So yeah, my name is Sacha Jenkins and I’m originally from Astoria, Queens. I grew up living and loving hip hop back in the ’80s. My love of the culture would lead me to publish my own magazines (most notably ego trip), which would in-turn lead me to write/work for magazines like Vibe and Spin.
Anybody remember magazines?
Anyway, I went to this highschool out in Queens called Bryant. Psycho Les of the legendary Beatnuts went there, too. Who are the Beatnuts? One of the greatest rap groups ever, that’s who. When they stepped up to the major label plate back in ’93, I was proud to see kids from my ‘hood making it big. Now, don’t get it twisted: Queens is Big Poppa when it comes to hip hop. The Bronx and Uptown in general deserve that plaque for making it, but contrary to what Krs sings on BDP’s ‘The Bridge Is Over’, Queens doesn’t keep on ‘Fakin’ it.’ Don’t make me do a roll-call of the Queens Lords. RUN DMC–that should be enough to shut ANYONE up. LL Cool J. Whut?! Queensbridge Housing Projects: Marley Marl, Roxanne Shante, Mc Shan, Tragedy AKA the Intelligent Hoodlum, Poet + Hotday, half of Mobb Deep, half of Capone N Noreaga (Capone), Nasir ‘Nas’ Jones. Astoria Housing Projects: Supa Lover Cee and Casanova Rud, half of Black Sheep (Dres), The AQ Rangers, Black By Demand AND the DJ crew in the mix from day one: The Disco Twins!!! I can keep going. Main Source. Russell Simmons (Ha, ha–the Global Grindtrotter himself!) Ja Rule (Cash Money Click dayz!) Currrrrtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson! I’m gonna stop now. Wait: The Beatntus! Yo, one day a voice said to me ‘hey, homie, write a play about the Beatnuts!’ Maybe a voice said the same thing to some of you good peeps out in cyberspace, but I carried it out. That same voice told me to call superpromoter Peter Oasis–lucky me, he was with it. The idea, that is. Peter has many venues on lock, so our initial thought was to do Deez Nuts (the name of this wacky Beatnuts play) up in the club. Then Peter suggested we reach out to the Hip Hop Theater Festival peeps. We did, and Deez Nuts officially landed in New York, off (west) Broadway at a wonderful spot called the Ohio Theater. RedBull, our gracious sponsor, was gracious enough to sponsor. The end result: one of the greatest rap groups of all time–one Dominican cat named Jerry (AKA Juju) and a Columbian cat named Lester (Psycho Les) got to share their amazing music and history with the good people of New York City. Deez Nuts is a play about a journalist who, in the wake of journalism being on its death bed, wants to write the ultimate Beatnuts article, only to decide that he wants to write a play about the group instead. Or is it a play about wanting to write a play about the Beatnuts that falls apart while somehow still being a play? You be the judge, America. Deez Nuts is in demand. You’ll see us again, in your home town. Deez Nuts all in your face, Papa Smurf! Oh, yeah. I also want to give it up to Jim Jones. He rocked a play himself some months back. The production value was pretty amazing. Jim is a pioneer in the realm, and theater is the future. As hip hop ages like fine wine, why not? After all, we’re educated and civilized these days; hip hop is sage enough to adapt to some of the stiffest environments and make ’em that much funkier.
Plus rappers gotta eat, and based on record sales, they’re lucky if they can hang with WDM– Wendy’s Dollar Menu. This is what hip hop is–voices inside our heads that tell us to do things. I’m glad I listened this time. I’m also glad that I’m not crazy. Word to your mother.
