Immortal Technique for President!

This interview of Immortal Technique at the #Occupy Wallstreet demonstrations is bound to go viral & spread like a blazin' fire. I say "Immortal Technique for President" knowing full well that he would probably be shot before hitting the campaign trail, but wouldn't it be great if we had folks like this leading the way to a true democracy (which is not what we have now in the US--& if you think that voting is the only evidence needed to negate my postulation, slap yourself now). I wrote about Immortal Technique a few years ago (here), and will feature his upcoming CD on this blog soon. Check out the interview & listen to what he's saying.


OneLove


:::MME:::

The Fire Next Time

Pet peeve: fake folks masquerading as other than what/who they are. I'll take a neo-nazi sympathizer over a gutless, parasitical poseur any day. At least the former, although deluded by an anachronistic/revisionist ethos, has the conviction to stand firm on his/her belief whether you like it or not. The latter stands for nothing--an army of one.

In the sphere of entertainment, it's rare to find those brave, uncompromising souls who take a back-seat to no one or hang their principles out to dry. In the sphere of Hip Hop music, I see a few shining lights beyond the swamp-land of mediocrity and opportunism: Talib Kweli, Mos Def, KRS-One, Common, Ursula Rucker, The Roots, Dead Prez, De La Soul, Little Brother, Outkast, Cee-Lo, Nas, Jay-Z and 2PAC (in their finer moments), Shihan, Master Ace, Wyclef, Chuck D, Kanye and Guru ( there are a few others that don't come to mind right now) lead the way. One artist who is destined to become a member of this elite group of soul rebels is the prophetic Immortal Technique.

Ever since 2PAC emerged on the scene and shook foundation with the seminal "2Pacalypse Now", I have not heard a rapper spit volcanic lava like this. Yes, there is a plethora of fire breathing lyricists out there who can throw it down and get you all twisted ( LL Cool J, 50, Twista, Ghostface, Meth, RZA - damn! the whole Wu Tang Clan!), but after the beat wears thin, it's over as the content seems so banal and forgettable (after ridin' on pimped-out 24's high and blown/wettin' niggas up (i.e glorifying death by killing their own kind) /trampling on women aka bitches, tricks and hoes/partyin' and talking shit to escape the grim realities of hood life--Is there anything much worth remembering?) Immortal Technique engages like a modern day Socrates. He challenges the dominant structures, institutions and (dead-) mind-sets of the body politic against a backdrop of head-bobbing beats that insinuate themselves into your mental landscape razin' the m*f* to the ground!

Critique if you will ( I recommend it), but this brother has a perspective worthy of serious contemplation. Take these lines from his "Poverty of Philosophy" for example:

"Nigga talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely....."

Fire.

Plenty of fools need a double-dose of this verbal penicillin to heal their syphilitic idiocy.

Check out a few of Immortal Technique's verses in this hip hop compilation..

Stay true.

::::MixMasterE::::

Immortal Technique on The Lessons of History

Immortal Technique breathes fire! He holds nothing back which is what I most admire. His command of history and politics is top notch and more young voices like this need to be heard. Check out more Immortal Technique here & here. 

OneLove

:::MME:::

Immortal Technique on Conspiracy Facts, Money as God & Breaking the Two Party Dictatorship

Immortal Technique is one of my favorite Hip Hop artists.I have featured this brother before (here  & here). Like Talib Kweli, M1, Lupe Fiasco & Common, Immortal is unabashedly revolutionary, take it or leave it. When so many artists have sold their sold to the Rain Man for fortune & fame, Immortal stands stubbornly against the tide with a finger in the air. His search is for truth, devil take the hindmost. 

OneLove  

:::MME::: 

Immortal Technique On Fake Hip-Hop Artists

If only more Hip Hop artists were this bold & informed. We only have a handful of artists like this, but they are sidelined for the most part by the corporate-controlled music business whose only interest is making a profit on any scumbag artist willing to sell their soul & disempower their audience. Immortal Technique is the sound of one whose mind lives outside the hypnotic glow of a brainwashing system. Listen & learn.....

 OneLove

 :::MME:::

Other Voices

Hip Hop has the potential to change the world.

No, I'm not talking about Hip Hop in tinsel wrap courtesy of Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, P. Diddy (or is it Puffy Duffy?), Ying Yang Twins, Snoop (although I will admit I like their lyricism and tight production)--I am speaking of the more progressive,genre-expanding, lyrically-brilliant Hip Hop artists along the lines of Common, Nas, Lupe Fiasco, Immortal Technique, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Ceelo, The Roots, Dead Prez, KRS-ONE and Kanye West-- Masters of Alliteration, Paradox, Allegory & Metaphor weaving rich narratives of life in between the lines like latter-day griots (with Pro Tools..haha).

It's no accident that mainstream media skims over/neglects the more socially potent and relevant material of the more progressive artists. Like drug dealers, record and cable/TV executives push the partyln', pimpin' & gun-totin' swagger on the young & impressionable at the expense of incisive observations of the body politic & cogent socio-cultural analysis. One can deduce that the recording companies fear the broadening/popularization of uplifting, intelligent music by young black men (primarily) since the shameful stereotypes and wayward follies that keep our young enraptured and intellectually disengaged have served them so well. As Lupe Fiasco quotes a record executive in "Dumb It Down":

"Won't you talk about your cars..
You've been shedding too much light
You make'em wanna do right
They're getting self-esteem
These girls are trying to be queens
They're trying to graduate from school
They're starting to think that smart is cool
They're trying to get up out the hood
I'll tell you what you should do... Dumb it down!"

Executives sell, they could care less if a message or image is toxic or just useless (Lil Wayne): They are amoral-to-immoral agents out to market whatever turns a quick profit. Sadly, one too many artists cloud their vision/silence their voices & succumb to the law of the jungle (market)--essentially they become accomplices to their own mental enslavement and end up looking/sounding like fools at the end of the puppet-masters' strings.

So, just what type of messages/images are the more progressive, trend-defying artists projecting that bring such trepidation and disgust to the well-fed honchos of the major entertainment oligarchies? Some samples : Nas has critiqued North American lifestyles ("America"),Common has approached the male-female dynamic in a reflective & didactic manner("The Light"), KRS-1 has warned against self-destruction( "Self-Destruction"), Talib Kweli has meditated on a dream deferred ("Everything Man") and The Roots have sympathized with victims of domestic abuse ("Innocence Lost")...I can go on but my point is that the real face of Hip Hop is not being truly represented in the mainstream (with the exception of Kanye West and a few others). Sometimes Hip Hop's face is deeply sorrowful as reflected in The Roots "Return to Innocence Lost", sometimes it's angry as in Immortal Technique's, "The Poverty of Philosophy", sometimes it's fearful & confused as in 2PAC's "Are U Afraid 2 Die?", sometimes serenely metaphysical as in Blackilicious's "Release", sometimes grateful and loving as in Goodie Mob's "Guess Who?". Indeed, there are many faces in Hip Hop, but the mainstream chooses only to exploit the more limiting, lifeless visions of hoes, rims and jacuzzis (for the most part).

Fortunately, a growing number of progressive Hip Hop artists are gravitating towards (or creating)independent labels to promote, manufacture, distribute and sell their work which will allow a broader appreciation of their work untainted by the greed, cowardice and stupidity of mainstream record executives. Sparks are going to fly when the full power of Hip Hop is unleashed and I can't wait--I am sick of cowards and zombies who dot the landscape.

By way of conclusion, a few conscious flows (not suitable for the uncommitted, one-dimensional weak-hearts who fear reprisals, rejection, discomfort & change ).....

Keep movin'...

::MixMasterE::

Blue-Collar Swagger

Chitown's Rhymefest recently dropped a gem of a hip-hop mixtape entitled, "Mark Ronson presents Rhymefest: Man In The Mirror" which contains some very interesting interpretations of Michael Jackson's songs/samples interspersed with humorous mock-up conversations between Jackson and Rhymefest. Oddly, this mixtape can bring Michael Jackson from the shadows and resurrect his career after his tumultuous fall from grace.

Rhymefest ranks up there with Talib Kweli, Common, Immortal Technique, Guru and Mos Def although he is not as famous as they are (outside of the hip hop sphere, that is). If you enjoyed Kanye's "Jesus Walks", then much of the credit goes to Rhymefest for writing/co-producing it.

My favorite cuts on this joint are:

Maybe Tomorrow

Breakadawn

Set The Mood

All That I've Got Is You

Coolie High

Sunshine Skit

Man In The Mirror

Download the album for free

Also check out this interesting interview.
OneLove~MixMasterE

Don't Believe The Hype!

Hip Hop music can take several trajectories, but the dominant one is the trend-altering commercial one which has its moments, but for the most part, we are all the poorer as there is so much more to Hip Hop than the acquisition of material objects & the pursuit of the flesh. As I've mentioned before, the best of Hip Hop is seldom heard on plantation radio, but for those of you who keep an ear to the riveting underground sound & know where to seek it, you know what's up! Give me Immortal Technique or Mos Def over Lil Wayne & Jay-Z any day. Intelligent lyricism with clever hooks is where it's at! Here's a small dose I concocted in the lab......

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

OneLove!

::MixMasterE::

J. Cole on Meditation, Social Media, Celebrity Worship & Donald Trump

 

This young brother is wise beyond his years much like Kendrick Lamar, Joyner Lucas, Immortal Technique, Brother Ali, Saul Williams & Prince Ea. Young ears need to learn something from these cats...old, ignorant bastards too!! hahaaaa!!....

Russell Brand Takes Aim

This is exactly what more celebrities should be doing once they acquire a certain level of power and influence, in my opinion. He makes more sense than the bent-over politicians in office. I said the same for Immortal Technique a few months back when he was critiquing Wall Street.Seems like most folks simply sell their souls for money and comfort & this is exactly what is going to end us, is it not?

OneLove

:::MME:::

Malcolm X: Prince of Islam

I always had an admiration for Malcolm X for the simple fact that he courageously stood up for what he believed in & was willing to put his life on the line for it (name one leader who can do that today). His transformation is still one of the most fascinating stories of triumph in the face of social, cultural and structural adversity of our time. That Malcolm acknowledged the flawed philosophy he adopted when he first entered the Nation of Islam stands out for me as critical introspection is the very root of any type of self-transformation, Malcolm had the intellectual honesty and spiritual depth to change course after his trip to Mecca by replacing an angry, divisive racial rhetoric with a universal quest for justice. He truly believed that he could align with non-Muslims and white people in an effort to reconstruct an America and a world free from racial hatred and domination, a message he sought to spread by speaking on numerous college campuses, but was gunned down before he could get the chance.

Cowardice, opportunism and greed are the stuff of politics and leadership today. Very few are doing the necessary work to pick up where Malcolm left off. Cornel West, Tim Wise, Bell Hooks, Patricia Williams, Michelle Alexander & Immortal Technique are some of the rare individuals who continue to shed light in the darkness that continues to envelope us. Racism is one old, dirty puss-filled bastard that refuses to die. You read about it practically every day, especially most glaringly within police departments nationwide. The challenge is not so much following any of the aforementioned individuals, but in doing the critical work,  finding your own voice and being a light unto yourself, just as Malcolm had done. Only then can we one day bury The Beast for good.

OneLove


:::MME:::

Things Fall Apart

All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.

-Ellen Glasgow

Every now and then I listen to the popular radio stations on my way to work, sometimes flipping between stations to get to a song I half-way like. Over the past decade or so, it has been quite a challenge to find a song I truly like on the radio which is why I make my own playlists and let them stream as I drive. Much of the music today is toxic trash offering nothing to nourish the mind & soul. It's Death with a catchy hook & lyrical turn of phrase. 

Of all the genres of music out there, the one that offends me the most right now is Hip Hop. This wasn't always the case. Most people in my generation got into Hip Hop with "Rappers Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. From there we jammed to the pioneers from Public Enemy to De La Soul to Wu-Tang. The music was pulsating, oftentimes cutting edge & almost always thought-provoking. Even the harder-edged rap from the likes of Ice-T & BDP (Boogie Down Productions) wasn't solely about cultural stereotyping and gangster stylings. There was a lot of harsh, bitter truth in the music especially as it related to being young, black and stuck in an over-crowded & economically-challenging environment with few options. Ice-T, for example, would sometimes hype the gangsta life only to flip it in the end by saying things like, "That fast money leads to a fast life and a quick death" (check out his cut "High Rollers"). Hip Hop was an incredible tapestry of sounds, styles & communities, but it was the more powerful & progressive aspects of Hip Hop that catapulted it into a formidable cultural & political force to be reckoned with & this made a lot of people in high places pay attention, nervously.  Listen to Grand Master Flash's "The Message" or Public Enemy's "911 is a Joke". Even the controversial N.W.A resonated with the heat of a despised & hated people & lyrically brandished swords & decapitated, mercilessly. "Fuck Tha Police"was the anthem for a young generation who felt, at best, tolerated in schools, feared on the streets, and almost inevitably destined for the hell holes of prison or low-wage employment. It is this pathos of being black in America set to a tight, menacing rhythm which vacillated between amorality and conscious wisdom which describes Hip Hop in my day. It wasn't devoid of meaning in any way. The music was the message. In fact, Hip Hop was widely viewed at the time as the "black CNN". This is the reason Hip Hop from the mid-80s to the mid- 90sis considered to be the "Golden Age of Hip Hop".

From the mid-90s, things changed....

With the exception of lyrically-gifted, socially aware and politically insightful rappers such as Talib Kweli, M1, Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco & Q-tip, Hip-Hop is now a modern day Stepin Fetchit show. With gang references, glorification of prisons, objectification of women, big pimpin', celebration of the worst aspects of the ghetto, and odes to marijuana & alcohol which have become consistent themes within the genre, today's young generation has been blindsided. Although the aforementioned elements have always been present in the music, it has never been as emphasized/glorified. It almost seems intentional - like one big brainwashing operation meant to justify all the evils visited upon a group of people. It should come as no surprise that when it was discovered that a lot of money could be made from this art form, a handful of powerful corporations swooped in & now control the business, playing down to the lowest, most misogynistic, violent & racist stereotypes. It would do many a Hip Hop artist some good to research the history of Stepin Fetchit as way too many of them flirt with shameless, disreputable images. As the saying goes, "whoever controls the images, controls your self-esteem, self-respect and self-development"...

When you listen to much of today's rap music, think Minstrel Show/Stepin Fetchit/Jim Crow. The stereotypic images of Blacks were perpetuated in the minstrel show by Whites-in blackface in the 1800s-as a means of entertaining other Whites. Today, you have folks like Lil Wayne & Wiz Khalifah perpetuating false portrayals of Black life for the entertainment of a mostly white-suburbanite audience who download this music constantly (rap music’s consumer market in the United States is approximately 80 percent white). The funniest/saddest thing to me is witnessing young white folks wanting to "be black" by talking, acting and dressing like these stereotypic rappers. Sadly, it is these white folks who are getting the biggest checks in all of this.  They throw scraps at the struggling hip-hop artists who in turn proceed to boast of how much money they possess, but it's the mostly white-owned recording and distribution companies who are pimping the game. It's all spectacle with little substance to speak of...<<>><<>>And  you wonder why most rappers end up burned out & broke?

All of this goes against what our ancestors fought against during slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. What would Ida B. Wells & Ella Baker think of our dear, misguided Nikki Minaj? What would Martin Luther King & Malcolm X think of Drake & Future who choose to use their obvious talents & influence to make the most despised group in American society (the young black male) look even more hopeless & trivial? Like minstrels, they prance across the stage, oftentimes bare-chested, tatted & stoned for the money & notoriety. Damn a message & standing up for something meaningful. As a matter of fact, even if some of them wanted to, the rich, white, old men who run the industry would never allow such potent resistance in their “product”. Act like a fuckin' goon, dumb it down and we'll all get paid.....

We've come a long way from "Straight Outta Compton"(N.W.A), "Self-Destruction" (BDP) and "The Message" (Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five). Now we have "Truffle Butter" (Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake & Lil Wayne), "Drop That Kitty"(Ty Dolla $ign ft. Charli XCX & Tinashe) & "Amazing Amy" (Lil Wayne ft Migos). Not all of today's Hip Hop songs are bad, it's just the ones that are burning up the charts & getting the most air time/video rotations that I take issue with. The progressive voices are being drowned out and swept to the side. Listen to "Scar-Strangled Banner" (Dead Prez), "Caught In A Hustle"(Immortal Technique) & "Deliver" (Lupe Fiasco) to get a taste of the  revolutionary fervor that still bubbles below....

OneLove

:::MME:::