If you wanna make it out here you gotta have colder blood.
That’s capitalism, baby.
Loving this tune. Jacka and Berner are supposed to drop another album together, “Drought Season 2″. This track features J-Stalin and the guy singing the hook is Fam Syrk, haven’t heard of him before.
Greetings from Madrid. Here city officials have decided to set up surveillance cameras in the barrio near by called Lavapiés. Everyone is not happy about this, and there’s a campaign going on against video surveillance: Un Barrio Feliz. In the streets of Lavapiés, you can see stencils painted to mark the spot where there are cameras. In Helsinki somebody did similar anti-surveillance stencils a few years back.
Rebel Sonix from London approaches the theme with a music video above. Some time ago we posted another anti-Big Brother anthem here.
Our favorite blog tells us that Finland has the second biggest number of surveillance cameras in Europe.
Cubic Zirconia - Fuck Work (Proper Villians & Jubilee Remix)
Cubic Zirconia - Fuck Work (Dances With White Girls Remix)
Cubic Zirconia - Fuck Work (Michael Meds Remix)
Today I woke up knowing I don’t have to go the office again.
Well, to be exact, my fixed term contract expires in the end of the month, but now it’s time for a well-deserved holiday!
Cubic Zirconia provides the best Fuck Work anthem for today.
Saturday I went to work
but i got fired
I am unemployed
anybody need some work?
fuck work
fuck work
fuck work
fuck workI don’t have a job, fuck work
fuck fuck fuck em hoes.
Last Saturday afternoon some 300 people took to the streets in cold and rainy Helsinki to protest against the price of rents. Saturday 17 October was the annual Night Of The Homeless (Asunnottomien yö) day of protest. People marched through Kallio and in the end occupied an empty office building in Vallila.
There was some dope music played at the demo. Downtempo songs for the most part, and that went well together with the atmosphere of a dark and rainy day. Even a song by Tapio Rautavaara if I’m not mistaken.
Wu-Tang Clan - Bring Da Ruckus
Fredi - Kolmatta Linjaa
Dead Prez paid a visit to Helsinki and luckily we had a chance to meet them. We did this little interview with them on August 12 after they finished their soundcheck at Tavastia.
This is true manifesto hip hop: tacky, in-your-face and very inspiring. Rebel Diaz is a group that consists of bombastic rapper Lah Tere, who grew up in the Puerto Rican community of Chicago, and the two Chilean brothers RodStarz and G1 from South Bronx. They drop unbashful militant hip hop in both Spanish and English and participate actively in community organizing, not that I know what it means in their everyday lives. Here’s a noteworthy clue from their Myspace:
Rebel Diaz came together at a critical moment in U.S. history. In early 2006, as Latinos throughout America found themselves under attack with anti-immigration laws, Rebel Diaz was in the streets of The Bronx, New York, organizing the community to fight against proposed racist legislation. As a result of strong activist work throughout the United States, Rebel Diaz was invited to perform their revolutionary music at the historic immigrant rights march in New York City in front of 500,000 people, who cheered loudly as they demanded power to the people and an end to immigrant scapegoating for America’s economic ills. In the months that followed, Rebel Diaz performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people in massive protests from Chicago to Washington D.C. The opportunity to speak to the masses is a direct extension of their political work in the South Bronx as well as their experiences growing up in Chicago as the sons and daughters of revolutionaries.
In the same spirit the slogan of the group is “If Hip Hop organized, the whole world would be in trouble.” No surprise we discovered them through Dead prez.
Rebel Diaz biggest hit so far is a remake of the classical union song Which Side Are You On. The song was written by Florence Reece in 1931 in the heat of dirty repression from a mining company during a worker struggle the same year. The remake is worthy the legacy and the new lyrics worth quoting in their entirety, so I wrote them at the end of this post. And check the links added to the lyrics.
Rebel Diaz - Which Side Are You On
The production of Rebel Diaz is available on two mixtapes, Otra Guerrillera and Otro Guerrillero. Download Mixtape 1 at TPB and/or support the artists and buy nr. 1 or 2. from their blog.
Original lyrics of Which Side Are You On interpreted by Pete Seeger.
And another beautiful interpretation by Natalie Merchant.
Which Side Are You On by Rebel Diaz
See I gotta draw the line I cant take it no more
If you ain’t down with revolution what you waitin’ for
Makin’ money for suckas and our communities poor
Rippin’ flags off of coffins man this ain’t our war
Colonized and terrorized by the worlds biggest killers
the US government the biggest weapon and drug dealers
Fillin’ prisons with children incarceratin’ the future
Myspace and Facebook they got us stuck on computers
Stuck on stupid bumpin’ music that’s abusive to the shorties
And the nonsense that you spittin’ they just listen and absorb it
I’ve been dormant I’ve awoken I’m a giant I’m ready
Im with the APPO in Oaxaca and we holdin’ machetes
CHORUS:
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Chi city!!!
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
South Bronx!!!
WHICH SIDE ARE YOUON?
Oaxaca!!!
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Palestina!!!
(RodStarz)
I rock hard like palestinian children holdin’ slingshots!!!
I’m with every single kid that’s down for hip hop
For the culture the life what it really stands for
This music is resistance it’s the voice of the poor
I’m on the side of the workers, the teachers and lunchladies,
on the streets with brown mommys raisin our brown babies,
I’m with youth organizers cleanin’ up the bronx river
I’m like Jaime Escalante when I stand and deliver
I’m with Evo Morales man he runnin’ Bolivia
distribution of the land so they could all live bigger
I’m with Hugo and Fidel, Grandmaster and Melle Mel,
with the Panthers up in Queens Justice for Sean Bell,
Im with Camacho Negron, I’m with Ojeda Rios,
freedom for Oscar Lopez time to get an appeal,
I’m with Abu Jamal im with Assata Shakur,
I’m with the Compas in Immokalee getting a penny more!!
(Lah Tere)
I’m with Elvira Arellano I’m with Rudy Lozano,
I’m for a world without borders and a better tomorrow.
I’m with Mothers on the Move, I’m with Sistas on the Rise
I’m with La Pena del Bronx, keepin’ culture alive
I’m with the kids at the Batey watchin a beat battle
Mean muggin’ all these yuppies in shorts and brown sandles
I’m with parents everywhere fightin’ for good schools
And for all these good women to find some good dudes
I’m with Salvador Allende Man I’m Super Anti Momio!
Con el pueblo en la Havana Grito, Viva Cuba Cono!
I’m for immigrants, activists, unions and freelancers
For djs mcs bombers and breakdancers
I’m with editors, engineers and indymedia
I’m with my family and my crew Rebel Diaz
I’m with Dj Disco Wiz a latino pioneer
Cuz its its dope when the elders break bread with the kids..
(G1)
I’m for tellin the truth exposing the lies
Think about the dead soldiers when you’re drivin your ride
Them people died for the oil and Daddy Bushs revenge
I’m with the widows the children and the lonely best friends
I’m with Families Stayin’ Together as ONE
I’m Not for the Raids and the Deportations!!
I’m with Victor Toro and The M.I.R.
So watch out for those snitches in that unmarked car!
And for Lil Saulito, we gonna fight for your moms..
So we gonna shout her out, twice in One song..
I’m for twelve million workers and Elvira Arellano
I’m for a world without borders and a better tomorrow
In Helsinki, this day (and night) is dedicated to homeless people. It’s October 17, the international day against poverty, and every year local social movement activists come together to organize this event called Asunnottomien yö, “the night of the homeless”.
Today in Helsinki, Asuntotoiminta network - consisting of people from autonomous movements like Opiskelijatoiminta and Social center Satama, and of diverse left-wing folks - organized a demonstration and occupied an empty house in Vallila district in Helsinki. Read here why. There’s lots of media coverage in Finnish - see here, here and here.
Casa Del Mirto - Gypsy Woman
DJ Tameil - Gypsy Theme
DJ Ayres - La Da Dee
What do you know about Baile funk?
Quoting favelafunk.net:
Baile Funk was born as a kind of party especially for dancing. They came up only in the Favelas and poor areas of Rio de Janeiro. Baile Funk started already in the 60s with the aim to give an option to party for the poor and underprivileged people of the suburbs and favelas.
At the beginning the sort of music that was played was soul and funk from the USA. Some years after, more and more different influences happened. At the end of the 80s with the appearence of electronic/digital music from f.e. Kraftwerk from Germany, Funk music changed and somehow emerged as Electro, Freestyle and after all Miami Bass in the middle of the decade. With the beginning of Miami Bass, Baile funk turned into as we know it today.
Sany Pitbull from Rio de Janeiro is playing tonight in Helsinki. He’s been here a few times before. Here’s some footage from the last time.
Angola has the largest number of landmines in the world after Afghanistan. Nearly half of the land in Angola is considered too dangerous to walk on. Hundreds have been killed and perhaps as many as 80.000 injured with a serious disability.
Here you can see some Angolan landmine survivors dancing kuduru, awesome moves!
Angola was in civil war from the 1970’s to 2002 and it was one of the largest and longest armed conflicts of the Cold War. Angola has mines made in Russia, United States, South Africa, and Italy among other countries. There are many interests on Angola as it is the 2nd biggest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and it is the 4th biggest diamond source in the world.
Saturday night was fun. First, there was the re-opening party of Social Center Satama with nice atmosphere. Went there myself to rep Multitunes and dropped tracks like this:
Crookers ft. Kelis - No Security
Felix Cartal - Skeleton (Pance Party Remix)
Zoom & DBX - Commin’ Again
Afterwards went to check out the Nomad Latin Party at Underbar. Local DJ collective Autogestión Project is organizing these parties more or less regularly in Helsinki. They play Latin American music that’s very danceable, and you don’t hear those tunes in other clubs. A year ago we invited them and they came and played at the Helsinki University main building which was occupied by students. With their EZLN shirts and Clandestino banners, they make it clear they are down with zapatista style revolutionary struggle.
Here’s one Brazilian hip hop track they played last night:
They didn’t play this one (afaik) but I’m still embedding it here because the tune is B I G:
If you like it, grab it here: