Justin Schell, Writer

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for Hmong hip-hop in Minnesota—and specifically for one of its most well-respected and well-known figures, Tou Saiko Lee. In the span of two weeks, he’s been laudably profiled in a video piece for the New York Times and skewered by radio host Jason Lewis on KTLK. MORE »

Can you tell me how you came to the Twin Cities? MORE »

It’s probably a coincidence that Rhino released expanded and remastered versions of the first four Replacements albums on the same day that Rhymesayers Entertainment dropped Atmosphere’s latest full-length album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard chart, making it the highest-charting release in the history of Rhymesayers, a Minneapolis hip-hop label home to artists including Brother Ali, I Self Divine, and Eyedea & Abilities. MORE »

Throughout your career, you’ve transformed local references to make them resonate far beyond Lyndale Avenue. Could you say more about that? MORE »

In the video for Brother Ali’s “Take Me Home,” a suited Ali and his DJ, BK-One, walk past brilliantly multi-colored graffiti. John Grider’s Billygoat peers out from behind them while hues of kids skateboard, skip rope, and play basketball. This brief clip takes place in front of the old Riverside Market, soon to be replaced by the new Seward Co-op. The momentary harmony of the scene in Ali’s video—where business suits, neighborhood children and parents, and graffiti all co-exist peacefully—actually masks one of the more fraught chapters in the history of Twin Cities’ public art, as well as the history of Twin Cities graffiti, both in its quality and its consequences. MORE »