The Sounds of the Underground

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(Mellow music)

(Silence)

Intercom:
Transfers available

to the four, five, six

and Q, R and W trains.

(Train sounds)

Free.

I don't understand that word.

The land of the free.

You're free to think. Go out there

and try to do some of the sh*t

you think of. It will put you

away so fast,

and so quick, and you will

stay away.

From being free.

(Train noises)

(Soft string music)

(Fast string music)

(Train sounds)

(Slow string music)

(Train sounds) The quality of

the music and performance,

varies a lot. So a lot of it is quite

annoying and just a nuisance, but

when they're good, they

brighten the place up,

add a little bit of atmosphere,

cheer your day up.

It's always pretty dreary and

disgusting.

So, it's nice to

have a bit of fun along the way.

(Train sounds)

I'm just sitting here

playing a guitar. That's

hard enough.

-Your name? -My name is

Alex. -That's it?

-That's it. It's Alex. That's all.

-Where are you from? -Me? Earth.

I'm a down to earth guy, man.

Anywhere I hang my hat

is home.

(Guitar music) (Train sounds)

This is called the hole, man.

That's right.

You ain't down in the train.

You ain't down in the station.

You're down

in the hole.

I'm gonna leave New York

after the summer. I'm just

tired of New York.

I've been

here too many years

and it's too expensive living in New York.

(Upbeat music)

Female voice:
Thank you!

(Drum music)

(Female celebratory yell)

(Female yell)

(Traffic noises)

There's some real talent on the

streets and subways of New York City.

I mean, New York draws artists.

I mean, that is part of the

energy. What gives vitality to

the city. Um... (cough)

And it's a shame that the city

is becoming so expensive now

that artists can't afford to

live here. It's lost a lot of that

artistic quality, yet at the same time,

it's just like the song says:

if you can make it in New York,

you can make it anywhere.

You got a bartender that takes

5, 10s and 20s.

You got a guy at the door

taking money after 10 o'clock.

You want me to go there

and do something for nothing?

You're a millionaire!

You know, you got a f***ing

million dollars, man.

You want me for free and everything you got?

You don't give out no free music

when you got new musicians there.

I don't go over to the CD player

and push the button in the back

where it doesn't need to take money.

I don't see open the pool

tables up. You know,

they don't give out spit, but then

they want you and I refuse to do that.

I will not go to work for free for nobody.

(Spanish music)

Look at her all pretty,

got no place to go. Got some

toe tapping.

Wanna shake and shake and

shake.

Mama come your way.

Senorita

(Train sounds)

(Mellow music)

My music is like a fusion of

all the styles that I grew up

hearing and they definitely

involve rock. I mean I love

every bit of Steven Tyler and

Aerosmith as I do,

you know, James Taylor.

-I was inspired by a lot of people.

People that I didn't even know then.

(Clapping sounds)

A lot of where mainstream pop culture

gets its influences and ideas

is from the street. Whether that's

voguing or rap music or hip hop,

hopping and mocking and

krunking.

(Techno music)

Truthfully, I ain't ever worked.

Work is for people that don't play

guitar. That's what I told them.

I agree with them

wholeheartedly. Exactly right.

I am lazy, shiftless,

man... Don't even show me no

kind of tool. I don't even want to go

near Sears.

I get hives when I get

near Sears, man.

I'm a musican,

I make a living at being a musician.

(Honking horns) And I

mean it's no different than

whatever- if you're a cab driver.

You make a living taxing people

around town. You don't pull up

to anybody that sticks out their arm

and go yeah, I'll give you a free ride.

Pretty sure. Yeah, my ass,

and this is

New York City.

(Mellow music)

Most of the time, I think

they're great.

Occasionally,

like later,

in the evening, coming home

from work in particular, if it's louder,

or a large part of them and they're more

aggressive, it can get more annoying,

but genuinely I think, particularly not on

the train, but in the subway stations

they're fantastic. -I've had somebody

pour beer on the case. I've had

like a real psychotic man who

spit at me. But these are

also people that are not well.

-I'm a hustler.

Man, you know.

It's all comes with the turf.

I had a girl give me head in

Los Angeles and pick my

pocket at the same f***ing time.

Don't ask me how she did it.

She took me outside of a club,

gave me head, and first we smoked

a joint, she gave me head,

and I went inside to buy a drink and

didn't have a god damn dime

in my pocket and she was gone.

(Guitar music)

Those are the first steel guitars

and when they made them, they

didn't have a name for them and

their name was Delfrea brothers

and they couldn't write it across the

head stock like CF Martin and company

and the instrument didn't really

have a name because it's a steel guitar.

It wasn't a guitar,

it wasn't a classical guitar.

It was a Dobro.

Where I live, you can really

say it's Chinatown and if you go down

one block and you cross the park,

across the soccer field, it's

the all new Dominican republic.

Oh man.

(Laughing)

You go. You don't go, right?

F***ing...

...get the f*** out!

(Crowd yelling)

It's hard in these streets, and

here especially

in the projects and we have

been through this all our life.

We move into shelters, dealing

with everything. You got to take

life as it hits you. That's how

you got to see it.

(Dog barking)

They judge us because

the way we dress, the way act,

sometimes even the way we walk.

This is my mom's. That's my name.

That's where I'm from.

(Soft music)

Trust no one. You know you

can't trust no one in this world.

Beast and M.O.B.

Money over b*tches.

All you want to do is buy these.

I need a lighter. You don't got

a lighter?

(Background chatter)

We live it and we love it.

Dancing and nobody else

does it like we do.

(Booming music)

My name is Marcus.

I was born in Brooklyn,

boom. I'm ten. Peace.

(Booming music)

My name is Joshua Himenez.

Middle name Tai... freaky Tai.

That's what the girls call me.

(Hip hop music)

Rey Rosado, I was born in the BX

1-25-81, I'm 24 years old.

(Clapping)

(Train sounds)

I've been doing it over

probably 12 years, 13.

About. He's been doing it for how long?

-Three years.

It's just a hustle we do on

a daily basis. Get that money,

that bread. You know how it is.

If I want to kill the J the R...

-The D, the A.

-Basically

speaking, all trains we have to necessary.

-When performers come

into the subway, um... -Onto the car.

...onto the car, it's almost an

intrusion of sorts,

you know, and as New Yorkers,

we're almost trained. You hear

the speakers, the people

saying, don't give to panhandlers

and stuff like that and it's

almost too much in your face sometimes.

(Train sounds)

You got more self-employed

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