Acknowledgement and respects to the 5th from SSLA…

(8x12ft. aerosol on canvas artist. Sstealth6)

Cinco de Mayo (May Fifth) is a date of great importance for the Mexican and Chicano communities. Marking the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla. Though, the Mexican army was eventually defeated, the “Batalla de Puebla” came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. Mexico demonstrated to the world that Mexico and all of Latin America were willing to defend themselves of any foreign intervention. Especially those from imperialist states bent on world conquest.

Cinco de Mayo’s history has its roots in the French Occupation of Mexico. The French occupation took shape in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. With this war, Mexico entered a period of national crisis during the 1850′s. Years of not only fighting the Americans but also a Civil War, had left Mexico devastated and bankrupt. On July 17, 1861, President Benito Juarez issued a moratorium in which all foreign debt payments would be suspended for a brief period of two years, with the promise that after this period, payments would resume.

The English, Spanish and French refused to allow president Juarez to do this, and instead decided to invade Mexico and get payments by whatever means necessary. The Spanish and English eventually withdrew, but the French refused to leave. Their intention was to create an Empire in Mexico under Napoleon III. Some have argued that the true French occupation was a response to growing American power and to the Monroe Doctrine (America for the Americans). Napoleon III believed that if the United States was allowed to prosper indescriminantly, it would eventually become a power in and of itself.

In 1862, the French army began its advance. Under General Ignacio Zaragoza, 5,000 ill-equipped Mestizo and Zapotec Indians defeated the French army in what came to be known as the “Batalla de Puebla” on the fifth of May.

In the United States, the “Batalla de Puebla” came to be known as simply “5 de Mayo” and unfortunately, many people wrongly equate it with Mexican Independence which was on September 16, 1810, nearly a fifty year difference. Over, the years Cinco de Mayo has become very commercialized and many people see this holiday as a time for fun and dance. Oddly enough, Cinco de Mayo has become more of Chicano holiday than a Mexican one. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on a much larger scale here in the United States than it is in Mexico. People of Mexican descent in the United States celebrate this significant day by having parades, mariachi music, folklorico dancing and other types of festive activities.

Guru + Dj Premier = Gangstarr = New York’s unparalleled evolution and movement of Hip Hop.

Hip Hop pioneer Guru, born Keith Elam, has been struggling with complications of the heart for the last month due to a long time battle with cancer. Guru was recovering from surgery due to a heart attack that ensued March 2 from what was a successful operation, unfortunately his fight with cancer was lost, Keith passed yesterday at the age of 43. April 19, 2010.

This was a letter written by Guru released to fans by Solar, long time friend and business associate.

I, Guru, am writing this letter to my fans, friends and loved ones around the world. I have had a long battle with cancer and have succumbed to the disease. I have suffered with this illness for over a year. I have exhausted all medical options. I have a non-profit organization called Each One Counts dedicated to carrying on my charitable work on behalf of abused and disadvantaged children from around the world and also to educate and research a cure for this terrible disease that took my life. I write this with tears in my eyes, not of sorrow but of joy for what a wonderful life I have enjoyed and how many great people I have had the pleasure of meeting.

My loyal best friend, partner and brother, Solar, has been at my side through it all and has been made my health proxy by myself on all matters relating to myself. He has been with me by my side on my many hospital stays, operations, doctors visits and stayed with me at my home and cared for me when I could not care for myself. Solar and his family is my family and I love them dearly and I expect my family, friends, and fans to respect that, regardless to anybody’s feelings on the matter. It is my wish that counts. This being said I am survived by the love of my life, my son KC, who I trust will be looked after by Solar and his family as their own.

Any awards or tributes should be accepted, organized approved by Solar on behalf myself and my son until he is of age to except on his own. I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this. I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ.

As the sole founder of GangStarr, I am very proud of what GangStarr has meant to the music world and fans. I equally am proud of my Jazzmatazz series and as the father of Hip-Hop/Jazz. I am most proud of my leadership and pioneering efforts on Jazzmatazz 4 for reinvigorating the Hip-Hop/Jazz genre in a time when music quality has reached an all time low. Solar and I have toured in places that I have never been before with GangStarr or Jazzmatatazz and we gained a reputation for being the best on the planet at Hip-Hop/Jazz, as well as the biggest and most influential Hip-Hop/Jazz record with Jazzmatazz 4 of the decade to now.

The work I have done with Solar represents a legacy far beyond its time. And we as a team were not afraid to push the envelope. To me this is what true artists do! As men of honor we stood tall in the face of small mindedness, greed, and ignorance. As we fought for music and integrity at the cost of not earning millions and for this I will always be happy and proud, and would like to thank the million fans who have seen us perform over the years from all over the world. The work I have done with Solar represents a legacy far beyond its time and is my most creative and experimental to date. I hope that our music will receive the attention it deserves as it is some of the best work I have done and represents some of the best years of my life.

Yet it is truly unclear to whether this letter was really written by Guru is still a mystery to many. Unfortunately there have been a lot of controversy involving his Death, with uncredited sources and rumors coming from all sides, which also includes conflicting and or opposite stories from both Solar, and Guru’s relatives.

It was announced last month that Guru suffered from cardiac arrest and was in a coma during the time in which this letter was made. So whether or not he wrote this, is a question that will remain unanswered.

For what its worth, Through all the rumor and gossip related to this mans death. It is indisputably without a doubt, Guru, A hip hop Legend, will always be known to many as the the true essence of Hip Hop.

And however the unfortunate events played along between two good friends and artists. No matter what, the positive energy shared between both legendary artists has undoubtedly captured the mind and hearts of millions and will continue to do so. Gangstarr is and will always contribute to the evolution of all good things to the Hip Hop and Music culture.

A lil’ LA Culture.

ONE TIME

The “Ghetto Bird” ~ Ice Cube made this term famous in the 90′s. This Term is still used throughout the streets of Los Angeles! Helicopters has always been a part of our city, whether it be a news, fire, military, entertainment, and traffic. You always seem to spot them in the air.

It’s customary though, for many too keep the look out for the copter that has the red and blue lights attached with that blinding spotlight. Da Po Po!

Traffic Jam? Get used to it in Los Angeles. Everyone drives like they have something to do, or nothing to do… Traffic from sun up to sun down…Nuff said!

Downtown streets used to be a Jungle out there, nowadays its much more pleasant. Its cause is by the city and the ARO (Adaptive Reuse Ordinance) their goal is to transform the appearance of the city, from a decaying city to an elegant one. But there are a lot of mixed feelings, some say though the streets seem safer, but is lacking elements. Some say it has to do a lot with the urbanism that we have always induced. LA has always been filled with culture, but slowly some say that it seems the streets of downtown match those of a, “renaissance era”. We have already multi-million dollar concert halls, sports arena’s, art museums, a few new hotels in the works, and a lot of re-building to older historic Buildings…

Nowadays LA is a ghost town compared to how it was when it was a booming active city a few decades back filled with culture, theatre, and art galleries on majority blocks. It might stem from all the construction being done in the city. But taking a stroll through the city use to be a highlight of the day, there use to be much to see, so many people filled the streets that all the action lit up the streets. Everywhere you went there was so much to do with endless possibilities. It was a reminiscence of New York, but with that LA twist. Nowadays, it seems the twist is taking some turns and we are headed into a large pond with no fins. Though a part of the decline in crowds might due to our recession, a lot of the active streets are dead. Hopefully LA will pull together and find its way back soon so once again the streets will be flooded with that good ol’ LA culture and lifestyle.

…..Reminiscence of the Old School

The Los Angeles River recently got completely buffed. Looks like a Tetris on a bad acid trip!

As most of the world knows, The Unites States has been living in a recession along with many. As it relates, Late Last Year California’s recent tax payer dollar investments have been used to pay the United States Army Corp to Buff 51 miles of the Los Angeles River. Taking it as far as to Categorize some of the graffiti as a national threat, with the attempts to charge a group of individuals that completed, “the largest tag in the world”, refereed to by local authority, with a 3.7 million dollar fine for clean up. While california’s tax dollars are spent on covering up Graffiti in times of recession, its a wonder why those dollars are not spent towards some things that are more important, like education reform and healthcare, anything would have be more justifiable, covering up pot holes on our grimy streetS would have been a better spend. But yet, we are still in debt and cutting costs left and right.

To this day, word is still on the streetS. And If you didn't know. Know you do~!

Taking that extra step for those crispy details. Here’s a little preview of whats to come.
Stemming from every aspect of the world. We’re bringing you HEET~!!!

Don’t Sleep.

Much More to come to the streets near you, heres some quick shots of what has been brewing.

SSLA VS. BM V1.limited

In the streets of LA we have car enthusiasts and die hard racers that flood the streets. Keeping it stealth is how we do it… Through the thick of the burning rubber and burnt out MSD’s. Ever wonder what people go through for their whips to achieve that rice rocket look? Heres a little story narrated by a Stealth Elite, “BGee”.

- It all started when I hit a curb in my new 2007 350Z. Now, before you assume that i did this by drifting…Unfortunately for me, your way off.

The car was lowered when I first got it. So low that I had turned into a parking lot that had a small barrier that was random and damaged the front lip. I figured since I was replacing that part, I would just get a whole body kit and get it installed.

I decided to go with a friend of a friend. “This friend”, Mike, owns a shop called iDesigns – Import Image in Walnut, California. (not to be confused with Import Image Racing in Florida). Since my Z was new, I didn’t want to ruin it and wanted to let a professional do it. Mike had done work for SEMA and business was kind of slow for him, so I thought, why not?

That’s where all my troubles began.

The Z went from this:

To this!!!

Aren’t those DRYWALL SCREWs?!?

Dope~! A few extra creases for aerodynamics?!?!?!

Usually drips always add good affect. I think this case differs.

I never knew that raising a car can be so dangerous!

Two tone color effect was not intentional!

While this is what it actually was supposed to look something like this:

http://www.tunerzine.com/articles/43/images/05.jpg

That is the article that actually inspired this whole project.

When I asked mike why it was so horribly done, Mike said that since I didn’t pay much, and “you get what you pay for.” Yup, those were his exact words.

So, that being said, There was nothing to do but to sue!

I put up my review of my experience at iDesigns on a few car forums (my350z.com, zilvia.net, nissanclub.com) with the help of a few friends.

The experience spread like wildfire with 20,000 views in 1 week on my350z.com alone. People from forums all over the world had commented on my experience, with the majority of them feeling my pain. At one point, there were over 4500 people looking at my forum post.

Quite a few shops had contacted me knowing that they’d get a lot of exposure from repairing the now almost world famous “ruined Z”.

A shop that caught my attention amongst all of them gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. They contacted me and said they’d repaint the whole car, fix the damage, and install a body kit for a very good price. That shop was Angry Panda Fabrications (APF) in Anaheim, California.

So, after leaving the car in APF’s hands, I started getting estimates and took care of the paperwork needed to sue iDesigns.

The estimates came out to $5,000 – $6,000 just for the repairs without the body kit. That was just to go back to stock body!

After a very long year later of anticipation, the Z now looks like this:

MiSsion Accomplished~!

As for suing Mike, let’s just say that he used the same line that he used on me and told the judge “you get what you pay for.” So now I am awaiting the judgement against him to come in the mail.

If you want to see more and read the whole story, please click the following link:

Ruined Z

Be sure to tell all of your friends so something like this doesn’t happen to them.

KEEP IT STEALTH!

Give me Liberty Or give me Death!

SSLA VS. Bus Mobber’s Kicking back on the east with the “DMC”! From the Infamous New York Crew. RUN DMC.

NY Legend doing what he does best!

Times Square Night Skies.

Showing a little love to a known West Coast Representative. You got to admit, this man reps it to the fullest~

Taking a Stroll through Little Italy we noticed some interesting devices on the corners of the streets. How much control can we really have?

Keeping it Guerrilla ~!!!

Leaving the Bronx, we spotted this truck as seen before in the past. To many it would be just another truck with graffiti. To true artists all alike, Here is another artist that help push the boundaries to a higher limit on the streets by evolving the movement beyond and continues to do so. Cope One.

Re-arranging was highly in need for some up coming Scracth Sessions…Just a little peek into some chaotic preparations this morning.

And this is only the half of it… We’re getting together a temple of tables and mixers~! ! !