Tag: hip-hop

The Space Program Hip-Hop Collective Inspires ‘Fortitude, Resilience and Innovation’

The Space Program, a hip-hop collective of more than two dozen Black, collegiate artists and entrepreneurs from across Oklahoma, recently released the album “Curriculum of the Mind,” which was celebrated April 25 with a showcase at ACM@UCO Performance Lab.

Christopher G. Acoff, aka Original Flow poses with his hands folded across his chest in this black-and-white portrait

Christopher G. Acoff, aka Original Flow

Among others, the TSP collective features UCO-tied alumni and students, including audio engineer Myles Adams; Christopher G. Acoff, aka Original Flow, who earned a Music Business degree at ACM@UCO; ACM Contemporary Music Production graduate James Curd, aka Deezy; and UCO student Makeen Khalifa, aka Makeen.

Portions of TSP’s debut video for the album’s title track were recorded on the UCO campus in Edmond.

“The true essence of this dissertation album was the ability to see the progression of students, particularly ACM students (e.g. artists, poets, rappers, producers, audio engineers, etc.), come together and masterfully create something that will forever be timeless, both in the hip-hop and educational communities,” said TSP’s CEO, DJ and producer Dr. View, aka Stevie Johnson, who is also the former Assistant Director of Diversity Retention in the Office of Diversity & Inclusion at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Stevie Johnson, aka DJ and producer Dr. View, stands with his headphones pulled above his ears as he looks at the camera in this color portrait.

Stevie Johnson, aka DJ and producer Dr. View

He also recently received his Ph.D in Higher Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma.

“Many studies do not allow students to authentically express themselves in ways that speak to their epistemological and ontological perspectives. The fortitude, resilience and innovation of these students developed a new avenue of hip-hop scholarship that academia not only has to respect, but that will be used as a blueprint for educators for years to come,” Johnson said.

“In short, these students is helping the world recognize that hip-hop and education can and will work together for the betterment of creating social change,” he added.

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Buddy Broncho

Two ACM Students Earn Top Songwriting Prizes in Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest

Two students at the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) recently earned two top awards in the annual Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest.

Dallas Parker

Three of the four finalists, selected from 74 entries as finalists in the second annual Jimmy LaFave Songwriting Contest in April, were ACM students: “Breathless” by Chloe-Beth Campbell, “Angels Lullaby” by Ashliann Rivera and “Abilities” by Dallas Parker (Faux Draco). The fourth finalist was “Hollyhocks and Morning Glories” by longtime Tulsa singer-songwriter Scott Aycock.

The four performed April 30 in Stillwater. Parker won first place, which secured a lineup slot in the Bob Childers’ Gypsy Café festival on May 1, along with a $500 cash prize plus a $500 donation made in his name to the nonprofit Red Dirt Relief Fund. Campbell won the People’s Choice award, earning her a $100 prize.

Chloe-Beth Campbell

Parker, who performs under the name Faux Draco, is a freshman contemporary music production student at ACM and a rapper from Oklahoma City. Campbell is a freshman ACM contemporary music production student from Enid, and released her debut full-length album, Remnant, last year.

Rivera is freshman contemporary music performance major at ACM. The singer-songwriter was born in Brooklyn and raised in Oklahoma City. She has released three EPs in the last three years.

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Buddy Broncho

Hip-Hop and Spoken-Word Collective The Space Program Sets April 25 Showcase at ACM@UCO Performance Lab

The Space Program celebrates its first showcase Thursday, April 25 at ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave., in Oklahoma City. Doors open at 7 p.m. and showtime is 7:30 p.m.

Admission is only $5 at the door! Learn more at acm-uco.eventbrite.com.

Text flyer promoting the April 25 showcase with address, logo, date, location and time. Mostly white type over a black background.Come out and support the collective as they put on not just a dope show, but a dope experience. Merch also will be available.

Formed in 2017, The Space Program (TSP) is a Black collegian hip-hop collective from higher education institutions across the state of Oklahoma. It creatively disrupts anti-Black, anti-Semitic, imperialist, white, patriarchal institutions that oppress Black people, through the creation and production of a hip-hop album, Curriculum of the Mind.

The name stems from the track “Space Program” by A Tribe Called Quest, which makes the argument that “There ain’t a space program for ni**as.”

The Space Program Collective sonically, empirically and ingeniously provides a new “Space Program” for hip-hop scholarship and praxis, both in the academy and the community at large. The Collective additionally provides for a community of Black males that currently attend, have graduated, or stopped out at historically white colleges within the past 10 years, who also identify as artists, rappers, musicians, producers, poets, activists, b-boys, disc jockeys (DJ’s), audio engineers, historians, entrepreneurs, graffiti artists, graphic and web designers, campus leaders, scholars, photographers, videographers and/or hip-hop collegians.

New generations call for new voices, and new areas of inquiry, and this is your notice that class is in session. For Dr. View and the Space Program Collective, it always has been.

Contributors

• Stevie Johnson, DJ and producer
• LaVelle Compton, artist
• Original Flow, artist
• Thomas Who, artist
• Deezy, artist
• Worm, artist
• Jacobi Ryan, artist
• Willie G, artist
• Beety, artist
• think.progress, poet
• Mac Woods, poet
• Day’Quann, poet

Hosted by Jim Conway! Let’s go! #TSP

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Buddy Broncho

Here’s Your Spring Break 2019 Playlist!

This ACM@UCO-curated playlist includes a little bit of everything and nearly 2 hours of music, so hit shuffle, set it to repeat and enjoy!

The ACM@UCO-curated playlist includes current music from:

• FIDLAR
• Wallows
• The Chemical Brothers
• Noname feat. Phoelix
• Cage the Elephant
• Vampire Weekend feat. Steve Lacy
• Cherry Glazerr feat. Dangerous Steve
• Sleaford Mods
• Karen O + Danger Mouse
• The Twilight Sad
• Quelle Chris feat. Cavalier, Bilal Salaam, Eldar Djangirov and James Acaster
• Matmos
• Epic Beard Men
• Weezer
• Stephen Malkmus
• The Mountain Goats
… and more!

As well as tunes by Oklahoma artists and ACM@UCO students, faculty and alumni:

• Parker Millsap
• ZHU with Sofi Tukker
• Combsy feat. Steph Simon and Keeng Cut
• colourmusic
• Jabee feat. Thelonious Martin
• LGC and the X
• Adam + Kizzie
• Druce Wayne feat. Original Flow, Xtra and Fresh
• Love Seats
• Ciara Brooke
• Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bästards
• Harlee Lane
… and even a Brothers Griiin remix of the Spaceface tune “Spread Your Head!”

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Buddy Broncho

Noname: ‘One of the Best Rappers Alive,’ Says Rolling Stone of Metro Music Series Headliner

Chicago-raised artist Noname, aka Fatimah Warner, blurs the lines of poetry and hip-hop through the music she’ll perform during her headlining tour stop March 3, 2019 at ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave., in Oklahoma City.

Check out her first-ever video, “Blaxploitation,” from her recent release “Room 25” and the related article in Rolling Stone.

Says Rolling Stone of the video: On Tuesday, the Chicago rapper dropped the “film” for “Blaxploitation,” a quick, frenetic cut from this year’s excellent Room 25. In it, she’s nowhere to be seen. Instead, a giant child frolics through Chicago; they’re as large as a skyscraper and play, nap and destroy their way through the city streets. “Chicago Under Siege,” the television chyrons read, “Monster Baby Must Be Stopped.”

The March 3 concert is part of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma’s (ACM@UCO) continuing Metro Music Series celebrating the school’s 10th anniversary.

Tickets are $25 at acm-uco.eventbrite.com. Original Flow and The Fervent route will open.

In 2016, her debut album, the “Telefone” mixtape, found the artist introducing herself to a worldwide audience. Describing the project as “an introductory conversation with someone you’re interested in,” she quickly earned everyone’s attention.

In September 2018, her full-length studio album “Room 25” was again received with universal acclaim.

A Rolling Stone headline declared, “Noname is one of the best rappers alive.”

Pitchfork decreed, “The Chicago rapper’s second album is a transcendent coming-of-age tale built around cosmic jazz and neo-soul, delivered by a woman deeply invested in her interiority and that of the world around her.”

Consequence of Sound raved, “Noname turns every head in the house on the compelling ‘Room 25.’ … She doesn’t just make keen observations; she sends those syllables skipping down the tongue.”

Spin said the performer: “A complete one-of-one act who continues to grow in real time outside of the limelight, Noname makes a subtle yet strong statement for women providing alternatives to one-dimensional rap archetypes.”

She grew up in Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago’s southside that has famously attracted accomplished black artists and intellectuals of all types. After releasing “Telefone,” she relocated to Los Angeles, where she’s said she prefers live comedy to high-dollar indulgence.

In fact, NME said of her most recent album, “Much of ‘Room 25’ is not only smartly constructed — it’s laugh-out-loud funny. … It’s flawless.”

ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Series is sponsored by Oklahoma Gazette, Exchange Music, KOSU Radio, ArtWorks, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Buddy Broncho

Hip-Hop and Spoken-Word Juggernaut Noname Headlines March 3, 2019 Concert in Bricktown

Chicago-raised artist Noname, aka Fatimah Warner, blurs the lines of poetry and hip-hop through the music she’ll perform during her headlining tour stop March 3, 2019 at ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E. Sheridan Ave., in Oklahoma City.

The event is part of the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma’s (ACM@UCO) continuing Metro Music Series celebrating the school’s 10th anniversary.

Tickets are $25, and go on sale to the public 10 a.m. CT Nov. 2 at acm-uco.eventbrite.com. Original Flow and The Fervent Route will open.

In 2016, her debut album, the “Telefone” mixtape, found the artist introducing herself to a worldwide audience.

Describing the project as “an introductory conversation with someone you’re interested in,” she quickly earned everyone’s attention.

In September 2018, her full-length studio album “Room 25” was again received with universal acclaim.

A Rolling Stone headline declared, “Noname is one of the best rappers alive.”

Pitchfork decreed, “The Chicago rapper’s second album is a transcendent coming-of-age tale built around cosmic jazz and neo-soul, delivered by a woman deeply invested in her interiority and that of the world around her.”

Consequence of Sound raved, “Noname turns every head in the house on the compelling ‘Room 25.’ … She doesn’t just make keen observations; she sends those syllables skipping down the tongue.”

Spin said the performer: “A complete one-of-one act who continues to grow in real time outside of the limelight, Noname makes a subtle yet strong statement for women providing alternatives to one-dimensional rap archetypes.”

She grew up in Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago’s southside that has famously attracted accomplished black artists and intellectuals of all types. After releasing “Telefone,” she relocated to Los Angeles, where she’s said she prefers live comedy to high-dollar indulgence.

In fact, NME said of her most recent album, “Much of ‘Room 25’ is not only smartly constructed — it’s laugh-out-loud funny. … It’s flawless.”

ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Series is sponsored by Oklahoma Gazette, Exchange Music, KOSU Radio, ArtWorks, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Hear Noname’s new album, “Room 25” on Spotify:

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Buddy Broncho

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