Editor’s Note: this is an excerpt from an upcoming theatrical performance called GHETTO HORS D’OEUVRES at the BUSHWICK STARR.
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ECONOMIC NOSEBLEED
Economic Nosebleed
Cadillac dreamin Round trip he called me Cadillac El puerto stash house. They spoke of cocaine sweet sweet candy Back seat dialogue between El Liberty Bell y Bayamon. Baking soda flavor dreams of lactose brain wave Justin Biever bank rolls “Please! please! papi please! bring 3 out, please!” Intermission BUMP! BUMP! Disco baby trying to relive those moments of flash Polyester swagg till we reach Madison Ave. Thats 27 dollars round trip. El gran mar de plata Old school players by force Most little hood niggas 101 course Nintendo’s dissolves Mayonnaise jars make my life evolve into commercial traps Of pure Jordannomics, Bentley trucks. Dont forget the revolution never made to us. Those thoughts of normality evade us. Du-Rags get used as strainers Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty Teach us, Change us. POP! POP! POP! Desensitize us, strange us, Taino taxilandia thug Danger! Danger, danger, Battery low... Wake up! If there's any hope it lies on the proles 1984 Orwellian contradictory soul Can we communicate without toys Giving insights to motivate the masses Get up your asses El viejo me Hablo y me enseno Pass Ke lo Ke y Miralo! Miralo! Miraloooo! Caonabo control antes ke se apague el sol Fuck el dolor, baila con la oscuridad Nada pasa sin el movimiento rojo Mentals controloa con oro Un Brit y El Platano pulling off 2 sawn off shot guns De intellectual property Toma revolucion Fuck el crack recojer un lapiz Zapata y Ghandi meeting en las nubes Andes Politiking of the youth Caring for blunts with the mean looks Trying to get currency of the rap hooks Beinbenido a la moderna esclavitud Vengo from a third world country De callejones y tigueraje Looking for la arte baby, looking for la arte Baby steps with fumes living the air Asking for my self to pick up some leaves Pick up some leaves Spray paint talk Canvas from artist begin to walk Remember that canvas from artist can begin to walk
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MODESTO “FLAKO” JIMENEZ is a Dominican-born actor, writer and arts educator raised in Brooklyn, New York. While still in high school, he co-founded Real People Theater, a company best known for reworking plays by combining some of the language of the original texts with street slang and Spanish. Two personal favorites were Milton’s Paradise Lost and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The company received great acclaim in the worlds of education and theater, and toured North America and Europe. Modesto has also performed on stage with the Wooster Group and Repertorio Español in New York. His recent focus has been on his writing, and on addressing the social and political changes affecting the Latin American communities in his neighborhood. He has appeared on broadcast and online radio to discuss politics throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and to share his poems and stories. He’s also appeared on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and shared the stage with Wallace Shawn, Frances McDormand, and Maura Tierney. In 2012 he published a poetry collection addressing gentrification called Oye, Para Mi Querido Brooklyn (Listen, For My Dear Brooklyn). Modesto also Teaches Puppets & Poets workshops at the local public school P.S 123. He is currently working on a memoir and one-man show about growing up as an immigrant in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
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MODESTO JIMENEZ performs this month in GHETTO HORS D’OEUVRES at the BUSHWICK STARR.
Read more of MODESTO JIMENEZ’s work HERE.