BoomBoxBoy is a collaboration between the Push Pop Collective and the artist Prince Harvey aka BoomBoxBoy. For ‘The Anniversy List,’ a multi-location exhibition in the Station North Arts District of Baltimore curated by the MICA MFA in Curatorial Practice Dept., The Push Pops joined BoomBoxBoy and led a lively tour through the exhibition. Located in various business of the burgeoning arts district – among them a laundromat, barbershop, chicken fryer and bullet-proofed bodega where artists in the show had made unique interventions – The Push Pops posed as feminist flygirls beside the naked, uproarious spectacle of BoomBoxBoy. A community engaging initiative, ‘The Anniversary List’ project focused on building a bridge between the institution’s arts programming and the existing community of historically disenfranchised low-income African American residents.
BoomBoxBoy, influenced by the character Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do The Right Thing, is a performance work by the artist Prince Harvey exploring ownership, community, and socially appropriate modes of being with respect to race, class and gender. Incorporating personal narrative, anecdote and hip hop acapella – BoomBoxBoy’s call and response approach to rapping and beat making urges the audience to take a participatory stance embellishing the music with clapping and speaking in rhythm.
Shout out to our stylist Frankie at Soul II Soul Barbershop, Baltimore, MD
September 2012