Check out footage of the masked supervillain performing “Vomitspit” from his album “Mm.. Food” for further evidence. Look for Expektoration Live Featuring Big Benn Klingon September 14th on Gold Dust.
Volume 4 of Superior Belly‘s Spill Out Series, Progress Report, a 7″ vinyl release has dropped. Progress Report is a collaboration by Detroit-based hip-hop artists D. Allie (U.S.M) and Eddie Logix (Midcoast Most). A 3-song single is available on I-Tunes.
Rhymesayers’ first lady Psalm One has now released the third installment for her “Woman @ Work” series. The first single “Ginsu Knives” is produced by Mulatto Patriot and features Del The Funkyhomosapien. Psalm One “Woman @ Work” Vol. 3 (Engineered by Mulatto Patriot) will is currently available for free download at www.psalmone.tv, www.rhymesayers.com &
After 16 years, Fat Beats has announced the closing of the legendary label’s two remaining retail locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fat Beats will celebrate the legacies of the stores, which are scheduled to close in early September (New York: September 4th, Los Angeles: September 18th) by throwing a series of blow-out sales and tribute parties open to the public during their last weeks. Fans can check www.FatBeats.com for updates.
Fat Beats’ longest running and most famed location is at 406 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. Since the 1994 opening of Fat Beats’ flagship retail location, hip-hop fans have traveled far and wide to visit the iconic store. With locations soon following in Los Angeles (7600 Melrose Ave.), Atlanta, Amsterdam, and Tokyo, the record stores were a place to experience hip-hop culture and its legacy, which became a global phenomenon. “The closing of Fat Beats is just like one of my friends passing away. They promoted vinyl at its highest degree for the culture of good music and that makes it more difficult to say goodbye,” says DJ Premier.
The announcement of the closings is a reflection of the woes that have been plaguing the industry for years. Global chain HMV closed their last US location in 2004. Tower Records shuttered in 2006. Last year saw the close of the last Virgin Megastore, and the story is no different in 2010. For Fat Beats, maintaining two stores well into 2010 is a testament to the stores’ importance to the music and to fans and consumers continuing to support independent hip-hop.
While news of the stores’ closing marks the end of an era, the future is not doom and gloom. Digital sales continue to increase industry-wide; for Fat Beats, currently operating a profitable and growing online retail store, this has provided a boon to business as fans continue to order mp3s, vinyl, and CDs from FatBeats.com. Although digital sales continue to grow, executives at Fat Beats understand the importance of independent retail stores and are planning to re-open a brick and mortar hip-hop lifestyle location sometime in the near future.
The future looks just as bright for Fat Beats Distribution and the label. Fat Beats Distribution, which has been renamed FB Distribution, continues to strike noteworthy distribution deals with independent and major labels worldwide and is now working with different genres of alternative music. Fat Beats Records will continue to release notable albums from their own impressive roster of artists including ILL BILL, TruMaster/KRS-One, Black Milk, Trinity, Sha Stimuli, Q-Unique, and more. Fat Beats owner and President Joe Abajian says, “This is the start of a new era for Fat Beats. We’re adapting to meet the needs of our demographic by revamping and improving our existing systems. While our website, which stocks everything available in our retail stores, continues to do very well, we’re still exploring our options for alternate retail locations in the future. We’re proud of our legacy and will continue to re-invent ourselves. For now, we’ll see you online at FatBeats.com”
The video for El-P’s “Time Won’t Tell” is inspired by a childhood memory of director Shan Nicholson, who grew up in the “Old New York” during a time when necessity often bred creativity. This video depicts a young boy innocently finding a way to embrace his imagination amid an urban wasteland. El-P’s all instrumental album Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 is out now.
D 12′s own Kuniva is back, and just dropped this Midwest Marauders Mixtape. If you take a good look you’ll see that Detroit Hip-hop is clearly represented in the artwork. There’s no need to sleep on this drop. Download it. Share it.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a Washington DC-based marijuana advocacy group, has partnered with jam-based dub rock heavyweights Slightly Stoopid and hip-hop juggernauts Cypress Hill on the Legalize It 2010 tour for a YouTube based video contest to raise awareness for California’s Prop 19, the initiative to regulate and tax marijuana. The initiative will be on the California ballot November 2nd, 2010 and its passage would be a historic step forward in the fight to end marijuana prohibition and legalize marijuana nationwide..
NORML, Slightly Stoopid, and Cypress Hill invite US residents to create 30-60 second videos of themselves answering the question, “What could California do with the revenue generated from taxing marijuana?” Participants are to upload their entries to YouTube with the tag “YesOnProp19.” Members of both bands and representatives from NORML will personally pick one grand prize winner and two runner-ups from a selection of the most viewed, rated, and commented upon videos. Prizes include a personal phone call from B-Real, a limited edition Slightly Stoopid vaporizer, a framed autographed tour poster, a free one-year membership to NORML, plus more. Winners’ videos will be shared on all the partners’ social network profiles. For official contest rules visit: http://bit.ly/aGYsJx
Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 (www.taxcannabis.org), will give local governments the ability to tax the sale of up to one ounce of marijuana for recreational purposes to adults age 21 and older. According to the Board of Equalization (BOE), California’s tax regulator, controlling and taxing marijuana in California could generate $1.4 billion in much needed revenue each year.
Here’s something brand new. Magestik Legend just dropped the official video for “All Eye Know,” of his current project “To Be Continued Vol. 1 (hosted by T3 of Slum Village). The concept for the video was created by Magestik Legend and Gerard Victor. The video features Buff1, T3, T Calmese (iLLite), Fes Roc & more.
Here is a small taste of a series of over 200 images by photographer William P. Gottlieb documenting the jazz scene in New York City and Washington, D.C., from 1938 to 1948, a time recognized by many as the “Golden Age of Jazz”.
Gottlieb was both a notable jazz journalist and a self-taught photographer who captured the personalities of jazz musicians and told their stories with his camera and typewriter. His portraits depict such prominent musicians and personalities as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more.
Portrait of Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Cecil Payne, Miles Davis, and Ray Brown, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948
Portrait of Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Feb. 1947
Portrait of Thelonious Monk, Minton's Playhouse, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947
Portrait of Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones, Milt Orent, Dixie Bailey, and Jack Teagarden, Mary Lou Williams' apartment, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947
Portrait of Howard McGhee and Miles Davis, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947
This is one for the real hip-hop heads, you’re going to want have this. DJ JS-1 (Rock Steady Crew) & DJ Skizz (The Halftime Radio Show) just dropped “Re-Cycled”: Heavy Rotation Vol. 3. This free mixtape is a full mix of remixes. Most of these remixes are rare, uncommon, or unplayed out. Lots of good music, classic tracks, some rare hip-hop.
Most of these tracks are from the 90′s era. This mix features remixes of over fifty tracks including artists such as Organized Konfusion, Gangstarr, Tribe Called Quest, Alkaholiks, Method Man, EPMD, Rakim, MC Breed, Das EFX, Mobb Deep, and lots more.
This is the third volume of Heavy Rotation. Make sure to download it. Check out www.djjs1.blogspot.com for more free downloads and updates.
Montreal-based producer, DJ, and illustrator Kid Koala has just reached out to the world and announced a very exciting project that involves the love and support of all his fans. We thought that we would share it with you.
In December 2010 Kid Koala will be going to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), www.massmoca.org, for a week-long creative residency to develop a family-oriented live show based on his soon-to-be released graphic novel/soundtrack project Space Cadet. During the residency, Kid Koala and his five-member creative team will live in the museum’s artist housing, build a set with the production staff, and perform the show (along with a Q&A session) on Saturday, December 11.
For his show at MASS MoCA, Kid Koala will perform Space Cadet’s soundtrack on six turntables and a piano. At the same time, images from the book will be recreated live on custom-made screens to create an all-encompassing experience.
MASS MoCA’s black box theater will be transformed into an intimate, living room-like environment, allowing the audience to have a personal experience of the work while sharing the space with others. The audience will watch the projections on stage while listening to Kid Koala’s performance of the soundtrack using headphones.
Donations to fund the residency, production costs, including artist housing,
equipment and technical services can be made here:
Legendary Chicago-based junglist Danny the Wildchild just posted this classic mix for the heads out there. This special 1995 old-school set was Recorded live at Smart Bar in Chicago on April 8th 2010 for Murda In America’s Big Bass Thursdays. If you’re not familiar, Danny the Wildchild is globally recognized for his hip-hop and DMC influenced technique and approach to Drum n Bass. Share it, bump it. Danny the wildchild 1995 set recorded live in Chicago on 4-8-10 by Danny The Wildchild
Official video for “Delilah” from Rakaa’s IDilated Peoples) upcoming solo debut album, Crown Of Thorns available everywhere on 7/20 via Decon. “Delilah” was produced by Evidence, video directed by Yoram Benz.
Detroit hip hop artist Black Milk has just released his latest single, “Welcome.” This is the first single of his album, The Album of The Year, that will be released september 14th via Decon & Fatbeats! Listen, download, and share.
7 Grand Records once again pays homage to one of the greatest emcees who ever graced the game, GURU. This time around, you have the chance to listen to an outstanding and very rare remix from GURU and Bob Marley .
In 1999, GURU was asked to record a remix to Marley’s hit song “Johnny Was”, which was originally released in 1976 on Marley’s album “Rastaman Vibration”. GURU’s version was featured on “Chant Down Babylon” (1999), a full remix album by various Hip-Hop and Rock artists covering songs by Bob Marley & The Wailers.
“GURU was asked by the younger Marleys to record the remix song for ‘Johnny Was’ from their legendary father, Bob Marley, in 1999. GURU had never done anything of that sort in his career but he had tremendous respect for Bob Marley as a historic Black man,” 7 Grand Records reminds.
“GURU felt honored to be involved in the project so GURU flew to Kingston, Jamaica and met the Marley family at their compound in the city. After greeting and engaging in traditional rituals, everyone was well inspired. GURU recorded his part for ‘Johnny Was’ and felt it was a high point of his career and one of his most favorite works.”
Almost 10 years later, in 2007, GURU linked up with Damien Marley, Bob Marley’s son, also an aspiring and extremely talented musician. Both collaborated on the song “Stand Up”, which was featured on GURU’s “Jazzmatazz Vol. 4″ (2007) project
“GURU came back to Jamaica in 2006 to record a collabo with Damien Marley titled ‘Stand Up’ for the ‘Jazzmatazz Vol. 4′ album. When we gave Damien the
track, we were not sure what his response would be but he killed it. GURU was blown away at the skills of Damien on the vocals he delivered and the rest is history. GURU has often said that it was a blessing to work with the Marley family.”
Links:
As most heads have already heard, Rammellzee has passed away. According to his wife, Carmela Zagari Rammellzee, he passed away from a long illness. Today we received a email from Uncommon Records, a small non-related independent label including a podcast of an old interview with Rammellzee from a few years ago. Even though many blogs and sites around the world have already posted information about this tragic loss we thought that this interview was worth sharing. This interview touched base on the beginnings of hip-hop, the evolution of his career and played a bunch of his music including some stuff that was not released at the time. He also dropped a super abstract freestyle at the end of the show.
The tracks featured are:
1. Beat Bop (Original Version) feat. K-Rob {End portion}
2. New Meaning (Japanese Import)
3. Jamming Zabar (Bi-Connicals of The Rammellzee)
4. Quack (Bi Connicals of The Rammellzee)
5. Caution (Unreleased, from Bill Laswell project features Buckethead on Gtr)
6. This Was My School Bag (Unreleased from forthcoming “Gothic Futurism” LP)
Rammellzee, pronounced “Ram: Ell: Zee” was a visual artist, graffiti writer, performance artist, rap/hip-hop musician, art theoretician and sculptor from New York. Rammellzee’s graffiti and art work are based on his theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes the battle between letters and their symbolic warfare against any standardizations enforced by the rules of the alphabet. Rammellzee first became known in graffiti circles in the late 1970s for hitting the A train and other lines around Queens with his signature spiky lettering.
Rammellzee was also instrumental as one of the original hip hop artists from the New York area who introduced specific vocal styles which date back to the early 1980s. His influence can still be heard in contemporary artists such as The Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill. Over the years he worked with a wide range of artists outside of the hip-hop industry such as Buckethead, NIN, Iggy Pop, and Bootsy Collins.
Please take a listen to the interview. Do some research if you’re not familiar with what he is talking about. R.I.P.
Chromeo - Don't Turn The Lights On
Chromeo has just dropped their new single, “Don’t Turn The Lights On”, from our forthcoming album Business Casual and his getting prepared for a North American and European tour in support of the new project. You can go to GREENLABELSOUND.COM to download singles and remixes by Chromeo and Holy Ghost! for free. A few of the dates are already sold out. Here are the tour dates.
NORTH AMERICA TOUR DATES
Jul 26 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
Jul 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
Jul 29 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
Jul 30 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Jul 31 – Montreal, QC – Metropolis
Aug 02 – Ottawa, ON – Capital Music Hall
Aug 03 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix
Aug 05 – Detroit, MI – Majestic
Aug 06 – Chicago, IL – LOLLAPALOOZA Festival
Aug 07 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
Aug 10 – Calgary, AB – Flames Central
Aug 11 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore
Aug 12 – Seattle, WA – Showbox Market
Aug 13 – Portland, OR – Roseland
Aug 15 – San Francisco, CA – OUTSIDE LANDS Music and Arts Festival
Aug 16 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Aug 19 – Salt Lake City, UT – Twilight Concert Series [FREE SHOW]
Aug 20 – Denver, CO – Ogden
Aug 24 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s
Aug 25 – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
Aug 26 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
Aug 27 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
Aug 29 – Los Angeles, CA – Live at the Hollywood Bowl!
EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
Jul 02 – Malsucy, FR – EUROCKEENNES Festival
Jul 03 – Paris, FR Point Ephemere (Sold Out)
Jul 06 – Montruex, CH MONTREUX JAZZ Festival
Jul 08 – Novi Sad Vojvodina, RS – EXIT Festival
Jul 09 – Zamardi, HU – BALATON SOUND Festival
Jul 11 – Barcelona, ES – The Loft
Jul 15 – Arvika, SE – ARVIKA Festival
Jul 16 – Dour, BE – DOUR Festival
Jul 17 – Grafenhainichen, DE – MELT Festival
Jul 18 – London, UK LOVEBOX Festival
Immortal Technique has arrived back into the US after being in Haiti for a few days to assist hands on in the relief efforts and for a show to support Haitian Hip Hop. Below is a letter from Immortal Technique describing his experience and views on the current situation.
Letter Below:
I recently arrived home from Haiti.
While I was there I worked in a few aspects of the relief effort including a solidarity mission to aid the Earthquake survivors. In addition to all of this Myself, Cormega and Styles P participated in a show to support Haitian Hip Hop and rebuild the community. I would like to thank Arms Around Haiti and Hip Hop for Haiti for inviting me to be a part of this movement. While I was there I saw both devastation and rebuilding efforts. I also broke bread with people who had lost their entire family. Literally, everyone but them was deceased. Then there were those whose grief centered around losing a mother, father, brother, sister, son, or daughter as a direct result of what happened. It should make everyone reading this feel blessed to have anyone in his or her life. Think about that… Now think about it some more.
I saw so many different things as I walked through the slums and rode around Port-Au-Prince (as well as the area surrounding it.) I met mayors, townspeople, and the Arms around Haiti (Sobs staff) introduced me to several visionary Haitians with good ideas to rebuild the country that I am seriously considering investing my time into.
But one of the most powerful experiences came to me when I was holding this little baby girl who couldn’t have been more than a year old. She was crying because she was hungry, thirsty and tired. I picked her up and she hugged onto me with the newfound control her young muscles had recently provided her. She was one of the many orphans that I met while I was there, and as I held her I wondered what the future would hold for this little precious life. Her father would never hold her again and rock her back and forth to sleep while whispering stories to her. She might find good hearted and righteous people to one day adopt her, but her father, the man who created her would never tell her that he loved her or that she was special, save for the length of a dream or a subconscious memory. So I told her in French that I loved her, that she was beautiful and that she was special to me. I gave her all my water and her young face was immediately full of focus and comfort. After a few minutes of holding her, she fell into slumber. I gave her back to her to a 11-year old girl who had also lost her parents and was acting like a surrogate mother to most of the younger children.
Then I looked at my hands, they seemed like such strong hands before I went to Haiti. Strong like my will that is made of iron, and my resolve, which I consider unbreakable. But the strength of this young adolescent Matriarch and her newfound responsibility served as God’s gentle reminder and it humbled greatly as I realized what she carried on her shoulders. I am a Revolutionary but rather than just going to places around the world to bring people freedom, I seem to find it among them.
I felt great sadness leaving this place but I also felt anger at the things I saw. So I began to detail a few observations about Haiti and Revolutionary action associated with it in general. I wrote these things as I saw them or felt them but I waited until I was home for a few days so as to not elicit an emotional response but rather one of logic and understanding concerning the various things I saw.
The Spirit of Toussaint is Alive:
- Although the people have suffered here immensely, I still see their spirit still very strong, unbroken and defiant. Even though the sun floods the day with sweltering heat, the vast majority of people are working in some capacity. Many have their own small business or hustle and they take great pride in what they do. They find no shame in their work, however menial because, as it was told to me they felt blessed to have anyone to provide for. In the camps when dusk settles in, children play soccer with pieces of garbage tied up or maybe an old volleyball. They are survivalists as their history has taught them to be. The tent cities are home to usually 2 or 3 families per tent. Perhaps it is their past dealings with dictators sponsored by this nation, or by years of civil strife and a long Revolutionary history but they have become so resilient, so much so that they now serve as a personal inspiration to me of what mankind/original man can overcome.
All about the Benjamin’s, Mon Cheri:
Foreign Aid. That is a deceptive phrase. Many times the countries who, pledge money to a disaster-ridden nation are not giving that country money at all. They are really pledging the money to their corporation to rebuild the country at an inflated price set by the global conglomerate. It changes the very nature of what that means. Imagine if your house burnt down and I told the news and every local media outlet I was going to “donate” $100,000 to rebuild it. This is the catch the job really costs $20,000 to do. Yes, from the Capitalist pro business point of view I am providing a service that I deserve to be compensated for. But the characterization of what I am doing is purposefully altered so as to disguise the real motivation for “aiding” you. I’m not condemning the idea of foreign aid on a whole although there are aspects of it that create dependency and de facto vassals. But the system by which some of this “aid” is raised and distributed sometimes has little to do with anything resembling a humanitarian effort.
Let’s recap. I give you money, which you’re essentially giving back to me plus interest for doing something at twice the cost. I don’t give you fish anymore. That was Imperialism. This is Neo Liberalism, we teach you to fish, and collect 75% of the profit…forever. This system is actually the one that seems rational to first world powers now and is still implemented today all over the planet. Corporate Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) raise billions of dollars just to spend a fraction of that on the people who are actually affected and suffering. Then as if overpaying themselves wasn’t enough they act like they really did something. This system gives a bad name to real non-profit NGO’s and people that are selflessly doing something out of the kindness of their hearts. The Foreign Aid field is infested with corporate socialites and poverty pimps who troll around the mud with us dark people so you have something to talk about at your bourgeois industry parties. And where is the money going?
Waiting in Vain:
There is about 12 Billion dollars of Aid, waiting to be distributed, (conveniently earning interest for someone by the way) and since world agencies (take your pick) do not trust the shell of government left in Haiti, the situation has spiraled into a game of tit for tat in some instances. Corruption is not relegated to the surviving members of a fractured government. The customs area has thousands of pieces of clothing and non-perishable food that is simply sitting in store-rooms because customs is sometimes demanding $8,000 (US) to allow it into the country. You read it right, $8,000 American dollars to let a few boxes of supplies collected by people like you into the country. There are organizations such as the one I was there with, and Wyclef’s ‘Yele’ that use their longstanding connections with local power players and government officials to navigate around these bureaucracies, but it made me wonder how many good hearted people’s donations were just sitting there in some hangar collecting mold and dust. The supplies I handed out, the stuff I brought myself to give to people, the houses we put people in seemed like a good first step but now I wish more than anything to return and really make an impact having studied the situation. (* I remember after the Earthquake happened the mainstream media did a few stories criticizing smaller Aid Organizations on the ground and encourage people to direct their donation to the Major ones. Now I wonder if it was to promote efficiency or was it to safeguard their corporate partners monopoly?)
Children’s Story:
In Haiti, child trafficking is still going on, because it’s a lucrative business. It hasn’t stopped just because the news has stopped covering it, this right here is still happening. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/27/haiti.earthquake.orphans/index.html” target=”blank”> http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Haiti.htm ) I have even heard rumors about aid workers trading food for sex with little girls and boys. I’m not repeating these charges to try and substantiate them in any way. Because I hope they’re a lie, or at worst an exaggeration of an isolated incident. Far be it for me to try and pass innuendo off as fact but when you hear something like that from dozens of people from different walks of life, it makes you think. The reality after the Earthquake was that many of these children were (and still are) stolen and shipped out immediately or taken over to the Dominican Republic whose government is also very corrupt and sold to every corner of the world. Sad to think that the nation that showed the world that a successful slave revolution was possible has it’s sons and daughters sold into slavery in 2010.
The Almighty UN:
When I was young I thought the UN was a powerful entity, like the Super friends from Saturday morning cartoons. I was fed the idea that they provided a solution to arguing nations and would be helpful in taking the side of the underdog, the oppressed and colonized. But as I grew I realized it was just a way of making it look like America and Britain were not acting alone and it rewarded participants who conscripted their troops there. They are a Right Wing punching bag but really that’s duplicitous because they have been used to justify our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. As if it is full of equal partners who are committed to the mission. Truth is the UN peacekeepers are full of many soldiers who would otherwise be getting paid $100 a week to be a soldier in their own country. The UN security-council resolutions have no teeth without the US’s approval, and sometimes they go to a country (like Haiti) and get a paycheck for doing very little. As I keep having interactions with them, my opinion just keeps on worsening. I by no means had any of those young teenage illusions about them going into this trip, but this is my observation. There is no salvation for the 3rd world in this entity. Truthfully, the UN are a war (with a real country) away from being as much of a part of history as the Hanseatic League. As we speak. They act as the de-facto military rulers of Haiti, with the US leaning over them looking at possible candidates. I think in all honesty they want a Haitian Karzai of their very own so perhaps their weakness is deceptive on purpose and they are just the arm of a face that has not revealed itself yet. “Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on, le malheur est qu’il tue ses élèves.”
Jesus’s Power Broker:
- Haiti is flooded with Christian missionaries. There were 40 of them on the plane with me headed to Port-Au-Prince. In case you don’t know what a missionary is kids, it’s not just a sexual position. (Although plenty of people have been fucked over the years.) It means someone who goes to other countries and tells people that their religion or native custom is savage and full of useless ceremonies to God’s & spirits that don’t exist. And while I know some of these people mean well, their very existence and purpose is in complete contradiction to what their religion actually teaches. Some are working to build schools and help out with social programs, but always with the agenda to prosthletize and solidify their religious control over the area. So no matter what their intentions are, they look like their peddling Jesus on a fishing pole with foreign aid wrapped in Bible paper on a hook. In the past they were dispatched to countries to make them as Christian as possible in a direct effort to bring them into the colonial power’s sphere of influence. You see Imperial powers could not win by military force, and so conversion directly aided in our subjugation and apparently still aids in our placation. As long as we let other people define God for us we will not only be the physical but also the spiritual prisoner of our oppressors vision.
Mission Impossible:
- Spain, Portugal, England, France and Italy, etc… did this “missionary work” all over Africa, Asia and Latin America. Many of you people reading this who are of the aforementioned faith have them to thank, not divine intervention for what you believe. I am not in any way shape or form trying to detract from the individuals who really have the message of Jesus Christ in their hearts. I honestly believe if we lived our lives by the teachings of Christ this world would be a better place. But there are too many frauds making money off of Yeshua these days. The crazy thing is, that as many Muslim and Jewish charities that are working in Haiti, I haven’t witnessed any effort by them to convert people to Judaism or Islam. What is it about this faith that we hold so dear in America that makes us so insecure about what other people believe in? You’re going to have to stop using the excuse you want to “save people” and just admit that you don’t feel comfortable around someone until they believe in what you believe, spiritually. What gives us the moral authority to go around the world and tell the indigenous people of every continent that their religion is a farce and the only real truth was compiled in Constantinople in 325 AD? Isn’t the most “Christian” thing in the world to give charity to the poor and suffering without asking for anything in return? (Least of all, the culmination of all their beliefs.)
Blood Roots:
As I walked through the tent cities full of families waiting for water and cooking whatever they could find for their collective I happened upon a long road. It led me through the scorching slums of the outer area of Port-Au-Prince. While I was walking these two young brothers who ere dressed in red asked me if I was a Blood. I looked at them both and I responded that I wasn’t and one of them then raised his eyebrow, “you Crip then?” He asked with a heavy Creole accent. I said that I was neither and I was more like a Black Panther. After all OG Black Panthers and people from the Indigenous movements have taught me a libraries worth of knowledge. The younger one asked me what a Black panther was. I searched my surrounding for an analogy and there just happened to be a small tree near by. So I walked them over to it. The tree had two branches littered with a few leaves. Holding one branch I said, “this one is the blood” and pointing to the other one I said, “this one is the Crip” and then putting his hand on the trunk close to the roots, I said “this one is the Black Panther”. “Ne de la Revolution” which means Born out of Revolution in my humble French. The young kid smiled at me and asked me more about the Black Panthers. I stood there speaking to him for a little while and then we saluted one another and went our separate ways. Although Haiti is twice as hood as any place in the US, they are such a young country full of children who must become adults before their time. If they are to succeed, someone must educate them to the fact that what people call Black history is in fact world history. I would be honored to be a part of that someday. Don’t worry I won’t NGO them for hundreds of G’s either. I’d settle for a room and some coffee in the morning.
La Revolucion de Latino America:
For those of us who are studying Latin American Revolution, Haiti is the prequel, the seemingly invincible power of France being challenged and overcome. The Napoleonic wars gave America a chance to breathe away from the eyes of Europe long enough to affirm itself. France’s assault on Spain weakened the European states enough for us to take the moment that we cherish as our time for ‘Revolucion’. The story of our Revolution doesn’t begin in the 1950’s but in the Indigenous revolts of the conquest era and the early 1800’s when a small island of enslaved Africans showed the world that it was possible. Estudiantes Latinos, estudia esta Revolucion, sus lecciones son unas de las mas importantes para apprender. Tienen te todo, de raza, de classe, de corrupcion, y por supuesto del sacrificio necessario para obtener la libertad.
In parting:
I learned something very reassuring about myself in Haiti, something I am proud to acknowledge and leave my people on a good note with. When I meet someone who is a better activist, or Revolutionary, (I’ll be happy to make that distinction later) when I see someone whose actions achieve more than mine, or who has a more complete perspective I become inspired. I don’t get bitter or jealous and think about trying to “out-revolutionary” them. That’s so pointless and yet it is something that I see sometimes in the movement, people who think that because another doesn’t adhere to the same ideology or the same faith that we must bring them down. I am a Revolutionary and I need no one’s permission to be. We were successful at breaking ground in Haiti, but my mission there is by no means complete, I wish to plan further actions with my friends at Arms Around Haiti and the staff at SOBS. I would like to thank Jube, Mario, Cormega, StylesP, Herbie, Clef, Yele, Arms Around Haiti, Parrish, BC, and my Haitian Soldiers there for making this trip possible I look forward to returning soon.
“Le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux: l’ennui, le vice et le besoin.”
Volume 4 of Superior Belly‘s Spill Out Series, Progress Report, a 7″ vinyl release has dropped. Progress Report is a collaboration by Detroit-based hip-hop artists D. Allie (U.S.M) and Eddie Logix (Midcoast Most). A 3-song single is available on I-Tunes. 
psalmone_ginsuknives_ft_del_dirty.mp3
After 16 years, Fat Beats has announced the closing of the legendary label’s two remaining retail locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fat Beats will celebrate the legacies of the stores, which are scheduled to close in early September (New York: September 4th, Los Angeles: September 18th) by throwing a series of blow-out sales and tribute parties open to the public during their last weeks. Fans can check www.FatBeats.com for updates. 
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a Washington DC-based marijuana advocacy group, has partnered with jam-based dub rock heavyweights Slightly Stoopid and hip-hop juggernauts Cypress Hill on the Legalize It 2010 tour for a YouTube based video contest to raise awareness for California’s Prop 19, the initiative to regulate and tax marijuana. The initiative will be on the California ballot November 2nd, 2010 and its passage would be a historic step forward in the fight to end marijuana prohibition and legalize marijuana nationwide..
This is one for the real hip-hop heads, you’re going to want have this. DJ JS-1 (Rock Steady Crew) & DJ Skizz (The Halftime Radio Show) just dropped “Re-Cycled”: Heavy Rotation Vol. 3. This free mixtape is a full mix of remixes. Most of these remixes are rare, uncommon, or unplayed out. Lots of good music, classic tracks, some rare hip-hop.
Legendary Chicago-based junglist Danny the Wildchild just posted this classic mix for the heads out there. This special 1995 old-school set was Recorded live at Smart Bar in Chicago on April 8th 2010 for Murda In America’s Big Bass Thursdays. If you’re not familiar, Danny the Wildchild is globally recognized for his hip-hop and DMC influenced technique and approach to Drum n Bass. Share it, bump it.
Detroit hip hop artist Black Milk has just released his latest single, “Welcome.” This is the first single of his album, The Album of The Year, that will be released september 14th via Decon & Fatbeats! Listen, download, and share.
Facebook
Twitter