Host Jori An Cotton kicks off “Voices of Cincinnati”!

 On May 16th, Elementz and Public Allies of Cincinnati held the first “Voices of Cincinnati” Showcase here at Elementz Urban Arts Center. The evening was filled with outstanding poetry from the members of the “Voices of Freedom” Spoken Word Program and other talented poets from the community!  The audience was also treated with great performances from the Studio Kre8v dancers and the S.T.A.R.S artists and houseband. We had a record 120 people show up for the event and lots of free food, courtesy of Public Allies, who did an excellent job grilling. Shout out to hosts Jori An Cotton, Kontrax, and Cincinnati’s own DuWaup for emceeing an incredible line up of performances! To check out exclusive photos of the event click HERE!

Studio Kre8v resident choreographer, Derrek Burbridge, and dance leader, Da’Shawn Mitchell, recently traveled to Florida to take part in a dance competition with some of the worlds best hip hop dancers.  Their dance crew placed 5th.  Check out the video above of one of their performances from the competition. Join Derrek and Da’shawn for $5 adult hip hop dance classes here at Elementz on Mondays and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 following Zumba.

Cincinnati music production company, “The Beat Lounge LTD” has joined forces with Elementz!  Under the leadership of The Beat Lounge founder, Kontrax,  Elementz will now offer extended services to young beat makers and producers.  By working with Elementz, Kontrax intends to play his part in the development of inner city youth with their goals in music production. In the future KontraX also plans to host youth “Beat Lounges” allowing for a younger demographic to compete in his producer competitions.

Elementz Creative Director, Abdullah Powell, says “KontraX has real credibility in Cincinnati’s music production community.  He’s always been connected to Elementz and I’m excited to have him officially bring his experience & production services here to our youth.”

Elementz members can join Kontrax for instruction in music production and beat making on Mondays & Wednesdays 5-7 PM.  

Kontrax, Founder of The Beat Lounge

Bio on Kontrax 

RH Valentino (Kontrax) Sweeten, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio February 14, 1978. A multi talented individual, Kontrax has explored most elements of hip hop ranging from, DJing, beat making, break dancing, rapping, drawing, and also participated in choir. Today his main focus is music production, event coordinating, show hosting, and business management.

KontraX has helped build and manage a number of music studio businesses, from the legendary Beat Box Recording studio to a list of others like, Track World Recording, Lomax Sound, and Clear Noize Recording to name a few. Valentino began producing music professionally at age 17, under name “T- Zone” working with groups like P.F.L. (Players 4 Life) of North College Hill, who released 1997′s Playin’ 4 Real. He has explored many musical genres including hip hop, R&B, jazz, reggae, and pop. He believes that by learning different genres and styles of music we can connect cultures.

When KontraX, hosted the first Beat Lounge Beat Battle event at Clifton Heights’ Baba Budan’s, he says he saw himself as a “people person” wanting to integrate local Hip Hop and not as a promoter. A relatively new concept for Cincinnati at the time but the basic concept was simple – producers battled each other by playing their beats in front of an audience and judges.

After the first Beat Lounge’s successful turnout, Baba Budan’s booked the event every third Saturday for two years. The battles eventually moved to the legendary Greenwich in Walnut Hills, and KontraX saw the event’s following and demographic grow. The battles were fun

for competitors as well as fans of any gender from the ages of 12 thru 60. ”The main purpose is to challenge the contestants through friendly competition while connecting the producer with their clientele,” KontraX says. “But at the same time, you got people that just want to be entertained and have a good time.” The event has also been featured at the annual, Midwest regional Black Family Reunion, which takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio.

These days, KontraX is busy building the business that came by way of the beat battle event. The Beat Lounge LTD is a business that offers services to musicians but with a strong focus on beat makers. Currently stationed within the Elementz Urban Youth Center facility, Kontrax and The Beat Lounge LTD plans to help groom the future of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Elementz Board President, Peter Block

ArtsWave, Ascent & Venue Magazine recently partnered for the 1st time to host the “Leadership and Legacy in the Arts Awards.”  Among the many leaders who were recognized in the arts community, Elementz Board President, Peter Block, was also awarded for his service to Elementz.

Read the short passage in Venue Magazine to see why Peter is so passionate about Elementz -http://viewer.epageview.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=8f05511b-da0a-401b-abc6-a19c00f699b1#?page=102

Elementz creative writing instructor, Wonder Brown, pictured with staff of the Childrens Home of Northern Kentucky

Written by Wonder Brown:

Thanks to the people at Elementz, I had the privilege of working with Sara
Warner at the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky, teaching the arts of
rap and poetry for the past four months to a group of young men. Through
the facilitation of the CHNK’s recreation coordination and collaboration with
Arlene de Silva from Global Music and Wellness, we were able to play various
percussive instruments, analyze poetic and hip hop texts, write lyrics to a
plethora of soundscapes (or as fellow emcees might put it, beats), and learn
about the power of the voice and the faculties of rhythm. With these tangible
goals in mind, I was honored to learn about the young men I worked with, and act
as a mentor not just for their desires to rap but also meet them where they were
and share life experiences. As in so many seminars and workshops I’ve been
a part of, the social aspect of a group of people molds the discussions, shaping
individual and group aspirations, and our experience these past few months has
been no different. I think I can speak for the young men in saying that we walked
away with a greater self-awareness that is much more valuable than learning
what part of the pulse should be accentuated by the lyric; of course, in learning
about the self, we know that each of us has an innate sense of rhythm, as our
hearts give us the groove to shape our words around, thereby naturally giving us
our pulse and our lyric.