SOTRU and Ropeadope are teaming up to celebrate and support American communities – on your shirt.

Can a T-shirt be more than just a T-shirt? What if instead of just a  stylish illustration, it’s design symbolizes a place and the  stories, struggles and triumphs of the people that call that place  home? What if the shirt has a greater purpose than just being a  comfortable garment to wear?

State of the Re:Union (SOTRU) has teamed up with the purveyors of  cool at Ropeadope.com to aid community charities across the country.  Representing select cities from past SOTRU episodes, each of these  designs has been created by an artist local to that area, and  proceeds from each sale go directly to a specific charity in that  community. Featured cities include:

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Brooklyn, New York

These shirts were inspired by our Brooklyn episode, touting artwork from the local Brooklyn artist, Aerosyn-Lex, and the proceeds will benefit Urban Word NYC. These tees are the first of some quality choice threads that have the power to make friends and influence people, or at the very least inspire some interesting conversation.

Las Vegas, Nevada

For those of you out there who like to take a gamble on what they wear, then this tee is certainly worth your while. The SOTRU episode on Las Vegas, NV, exploring the unfamiliar and lackluster side of Sin City.  The local artist, Stephan Maman, created a SOTRU tee that will really get the dialogue going. The proceeds for these shirts will benefit the Shine a Light organization which provides living essentials (water, food, clothing, etc.) and services to those who live in the tunnels beneath Las Vegas.

Los Angeles, California

SOTRU’s Los Angeles episode spotlighting the city of the Angels in California, gave inspiration to the creator of these tees by L.A.’s  Jim Darling, with the proceeds helping the People Assisting the Homeless (PATH). This organization provides the tools that men and women need to help them become self-sufficient and successful at remaining off of the streets.

Austin, Texas

Another opportunity to add to your already profound wardrobe is the tee designed by local Austin, TX artist, Brandon Ortwein. This tee’s design represents some of the interesting characters that are discovered in SOTRU’s Austin episode These proceeds will directly benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM).

Will wearing one of these T-shirts help you change the world? No,  that’s still up to you. But it will showcase your brilliant taste in  public media, look good and benefit programs dedicated to making their communities a better place.

Click here to place your order today.

About Ropeadope
Ropeadope is a record label and coveted clothing brand that uses the tee shirt as a medium for knowledge and pride. Past collaborations with Blue Note Records, Okayplayer, The Love Movement and others have been well received amongst community tastemakers and fans. Ropeadope’s message has always been one of knowing your history and supporting community. Ropeadope is proud to bring their talents to this collaboration, supporting American communities.

An Update on the Atlantic Yards Development Saga

In our first season we visited Brooklyn, where the borough’s largest development project, Atlantic Yards, was getting underway. If you missed the episode, here’s a quick rundown of the story:  Atlantic Yards is a 5-billion dollar, 22-acre project that will make it the densest residential community in the country. The promise of new jobs, housing and entertainment sounded like a positive change for the community, but in order to create this new community, another had to be destroyed. In the episode, Al spoke with residents who described how their lives have been altered by having their neighborhood ripped from their hands by way of ‘eminent domain’, and others who felt that the project was the perfect way to reinvigorate their neighborhood. Both groups loved the community they lived in, but disagreed on the best way to make it all it could be.

Listen to the story here:
Atlantic Yards Segment

One of the promises made by the project’s developer, Forest City Ratner, was the creation of construction jobs for residents of Brooklyn. But at a recent meeting, Ratner said that of the 500 workers currently employed at Atlantic yards, 60 were from Brooklyn and only 38 from neighborhoods surrounding the project.

Photo Courtesy of Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Patch

So today, dozens of Brooklyn residents gathered to protest at the worksite. Among them, community activists who were once supportive of the Atlantic Yards project, now say they feel like “suckers” because they put their support behind the development.

You can watch a video and read more about today’s protest in the Fort Green-Clinton Hill Patch.

Listen to the whole “Brooklyn – Change Happens” episode, and see videos, pictures and letters by visiting the Brooklyn page of our website.

We want to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the Atlantic Yards development in the comment section below.

Often comprised of a simple portrait, along with a name, birth and death year, and sometimes a message, memorial murals began to sprout up all over NYC in the 90s.  Today, it might be safe to say that there’s at least one memorial mural in every neighborhood in the city.

Using audio from a larger segment in our radio episode Brooklyn – Change Happens, this video explores the culture of memorial murals and the mourning, memories and art that comprise these tributes. Discover this unique part of the famed borough’s culture through the vantage point of family members and admirers.

Before He Caught His Plane to Russia

You are likely aware of John Forté if you, well, owned a radio in the 90s. From co-writing and producing a couple of tracks on The Fugees’ groundbreaking album The Score and being featured in Wyclef Jean’s album The Carnival to his own solo work on his album Poly Sci, the decade was about as good as you could get for a rising music industry star. You could say that his azimuth was shooting up.

The compelling story of the unexpected turn his odyssey took has been told in both our Brooklyn episode, Change Happens and the video podcast SOTRU produced about him. When Al last spoke to him for the Brooklyn show, he was at work on a new, acoustic based album, Water, Light, Sound. He is now on the “From Brooklyn to Russia with Love” tour, taking his music all over the former Soviet Union. The tour culminates in a big concert with several musicians on April 24^th.  We were able to catch up with him the day before he departed.

“In terms of Water, Light, Sound, I mean the album itself is recorded and it’s terrific, it’s mixed and all. I’m not too keen on a specific release strategy right now because I don’t think that I have to follow the old paradigm, not to say that I’m not going to put other music into the marketplace,” John said of the album. Since returning to recording music, John has had an aversion to major labels and enjoys the freedom of marketing his work the way he sees fit. “I’m in a great space right now as it relates to how I’m moving and what I’m doing. I don’t feel that it’s broken. I’m just going to keep going until the wheels fall off.”

John was recently presented with the opportunity to go to Russia “with what was supposed to be a sort-of pub crawl.” But the itinerary and magnitude has grown well past that. “We’re playing at the U.S. Ambassador’s house in front of 300 dignitaries and beacons of culture over there. Later that night, I think we’re in the Red Square doing something for the Sochi Olympics and then we’re doing Miss Russia. There is so much and the beauty of it is that it culminates in this huge concert on April the 24^th when we’re back in Moscow,” he told us.  All proceeds from he concert on the 24^th will benefit three charities: The Happy Hearts Fund, set up by a survivor of the 2004 Tsunami disaster; the Naked Hearts Fund, which builds and supports safe play areas in Russia; and Operation Smile, which provides surgeries for children with a cleft lip or other facial deformities.

“The cool thing for me is that I get to collaborate with Russian artists. So I’m not going over there with any expectations beyond the fact that I’m going over there to meet people that make music. It’s a cultural exchange.” John said that he does feel like an ambassador of sorts, but more “To the little brown boys and girls from hoods like Brownsiville,” where he is from. He said, “It’s no mistake that we called this ‘From Brooklyn to Russia with Love.’ I come from an area where we weren’t always instructed to believe that what was happening in Russia was any of our business. We were very territorial in our upbringing and I think that could have stifled many of our paths. If we’re not taught that this world is ours, not just our immediate six-block radius, then there’s no real joy or purpose beyond what our immediate surroundings resemble.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, John is very much aware and even involved in the massive changes taking place in the city. “I think that nothing can be built without being destroyed and nothing can be destroyed without being rebuilt in some shape form or fashion. So it’s this sort of cycle of living the vicissitudes of living.” And while acknowledging the dramatic facelift the city has undergone, he pointed out that Brownsville and East New York have not.

“So there are still parts deep into Brooklyn that have not been affected by gentrification and people have not been displaced yet. But those areas are being affected with something else and that’s a matter of containment. When these hoods get so out of control to a point where it almost resembles lawlessness. Instead of combating that or dealing with that as an issue, it becomes an issue of containment.”

John spoke further about the issue in addressing a huge development project in the neighborhood that he is involved in, “The Barclays Center is the perfect example. My partner [Christophe Charlier] in this endeavor is also the Chairman of the Nets. He and I, we’ve discussed this. He won’t have a conversation about Brooklyn unless it’s about getting the people. Not the new folks that would come in with the building of the Barclays Center, but the people who are on the ground now, getting them really excited about and owning this new center.”

John has recently released the ‘From Brooklyn to Russia with Love (The Sampler)’ as well as The Bloomingdale’s Acoustics EP. On a track called “I’ll Give You Me” from the From Brooklyn Sampler there is a lyric that goes, “He went away, what he think he conscious now.” John said of the lyric that no one has approached him in that way but said, It’s human nature to be skeptical and I think it’s a valid criticism, one that I did not want to act as if did not exist. So I wanted to bring it to light. I knew there would be listeners out there who are saying, ‘Whatever, give us the old John that was talking about partying,’ but I’m not into that anymore.”

John has an active social media presence of which he says, “Our online realm represents our newest dimension of a reality. For so long we’ve limited ourselves to this sort-of 3D sphere recognition. Now we’ve got this 4th dimension by way of our online presences. A person can be as bold, as bright or as beautiful as they want to in this dimension.” You can follow him on his Facebook page and listen to new tracks on his SoundCloud page.

In closing, we posed the question of, “What’s the one thing you’re hoping to get out of the ‘From Brooklyn to Russia with Love’ tour?” He answered quickly and deliberately, “An education. I’m here to learn.” Now that’s something we can all learn from.

Not long after Sharon Content opened an after-school and summer program for youths in Brooklyn, she had an interesting conversation with one of her students. “Ms. Content?” said a little boy in her program, preparing to reveal a secret. “It’s hard to love someone who everyone else says is bad.” The boy was referring to his parent, because like an estimated 800,000 children, he lost one of them to the New York state prison system at a very young age. (more…)

Remembering Loved Ones Lost

Brooklyn-Memorial Murals

Often comprised of a simple portrait, along with a name, birth and death year, and sometimes a message, memorial murals began to sprout up all over NYC in the 1990s.  Today, it might be safe to say that there’s at least one memorial mural in every neighborhood in the city. We’ll explore the culture of memorial murals and the mourning, memories, death, life, friends, family and art that goes along with them.

Click on the image to play the podcast.

Listen to the full episode and explore additional content on our Brooklyn page.