Philadelphia: Under the Skyscrapers

Danzel

 

“What do you define as urban philly culture?

 

 

           I define philly urban culture as, hmm I think its very unique ,one, its a culture where you see a lot of growth and you see a lot of drive and dedication, you see people that are hungry, you see people that are striving to not just be something typical, be something that society says they want to be. So its like from me being here, being a dancer major here, being a part of the arts culture in general in Philly, I have met so many inspiring people. I’ve met people who are so hungry and just like, they want to do good for the community because there are so many bad things that happen in Philly, you know what I mean. So it’s like there are people who come in and do workshops, for instances we bring people to do workshops for the Temple community here. We bring the arts up just a little bit so that we have some type of substance here. Then theres people who teach classes outside of Temple just in the Philly area. See I know my instructor Kyle Condenida, they teach House classes for the community which is really amazing.

 

 

“Do you think that urban culture has affected any positive movements in Philly?”

 

 

              Hoodstock, they had a whole showcase and different artist came and they had free stuff and there were kids there and they gave out things and people got the chance to just showcase themselves and I just thought that was a beautiful thing. Cause we need this community to help uplift the people that don’t have any inspirational things in their lives to help them move forward.

 

“Do you believe there is really a certain genre of music, dance, or art that really came from philly’s streets?”

 

               Pretty sure Wu Tang came from Philly. Other than that I know a lot of like Neo-soul because Jill Scotts from here, you what I mean, Jill Scotts from Philly. John Legend, well he came to school here, He went to uh U Penn (University of Pennsylvania), thats when he got on Lauryn Hill’s track, I forget what track it was. I dont know, theres a lot of different music that comes from here, but for me I would definitely say, what my experience from being in Philly is House, alot of Funk music, definitely Wu-Tang, original hip hop like back to the 90’s and 80’s

 

“ Do you feel like there is a musician really conquering the philly scene right now?”

 

                Conquering the Philly scene right now, like currently, I would probably say is Chill moody and Beano and Hank McCoy for all the beats… I looked them up listened to their music and I have been in love with the ever since. It feels good for me to like see Philly people do such good stuff because its like, I feel like Philadelphia gets slept on so much, because everyone is talking about New York, like everyone is talking about L.A, everyone is talking about Miami, but its like Philly is like Philly, you know what I mean. So much Raw talent comes out of Philly and I just think that they’re like undermined you know what I mean, like I really want to see Chilly Moody and people like him, and Beano and really like push up and go to the top. I was excited to see Chill Moody at the Grammy’s, like I thought that was awesome, because its like he is from here, he is from Philly and thats just a beautiful thing.  

 

“Do you personally feel that the urban arts movement, whether it be dance, art, poetry has allowed you personal freedom within your gender, race, or whatever affiliation you have sexually?”

 

             Me as a dancer, theres like a lot of different like, I want to say jams,like hip hop jams so like the rotunda or the gathering every last thursday of every month they have like just a gathering where all the hip hop people come and we just dance and enjoy hip hop, you know what I mean, enjoy the hip hop culture and then I heard of just in the past month, Chill Moody had the “Nice Things” weekend. So its like he had a festival for the whole city, where people can come and listen to music and get free things. So it was just cool to have different events to bring people together. There is second sunday, where every sunday there is a battle for hip hop dances, so I think thats awesome, so Philly definitely brings different movements here and I think its a beautiful thing.   

 

             For me I really think that,the Philly arts community.. freed me in a way that I feel comfortable with myself in the city that I am in cause its like for me I’m not even from here, I’m from a different town and I came here and I am trying to re-find myself in the city and trying to figure out what can I do here. What is here for me and being part of the dance community specially its like they allowed me to really just open up and not not hold back and continue to push myself so I can be a better artist, you know what I mean. Cause thats my number one focus in life, to become the greatest artist I can be, not saying I want to be known for anything but I just want to fullfill my values and my goals of being an artist, you know what I mean. I want to make sure that I end up being and feeling like the artist that I want to be and producing art that talks about the stuff that happens in the streets of Philadelphia.

 

“ Do you see the discipline of Urban Arts becoming apart of your future career?”

 

             Yes I see it, it definitely will just transcribe and redefine myself as an artist and I see myself doing outside thing just besides that but I see myself always coming back to this, always coming back to Philly, always coming back to the community of Philly and just doing right for them.