Speeches & Texts
Hip-Hoppers on the boat
The BronxBerlinConnection at the Floodwall Exhibit
Berlin, September 13, 2010
Ambassador Philip D. Murphy
Heißen Sie bitte mit mir zusammen die Bronx Crew in Berlin willkommen!
Olad Olad Aden, Gangway Beatz Berlin – vielen Dank, dass Sie der Bronx Crew Ihr Berlin zeigen.
Das hier ist ein ganz besonderer Ort. Wir befinden uns auf dem Kurier-Schiff, auf dem Jana Napoli, Multimedia-Künstlerin aus New Orleans, ihre Ausstellung über die Nachwirkungen der Überschwemmungen in ihrer Heimatstadt vor 5 Jahren zeigt.
Kann eine Ausstellung mit alten, kaputten, leeren Schubladen das Gefühl von Verlust vermitteln, das die Überlebenden nach der Katastrophe hatten? Kann sie uns die Zerstörung einer Stadt wie New Orleans, einer Insel wie Haiti oder eines ganzen Flusstals wie in Pakistan veranschaulichen? Liebe Jana, als ich die Einladung bekam, war ich mir nicht sicher. Aber jetzt bin ich davon überzeugt.
Auch von der Kraft des Hip-Hop müssen viele Menschen erst überzeugt werden. Und ob Sie es glauben oder nicht – in der Botschaft musste niemand überzeugt werden.
[Please join me in welcoming the Bronx Crew to Berlin.
Olad Olad Aden, Gangway Beatz Berlin, thank you for sharing your Berlin with the Bronx Crew.
This is a very unique location. We are here on the good ship Kurier where Jana Napoli, a multimedia artist from New Orleans, has brought her exhibit about the aftermath of the floods in her city five years ago.
Can an exhibit of old, broken, empty drawers communicate the sense of loss that survivors felt in the wake of catastrophe? Can it help us imagine the destruction of a city, like New Orleans, or an island, like Haiti, or an entire river valley, like in Pakistan? I wasn’t sure when I read the invitation but now I am convinced.
Many people also have to be convinced about the power of hip hop. And although you might not believe it, at the Embassy, we are all believers.]
We know that Hip Hop is a culture, a message that represents the who, the what, and the why of today. It does more than entertain. It can educate. In our minds, there’s no debate about the fact that the hip hop voice is relevant and that that there is a message if people have an open mind – and just listen and learn.
There are also no cultural or racial limits to Hip Hop. That makes Hip Hop very special. It has become part of the fabric of my country and many other countries as well – including Germany.
One of the messages that I take away from hip hop is that it is often all about the question of identity: Who am I?
Hopefully this very unique exchange program which sent the Gangway Beatz to New York last year and the Bronx Crew to Berlin this year opened up some new ideas about identity and community and trust. Those are all very positive messages. And as a rap fan myself – believe it or not – I have found that sometimes some of the more positive messages in hip hop are whispers in a room of shouters. But there are exceptions – and lots of them.
For example -- and I am sorry, guys, I have a West Coast example -- Tupac Shakur’s “rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.”
Hopefully, all of you here will be able to grow your dreams and shout them out loud.
Genießen Sie die Musik der BronxBerlinConnection. Schauen Sie sich die Floodwall-Austellung an, Sie werden es nicht bereuen.
[Enjoy the music of the BronxBerlinConnection and take a good look at the Floodwall exhibit. You won’t regret it.]