CIPHER is not a graffiti show

CIPHER is not a rap concert

CIPHER is not the expected

What is CIPHER?

The concept of CIPHER is putting words into the third dimension. It is lyrical cubism. If spoken words cannot be understood, they evolve into the written. If writings cannot be deciphered, they are explored through paintings. If paint cannot create understanding, it transforms to film and if that form of communication fails, it becomes an installation where the environment becomes the final evolution of the spoken word. CIPHER is the constant transformation  of words in motion through art.”

Nathan Lee, Curator

CIPHER is an exploration of lyricism and urban poetry as conveyed through the visual arts. CIPHER is not confined to a genre, it is an amalgam of them. The art of CIPHER spans many mediums and forms of creative expression. Visual artists and performing artists weave an exhibition that defies convention. CIPHER is also a tool of communication and education. There is a misconception of what hip hop is. Even more, there are detractors of the music who believe it to not be viable as a serious art form. What doe the lyrics of rap say today? Is the music still relevant? Can it convey the human experience or has it become a series of broken phrases whose only purpose is to celebrate materialism?

CIPHER addresses these questions in resounding fashion!

CIPHER: Hip Hop and Art Collide

CIPHER is an exciting and unique group art show organized by Inclusion In Art, an Oklahoma non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting racial diversity in Oklahoma’s visual arts community through workshops, exhibitions, and special events.

Special opening night reception Friday, April 20, 2012 at 6-9 pm.
::: meet & greet the artists, see the amazing artwork for sale, and enjoy live performances and music

Individual Artists of Oklahoma/IAO Gallery
706 W. Sheridan OKC, OK 73146

CIPHER will feature new works by artists from Oklahoma and nationwide, and is an exploration of lyricism and urban poetry as conveyed through the visual arts.

CIPHER is not confined to one genre, it is an exploration of multiple styles. The art of CIPHER spans many forms of creative expression; both visual and performing artists will weave an exhibition that defies convention.

CIPHER is also a tool of communication and education. Our goals are to clear up misconceptions of what Hip-Hop is, to push Hip-Hop as a viable and serious art form, and to display the talented variety of artists that claim the music as a primary influence. CIPHER will address these ideas and will spark creative conversations, all in a gorgeous gallery setting!

We hope to see you on opening night April 20!

www.inclusioninart.org

( UPDATED) Less than one year after its launch, Billboard this week announced that: “Billboard Pro has been discontinued, effective March 1, 2012. We will be moving our DIY and indie artist-focused content to a new section on Billboard.biz in the coming weeks, and the Uncharted Chart will continue to operate on Billboard.com.”

Up and coming singer Frank Ocean may be learning the hard way that the flattery of imitation doesn’t get you everywhere in the music industry. Ocean’s song, “American Wedding” off his free mixtape nostalgia, ULTRA is a reworking of The Eagles’ 1977 song “Hotel California,” and Warner Music Group isn’t too happy about the unlicensed re-appropriation.

According to Ocean’s tumblr, he was told he would be sued if he ever performed the song live again.(CAUTION: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE):

He (They) threatened to sue if I perform it again. I think that’s fuckin awesome. I guess if I play it at coachella it’ll cost me a couple hundred racks. If I don’t show up to court, it’ll be a judgement against me & will probably show up on my credit report. Oh well. I try to buy my shit cash anyway. They also asked that I release a statement expressing my admiration for Mr. Henley, along with my assistance pulling it off the web as much as possible. Shit’s weird. Ain’t this guy rich as fuck? Why sue the new guy? I didn’t make a dime off that song. I released it for free. If anything I’m paying homage.

Though nostalgia, ULTRA was released over a year ago, the legal trouble appears to have only surfaced last week. A representative for Henley said that it was neither his client nor The Eagles who threatened legal action, but the label which owns the master track. Here’s a portion of Larry Solter’s response, as sent to the Los Angeles Times:

Frank Ocean did not merely “sample” a portion of the Eagles’ Hotel California; he took the whole master track, plus the song’s existing melody, and replaced the lyrics with his own. This is not creative, let alone “intimidating.” It’s illegal. For the record, Don Henley has not threatened or instituted any legal action against Frank Ocean, although the Eagles are now considering whether they should.

The Huffington Post reached out to Ocean’s publicist, who told us that he had no comment on the matter.
Ocean is signed to Def Jam, though he released nostalgia, ULTRA for free on his blog.

Billboard reported that YouTube either pulled videos or muted the audio on any posted version of the song, live or otherwise.

Ocean is a part of rap collective Odd Future, serving as the group’s sole true singer. Tyler, the Creator is Odd Future’s de facto leader, and he took to Twitter to defend Ocean in his typically brash manner (CAUTION: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE):

For observers of Odd Future’s rapid rise in hip hop, it’s an interesting moment. The group was widely touted as breathing new life into hip hop in similar fashion to Eminem’s 2000 Marshal Mathers EP, a perhaps hasty comparison that rested in part on the fact that both used a shock jock, “horrorcore” style that emphasized violent and graphic lyrical content over relatively simple production.

While Ocean’s songs are more romantic in nature (he also covered Coldplay on his mixtape), this legal battle represents the brash group’s first big industry reality check. Whether one believes Warner Bros. is being overprotective of its source material or that Ocean should have cleared the sample before use (he’s already performed it live a number of times, to great acclaim), it will be interesting to see if the group sticks to Tyler-esque threats and rants or gives in to industry pressures.

LISTEN: Frank Ocean – American Wedding:

Philip Paul has not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, despite playing on countless pivotal records. / the Enquirer/Joseph fuqua II

Blues guitarist Freddie King and R&B group the Midnighters are among the acts that will be inducted next month into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum.

What they have in common is that both recorded the major body of their work at Cincinnati’s King Records.

They have something else linking them – Philip Paul.

Paul was the drummer on dozens of sessions recorded here with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and King. They included playing on King’s hit “Hide Away” (covered by Eric Clapton) and several Midnighter hits such as the original “Twist” and “Work with Me Annie.”

However, Paul, now 87 and still a working musician, says he has, so far, not been invited to the Cleveland ceremony on April 14. Indeed, many of those involved with honoring Cincinnati’s rock heritage think it’s a major snub that Paul himself has not been inducted into the Rock Hall.

As a session drummer at King, Paul performed on hundreds of seminal R&B and country recordings at the legendary Evanston studio, including Little Willie John’s “Fever,” Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home For Christmas,” and Wynonie Harris’ “Good Rockin’ Tonight.”

King was one of the most important independent studios of the ’50s, cranking out dozens of R&B, country and rockabilly songs that would lay the groundwork for rock, even before Elvis Presley found his way to Memphis’ Sun studios.

“Philip Paul is a national treasure whose percussion on landmark recordings on the earliest rock and roll songs should be celebrated locally and globally,” said Elliott V. Ruther, co-founder of the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation. “Hopefully, the committee which decides upon Rock Hall nominees will take note of Mr. Paul and induct him soon.”

Even Rock Hall President Terry Stewart has called Paul’s percussion work the “single heartbeat of the early days of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Paul would seem to be a perfect fit for what had been the Sidemen category, established to recognize often unheralded studio musicians, especially those at Stax, Motown and Sun. While the process has overlooked King’s sidemen, King Records founder Syd Nathan was inducted into the Rock Hall in the non-performer category in 1997.

Unfortunately, Paul is now facing stiffer competition because a change in the Sidemen category last year has expanded it to include producers and engineers.

The induction process is somewhat mysterious. Honorees are voted in by “industry committees” named by the New York City-based Rock Hall Foundation, a separate entity from the Cleveland Rock Hall. In fact, the Cleveland organization that operates the Hall of Fame and Museum has no say in the induction process.

And does Philip Paul think he should be in the Rock Hall? “I would definitely say ‘yes,’ ” he says.

He is not so much boasting as simply stating the facts when he points out: “With the volume of recordings I have done, and the number of recordings that have become big hits, I think I qualify. They are historic pieces of music.”

Paul acknowledges at the time he had no clue he was laying down the backbeat for a body of work that would evolve into what would be called ‘rock ‘n’ roll.’ When Paul started his recording career the term was not a name for a musical genre, just an old ribald blues reference.

“After a lot of those songs came out and I heard them being played, I thought, ‘This is something big,’ ” Paul says. “I really had no idea that I would be connected with it. We were having fun, and I was doing a job. That’s all I thought of it at the time.”

Paul, raised in Harlem by West Indies immigrant parents, had landed in Cincinnati in 1951 as a drummer for Tiny Bradshaw’s big band. He stayed, drawn by the steady session work at King and regular club gigs at the West End’s Cotton Club.

Paul remains a working drummer performing every weekend in a jazz trio at the Cricket Lounge at the Cincinnatian, Downtown. He has carried on the trio despite the death in January of bassist Ed Conley, his longtime bandmate and friend, also a King session player.

Paul often appears on local panel discussions talking about his King days. He has participated in several such seminars at the Rock Hall and has contributed an extensive oral history to the museum’s archives, along with his wife, Juanita, a dancer in the ’50s at Cincinnati’s Cotton Club, where the two met.

This week Paul will participate in a workshop with students at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Over-the-Rhine, culminating in a concert Friday at the school.

Paul’s message to student musicians: “Practice and commitment. I tell young people if you want to be a musician, you have to donate most of your life to it. It’s not a part-time thing. Even today, I practice and still keep my head in the music business.”

Click the Folder to Download

ynotwednesday@gmail.com
@Sutter_Kaine

@blazebeatz

Shot by Ill Legal Productions