“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.
Petter, Ison and Fille. Those are some reasonably old school names of Swedish hip-hop. All of them participated in the very essential record Den svenska underjorden back in 2000. And all of them have kept dropping music over the years, with various results. Ison and Fille have no doubt produced some of the most catchy Swedish rap of this millennium.
As for Petter he had his time, sure. But the guy hasn’t matched his occasional musical talent with intelligence. He’s been an idiot most of the time, actually. In an interview with the Swedish paper Sydsvenskan three years back he said that people who download music illegally should be executed (the quote was removed afterward). Then this middle class kid went on boasting about the gasoline he uses in his city jeep. Not cool. But because I stopped caring too much about the moral credentials of the artists I dig quite some time ago, here’s both something fresh and something old from all three aforementioned guys. Ison and Fille, you rock! Petter… well, enough said.
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.
Where Huey P. Newton? I wish that nigga was here
when the nigga tell the truth they got somethin to fear
The whole system’s fucked, homie that’s wassup!
Despite Obama ain’t shit changed. Still more black men in jail than in college. Still no reparations given for slavery. Still people do have the power to stand up to injustice like they did in the Watts riot.
MC Ren of the legendary NWA is back with a new album Renincarnated. He’s quite faithful to the 1990s sound, but lyrically he’s gone a long way from NWA towards RBG. The title of the song refers to the Back to Africa project of Marcus Garvey back in 1919-1922.
The radical poet, “godfather of rap”, “black Bob Dylan”, in brief legendary Gil Scott-Heron returns. After being absent from the music scene for 15 long years, Scott-Heron is releasing a full length album next February. A first track was released as teaser some days ago and is available for free on his home page.
This guy is right there where we like the spoken word to be: straight on political commentary, no detours.
Read his first interview since stepping out of the dark on BBC.
It’s Boots from The Coup rhyming to guitar riffs by Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine. Rock and rap fused together into anthems for revolution. And yes, they are… COMMUNIST!
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.
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.
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.
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
Ms. Femme Mafala is back with unforgettable throwbacks from the 90’s…
Remember those two youngsters rapping with big attitude in the early 90’s?
We looooved them so much with my childhood friends that sometimes we had our clothes backwards as they did, as on the famous video Jump.
13-year-old rappers Chris “Daddy Mack” Smith and Chris “Mack Daddy” Kelly became the pop sensations of 1992 as Kris Kross. Childhood friends came discovered at the age of 12 in 1991 by 18-year-old Jermaine Dupri at an Atlanta shopping mall. Their debut album Totally Krossed Out explosed the multitude with their first single Jump which sampled the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”.
It’s A Shame (1992)
In 1993 Kris Kross made their second album Da Bomb and Alright was the next hit.
They are both still dedicated to music, Chris Kelly is - along with taking care of his family and going to school to be an engineer - producing music with his independent label C.CO.Records and being heavy in the underground scene with Li-Li.
Chris Smith is still doing hip hop but with strong neo-soul and hip rock influence. He has made a song called Lady to honor women legends and to raise the level of respect for women in Hip-Hop and ladies fighting for future generations.
Multitunes is a music blog by precarious (net)workers who love to disco. The proletarian multitude listening to funky tunes.
We're based in Helsinki/Madrid, spending our time clubbing and looking for loopholes in capitalism. We'll write about any music we like, with an emphasis on new tunes with a subversive attitude. From gangsta to riot grrl, indie pop to dubstep... we love it all!
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