/* ======================== SCRIPTS DEVELOPED BY: PAUL GARDNER codemonkey@backpacker.com ======================== */ button_num="&button_num=4" button_text1="&button_text1=Griots" button_text2="&button_text2=Music" button_text3="&button_text3=X-Ray Vision" button_text4="&button_text4=Subject Matter" popup_num="&popup_num=10" popup_text1="&popup_text1=ADDTITLE1:
Griots (pronounced gree-ohs) are West African storytellers who maintain an oral tradition of poetry, reciting a history--of family, community, and culture--to the people of a village. Griots originated in the Mali Empire, which at its height, in the fourteenth century, controlled the gold trade across the Saharan region." popup_text2="&popup_text2=ADDTITLE2:
Hip-hop music is related to the griots of West Africa. For example, the percussion breaks that DJ Kool Herc brought to New York in the 1970s came from the traditional style of griot poetry and singing.

Hip-hop recalls these African traditions. Basquiat, who loved jazz and Latin rhythm, produced a rap record for his friend Rammellzee and he was a good friend of the hip-hop producer Fred Brathwaite (Fab 5 Freddy). He formed his own ''noise music'' band, known as Gray, and would sometimes DJ at the downtown New York disco called Area." popup_text3="&popup_text3=\"The
The band Gray: Vincent Gallo, Justin Thyme, Nick Taylor, Michael Holman, and (on floor) Basquiat, 1980." popup_text4="&popup_text4=" popup_text5="&popup_text5=" popup_text6="&popup_text6=ADDTITLE3:
Basquiat's paintings seem to have a unique X-ray vision that captures both the internal and external human being, as if to say that there is more here than meets the eye. Basquiat learned how to draw human anatomy from the book Gray's Anatomy, which he received as a child." popup_text7="&popup_text7=\"Illustration
Illustration from Gray's Anatomy" popup_text8="&popup_text8=The transparency of this griot figure shows how Basquiat paints and writes from multiple viewpoints or perspectives. He allows us to look inside of things, or read something in another language, and connect different cultures and histories. One historian suggests this feature of the work is strongly related to Basquiat's upbringing and his own diverse heritage." popup_text9="&popup_text9=More about Basquiat's Heritage" popup_text10="&popup_text10=ADDTITLE4:
Basquiat once said, ''I'm interested in painting the black person. He's the protagonist in most of my paintings.''

Basquiat's focus on black people extended to include his interest in Afro-Caribbean culture and his concern with the representation of Africans and African Americans in popular entertainment and in American history." image_num="&image_num=1" image_title1="&image_title1=Gold Griot " image_caption1="&image_caption1=1984. Acrylic and oil paintstick on wood. The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat " image_url1="&image_url1=goldgriot.jpg" image_width1="&image_width1=476" image_height1="&image_height1=720" what_think="&what_think=What do you think?" popup_info="&popup_info=Pop-up text" popup_on="&popup_on=ON" popup_off="&popup_off=OFF" more_paintings="&more_paintings=More Paintings in
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