“The people, with their participation, showed once again that it’s possible to change Bolivia… We have the responsibility to deepen and accelerate this process of change.” - Evo Morales

Our Bolivian brothers and sisters are making it. Yesterday, Bolivian president Evo Morales got re-elected. He stands for change: more freedom and more equality for the indigenous and impoverished majority of Bolivians. And now, since the defenders of the privileges of the old elite have been defeated once again, the change can go on.

Even though Latin America can be a great source of inspiration, we shouldn’t forget where our struggle takes place: here and now. We can make it too!

And if you thought things are not going so bad here, think again. And read this for example. In Helsinki, right-wing politicians, representing the interests of “our” wealthy and privileged minorities, are pushing for more cuts in public services.

The song above is by Spank Pops from San Francisco. His new “Beautiful Noise EP” is out now on Hella Records.

Legendary Bay Area underground rappers Bored Stiff are back with a new 8 track album “Now More Than Ever” and they offer it to you for free. Download it here. 320k mp3 or which ever format you prefer. Nostalgic but nice laid-back hip hop with that Sucka Free Spirit.

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.

An-ten-nae - Destroy The System (Original Mix)
An-ten-nae - Destroy The System (Lawgiverz Remix)
An-ten-nae - Destroy The System (Dov Remix)

Can we destroy the system? Yes we can. This is the message brought to you by Bay Area dubstep producer An-ten-nae. Gotta love dubstep that is down with the revolution.

In the field of political theory, the possibility and necessity of a revolution has been kept on the agenda by people like Slavoj Zizek, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri have just released their third book of the Empire trilogy: the new book named Commonwealth came out in the beginning of October. One of our favorite Finnish blogs has been writing good stuff about Empire and Multitude lately. And Slavoj Zizek is coming to Helsinki next month.

It’s been hella time since I posted any new Bay stuff. In June, Jacka dropped the long anticipated Tear Gas. Shit was dope. What has happened since then? Time for a quick look at the Bay.

1. HUSALAH IS FREE! The guy who together with his fellow mob figa The Jacka masters the art of emo mob music. His first track since released is called Pray For U, produced by Traxamillion. Sounds like he didn’t spend his jail time writing new lyrics but shit slaps regardless.

2. Music video for Glamorous Lifestyle by the Jack “Ice cold Mack from The Figaz” featuring Bay legend Andre Nickatina. Tired of working shit jobs? Fuck that shit. Let’s take what’s ours and start enjoying life.

3. Berner’s Life Of A Star falls in the same category, another song about coming up from the bottom. The beat is proper and Slim Thug’s voice fits in just perfectly. The weak point are the lyrics just recycling the usual shit about cash, hoes, cars. Berner has a new album out.

4. Guce & J-Stalin album Giants And Elephants came out. One of my favorite tracks off the album has a music video with Guce sporting a mohawk and J-Stalin cooking in the kitchen.

5. TD Camp album Face To Face and the music video for Off The Pacific featuring San Quinn and Casual. This is one of the countless Bay Love anthems, but it’s real good too.

Casual & San Quinn - Off The Pacific (prod. TD Camp)
Guce & J-Stalin (ft. Shady Nate) - Another Quelo
Husalah - Pray For U (prod. Traxamillion)
Berner (ft. Slim Thug) - Life Of A Star

Finally, “Tear Gas” is out!

It’s the long anticipated album from The Jacka of the Mob Figaz.
Bay Area rap, gangsta but emo, muslim but hustlin’.

And y’all know what day it is today? June 16, the birthday of 2Pac.

We decided to expand our Multitunes Empire with a Finnish language offshoot, starting from today. Check it out here and if you don’t speak the language, start learning it!

The new Jacka album is definitely worth checking out. SF Weekly did a good article about it, you can read it here.

Some of the tightest tracks are “Our Heroes” (ft. Dubb 20 & J-Stalin) and “Callin My Name” (ft. Mistah Fab). Many many features, maybe too many. The tightest ones include Devin The Dude and the Bay Underground legend Andre Nickatina.

Like Nation of Thizzlam pointed out a while ago, the Mob loves rain - so of course there’s another rain song here. It samples the Doors “Riders on the Storm”. Perfect tune for this beautiful Finnish summer weather. I also think Jacka’s melancholic style kinda goes together with the Finnish mentality in general. On the brighter side of the album there’s a remake of Beastie Boys’ “Girls”.

There are some dope tracks that didn’t end up on the album:

The Jacka - Aspen
The Jacka - Is That You
The Jacka - Wake Ya Game Up
The Jacka - Crown Me
The Jacka - Heavy Rain

R.I.P. Tupac Shakur. Long live West Coast hip hop!

These are the tales, the freaky tales
These are the tales I tell so well
You don’t like my dirty raps, you can go to hell
Short Dog’s on the mic tellin’ cocktales

Everybody knows Too Short, right? He’s a rap legend from Oakland who made it big in the late 80’s. If I’m not wrong, he’s considered as the first west coast rap star. He’s performing in Helsinki this Sunday.

Freaky Tales, Dope Fiend Beat, Cocktales, In The Trunk… The list of classic Too Short songs goes on and on. His major label debut Born To Mack (1988) really blew up. He got famous rapping the raunchiest shit about sexing females (Miami’s 2 Live Crew might have reached the same level of dirtyness though) and using the word “biiiiiitch” like it ain’t nothin’ but a word.

Too Short is an easy target for feminist critique, showing how rap is just so misogynist. Should his raps be defended against this criticism? Is there anything to defend anyway? “Bitch, you’re just a bitch / You work fastfood and you think you’re rich”. I don’t know… Too Short himself , he would say he doesn’t give a fuck - maybe adding “Mothafuck you damn shithead bitch”.

Stand-up comedian Chris Rock talks about how hard it is to defend rap music. For outsiders, it’s fucking easy to say rap is just misogynist garbage. But we still love the music! Even people with feminist views can find themselves listening to it.

Of course there have been responses to misogyny inside the rap world, too. Nation of Thizzlam posted this some time ago: E-40 and Too Short’s Third Wave Feminism. A girl called Kimmie Fresh made a song titled The Real Freaky Tales, telling real freaky shit about Too Short.

Anyway. Even if dirty raps are his trademark, and even if the b-word is his favorite word, Too Short is not only rapping about that. He’s rapping about living in Oakland, being harassed by cops, and of course, rapping about how good rapper he is.

In the 90’s, Too Short relocated to Atlanta. He has done lots of collaborations with South rappers like UGK, 8Ball & MJG, Lil Jon. He’s still putting it down for the Bay though. He signed The Pack to his label when they were coming up, and is still doing lots of collaborations with younger Bay Area artists.

Here’s one track that is (beat-wise at least) something really different that Too Short is doing himself, “Dying Young” by Mob Figaz. The Jacka does the first verse. Too Short speaks about the harsh reality: life is too motherfucking short. Husalah spits a tight verse and Too Short does the last one.

Mob Figaz - Dying Young (Feat. Too Short) (mp3)

And here’s a couple of Too Short remixes you can shake your ass to.

Too Short - Keep Bouncin (Skinny B’more Remix) (mp3)
Hookerz & Blow - Blow The Whistler (Claude Vonstroke vs. Too Short) (mp3)

San Francisco Bay Area: home of the Black Panthers and many other expressions of social radicalism, the capital of the Beat Generation and the Summer of Love 1967. The Bay also has a heritage of innovative urban music since the days of Sly & The Family Stone. It’s hard not to be fascinated by the Bay Area history.

Mid-1990’s were the golden era of Bay Area mob music, a style of rap music based on (usually slow) funk and heavy basslines. Today instead, the Dirty South seems to be the most innovative and influential area of rap music. We’re not nostalgic though, there’s still some good shit coming from the Bay. Here are some songs from 2008 that have been in heavy rotation on my iPod.

D.Willz - Licka Sto (mp3)

In America, you can buy anything from a liquor store. Even a pair of fake sneakers. “I don’t care if they’re real or fake”, D.Willz raps. He only got 55 bucks and has an urgent need of new kicks. 100 bucks cheaper, a good deal - even if everybody looks twice. This song slaps. And I can relate to it: I advocate buying fake Louis Vuitton belts and fake Ray-Bans from street vendors.

The Jacka - African Warrior (mp3)

A certain blog probably told the truth about Jacka and the Mob Figaz: they are emo kids, the gulliest of them all. They do “emocore gangsta rap”. Jacka raps about the life of an African warrior trapped in America. Free flow of thoughts without being nonsense. “Look at the hood we’re trapped in… E pills doing what crack did back then”… “Satellites aimed down on our heads, I’m never looking up ‘cause I know they’re there”.

Laroo - 20 Bricks (ft. Jacka) (mp3)

I’m not a big fan of Laroo but his album The Corporation was solid. Here’s an emo mob track with Jacka. It sounds like they are not 100% sure if they’re drug traffickers or just sneaker addicts: besides pushing rocks, they say they have 20 kicks in their luggage. Visuals for this nice tune here.

Amon - It’s Yours (mp3)

Amon comes from Hayward. Besides this club banger, he has also done a remake of Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball” together with Too Short, “Bay Ballin”. This is just a song about going to the club and meeting hot girls, but it’s real catchy.

J-Stalin - Self Destruction (mp3)

This young dude has a peculiar name. A couple of years ago he did a tight hyphy tune called Banga Dance. On this track he says the dope game got him on the verge of self-destruction. However, he still keeps on doing that shit, because “if you ain’t gettin’ money, nigga you ain’t doing nothing”. “What did you expect, I’m from the West Coast”.

To close this off with a happier end, here’s the Licka Sto video:

There’s some new rap music worth checking out. One of the biggest news is that the Oakland-based female rap duo The Conscious Daughters are back with a new album.

The Conscious Daughters - The Nutcracker Suite

TCD dropped their debut album in 1993 and it included the hit single “Something To Ride To (Fonky Expedition)” (youtube). Paris produced for them back then and still does. Also Rick Rock has produced some of the new tracks. TCD are far from being my favorite mc’s but some of their songs are aight. Some beats are funky as hell.

The Conscious Daughters - Dirty Little Secret (mp3)
The Conscious Daughters - Victory Lap (mp3)
The Conscious Daughters - Lets Party (mp3)

Messy Marv - Cake And Ice Cream Vol. 2

Messy Marv is from Fillmore, San Francisco, rapping about Bay Area street life since 1996.

Messy Marv - Trap (mp3)

Zion I - The Take Over

Zion I are a hip-hop duo from the other side of the Bay Bridge. They speak about social justice much more than the average rapper today, and some of their new songs are rather experimental musically. The new album is not mind blowing but has a couple of nice tracks.

Zion I - Coastin (feat. K.Flay) (mp3)
Zion I - In The Mornin (Caged Bird pt. 2) (mp3)

Big Mike (Geto Boys)

Big Mike was part of The Geto Boys on their 1993 album Till Death Do Us Part. His new track is produced by Chops, the Asian-American guy who was part of the Mountain Brothers in the 90’s - and now produces bangers for rappers like Jeezy and Bun B.

Big Mike ft. Rick Ross - Animals (prod. by Chops) (mp3)

The Cool Kids

The Cool Kids are two young dudes from Chicago and Detroit. Many of their listeners are HIPSTERS! Here’s their newest track and video.

The Cool Kids - 2k Pennies (mp3)

There are many hip hop shows coming up in Helsinki. The next big event is tomorrow at Nosturi. There will be artists like Jeru The Damaja, Beatnuts, Lords Of The Underground, Jedi Mind Tricks, Alkaholiks, and maybe Mic Geronimo (I think he’s cancelled though). I was hoping to win a free ticket but it seems I didn’t so I think I’ll pass.

These rappers just aren’t that interesting today: they are so 90’s. JMT sounds boring to me, so does Jeru. I saw Beatnuts live some time ago, I enjoyed hearing “Watch Out Now”, but for the rest…no no no. I guess it would be like that with The Liks too: they have a couple of tight songs to dance to and that’s it. Paris is the only one of them whose new stuff seems still interesting to some extent. If I hadn’t seen him live before I would go see him, no doubt.

This one is a classic, hands down.

Paris - Break the Grip of Shame (mp3)

Gotta love this track. Yes it sounds old but it’s dope. It’s from his debut album The Devil Made Me Do It (1990).

Black tracks on wax so smooth / You can’t get help but the thought to move / This is a call and a plea for unity / Black is back uplift and be free / Keep pushin, our movement moves on.. so strong, now!

Paris is from Frisco, he’s labelled a political rapper, and he doesn’t mind this label at all. He tells he was influenced by Public Enemy, joined Nation Of Islam, went to Cuba to meet Assata Shakur. On his debut album he talks about escaping from Babylon and fighting the capitalists with a raised fist, referring to the Black Panther 10 point program as a still relevant platform of struggle.

While gangsta rap ruled the west coast rap game, Paris came with a new concept: not gangsta but Guerilla Funk. That was the name of his third album. Some of its best moments was “Bring It To Ya” featuring The Conscious Daughters. Before the 1992 presidential election, Paris also caused some controversy with a track called Bush Killa.

I just realised that musically I prefer his fourth album “Unleashed”. It’s revolutionary but gangsta, with more emphasis on the gangsta: “mob on ’til the day that I die”… “blast first nigga ask questions last”… “livin in the O, it’s all about the parlay”. I guess Paris himself is not too proud of this today, but in fact the album is great. It features Bay Area gangsta rappers Spice 1 and Nutt-So. On some of the best tracks Paris doesn’t rap himself.

Paris - Thug Livin’ (introducing Nutt-So)
Paris - Everyday Livin’ (introducing Jett)
Paris - Root Of All Evil

When the anti-war and anti-Bush protests were at their peak, Paris released an album called Sonic Jihad. Last year he released Acid Reflex. Most of this new stuff doesn’t do it for me. I’m also not too happy with the way Paris seems to be mixing the legacy of Black Panthers with conspiracy theories and religious black leaders like Louis Farrakhan. But it’s not all bad either. Even though I don’t like the song, Don’t Stop The Movement has a mad tight video. “Power to the people, take back America!”

Here’s a nice track off Sonic Jihad (2003):

Paris - Life Goes On

So, Paris is tomorrow in Helsinki, I think it’s his third time here. Go see the show if you haven’t seen him before!