Ryron Gracie is Special Guest at Bobby, Bruce and Bambaataa Lecture Sept. 5th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Contact: (323) 335-4497

memg@hiphopchessfederation.org

Hip-Hop, MMA and Chess Unite at Bobby, Bruce and Bambaataa Lecture

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Master Ryron Gracie at HHCF HQ for Q&A on How Martial Arts Promote Peace in Our Community  

San Jose, CA, 8/25/15-  The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) is proud to announce that it will host a presentation by its Founder Adisa Banjoko aka The Bishop, called Bobby, Bruce and Bambaataa. This multimedia presentation illustrates the history of how the chess explosion of the 70’s and the Chinese kung-fu film craze impacted the growth of of Hip-Hop. The event will take place at the new HHCF Headquarters located at 42660 Christy St., Fremont, suite B in Fremont, CA September 5th at 3 PM. This is a free all ages event, but a $5.00 donation is suggested.

“No other form of music on the earth celebrates chess as much as rap music” stated Adisa Banjoko. “The work of Bobby Fischer, Bruce Lee and Afrika Bambaataa changed the way we look at the art. Much of how Hip-Hop artists approach perfecting their art, their mental approach to battle and even the vegan movement sparked from this fusion. Our conversation will be centered on how that happened and how we can use it to better educate our boys and girls better.” The lecture will highlight the impact of street chess and  kung-fu films on artists like Jay Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Will Smith, 50 Cent, Dilated Peoples, Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys and others.

The HHCF is the first 501c3 organization to fuse Hip-Hop, chess and martial arts to promote education innovation and nonviolence. The nonprofit has worked tirelessly for nonviolence since 2006. They recently were the foundation of a record breaking exhibit on Hip-Hop and Chess at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis. RZA of Wu-Tang Clan (the organization's Director of Outreach) and The Bishop were among the first from the Hip-Hop community on the ground in Saint Louis to work for mutual understanding and peace.

Ryron Gracie, Head Instructor at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy will join in a Q&A following the conversation about how martial arts can promote fitness, wellness and make our communities more peaceful. Gracie is a thought leader of the sport of jiu-jitsu and MMA and a UFC coach to fighters like Brian Ortega and Ronda Rousey among others.

The entire talk can be watched in a live stream on Periscope through the HHCF Twitter account @hiphopchess and later heard at www.bishopchronicles.com podcast.

In addition to the lecture and panel there will be open chess gaming, and open mat for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu players to practice and drill techniques, For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/events/523504481141692/  or www.hiphopchess.com . Sponsors of the event include www.thechessdrum.net, www.onthemat.com www.ctrlindustries.com , www.bjjlegends.com and www.heroesmartialarts.com www.weareliberated.com

Dr. Bettina Love to Speak at Hip-Hop Chess Federation Grand Opening August 15th!!!

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Hip-Hop Chess Federation Announces New Education Center Grand Opening

Harvard University’s Nas Fellow to Speak at HHCF on Hip-Hop and Education

San Jose, CA, 8/12/15-  The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) is proud to announce that it will host a Grand Opening of its new facility located at 42660 Christy St., Fremont, CA August 15th at 5 PM. The HHCF is the first organization to fuse Hip-Hop, chess and martial arts to promote education and nonviolence. The SF Bay Area based 501c3 has worked tirelessly for nonviolence since 2006. They recently were the foundation of a record breaking exhibit on Hip-Hop and Chess at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis. RZA of Wu-Tang Clan (the organization's Director of Outreach) and Adisa The Bishop were among the first from the Hip-Hop community on the ground in that city to work for mutual understanding and peace. Their work can be furthered now in their new facility in the SF Bay Area.

Dr. Bettina L. Love currently serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia and was named the 2016 Nasir Jones Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University. The title of her talk at the HHCF Grand Opening is: We Are The Ones We've Been Waiting For: The Possibilities, Challenges & Limitations of Hip Hop Ed. The entire talk will be live streamed on Periscope through the HHCF Twitter account @hiphopchess.

Dr. Love's talk will explore the possibilities, challenges, and limitations of Hip Hop Ed and its entanglement with the contested space of Black popular culture, while still functioning as a humanizing, critical, creative pedagogical intervention that fosters self-determination, self-knowledge, and acts of resistance with young people concerned about and fighting for justice.     

"HHCF is not only doing the work, but also showing us all how it’s done” said Dr .Love. “The work of the HHCF should be a site of study as folks search for defining models of Hip-Hop Ed. I am beyond excited and humbled to enter the space built by two extraordinary educators. I hope my talk will move Hip-Hop Ed closer to the axiom of Black Lives Matter.” After her lecture there will be a panel discussion on Hip-Hop Ed with Arash Daneshzadeh and special guests. “Dr. Love is arguably the brightest mind in education today, especially where urban and at-risk youth are concerned” said HHCF Founder Adisa The Bishop. “We are beyond honored to have her wisdom mark our Grand Opening. She represents a new wave of Hip-Hop scholars who will refine how we will approach and engage America's youth academically.” In addition to the lecture and panel there will be speed chess gaming, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu demonstration, artwork by Carlos Rodriguez of RM Klothing will be on display and dope beats will bang hard. For more information visit    https://www.facebook.com/events/113042345710060/ or www.hiphopchess.com

HHCF Auctioning Lost Autographed Chessboards by RZA, GZA, Rakaa and Waitzkin

For Immediate Release:

PR Contact: Mek Gaborski

(657) 229-2787

memg@hiphopchessfederation.org

   L-R: Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, Daaim Shabazz of The Chess Drum, RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and International Chessmaster Josh Waitzkin.

Hip-Hop Chess Federation Auctions Lost Autographed Chessboards by Wu-Tang Clan

Arts and Education Non-profit Raising Money for New Community Center

8/3/15 San Jose, CA- The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) has just announced that it is auctioning three autographed chessboards signed by Rza and Gza of the Wu-Tang Clan, International Chessmaster Josh Waitzkin and Rakaa Iriscience from Dilated Peoples. The initial auction price of the boards is $150.00. The boards had been lost after they were signed in October of 2007 at the Chess Kings Invitational in San Francisco. They recently were found as the organization was moving items to take to the new facility. The auction is happening to raise funds for the new HHCF Community Center. The new community center will host various classes on Hip-Hop dance, chess, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and after school tutoring and mentoring programs.

HHCF Founder Adisa The Bishop recently finished serving as an Education and History Consultant on Hip-Hop and chess for the record breaking exhibit at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri. The discussion on chess, martial arts and Hip-Hop as tools for non-violence has swept across universities like University of Connecticut, University Wisconsin Whitewater and Oberlin College among others. HHCF Summer Camps were hosted in San Jose and in East Palo Alto to help keep at-risk kids off the street and planning their future.

RZA serves as the Director of Outreach for the HHCF. In the wake of the police shootings of  Michael Brown and Vonderitt Myers RZA and Adisa spoke to St. Louis youth and visited incarcerated youth.  RZA shared his in depth wisdom about race in America, Ferguson, and the importance of chess as a tool for life strategies and  non-violence.

“These chessboards represent a unique era in the fusion between chess and Hip-Hop” stated Adisa The Bishop “These boards are not going to be reproduced. Whether you are a Hip-Hop or chess history buff, this is a truly one of a kind thing to have for any collector to own.”

To place your bid for one of the three autographed Hip-Hop Chess Federation chessboards visit: EBay now! For more information on the Hip-Hop Chess Federation visit www.hiphopchess.com or follow @realhiphopchess on Instagram.

“

Feature on HHCF with shots of new HHCF Community Center!!

The Chess Drum caught up with Adisa Banjoko of the Hip Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) to discuss his new projects, the challenges, the successes and the organization’s sprawling new space for classes. The HHCF is on the move once again and has been progressive in trying to establish an fusion between different artistic expressions to draw from the strengths of each. Chess, Hip-Hop and martial arts all have their dualities and it is clear that this the HHCF has been able to take this concept where no one has gone before. Banjoko provides some important insights in this short interview. 

http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2015/07/19/latest-vibe-with-adisa-banjoko-hhcf/

HHCF Hosting Speed Chess Tournament in Union City, CA June 27th at Mighty 4!!!!

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HHCF will be hosting a speed chess tournament at Mighty 4 in Union City, CA on June 27th!!! Come out and enjoy this all ages event. LISTEN to Mighty 4 Founder Paulskeee talk about the history of Hip-Hop in the bay and how it helps young people find themselves http://www.bishopchronicles.com/podcast/2015/6/3/37-hip-hop

The Chinese Connection: Hip-Hop and Martial Arts Pt. 1

 

The Chinese Connection: Hip-Hop and Martial Arts Pt. 1

By: Adisa Banjoko

The HHCF’s fusion of Hip-Hop, chess and martial arts has always been about the blending of art, science and subcultures. A lot of people laughed at us in the beginning. But after hosting the biggest opening exhibit at the World Chess Hall of Fame this October with RZA, our impact was undeniable. In the streets, juvenile halls and colleges, our method is working and the demand is growing across the planet.

As our organization got on the radar of various news and education outlets, our calls to promote STEAM over STEM began to gain a following. My obsession with these three arts and sports were built on a previous foundation.

The two most influential people on my approach to writing are Dr. John Henrik Clarke and Joseph Campbell. Dr. Clarke was great at being able to say in a sentence, what many folks need paragraphs to write. Joseph Campbell taught “perennial philosophies.” It is defined as “a perspective in the philosophy of religion which views each of the world’s religious traditions as sharing a single, universal truth on which foundation all religious knowledge and doctrine has grown.” While my work to date has not been as concise as Clarke or expansive as Campbell, this is my ultimate intent. The goal of this piece is meant to show how the Asian Kung-fu Cinema impacted African-American culture deeper than other minority groups.

Bruce Lee’s logo for his innovative art, Jeet Kune Do

August 17th 1973, Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon opened in NYC. On November 12th 1973 a gang leader from The Bronx unified the street arts of rap, DJ’ing, graffiti and various forms of dance as Hip-Hop. He founded the Universal Zulu Nation that year to preserve and maintain the subculture on a global scale. A year before, Brooklyn’s Bobby Fischer beat Russia's Boris Spassky in a game of global importance. In September, a new film called Pawn Sacrifice will drop about that chess match and everything that was at stake culturally and politically. These three moments of the early 1970’s impacted American chess, martial arts and Hip-Hop in ways none of us understood at the time. Today we are still discovering its impact. Unveiling these connections are still a beautiful work in progress.

The original logo of Mixmaster Mike (of the Beastie Boys) was based on Bruce Lee’s logo for Jeet Kune Do

While exciting entertainment to many, for African American males, Asian Kung-Fu Cinema opened a new door to the Black mind and spirit. Having had our warrior culture removed from us during the transatlantic slave trade though our experience in America, these films gave Black people new ideas and a new ways to reclaim what had been lost 400 years before. Outside of Bruce Lee’s movies films like Shogun Assassin, 36 Chambers of Shaolin, Master of the Flying Guillotine, Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang, and Drunken Master had immense impact. The David Carradine show Kung-Fu (while riddled with many racist elements) also gave weekly wisdom in prime time to those who were smart enough to pay attention.

It is hard to say how many of the African-American’s embracing these films really understood the cultural differences between Chinese and Japanese culture. Obviously on some level this surface understanding could lead to huge generalizations. On the other, this lack of cultural clarity created a space where all of it was taken in, accepted and appreciated. Those that were sincere, took the time to learn the truth. Over time those numbers grew.  

Though many of the movies by Bruce Lee and the Shaw Brothers were not of the highest production quality, the wisdom shared was on point. Despite whatever flaws may have been in the overdubbed voices or the corny outfits at times, these films became an obsession in Black America. It appears the ancient wisdom, the discipline and the quest for universal truth all filled a hollow space in many African American hearts, minds and bodies. It is hard to imagine the rise in Blacks practicing Buddhism, the number of Blacks doing yoga and all of the Taoist references in Hip-Hop without Kung-Fu films. It is also hard to envision the rise of the vegan movement in Black America without the rise of Kung-Fu films. These movies changed minds, bodies and spirits. Rappers, DJ’s, Bboys and graffiti writers were all affected and reflected the wisdom in their artistic expression.

I don’t think anyone at the time, knew what a benefit these movies would be to Black America. It’s hard to say if Black America itself knew what was taking place and why they were drawn to the films so deeply.

RZA, actor and rapper of the iconic Wu-Tang Clan explained the NY scene in the early 1970’s “In Manhattan on 42nd street they had movies. They had a whole slew of shows. We would watch them every weekend. That was around the age of nine. By the time I was twelve or thirteen I started getting fascinated. I would go into Chinatown buying everything. Kung-fu books, slippers [the flat black shoes made famous by Bruce Lee). You name it, I was on a mission.”

RZA of Wu-Tang Clan showing Kung-Fu skills in Man With The Iron Fist

Reflecting on the impact of the films he says “The good thing for me was growing up in America, there wasn’t much history, outside of the 400 years that I was taught. The only thing they told us back to was Greek mythology, the colonial days, or cowboys and Indians. But I had a chance to watch the martial arts films.  You get to see stuff from the Tang Dynasty, Sung Dynasty, you are seeing 1500 years of history. It kinda opened my mind to a whole new world.... It kinda changed my whole philosophy on life. I started buying books on Buddhism and Taoism. Plus I was studying Christianity, and Islam at the same time. It all translated into my music.”

In the early era of Hip-Hop the teens and young adults gave themselves titles like Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster D and so on. It is still unclear if these were names that were inspired more by Kung-Fu films, or chess, but something new was happening. Rap crews named themselves the Wu-Tang Clan and DJ’s like Mixmaster Ice (of U.T.F.O. towering on stage above the rappers in a ninja outfit. It was all very hard to ignore, and hypnotic to almost anyone who saw it. Other Hip-Hop artists out there notable for showing an influence of martial arts philosophy and culture include Andre Nickatina, Jeru The Damaja, Afu-Ra, DJ Q-Bert and Beastie Boys DJ Mixmaster Mike.

Rap crew U.T.F.O. with Mixmaster Ice in front rocking a ninja suit, 1985.

Chess, first and foremost in many people's minds is about strategy. The word strategy comes from the Latin root word strategos meaning “leader of the army”.

The logo for revolutionary rap group dead prez is the I-Ching. The I-Ching (The Book of Changes)  is an ancient divination text going back to 1000 BC. It is  a book of various symbols that have rich meaning and various interpretations. The Dead Prez logo is of  hexagram, shi, meaning “Leader” or “the army”. Each hexagram is composed of “inner” and “outer” trigrams. The inner trigram represents water and the outer represents earth.

This idea of being grounded like earth, but flow like water was made popular in America by Bruce Lee. Within the world of jiu-jitsu, they have positions known as closed guards and open guards. In chess, there are positional developments known as open and closed games. In both arts, one must be clear about the differences and understand the importance of how and where to be strong and how and where to flow. These are continuous themes within martial arts and chess.

In part two, we will look more into this relationship between Hip-Hop and martial arts.  We have much more to explore.

Adisa Banjoko is Founder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF). The HHCF is the world's first non-profit 501(c)3 to promote music, chess and martial arts to teach nonviolence at-risk youth. RZA is the organization's HHCF Chess Champion and Director of Outreach. For more information visit www.hiphopchess.com .

HHCF Awarded Safe Summer Initiative Grant by City of San Jose for FREE Summer Camp for Teens

City of San Jose Awards Hip-Hop Chess Federation Grant for Chess and Life Strategies Summer Camp

HHCF Opens FREE Summer Camp to Keep Kids Focused on School and Off the Streets     

May 20th, 2015 San Jose, CA - The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) is happy to announce they will be hosting a FREE Chess and Life Strategies summer camp starting June 15th to August 15th 2015 at the Seven Trees Community Center in San Jose, CA. This powerful, innovative education program is brought to you in part by the city of San Jose awarding the HHCF the Safe Summer Initiative Grant (SSIG). The purpose of the SSIG is to give funds to organizations that strive to help teens in underserved areas. “It is a deep honor for the HHCF to be awarded the SSIG.” stated VP of Outreach Meek Gaborski. “Our commitment to inspire and enable young minds to higher heights, is rapidly getting more recognition. Everyone in HHCF is excited.”

The HHCF Chess and Life Strategies program teaches more than chess. In the HHCF chess positions on the board are matched with lessons that teach teens the power of patience, planning and independent thinking methods. “We make the game more culturally relevant to young people by showing them rappers, business leaders and politicians who play chess.” stated HHCF Founder, Adisa Banjoko. “This gets their  attention and allows them to see themselves in the game. Sadly in the summer,  many kids get into gangs, drugs and bad behavior because they don’t have anyone to work with them. HHCF is here for the kids of San Jose. We have a lot of gang activity out here. ”

Adisa Banjoko recently served as the education and history consultant to the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) exhibit Living Like Kings  in St. Louis, Missouri. The Living Like Kings  grand opening broke all previous attendance records for WCHOF grand openings.  RZA from Wu-Tang Clan (HHCF’s Director of Ourtreach) and Adisa spent time in St. Louis last year after the police killing of Mike Brown. They spoke to more than 1000  at-risk teens, including incarcerated youth. Their lectures centered on the impact of chess and martial arts can have on their  discipline and decision making. In 2015, Adisa Banjoko gave powerful lectures at Lehigh, Oberlin College and University of Connecticut among others.

HHCF also released a mixtape promoting their ideals of chess and peace at www.soundcloud.com/hiphopchess .

For more on HHCF and their Chess and Life Strategies  programs visit www.hiphopchess.com

About HHCF: The Hip-Hop Chess Federation is the world's first nonprofit (501c3) to fuse music, chess and martial arts to promote unity, strategy and nonviolence. They host lectures, panels, and celebrity chess events to help at-risk, gang-impacted and gang intentional youth make better decisions in life. The HHCF has been featured on Good Morning America, Forbes, Chess Life, VIBE and Rolling Stone.  

 

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Chess, Choices and Needles in the Park....

This morning I was at a park in San Jose with my students. They were playing tag, pushing one another on the swings and throwing footballs as kids love to do. Suddenly one of the boys approached me smiling, waving a hypodermic needle.

"Mr. B, what is this for? What does it do?!"

"Put that down right now!" I barked. "Right now."

He dropped it. Scared. I never yelled at any of the kids like that before.

"Where did you get this?" I asked.

"By the bench. By the baby swings." he said in a low tone.

"Did you poke yourself? Did you poke anybody? I need to know the truth." My voice had less traces of panic it.

He shook is head. "I just picked it up. I did not know what it was."

I called all the students over. I explained what the needle on the cement was often used for. That people use it to shoot drugs and you can get HIV, Hepatitis C or B from getting cut by them and how those things often kill people. I told them "When I was your age, I never played in parks with needles and stuff in them. You shouldn't have do. But this is real life. So, you have to know what is going on in this world. I know people say 'Say no to drugs' but you guys have to know this will cut your life short. Immediately. Cut it right off..."

I told him to go wash his hands then I had him see the nurse to look at his hands for abrasions or cuts just to make sure he was ok. He was.

I got rid of the needle.

Just as I headed off I saw a mother bring two 3 year olds to the area where the needle had been laying. My heart started racing. "What if one of them found it and scraped themselves or their brother or sister with the needle, not knowing?" I asked myself. "What if the mother never saw. She'd always wonder." They waddled past me, oblivious.

 I had the next few classes come out with me and clean the park. I told most of them why. I got exhausted emotionally telling 12, 13, and 14 year olds what happened. I had a cousin die of heroin at 19...I kept seeing his face....Sometimes I see people who look like, what I think he would look like if he were alive....Their faces stay in my mind.... I recently had a dream about a student I mentored who was killed a few months ago. In my dream, he was in a fight with another student. In the dream I watched the fight and did nothing to break it up. I awoke shaken.

Sometimes I rub people the wrong way. Don't get me wrong. I'm friendly, and silly. I watch cartoons more than anything, mostly to escape the pain of reality. However, at times, I can be short with people or seemingly lost in thought. I often am.

I feel like when I do my job wrong, death happens. I know we all die anyway. I know. But when I don't get through to my kids, I know a jail cell or a coffin is waiting for them.

When I started jiu-jitsu at Ralph Gracies' he used to get so pissed off if he thought you were doing a move sloppily or without passion and focus. It used to boggle my mind. "Why is he tripping?" I would ask myself. I understand now though. His fear, was that learning his teachings wrong you might find yourself in a real situation and you would lose. He took your loss personally.

"Didn't that guy train with Ralph? I thought they knew how to fight better." That was Ralph's nightmare and he still gives his all passing on the wisdom and the toughness of mind and body.

"Didn't he learn from Adisa.? I thought she played chess?" That, is my nightmare.

I take these losses personally. So if I ever seem like I take the methods of HHCF too seriously. If I ever come off like understanding Hip-Hop history and subculture matter a lot...If I ever seem like I take chess and life strategies too seriously. This is why.

Because kids bring me hypodermic needs in class and I'm trying to make sure they live. Not just today, but ten years from now I want them to be alive because I taught them how to survive.

Over the course of cleaning the park we found a bag of weed (with a little left in it), a weed pipe and a lighter. Gang tags were all over the park benches. Our kids deserve better. I will do all I can to give them better and I promise you. I will die trying.

I don't have any love for any gang. I don't have any love for dope dealers.

VIDEO: Adisa Banjoko Presentation at Oberlin College

Hidden in Plain Sight: The History of Hip-Hop Chess

Oberlin College April 14th 2015

Part 1 : Watch Video (intro to HHCF philosophy)

Part 2: Watch Video (forgotten history of Bobby Fischer, Afrika Bambaataa and Bruce Lee)

Part 3: (no video-  technical difficulties)

Part 4: Watch Videos (new era of non-violence and innovation)

Testimonials after presentation:

Adisa Banjoko had forever changed the perceptions and trajectory of the Oberlin student body. The diversity and depth of his topics was astounding. Not only were we informed of a powerful intellectual history of Hip-Hop, we were also given a once in a lifetime perspective on non-violence. All the students that head his words were infused with his spirit and desire to positively impact the world. - Ali Amiri, Co-Head Oberlin Chess Club 

"Adisa painted an inspirational picture of how individuals can use whatever tools are at their disposal to affect change in the world. Adisa has proven that chess, hip-hop, and martial arts can be used as a powerful hybrid to empower young people discarded from our social system. His talk kindled a renewed spirit of service within our chess community at Oberlin, and his message is a powerful one which should be shared with many communities with the ability to improve the lives of those around them.”

          - Constantine Ananiadis, Oberlin Chess Club Advisor

A Word of Thanks from University of Connecticut

If you would like me to come speak at your University, education or business conference. Visit www.theguildagency.com !

LISTEN: HHCF Creates Soundcloud Page, Sharing Songs from NEW Mixtape Street Games Vol. 2

Go to www.soundcloud.com/hiphopchess and listen to the FULL release of Street Games Vol. 1 Mixtape and get a taste of what is to come in Vol. 2. The complete new mixtape drops July 4th 2015.

Three tracks from the new mixtape are Lost Souls, by Amaar, ft. Nio the Gift, Chess Hustlers Anthem by 5th Ryder and Warcry by Artson ft. Zumbu from Zion I and Rakaa Iriscience from Dilated Peoples.