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Give Hip Hop Credit for Anti-War songs
| Message Board > Music Chitchat - General ( Indie, Jazz, World, Electronic etc.) > Give Hip Hop Credit for Anti-War songs |
| Lordpatch User Info... | Give Hip Hop Credit for Anti-War songs by Davey D The other night ABC News did a special report on the growing popularity of anti-war protest songs. The report focused on how all these musicians were now coming out and providing a sound track to the growing discontent many of us are having with the war in Iraq. It talked about how people are more accepting of such songs and how major record labels were loosening up in the aftermath of the Dixie Chicks who got lambasted and later boycotted for speaking out against George Bush and his policies in 2003. The report also brought to light the impact anti-war songs had on fueling the Anti-war movement against Vietnam in the late 60s and the question was raised as to what sort of impact todays rash of songs would have. I cant remember all the singers they profiled, but I did recall seeing country singer Merle Haggard, Rock-N-Roll icon Bruce Springstein and pop sensation Pink. What surprised me was not seeing any mention of Hip Hop especially with the exception of KRS-One, since it was artists in the rap community that up to date have released more anti-war songs and were the first to unabashedly do so right after 9-11. If we take a short walk down memory lane, folks may recall that the day after 9-11 Bay Area Hip Hop activists from organizations like Lets Get Free, The Ella Baker Center and Minds Eye Collective put together a rally that was held in Snow Park in Oakland. Close to 500 people attended this event which focused on the loss of human life and questioned the foreign policy missteps of the Bush administration. It was at this rally that many of us heard our last poem from the late June Jordan. We also heard an incredible song from Michael Franti & Spearhead calling for healing and peace. A couple of months later, Franti appeared on Conan OBrian and performed the anti-war song Bomb the World to Pieces only to find that his sentiments angered producers who threatened to censor the song when the show aired. Community outrage lead to OBrians people eventually showing the performance. Early on we heard anti-war songs from acts like the Beastie Boys (World Gone Mad), Nas (Rule), Wu-Tang Affiliates Known Associates (World So Cold), Talib Kweli (the Proud), J-Live (Satisfied) and Mr Lif (home of the Brave). Of course we also have numerous joints from Immortal Technique including 'The Povery of Philosophy'. All in all there are more than 150 anti-war songs that have been recorded by Hip Hop artists. The song that really made heads turn was by Bay Area artist Paris who came out of retirement and released a 6 minute missive called What Would You Do? that went into great detail about The Caryle Group, Bushs relationship to the Bin Laden family and the hawkish action plans of the Neo-cons serving in Bushs cabinet. Paris gave the song away for free and then followed it up with an entire antiwar album called Sonic Jihad which went on to sell over 200 thousand units. Another stand out effort came from San Francisco based Freedom Fighter records who released the first anti-war compilation featuring Bay Area artists called War Times Report From the Opposition. A year later LA based Hard Knock Records followed up with a critically acclaimed anti-war compilation called What About Us. The most visible anti-war effort to date came from former San Jose resident Fredwreck who has produced tracks from everyone ranging from Eminem to Snoop Dogg and Ice Cubeto name a few. Using the name STOP Movement he gathered up a number of popular artists including Mobb Deep, WC of the Westside Connection, Daz of the Dogg Pound, RBX, Defari, Soopafly, Cypress Hill, Mack 10, KRS-One and Dilated Peoples just to name a few and released two anti-war songs called Down With Us and Dear Mr. President. Fredwreck like Paris gave away the songs for free and even held a press conference only to find local commercial stations would not touch the record in spite of the big name artists he had assembled. In fact sources inside one popular station in LA, KKBT, noted that their deejays were instructed not to play those songs because they were too controversial. Whats even more ironic was Fred was supposed to be profiled in the ABC story. He was flown to NY but not shown in the report that I saw. The other irony was after ABC aired the report one of the anchors decided to comment and naively noted that she never heard any of the songs from the artists they profiled on the radio therefore they must not be hits. We could do an entire column on what goes on behind the scenes and what it really takes to get records on the commercial airwaves, but suffice to say if what happened to Fredwreck is any indication of how key power brokers at radio get down, then of course we would not hear any of these songs on radio. However, it does not mean those songs or those artists are not popular or that people are not appreciative of their songs. see also: http://media.odeo.com/3/8/3/BreakdownFMFredwrecklebanon.mp3 Breakdown FM: Producer Fredwreck Speaks out on War in Lebanon http://media.odeo.com/3/8/3/BreakdownFMFredwrecklebanon.mp3 Palestinian Hip Hop producer Fredwreck and Dr. Hatem Bassein Middle Eastern expert and a professor at UC Berkeley speaks with HKRs Davey D about the recent upsurge of violence in the Middle East.Fred who has produced everyone from Ice Cube down to Snoop is incredibly insightful as he breaks down the politics of what is going on in the middle east. He’s no newcomer to politics. He’s always stayed upon on the issues and very quietly behind the scenes and not so quietly has made noise on behalf of his people. http://media.odeo.com/3/8/3/BreakdownFMFredwrecklebanon.mp3http://studio.odeo.com/channel/3681/view and Hip Hop & Resistance - Scherzo: Ta démocratie mon oeil ! http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/07_ta_d__mocratie_mon_oeil__.mp3 cd title: "G la rage et je la garde" ["I have rage and i'm keeping it. I'm pissed and i'm staying pissed..."] audio: MP3 at 5.6 mebibytes http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/07_ta_d__mocratie_mon_oeil__.mp3 http://vancouver.indymedia.org/?q=en/node/1417 Scherzo: Ta démocratie mon oeil ! http://vancouver.indymedia.org/?q=en/audio/download/1417/file.mp3 from: the French Rioters Release Hip-Hop CD C7 H16 releases cd title: "G la rage et je la garde" ["I have rage and i'm keeping it. I'm pissed and i'm staying pissed..."] download zip: G la rage et je la garde" http://c7h16.internetdown.org/ - Wed, 19 Jul 5:59am see also: http://www.upstartradio.com/Playlist%20%26%20Links.html or http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/7632.php and Breakdown FM: Always Strength in Words-An Interview w/ Hasan Salaam, Akir and Hiccup http://media.odeo.com/0/4/1/Breakdown_FM-StengthinWords.mp3 There’s Always Strength in Words: An Interview w/ Hasan Salaam, Akir and Hicoup By Davey D Whoever said Conscious Hip Hop artists can�t get down or that Hip Hop from the NY (East Coast) is dead simply has not tapped into the burgeoning cultural inspired rap scene that has everyone from dead prez to Immortal Technique making noise. Alongside them are artists like Hasan Salaam, Hicoup and Akir just to name a few. We sat down with them the other day when they swung through Oakland for the Strength in Words Tour. I gotta be honest it was nice building with these cats. In fact we barely spoke about their projects, which include Hasan�s �Lost Paradise� album, Hicoup’s Ghetto Factory Supreme� mixtape and Akir�s debut LP �Legacy�. Instead we talked in depth about the Middle East including the conflict in Lebanon. This was critically important especially when you take into account that Hasan has a song on his album called "Hezbollah". http://media.odeo.com/0/4/1/Breakdown_FM-StengthinWords.mp3 and Hip-hop culture reflects Youth oppression under capitalism By Larry Hales Published Mar 7, 2006 10:22 PM “...Or does it explode?” This ominous question ends Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem,” which begins with, “What happens to a dream deferred?” In the mid-to-late 1970s, there was a musical explosion emanating from poor Black and Puerto Rican youth in the South Bronx. To understand hip-hop culture, which encompasses a style of dress, speech, graffiti art, and a certain political orientation towards the capitalist state, it is essential to know exactly what was happening in the United States, especially in the nationally oppressed communities leading up to its inception. During the 1970s, the state of the capitalist economy and the effect it would have on workers was becoming evident. The Vietnamese had emerged victorious from a devastating war in 1975. Thousands of drafted and enlisted U.S. soldiers and marines, many of them people of color in disproportionate numbers, lost their lives. Many thousands more were physically and/or emotionally maimed for life. The U.S. imperialist ruling class’s brutal war against the Vietnamese people had drawn billions of dollars away from the social needs of people in the United States. The soldiers who were forced to fight the war returned home with no safety net. Many had become addicted to drugs and alcohol and wound up homeless. The country was in an economic recession. Major industrial manufacturers were already closing plants around the country especially in the Northeast, which later became known as the Rust Belt. Whites had already begun to move from urban to suburban areas, resulting ‘white flight’. Development in the inner cities virtually ceased, leaving what social services that existed and the public school systems in these areas woefully inadequate. Public hospitals were usurped by privately run facilities creating a sub-standard health care system for the poor and oppressed. The prison system, which housed 200,000 inmates in 1970, had begun its steady climb towards its current level of over 2.1 million prisoners, the largest population worldwide. The racist death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Many Black people who fled the low-paying jobs in the South found higher paying, unionized jobs in the North following the Vietnam War. full article: http://www.workers.org/2006/us/hip-hop-0316/ and Fred Wreck: Why Did Major Radio Stations Try & Silence This Man and His Music? Fredwreck in case you don’t know has laced everyone from Ice Cube to Snoop Dogg on down to Eminem with incredible tracks….He’s always been a political type of guy so he got a bunch of West Coast artists together around the start of the Iraq War and they dropped this Anti-war song which they offered up for free download.. http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2006/03/20/stopmovement-downwitus_dirty.mp3 nd ...the 1973 assassination of the Palestinian poet, Ghassan Kanafani...The writer said in his report, published Monday by the Hebrew daily "Yedioth Ahronoth", that the Israeli intelligence elements planted an explosive device in Kanafani's vehicle that exploded thereafter causing his immediate death. -- "Israel admits responsibility for assassinating Palestinian poet" http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_14740.shtml and http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/44887.php and Najat Rahman, Assistant Prof. Comparative Litereture U of Montreal, on Resistance and Art historically in Palestine. -- "Under the Olive Tree: Culture and Resistance" http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=16139&nav=length& and http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=producer-info&uid=1991&nav=length& and Meen Erhabe - (Who is the Real Terrorist?) http://www.dam3rap.com/mp3/DAM_men_erhabe.mp3 or http://www.dam3rap.com/ and DOWNLOAD THREE FREE TRACKS FROM "FREE THE P" AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE: Born Here - DAM [3MB, MP3 file] http://electronicintifada.net/downloads/music/Born-Here.mp3 Free The P - The Philistines [5.5MB, MP3 file] http://electronicintifada.net/downloads/music/Free-The-P.mp3 No Compromises - Invincible [3.3MB, MP3 file] http://electronicintifada.net/downloads/music/No-Compromises.mp3 FREE THE P! PALESTINE TAKES NYC'S EAST VILLAGE BY STORM Remi Kanazi, The Electronic Intifada, 17 October 2005 As I walk down the darkened staircase into a muggy basement in this lower eastside dive bar, a scruffily bearded supporter smiles and waves a four-foot wide Palestinian flag. The chatter begins as the room fills with anxious people awaiting the show. The young crowd came out to support Free the P, the new CD compilation of "hip-hop and spoken word, dedicated to the youth of Palestine." The proceeds will go to Slingshot Hip-hop, "a documentary film that focuses on the daily life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel." Within moments, our hostess, Arab-American comedienne Maysoon Zayid, takes the ground level, makeshift stage and gets the crowd going with her dry, political humor.... http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4250.shtml http://electronicintifada.net/downloads/music/Born-Here.mp3 and "You see we live under a physical and mental occupation. People have internalised the situation and have become apathetic. They don't resist, they've given up even to think about that. The generation of our parents is full of fear and apathy. They are afraid for the Shabak and want to stay away from politics. We do not accept this. We want to shake things up" -- "Where There's the Ghetto, There's Hip Hop" http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/44513.php and ...Lead rapper Narcy and producer Butter Beats give the rundown on the Hip Hop scene in Montreal, life in the Middle East, the attempts to unite the Brown nation and their opposition to the unjust war in Iraq.. http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/12/46895.php or http://media.odeo.com/2/7/9/I__Breakdown_FM_Shows_BreakdownFM-Euphrates_Interview_2005.mp3 and Last month, the Palestinian-American hip-hop crew The Philistines announced the release of a CD dedicated to the youth of Palestine. The compilation CD, titled "Free the P," brings together over 20 hip-hop and spoken word artists. Its aim is to promote awareness about the Palestinian struggle for freedom while raising funds to support an upcoming documentary film--SlingShot Hip Hop--about hip-hop in Palestine." -- "Hip Hop: Hip-Hop for Palestine Phi-lis'tine (fi-lis'-tin)" http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/44106.php and inspired and angered by the image of Palestinians projected by the U.S. media, the brothers elected to use the word “Philistine” to define themselves as it means “an uncultured, barbaric person.” They collectively reject the media manipulation that warps the dynamics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict http://www.whatsupmagazine.org/articles/philistines.html CALLING ALL PHILISTINE SOLDIERS: The P have just released a HOT new demo. YOUR MISSION: To download, burn, and distribute as many of these babies as you can. YOUR TARGETS: People at clubs, parties, funerals, bat mitzvahs, the car wash, school, living under illegal foreign occupation--anyone and everyone... http://www.thephilistines.com/Music.html ARABIFUNK (web version) - Ragtop and B-Dub on an epic Iron Shiek beat http://www.thephilistines.com/Music/Arabifunk%20(web).mp3 and born here video by DAM: http://www.dam3rap.com/mp3/DAM_bornhere.wmv and http://www.dam3rap.com/mp3/DAM_men_erhabe.mp3 and ...the 1973 assassination of the Palestinian poet, Ghassan Kanafani...The writer said in his report, published Monday by the Hebrew daily "Yedioth Ahronoth", that the Israeli intelligence elements planted an explosive device in Kanafani's vehicle that exploded thereafter causing his immediate death. -- "Israel admits responsibility for assassinating Palestinian poet" http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_14740.shtml and http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/44887.php and "Then I just get home, sit down and make the concepts in my head into reality, and watch how they never cease to change and evolve once they're out of my head, and how no idea or concept no matter how good it is, will stay completely the same in your mind. John Coltrane spoke about the same thing with regards to getting the music in his head out into the real world of sound. But anyway, technically I use my computer, I got a mixer, a nice mic, and a Korg Keyboard, two nice monitors and a compressor which doesn't work right now. It's all about what you do with it though, what's in your mind." -- yoshi http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/41736.php and Hip Hop: the subliminal criminal: Pick up a stone http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/40536.php and "Sat in the back of the class with my hand up/Two wild security guards, grabbed my man up/Threw him in detention for 5 days suspension. Cuz he said, the teacher was lyin about the Indians.I stood like a man then I questioned my teacher/Why don't we speak about the wisdom of the sages?/And how did Europe black out in the dark ages? And when they got light did they white-wash the pages? ...And why it seems that half the school is racist?" -- rza and masta killa http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/40092.php or http://www.mastakilla.net/ and Islamic themes and Arabic terms increasingly thread the colorful fabric that is hip hop. Self-proclaimed Muslim rap artists -- whether adhering to the Nation of Islam, the Five Percent Nation, or traditional Sunni Islam - proudly announce their faith and include "Islamic" messages of social justice in their lyrics. http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/14501.php and "...Because they know if the rappers get a revolutionary message, that if the rappers start to clean up their act and rap revolutionary rap, the game is over. The enemy, and those who control the distribution of rap, shut down revolutionary rap and would only fund gangster rap after [the 1992 L.A. rebellion against police brutality.] We saw an extreme rise in gangster rap and the elimination of revolutionary rap. ... I say to Brother Russell Simmons and the other rappers: Don’t let them make you believe that they have more power than you." --Malik Zulu Shabazz http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/39144.php or http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_1858.shtml Islam Racism And The Left http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/02/37745.php or http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2005/02/244553.shtml and ". “As a young Muslim Black male in America I feel under attack on many fronts. I can handle being under attack, but it’s heartbreaking – at times— to feel as though I have no comrades. ..."--Amir Sulaiman http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/35705.php or http://www.amirsulaiman.com/ and How is the Islamic faith delivering the message from Allah through rap? True Believer From ages past music in some form has been used to Praise the One. In Qur'an we find "Allah is beautiful and loves beauty." Allah (swt) did not give birds their song to suppress nor did He create the winds that blow through rocks or trees to create beautiful sounds to be ignored or not copied. http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/31664.php and dred-i 3 track CD: "Revolutionary Crunk Muzik: The Black Panther Party Meets Soul Train". http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/31600.php How is the Islamic faith delivering the message from Allah through rap? True Believer From ages past music in some form has been used to Praise the One. In Qur'an we find "Allah is beautiful and loves beauty." Allah (swt) did not give birds their song to suppress nor did He create the winds that blow through rocks or trees to create beautiful sounds to be ignored or not copied. Muslim rap is big business with annual sales in excess of $1.8bn in America alone. How is the Islamic faith delivering the message from Allah through rap? http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/islamichiphop.shtml 1Xtra's Iyare talks to Muslim rappers challenging traditional views like Mecca 2 Medina, Napoleon from Tupac's Outlawz and Jurassic 5. Why is Islamic hip hop becoming such an attraction? and ' You have to ask yourself is it in the best interests of the corporate elite to enlighten people truly. And I guess it's not if you want to maintain the status quo. We have billions of dollars for wars here to fight illegal immigrants and to kill people and control their natural resources....but we're always coming up short financially with education funding." http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/32953.php or http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/32953.php http://www.guerrillafunk.com and FRED WRECK!!! Support the STOP Movement! STOP: Stop The Oppressive Politics! We the people of the United States of America have gathered together to express our views against the oppression of people across the Earth by the imperialistic policy makers of our government. They want all the nations of the world to bow down and abide by rules and laws they impose behind the curtain of the United Nations, yet when those laws go against the political agenda of the administration they themselves break the law and feloniously fabricate propaganda to mislead the world and American people that Iraq has "Weapons of Mass Destruction", and will use them on America. Evidence to validate this fantasy still to this day does not exist, even after the CIA unsuccessfully tried to fabricate documents to prove so. Next we have the shameful attempt by Governor Bush and his gang to link the unfortunate events of September 11th and Osama Bin Laden to the leadership of the Iraqi Government. Proof or evidence of which also does not exist. Mr. Bush has been left with no other card in his deck to play, so he created his own, the deck of "Wanted Terrorists" within a charade of humanitarianism. The only way for him to gain any popular acceptance is to have a campaign of misleading propaganda to make us believe that he's on a self-righteous mission to liberate the Iraqi people, and that this war is a war about freedom and democracy for the people of Iraq. This is yet another delusion of grandeur by our so-called fearless leader. He will not hoodwink or deceive us! America's oppressive foreign policy, which resorts to bribery, corruption, dirty dealings, and murder assassination, will continue to produce hatred, mistrust, and animosity. This dangerous environment that our policies have bred puts us at far greater risk of being blind sided and harmed by threats unknown. This threat multiplies with each aggression toward the nations of the world. Aggression sometimes concealed behind diplomacy, which can be more dangerous than war itself. This hostile behavior must stop. If we are going to start opening the books and passing judgment on world leaders lets not hesitate to start with members of our government. Let's also call out the governments of some our so-called allies. Then we can all be playing eye-to-eye on an even field. Until then, take a stand to S.T.O.P. the oppressive politics. Stop the killing of other nation's children and bring our sons and daughters home. Peace, The Movement http://www.fredwreck.com/ or http://www.rapindustry.com/fred_wreck.htm http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/750/feature.htm and Hip Hop: Putting politics back into US hip-hop: Fred Wreck http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F7BB1F5C-5A19-42C8-8616-AEC0ABDB22B8.htm http://www.thephilistines.com/Music.html - Fri, 1 Sep 2006 9:19pm Edited: Fri, 1 Sep 2006 9:33pm | ||
| Hang the DJ User Info... | Maybe it's just been hidden under the 90% of Hip-Hop songs that are written about women's booty's... But I agree anti-war hip-hop songs should be given more credit and mention if other genres have been given notice for it. Hell anything anti-war, I'm all for it. I hate war more than anything else really.. - Sun, 3 Sep 2006 11:56pm | ||
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