Got the Power

In his project Got The Power, artist Bayeté Ross Smith creates a series of site-specific sculptures constructed out of vintage boomboxes, that are installed in public spaces, as well as museums and galleries. Bayeté travels to historically-significant areas and invites community members, young and old, to collaborate in making a mixtape which archives their favorite songs and stories. This mixtape can be played through both the existing boombox sculpture and online. Referencing the role boomboxes have played in urban communities and within popular culture the resulting sculpture and soundscape is a symbol of pride, power, and autonomy. By collaborating with local residents to realize each iteration of this project, Bayeté creates an accessible and site-specific work that offers its collaborators an opportunity to record their own history. This series began during a residency with The Laundromat Project.

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Got The Power: Boomboxes in Kyiv, Ukraine at America House Kyiv and IREX.

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SONG,   ARTIST,   HARTFORD RESIDENT/NATIVE,   NEIGHBORHOOD

1. Everyday People, Sly & The Family Stone, Joan, Franklin Ave. Asylum Hill 2. Wake up everybody, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Pastor Lane, North End

Pat 3. Why can't we live together,  Timmy Thomas, Coach Leon, West Hartford 4. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye, Carl, Bellevue Square/Mary Shepard 5. Lean On Me, Bill Withers, Coach Keith, North End

Coach Keith 6. Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson, Neka, North End 7. Fly Away, Machel Montano and Collie Buddz, Shenice, Asylum Hill

Pastor Lane 8. Horses, PnB Rock, Kodak Black & A Boogie, Raymond, North End

9. Bank Account, 21 Savage, Chris, North End

Brother Carl

10. Summertime, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Evelyn, North End 11. Humble, Kendrick Lamar, Jaequan, North End

Alex 12. Liberation, Outkast, 13. Ain't no Stopping Us Now, McFadden and Whitehead, Gregory, Blue Hills

Gregory 14. Love Is The Message, MFSB, Walker, Blue Hills

15. You've got a Friend, Carole King, Tasha, North End

Shenice 16. 9th Symphony, Beethoven, Juan, North End

Neka 17.  I Love Your Smile, Shanice, Sophie, Downtown Hartford

18. Sexual Healing, Marvin Gaye, Keith, North End 19. Nikes, Frank Ocean

Joan 20. Back in the day, Ahmad, Tasha, North End 21. Imagine, John Lennon, Keith D., North End

Keith D

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Got The Power: Boomboxes installation of Got The Power: Hartford at the Wilson-Gray YMCA in Hartford Connecticut.

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Got The Power: Hartford installed at the Hartford YMCA. Created in collaboration with the Amistad Center at the Wadsworth Atheneum. photo by Malcolm MacDougall.

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The Harlem Mixtape. Part of Got The Power Harlem, installed in Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem NY, 2016. Part of the Got The Power Boomboxes series. All songs and memories were collected from diverse members of the Harlem community. Music accompanying the stories from the community composed by Frank R. Hooker Jr., with collaborations by Jaime Bryce, Tony Parent and Rahn Broady. Original music by Harlem based artists: Frank R. Hooker Jr., Messiah and Tone Poetix.

Got The Power: Boomboxes – Harlem Mixtape

           Ifé

1.         Adore – Prince -  Nicole 119th street

2.         Electric Relaxation – A Tribe Called Quest  - R.I.P. Phife Dawg (Public Sentiment)

3.         Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye - Leanne, 127th street

Lana Turner

4.         It’s Ectasy When You Lay Down Next To Me – Barry White - J.R., 114th street

5.         I Wanna Be Your Lover – Prince - R.I.P. Prince Rogers Nelson (Public Sentiment)

6.         First Time – Tone Poetic – Tony, 129th street

Khalil

7.         Harlem – Bill Withers – Janelle, 147th street

8.         Supreme, Supreme – Talib Kweli and Mos Def - Marc, Friends of Island Academy

9.         NY. State of Mind – Nas - Donna Marie, Malcolm X Blvd

10.       Panda – Desiigner – Kai, 119th street

Nicole

11.       Moon River – Andy Williams – Denise, 150th street

12.       One Dance – Drake ft. Kyla & Wizkid - Jocelyn, 135th street

13.       Take U There – Skrillex, Diplo, Jack U Kiesza, - D’angelo, 116th street

Janelle

14.       Bring The Pain – Method Man – Benton, 119th street

15.       No More Parties In L.A. – Kanye West – Sekou, 137th street

Kelvyn

16.       Happy – Frank Hooker Jr. - Frank, Saint Nicholas Ave.

17.       She’s Gone – Bob Marley – Derrick, 152nd street

18.       Mammas, Don’t Let your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys – Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson – Rachel, 130th street

19.       We Don’t Have To Take Our clothes Off - Jermaine Stewart – Patricia, 121st street

20.       Controlla – Drake – Ifé, Morningside Ave.

Ifétayo

21.       Kalemba – Buraka Som Sistema – Saquam, Frederick Douglass Blvd

22.       PMW (All I Really Need) – ASAP Rocky ft. Schoolboy Q - Terrence, 126th street

23.       Made You Look – Nas - Nick, 119th street

Cinque

24.       Reagan – Killer Mike – Jamal, 142nd street

25.       Reminder – Messiah – Messiah, ICP Community Partnership 127th street

26.       God Live Through – A Tribe Called Quest - Hanif, 150th street

Dr. Muhammad

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Got The Power Harlem from the Got The Power Boomboxes series. Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem NY. The Harlem Mixtape was broadcast from this piece in addition to people being able to play the radio and their own cassette tapes.

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Got The Power Harlem, as with this entire series, is an interactive community engaging art piece. In addition to The Harlem Mixtape, people in Marcus Garvey Park were able to play their own cassette tapes and play radio stations of their choosing. You could even plug in headphones.

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Prince, Adore, part of the Harlem Mixtape for Got The Power Harlem. R.I.P. Prince Rogers Nelson, the beautiful one. Harlem Loves you.

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Got The Power Harlem, view from the west side of the sculpture, in stalled in Marcus Garvey Park. Part of the Flux Art Fair and a collaboration with the Marcus Samuelsson Group.

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Got The Power Harlem, part of the Got The Power Boomboxes series of site specific public sculptures and community soundtracks, installed in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, NY, for the Flux Art Fair. A collaboration with the Marcus Samuelsson Group. This sculpture played the Harlem Mixtape as well as allowed people to play the radio and their own tapes.

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Got The Power: Boomboxes, Brooklyn. Installed at BRIC Arts gallery in downtown Brooklyn, for the "Art Into Music" exhibition.

Got the Power: Brooklyn; is a community-sourced, site-specific sculpture and soundscape that highlights the power of music – and technology – to sustain communities, trigger emotions and memories, and bind people over place and time. To produce the work, boomboxes were collected from an array of sources, and a variety of locations both locally and across the United States. Got the Power plays a mixtape featuring music and stories that the artist collected from members of the local community. It includes songs by local musicians and DJ sets by two local DJs: DJ WilSyl and DJ Ushka.

Photo by Jason Wyche

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Got The Power: Boomboxes, Brooklyn mixtape part one

Name, Section, Song, Artist

1. Vee, Crown Heights, Set It Off, Big Daddy Kane

2. Amy, Ft. Greene, Set It Off, Strate

 Jack - The Boombox and the Groupie

3. Siddy D., East New York, Fight the Power, Public Enemy

4. Danny, Crown Heights, Take Me to the River, Talking Heads

5. Brandon, Prospect Heights, (Until) Lagos Whispered, Brandon Ross

 Siddy D. - A Moment and place in time

6. Cornelia, Downtown Brooklyn, Cool Kid, Dulcinea Detwah

7. Jasmine, Bed Stuy, Pac Blood,  Danny Brown

8. Halle, Bushwick, Swim Good, Frank Ocean

9. Ciara, Bed Stuy, Gorilla, Bruno Mars

Kate - The King

10. Melvin Gibbs, Williamsburg, “Ritual Rubbin”, Harriet Tubman Dbl Trio (Brandon Ross, J.T. Lewis, Melvin Gibbs) – feat. DJ Logic, DJ Singe & Ron Miles

11. Danny, Crown Heights, House Burning, Jimi Hendrix

12. Jack, Park Slope, Pressure Drop, Toots & the Maytals

Danny - The Brooklyn Scene in the 80’s

13. Thanu (DJ Ushka), Crown Heights, Ushka iBomba Live Mix, DJ Ushka       

 Sean - Why We Stayed In Brooklyn: Life Had A Soundtrack

14. Anthony, Flatbush, Juicy, Biggie Smalls

15. Will (DJ WilSyl), Bushwick, “To My Friends Who Love To Dance”, DJ WilSyl

              Mtume, Juicy Fruit

              Tom Tom Club, Genius of Love

              Hall & Oates, I Can't Go For That

              Rob Base & DJ Eazy Roc, It Takes Two

              Daft Punk,  Instant Crush

              Disclosure, When a Fire Starts to Burn

              Robin Thicke ft. Pharell & T.I., Blurred Lines

              Michael Jackson, Rock With You

              Montell Jordan, This is How We Do It

              Will Smith, Gettin' Jiggy With It

              Jackie Wilson, (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher

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Got The Power: Boomboxes, Brooklyn. Installation at BRIC Arts in downtown Brooklyn for the "Art Into Music" exhibition. A piece by artist Arturo Meade from his "Discos Paisa" series can be seen to the left.

Got the Power: Brooklyn; is a community-sourced, site-specific sculpture and soundscape that highlights the power of music – and technology – to sustain communities, trigger emotions and memories, and bind people over place and time. To produce the work, boomboxes were collected from an array of sources, and a variety of locations both locally and across the United States. Got the Power plays a mixtape featuring music and stories that the artist collected from members of the local community. It includes songs by local musicians and DJ sets by two local DJs: DJ WilSyl and DJ Ushka.

Photo by Jason Wyche

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#GotThePower #GotThePowerBrooklyn #ArmoryWeek #ArmoryShow14 #ArtIntoMusic ET from Dragon House in BRIC House with YAK FILMS and Got The Power Brooklyn.

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#GotThePowerBrooklyn with Dragon House dancers from ATL and YAK Films at BRIC Art House in Brooklyn. The installation is the latest version of #GotThePower, my series of site specific boombox sculptures.

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Taking a moment with artist, photographer and educator, Bayeté Ross Smith @bayetekenan in front of his installation, ‘Got The Power’. Phenomenal!! Must check it at @bricartsmedia! (at BRIC Arts Media Bklyn)

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Ha! Got me Looking like an O.G.

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Got The Power: Alabama

This is the fourth piece in my series of site specific boombox sculptures and community soundtracks which are composed of local peoples favorite songs and their memories of living in that area. ASFA, Birmingham.