Hold On, Be Strong

Film: Dimitri Hale at Ex Deo Films

What I explore in this work are characterizations of Southern Hip Hop that I perceive, read about, and hear in the mainstream and ones I experienced growing up in the South. But mostly what it all means and what it instilled in me and many. You see, when I was discovering 'Kast, UGK, Goodie, Weezy, 8Ball and MJG, Bubba, and more I was growing into my own person in a small town in South Carolina and subsequently as a college student in a slightly larger town in the Palmetto State. This music was the de facto soundtrack of my formative years. Rather than singing back hooks that seemed to be more in line with broader cultural aspirations (see shine, bling, etc.) I was drawn to and even consumed by the individual nuggets of wisdom that transcended any sermon or lecture of the day. These lyrical gems were the spice of life—literally sprinkled throughout for anyone with the ear and palate to discern them. These words were born of place and they stick with me to this day.

“4Eva is a mighty long time.”

For 8 years, I made trips across the South to places of interest and collected dirt for shrines to lyrics I grew up with. It has been an ongoing pilgrimage.

“Hold On, Be Strong” is truly a Southern Hip Hop journey a decade in the making. For now it’s an installation of light, sound, and physical relics and assemblages including dirt gathered from pilgrimages to Southern Hip Hop sites. It is the stories of meeting people and travel companions along for the ride. It is the devoted hands who fabricated wood, metal, plexiglass, screen printing, video, vinyl and more to form this tribute. It is the community who speak into this body of work now.

It’s Hip Hop. And it's decidedly Southern.

FILM: My Home, NC on PBS NC

MULTI-MEDIA ART installation [AUGUST 3, 2023]

Southern Relics, Assemblages, Light + Ambient Sound \\ SPOKEN WORD by DASAN AHANU \\ SOUTHERN RAP DJ SET with DJ DAMU \\ Banana Sandwiches

Image: Rotcelis Rose Photography

Dasan Ahanu: Spoken Word Artist

DJ Damu: Spiritual Drummer + DJ

Images: Eric Waters Photography

Materials

Steel and various automotive finishes including metallic paint, chrome, and flip flop paint, vinyl, screen printing, plexiglass, and various items including shoes, notebooks, bird nest, books, hair clippers, etc.

28” wide and 5.5” deep with variable height

Wooden frames of:

• Purple Heart
• Pickled Southern Pine
• Tamarind
• Pine with Silver Leaf
• Fumigated Southern Pine
• Marblewood
• Wenge
• Ebonized wood
• Bocate
• Southern Pine

Lyrics from:

• Big K.R.I.T. song “They Got Us”
• Clipse song “Hello New World”
• UGK song “Everybody Wanna Ball”
• Lil Wayne song “Tie My Hands”
• Yelawolf song “American You”
• Goodie Mob song “Ghetto-ology”
• Outkast song “Liberation”
• Killer Mike song “Willie Burke Sherwood”
• Bubba Sparxxx song “Deliverance”
• Outkast song “13th Floor/Growing Old”

Quote from:

• André 3000 at August 3, 1995 Source Awards

Dirt from:

• Childhood home of Justin Scott, a.k.a. Big K.R.I.T., Meridian, MS
• Previous location of SYnergY hair lounge, Newport News, VA
• Corner of W. Rev. Dr. Ransom Howard Street and Texas Avenue (now Freeman Avenue after
• Bernard Freeman,a.k.a. Bun B), Port Arthur, TX
• Hollygrove neighborhood, 17th Ward, New Orleans, LA
• Sudie Avenue home in Walnut Park neighborhood, Gadsden, AL
• Former offices of Organized Noize, Atlanta, GA
• Stankonia Studios and Tri-Cities High School, Atlanta, GA
• Childhood home of Michael Render, a.k.a. Killer Mike, Atlanta, GA
• Mathis farm on McCosh Mill Road, LaGrange, GA
• The “Dungeon,” Atlanta, GA

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