To those of us immersed in hip-hop culture, the names Wynken, Blynken and Nod might sound like a trio of breakdancers. Those names, however, derive from an 1889 poem by writer and poet Eugene Fields. In Lansing those well-known literary monikers were affectionately bestowed upon the three 615-foot smokestacks on Board of Water & Light’s Otto E. Eckert Station power plant.
From September 15 – 21, 2019 All of the Above Hip Hop Academy planted radiant beauty across the city of Lansing through the labor of artistic expression. The week-long “Below The Stacks” mural festival was an incredible success, a monumental highlight for AOTA in 2019.
These top artists – Birdcap (Escatawp, MS), Spitz (Lansing), Imagine 876 (Nepal), Max Sansing (Chicago, IL), MURALMATICS (Lansing), Samskee (Lansing), Sent Rock (Chicago), Sydney G. James (Detroit), Wing Chow (Richmond, VA), Royyal Dog (Los Angeles, CA), and Werc (New York, NY) – each from various parts of the U.S. and beyond, contributed their splashes of genius to Capital City.
On September 15, 2019, the REO Town Art Attack festival took place in the REO Town district of Lansing, MI. The free-to-the-public event celebrated the community and local businesses. This was also the official kickoff of “Below The Stacks”.
The BTS Welcome Center was located in The Cadillac Room parking lot; from there AOTA provided festival maps and related merch, and their volunteers were on site to answer any questions about the mural festival.
There were also workshops such as beat making and learning to breakdance, a community mural painting session for children in attendance, and DJs from the AOTA Creative crew provided a soundtrack of classic hip-hop music the entire time.
It was an amazing day! |THIS
[Written by Mr. Joe Walker | Follow THIS on Twitter @THISENT1]
