I wear anything of culture, from the Earth or beyond. The whole planet is my shop.
Interpretation
This quote expresses openness to cultural influences and the interconnectedness of the world.
Afrika Bambaataa's quote highlights the idea that culture is not confined to geographical boundaries but is a collective treasure that belongs to everyone. By stating that the planet is his shop, he emphasizes the abundance of artistic and cultural expressions derived from both our planet and beyond, celebrating diversity and the value of shared human experiences.
In practice
In a speech about cultural appreciation, one might say this quote to emphasize the value of diversity.
Everybody needs to show respect to each others' ways and the cultural life that you get on this planet. Don't get caught up on 'I'm brown, black, white, red, blue, whatever.' You gotta ask, what were you called before 1492? All these names we're using now are just an illusion made to keep us fighting each other.
I'd like to see people pay attention to the science of hip hop. The knowledge part, the political side of what hip hop could do, or where hip hop is gonna go. I always say it's gonna become universal as we become a galactic union.
How you act, walk, look and talk is all part of Hip Hop culture. And the music is colorless. Hip Hop music is made from Black, brown, yellow, red and white.
A lot of times, when people say hip-hop, they don't know what they're talking about. They just think of the rappers. When you talk about hip-hop, you're talking about the whole culture and movement. You have to take the whole culture for what it is.
We also want to try and slow down all this foolishness that's going on between the East and West. We gotta understand that Hip Hop is now universal. Hip Hop is not East coast or West coast.
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
In the world of reality the more beautiful a work of art, the longer, we may be sure, was the time required to make it, and the greater the number of different minds which assisted in its development.
When I first started writing plays I couldn't write good dialogue because I didn't respect how black people talked. I thought that in order to make art out of their dialogue I had to change it, make it into something different. Once I learned to value and respect my characters, I could really hear them. I let them start talking.
In creating the silkpunk aesthetic, I was influenced by the ideas of W. Brian Arthur, who articulates a vision of technology as a language.
You will write if you will write without thinking of the result in terms of a result, but think of the writing in terms of discovery, which is to say that creation must take place between the pen and the paper, not before in a thought or afterwards in a recasting... It will come if it is there and if you will let it come.
So many cartoonists draw the same year after year. When they find a style, they stick with it. They don't mess with innovation, and they become boring.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.