It
is con safos. It is not con queso or beer con papas. Con Safos
means with respect. It is taken from the dialect called Calo
which was created in the streets of California as a lingo that
mixed Spanish with English for second and third generation
Mexican-Americans. It is known as a street language. It had bad
connotations because it was associated to gang slang. But in
reality Con Safos was used by graffiti writers, taggers who left
messages on walls. So when someone wanted their artwork or
message left up they would type C/S (Con Safos) at the end of
their message like this:
The
message that C/S created on the street was, “Anything
you write over or below what we wrote, goes back to you twice
as bad"; do not touch. In other words respect it. And the
term has grown in definition and in use. Even though its
meaning has not changed greatly its use has. It is now use in
the aspect of self-determination for marginalized people,
especially in relationship with the Latin@ community. It has
been taken and used in order to demand respect. Whether it is
related to artwork or social or political causes or a mix of
both.
It is here that Con Safos Radio came to
exist. I was talking with Brandon of Big Quarters and we were
discussing the lack of diversity on the radio. We both knew of
quality musicians and groups. He knew of local acts in the
twin cities as well as underground and I knew of Latino rap
artists. We were both determined to get on some sort of radio
waves so we could awaken people to good quality music. It is
then when we decided that we should call it Con Safos Radio. A
couple of weeks later, Esteban a good friend and activist on
Hamline University called me to see if I was interested in
spinning some music at Hamline Radio. I jumped on the
opportunity and was lucky that people liked what we were
doing. We were offered a time slot, and here we are. We at Con
Safos Radio want artists, whether they are poets, spoken word
artists, rappers, writers, D. J’s, taggers etc. to use Con
Safos Radio as an avenue for people to display their talent.
We don’t judge on anyone’s work because who are we to
judge? We know it’s hard to get exposure and so with this
notion we apply the idea of Con Safos. This is that we respect
all types of artwork and that we will provide space for them
on our show. All we ask is that you also provide that space
for us in you community. We are not for profit. We all do it
for the love of music and the culture of Hip-Hop. When an
artist is featured on our show we give them a data version of
the show so they can do with what they want as well as any
pictures that are taken. In addition we sort of let them take
over the show; we run a Q and A and let them do their thing.
We talk about upcoming shows they might be doing or what their
feelings are on certain issues.
At this moment, we have 2 shows.
Old
School Tuesday
A
show that plays music in regards to the founders that have had
great influence in music. The show is hosted by our musical
librarian Miguel Vargas.
Listen
in!
Tuesdays
from 6:30 pm – 8:30
pm
Hip
–Hop Fridays
A
show hosted by yours truly, Rodrigo, Esteban, Orikal and other
members of the Con Safos Familia in which we display a large
variety of music and special guests.
Fridays
from 9:00pm- 11:00 pm
Artists
featured on Con Safos Radio
New
MC-Kanser
Big
Quarters
TrackCiti
Alls-stars
Purest
Form
Danny
Solis
Paul
Flores
DJ
Mindcontrol
Sector
7 G
Dialek
from Purest Form
Cappaciti
Orikal
DJ
Wallet Head
Dj
IanX
Comedian
Boiman Freeman
Support
local Music! Underground Music! And listen in to the
movement… go to Con
Safos Radio
--By Rodrigo
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