Opinion: Who’s Up Next…Brooklyn Needs Another Hit!

Has Brooklyn lost her creative touch? Are we still producing heavy hitters, like Spike Lee and Basquiat? Here’s my honest opinion…we need another one!

Browsing through articles daily, there are questions that always pop up on my iPhone screen, “what happened to Brooklyn? Is Brooklyn falling behind?” Articles that question if Brooklyn truly deserves the hype and recognition it’s received over the years because of the major forces that’ve left. Pieces that question if it’s the end of Brooklyn’s reign, but is it really?

When you look back on the times that’ve birthed our greats, it was completely different from present day Brooklyn. A true illustration of, “who knew from the concrete a rose would grow?” I’m not one to sugar coat it but Brooklyn was, indeed, rough. New York City itself was a hard place to live — check the documentaries. From this turmoil, all forms of art were created because in order to escape you must have a vision, an imagination, the words. Outlets must be present with open arms, ready and willing to tend to growing minds, turning on lightbulbs across our borough — but where does it begin?

Growing up in the public school system in Brooklyn, I’ve been exposed to many forms of art and creative expression. Scholastic book fairs, participating in the annual Michael Jackson Thriller Show as one of the zombies (play the video for me and I can still slay the moves), playing the bass in the steel-band, playing the alto-saxophone, reading music, Jackie Robinson for double-dutch, acting and dancing in plays — we did it all! We, as in the students of PS/IS 308 The Clara Cardwell School when Dr. Baptiste was principal. Like she’s always said when things got a little rough, “there’s trouble in paradise.” If you take a look around, there is.
It has effectively eradicated smallpox in the world today. levitra on line 3.

With co-locations of public schools on the rise, which have led to a decrease in after school programs and extracurricular activities, developers buying people out of home and businesses, where do the young creative minds have left to turn? Does Brooklyn have the same pulse that’ll connect to the soul and inspire dope beats with lyricism to match? Does Brooklyn strike the growing artist with the colors to create master pieces to be loved before death? Does she still tell the right stories? Does she still? It’s not enough to be inspired by day-to-day life. Talent must be polished, with all of its impurities, to tell the raw stories people love. “Give me that real.” But how can this be obtained when the very spaces are being confiscated left and right and left, again? How, when public schools are continuously denied funding, on top of money owed from the city since the early 2000s?

“Public schools nurture talent too.” – Nasir ‘Nas’ Jones

Bring back the creative spaces that young minds deserve and we’ll see if Brooklyn is slacking!