gentrification | Its Hip Hop

According to the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, between 2000 and 2010 Brooklyn has been in one of the most drastic circumstances of gentrification in the five boroughs.

The complexion of the following neighborhoods, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, Clinton Hill, Park Slope, and Gowanus, and Crown Heights North, have all changed drastically shifting the culture, drastically shifting demographics: an increase of between 6,700 and 15,600 white residents, paired with a simultaneous decrease in Black residents (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights North), Latino residents (Williamsburg), or both (Clinton Hill, Park Slope, and Gowanus).

Numbers don’t lie and may only give a small glimpse of gentrification. Artists like Remi Salaam and Bilal have used their gifts to provide a visual to this phenomenon that has displaced thousands of Black and Latinos.

In their new video, “Coming Outta The Rain,” Bilal after spending a day in Prospect Park comes face to face with a new Brooklyn Karen, who calls the cops on him for simply Blacking in public. In a simulated drama, she is seen calling the police in the same manner that the white Amy Cooper called authorities on Harvard grad and Black man, Christian Cooper.

Bilal, who is working out in the video, presents himself just as harmless as Cooper. This excerpt might also be compared to the summer incident involving Hamptons restaurateur, Svitlana Flom, who came under fire calling the police on a Black woman for “threatening” her children, though videos surfaced of the incident showing that she was not … again another person of color caught ‘Blacking in public.’

Salaam Remi’s music underlies Bilal’s jazzy lyrics — and paints a lazy experience that seems to be coming together brightly after a storm. As the music video chronicles him strolling through the park, enjoying the day, working out, and clearing his mind, something seems off, topsy turvy. But it immediately comes clear when a woman demands that he leaves her Brooklyn … “It is our neighborhood now!”

Biggie’s Brooklyn, if you stroll down any street and according to the research, is now Becky’s. And musicians, artists, and advocates are clear, this is a problem.

The post Salaam Remi Brings Attention to Gentrification and ‘Karen’ Culture in the New Brooklyn appeared first on The Source.

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Source: The Washington Post / Getty

Go-Go music, the homegrown sound of the streets of Washington, D.C., retained its relevancy and prominence by way of a corner store in the Shaw district. However, when complaints of noise came from new transplants in the swiftly gentrifying section of town (in the shadows of Howard University no less), the store was reportedly ordered to shut down the sounds but it appears it ain’t a thing because the store is back in the Go-Go swing.

Fox 5 DC reports:

For nearly 25 years the Metro PCS store on the corner of Florida Avenue and 7th Street Northwest in Shaw has played Go-Go music from a speaker outside the business, but the shop has been muted, reportedly by a complaint and threat to sue from a neighbor in a nearby luxury apartment.

The store’s owner, Donald Campbell, told FOX 5 he was asked two weeks ago by T-Mobile, which owns Metro PCS, to bring the speaker inside the store. Campbell says he was told a neighbor in a nearby luxury apartment who complained about the noise threatened the cell phone company with a lawsuit.

D.C. Police say they don’t have any recent record of noise complaints coming from the store. The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has just three since 2010, but each was investigated and it determined the volume did not violate the city’s noise ordinance, so no action was taken.

Since the news broke and the birth of the #DontMuteDC hashtag, area activists and longtime residents have flooded the Shaw streets in unison and caught the attention of outside supporters along with those who side with the new and decidedly richer neighbors.

But while Campbell said in early reports that T-Mobile itself told his store to turn the crank down to manageable levels, the telecommunications giant’s CEO John Legere tweeted in support of the store’s long-standing tradition.

I’ve looked into this issue myself and the music should NOT stop in D.C.! @TMobile and @MetroByTMobile are proud to be part of the Shaw community – the music will go on and our dealer will work with the neighbors to compromise volume. https://t.co/qXvwzmc24E

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 10, 2019

A number of Twitter users are “cised” by the news and of course, we have all the reactions below.

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Source: HipHopWired.com

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