011 program with an engaging look at the culture of graffiti and discussion with people involved on all sides—former taggers, artists, agencies who clean graffiti, and those who fund public art.

Help us achieve a better understanding of graffiti and what we can do to achieve solutions that LAST.

Featuring Panelists/Presenters:
Cory Stowers, Co-Owner of Art Under Pressure, WBL Art Director, Writer

Nancee Lyons, Department of Public Works,

Philippa P.B. Hughes, Chief Creative Contrarian, The Pink Line Project, www.pinklineproject.com

Tim Conlon, Writer, www.conoperative.com

Saaret Yoseph, Director/ Producer of The Red Line D.C. Project, www.redlinedc.wordpress.com

Join Our Team!

We have some internship openings for this summer! Check out the links below for more information.

Communications Intern

Marketing and External Materials

Pupusa Thursdays + New Website Feature!

Every week, WBL’s very own Lauren and Dany trek from St. Stephen’s church (home of WBL’s offices) for pupusas.

Last week, they documented their adventure:

This is one of a string of such videos to come. Stay tuned!

Congrats to WBL Graduates

Thursday June 23rd marked the first complete cohort of Words Beats & Life Apprentice Students graduating from High School and subsequently leaving the DC Urban Arts Academy nest. We teamed up with the teen program at Martha’s Table to celebrate our collective students’ awesome accomplishments and usher them into the next phase of their lives. The program featured a total of 18 graduating seniors from both organizations, spoken word performances, musical performances and food at the 14th & V Busboys & Poets location. We would like to send out a big congratulations to the DCUAA grads of 2011:

Barry Brown
Sonny May – Prince George’s Community College
Akasha-Régine Gabriella Diaz – Art Institute of Washington
Marte Garner – Virginia State University
Edwin Martinez – Montgomery Community College
Olivia Milholo – Montgomery Community College
Jamilla Okubo – Parsons, The New School for Design
Flor Rivas – Catholic University
Francies Stevenson – Oakwood University

About Us

Transforming individual lives and whole communities through hip-hop.

Words Beats and Life was founded as a hip-hop conference at the University of Maryland, College Park in the fall of 2000. The brainchild of Mazi Mutafa, Executive Director, WBL was developed and researched at the University of Maryland with two fellow students who wanted to continue the hip-hop conference after graduation... Read More

Support

Rock a WBL T-shirt

Become a Supporter of WBL today by purchasing this limited edition T-shirt. Based on the classic design of Milton Glaser and updated with the purple heart of the philanthropic spirit.

Each T-shirt valued at $20.00 translates into one-hour of instruction time for up to thirty students in the DC Urban Arts Academy.

Grab a copy of our journal

The Sex Issue, discusses the influence of gender and sexuality in hip-hop culture. Articles include "Ladies First: Fashion, Feminism and the Re-construction of Black Womanhood by Female Hip-Hop Artists, 1978-1989".

Learn More

Planet Rock Mixtape
(Mixed by DJ Eskimo)

This is the Winter 2011 Mixtape for the DC Urban Arts Academy, a program of Words Beats & Life. This Mixtape is called Planet Rock because our winter theme is global hip-hop.

Listen

Clans, Posses, Crews & Cliques
(Mixed by DJ RBI)

This is the Fall mixtape from the DC Urban Arts Academy, the after school program of Words Beats & Life. The theme for the Fall was "Clans, Posses, Crews and Cliques". The idea of the session was to explore how community takes form in hip-hop and beyond. Special thanks to DJ RBI, the teacher that goes all the way back to the first WBL hip-hop conference at the University of Maryland. Enjoy the music, this mix features some of hip-hops most important Clans, Posses, Crews & Cliques.