Juice Jam fills O'Bryant Square with people, spray paint and good times without the usual rap atmosphere
By Ame Phitwong?Senior News Reporter
The smell of spray paint fills the air as DJs scribble their latest cuts for breakdancers and rappers. Colors are strewn all around the cement landscape, transforming the majestic Rose City's O'Bryant Square into an urban jungle. Juice Jam's in session, and crowds of all kinds came together last Saturday to celebrate hip hop culture at its finest.
The free event brought local DJs and rappers from Portland and the West Coast, to showcase their talents to show the "other side" of hip hop, which excluded the fancy cars, scantily clad women and thug life.
One rapper, Blitz the Ambassador, said he took a six hour flight to come perform at the jam session. His first song encompassed a timeline about the cultivation of hip hop music and took several ego stabs at mainstream figures such as Jay-Z.
The tone at Juice Jam was different from what is usually expected at a hip hop gathering. There was no booty dancing, no gang signs and the style of catchy, dumbed-down, one syllable rhymes loaded the atmosphere. It was a place where lyrical poetry and colorful art flourished amidst the primarily indie rock scene in Portland.
Several local breakdancing crews came out and performed in the crowd. Although it was no official battle, breakdancing boys and girls (b-boys, b-girls) showed off their best feats by executing difficult power moves like headspins, helicopters, The Turtle and freezes. In the end, it was a good time regardless of who was the best.
On stage during performances and scribbling, spray-painters, usually called taggers, showed off the "art of vandalism" by spray painting color figures on large pieces of plywood made as the backdrop for the stage. It was a "free-for-wall" setting, allowing those with cans of spray paint to express themselves without having to worry about being issued a citation for vandalism. The artwork changed hourly as taggers sprayed layers of different colors on top of each other, showing the evolution of various styles throughout the day.
Although it may not seem like it, hip-hop is a growing scene in Portland and it's not what onlookers with the MTV impression think. The rhymes are getting smarter, the beats are getting more intricate, the culture is embracing people of all kinds, and stereotypes are not welcomed.
