News & Updates — Boogie Down Bronx

The social worker-turned-rap producer/DJ Scott La Rock formed Boogie Down Productions with homeless teen KRS-One in the South Bronx in 1986 and the act brought the art of rap to a new level of poetry. Their first album, the proto-gangsta Criminal Minded, was a heavy blast of borough pride, battle raps, sparse and cutting funky production (inspired by James Brown and dancehall) and a gritty urban realism that has been a continuation in rap (for good or bad) ever since. They (theatrically?) initiated the "rap beef" with their battle boasts. Scott was shot while trying to defuse a situation and...

As Visual Clave winds down its nine-week run at Bronx Music Heritage Center this weekend, we have this souvenir short film put together by Mathew Ramirez Warren and Rodrigo Balseca Carmona recapping the event, featuring Mr Salsa Izzy Sanabria and our own Pablo Yglesias. With footage from the Brooklyn, Bronx and UMass-Amherst shows, there are so many friendly faces popping up in this, along with all that great album cover art! Check out the video.

DJ Bongohead’s Visual Clave exhibit closes it’s two-month stay at Bronx Music Heritage Center this weekend. Coinciding with the Bronx Salsa Fest 2015, there will be live music by Bronx Descarga All Stars. Schedule of events for Friday evening are as follows: 6pm  The Latin Music Tertulia Series by Joe Conzo is a free series presented by the BMHC that explores the history of Latin music (what we call mambo and salsa) in New York City, as well as the musicians who created it. 7pm  Join us for the closing reception for Visual Clave! Visual Clave documents the little known evolution...

VISUAL CLAVE 50 Years of Latin Album Cover Design Visual Clave documents the little known evolution of ‘Salsa Graphics’ and  the expression of Latino identities through the prism of album cover art over  half a century of music packaging and graphic design. This exhibit explores the evolution of Latin music album cover art over the last 50 years,paying critical attention to issues of identity and aesthetics through depictions of Hispanic people and cultures, with an emphasis on historical context and the unsung graphic artists who helped present Latin music — and its attendant socio-cultural themes — to the world. Visual Clave’s premise...

A joint exhibit between Charlie Rosario and Peace & Rhythm’s Pablo Yglesias is now showing at the Bronx Music Heritage Center, with an opening reception on May 2, with music by DJ Andujar and Charlie Rosario with Los Rumberos Callejeros. More info at Bongohead’s blog. “I just put up a new art show with my friend Charlie Rosario last week in the Bronx at the Bronx Music Heritage Center Lab (1303 Luis Niñé Boulevard). We hung our work side by side, and collaborated on a shrine to the great conga players, percussionists, and rumberos of Cuban and Puerto Rican origin...