The Uptown Collective – The Recap 3-31 to 4-5
By Led Black
March 31 – April 5
Did you know that seminal German electronic music group Kraftwerk performed at our beloved United Palace last week? That’s right and to add icing on the proverbial cake, noted music critic Jon Pareles came Uptown to cover their performance for the NY Times. The United Palace is a neighborhood treasure that the wider world is finally starting to take notice of. Go Uptown!
Speaking of the NY Times, Glenn Collins penned an excellent article on how the culinary landscape is changing Uptown. The article highlighted Frank’s Market, Rusty Mackerel and Indian Road Café. I think it is worth noting, that all 3 establishments cited are helmed by long time residents of the community, who are taking the lead in expanding the neighborhood’s gastronomic options. Seriously, you need to have a meal at Indian Road Café and Rusty Mackerel pronto. From a fashion perspective, journalist Fritzie Andrade trekked Uptown to highlight Harlem’s sartorial swagger.
Hip-Hop super group De La Soul has been spreading massive amounts of love as of late. Just last month, for Valentine’s Day, they made their entire discography available to their fans for free. This month, they released an awesome J Dilla posthumously produced mixtape, so make sure you purchase their next for sale project when it is released and pay it forward. By the way, you still have a chance to download their massive catalog, go to our site for more info.
Uptown artists have also been quite busy. Super talented emcee Glory released the solid Uptown State of Mind. Producer BeatsBySone released the 2nd edition of his instrumental mixtape, Trap Edition 2. Uptown Hip-Hop pioneer L-Fudge also dropped the video for Truth Be Told featuring Sadat X of Brand Nubians fame.
I also wrote an Op-Led on the continuing crusade against La Marina and the Dyckman resurgence. I believe that La Marina and the other businesses along the Dyckman strip have been a boon to the community, bringing jobs and much-needed revenue Uptown. Are you an impulse buyer? That was the question posed by our financial contributor Fabian Baez in the latest installment of the Money = Power series. We ended the week with a Q&A with the founder of the popular clothing line Classic Material, Carlos Maldonado.
Keep checking us out at www.uptowncollective.com.
Led Black
Editor-in-Chief
The Uptown Collective
The UC’s mission is to become “the” definitive, transformative and community-based force impacting the arts, culture, business and New York City’s overall perception of Upper Manhattan. Its objective is to reset, reboot and positively redefine Uptown’s artistic, political, cultural and business spheres via the online space as well the collective’s initiatives and functions.
