3 Dope Songs To Raise Your Consciousness During this Troubling Week

Someone was complaining the other day about lack of consciousness in Hip Hop… He wanted to know where all the good emcees are? I asked him where he was checking? In the age of consolidation, corporate tyranny and a desire to dumb down the masses and make them consummate consumers, did he expect to hear consistent consciousness on ‘pop culture outlets?’.. When you have companies like Viacom and Time Warner holding investments in private prisons why would you expect to hear and see folks telling you to fight the power? Those outlets are in fact the power you should be fighting.

If we are to learn anything from the recent NSA spying drama, is that a whole lot of corporations  are trying to cash in on the multi-billion dollar a year prison-police-security industrial complex.  Much of our corporate media is in the business of serving as a PR Firm vs being an investigative news agency for Draconian policies.

With that in mind, I wanted to alert folks  via our 3 Dope Songs series of some bumping joints that are floating around raising consciousness. The fight for social justice has not gone away..Hip Hop on this level is as it was years ago, its being meticulously created, nurtured and ready to be embraced by all.. Below are 3 songs that fit the bill and will let you know without a shadow of a doubt.. Intelligence is alive and well and fighting the power is daily occurrence..

First up is Hakim Green from the group Channel Live.. This brother stays on the grind, not just as an emcee, but as an activist. He goes directly to the heart of the problem and stays involved. If we have violence in the community, Hakim is there working directly with those causing the chaos. If we say we need political change, Hakim ir right there.. Here’s a video he just put out to a song called Secrets.. enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x-spwOjr5A&feature=youtu.be

Next up is Wise Intelligent from Poor Righteous Teachers.. This cat still has one of the illest flows and ultra sharp lyrics.. I wish more folks would try and include him as a guest on their records.. I also love the concepts that Wise brings to the table.. Peep this video to the song ‘I said It‘ which will make you reflect on the George Zimmerman trial which just started today and the mindset of people who think and act like him and what he did to Trayvon Martin..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw5tIHMhmLs

This next video is from a sister named Narubi Selah.. I first saw this earlier this year and was surprised more folks ain’t hold it up.. She comes with some hard edge lyrics that’ll definitely make you rewind to catch what she just spit… I’m loving this song ‘Hookless‘ and I hope you do as well. Look for her album The Architect: Sacred Geometry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxUGjuPQ4A8&feature=youtu.be

Mumu Dosea

I’m gonna leave outta here with a bonus song from this dope emcee from Australia. Her name is Muma Dosea.. If there’s one album I’m serious looking forward to, its her.. I’m literally counting the days for her masterpiece called Ms Fortune.. she has a sampler which is free download.. But the cut for me to get you going is a song called Walk Alone.. I wish she had a video for it.. I think I’ll make a public appeal..Also if you get a chance check out her weekly radio show Hip Sister Hop which airs Mondays from 1-2pm Australian time.. That can be found here…http://www.3cr.org.au/hipsistahop

https://soundcloud.com/muma-doesa/walk-alone-feat-ruth-rogers

https://soundcloud.com/muma-doesa/walk-alone-feat-ruth-rogers

 

We Can Honor Trayvon By Making this George ZimmermanTrial Really Mean Something

George Zimmerman

As everyone watches this Trayvon Martin/ George Zimmerman trial, please note there will be a lot of inflammatory stuff said and revealed leading to a lot of emotion and discussion.. That of course is understandable.. However, we need to keep in mind.. this trial will be used by many in positions of power as a distraction.. So first and foremost, let’s be sure to keep our eyes and ears open for other things taking place..In other words pay close attention to new laws and policies that allow clamp down on our freedoms and even our rights to appeal…

That leads me to my second point.. we must remember George Zimmerman is not a police officer..He’s a guy who tried to act like one.. but he’s not an officer, thus the shooting of unarmed Black people every 28 hours by police as reported by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement doesn’t suddenly end with a Zimmerman conviction.. Him going to jail will not have a chilling effect on police officers. It will not change the way DAs mishandled police brutality cases. It will not handle the way judges come down on side of the police…

Remember the DA in this case prosecuting Zimmerman, Bernie de la Rionda was appointed by state attorney Angela Corey.. This is the same Ms Corey sent Marrisa Alexander to jail for 20 years for shooting a gun in the air to scare off husband who had a restraining order and was threatening to bet rid of Corey.. If anything it may make her a hero leading us forgetting she has dirty hands..

The bottom line is in the larger scheme of things Zimmerman is powerless. Yes, today with all the emotions surrounding this case, he symbolizes injustice and hopefully he’s convicted and punished. But again just like the OJ trial didn’t end police terrorism in LA or systemic racism in the department.  A Zimmerman conviction will not change policies like Stop and Frisk or even Stand Your Ground..It wont stop the people and organizations like ALEC that are behind those laws.. It won’t change the attitude of police who we saw just last week in Florida who feel they have a right to choke 14 year old boy holding a puppy  in front of his mother because they didn’t like the ‘dehumanizing’ look given to them..Read about that HERE.

This Zimmerman trial has the potential to be a stepping stone to major changes, but that’s only if we follow-up and don’t make the mistake of thinking the movement to end injustice ends with a Zimmerman conviction.

We talked with Michael Skolznik of Global Grind who is down in Sanford and in our conversation he noted that fortunately he has seen the political will of folks willing to step up and go beyond this trial. He noted that since Trayvon, there has been a lot of mobilizing around Stand Your Ground, and even though it’s not a defense being used by Zimmerman, folks were able to organize around the country stop any new Stand Your Ground laws from being passed.. That’s the first time this has happened in 8 years.

Trayvon Martin’s parents

Skolznik also noted that this Trayvon case also helped spotlight the insidious nature of Stop and Frisk and that while it’s a law that’s still on the books, the procedure has been put on trial and work will continue to end it once and for all.. He also noted that he and many others have drawn courage from Trayvon’s family and that the commitment to honor them and their son is to remain involved above and beyond the outcomes of this trial.

This was a point also shared by Cephus Johnson aka Uncle Bobby who was the uncle to Oscar Grant a young unarmed man killed by police in Jan 2009. Uncle Bobby who is also in Sanford at the courthouse noted that the hardest challenge facing the family will be the constant dehumanization of their son. It’s what the Grant family had to endure and its an overriding problem facing Black people in general. This climate of fear and suspicion has had deadly consequences and national dialogue about reversing these types of perceptions is surely needed. He noted that the movie ‘Fruitvale’ which will be coming out while this trial is unfolding will be important because it will help remind us that Trayvon like Oscar Grant was a human being who was dearly loved by his family and the community.

Lastly we should be pushing to hold media outlets accountable or at least start redirecting our attention to outlets that give us a fairer shake.. Remember many outlets minimized Zimmerman’s criminal past including his domestic violence issues but ran to the goal line on Trayvon being suspended for holding an empty weed bag.. Trayvon hadn’t been in trouble with the law like Zimmerman…Remember a Zimmerman conviction doesn’t get fools like Geraldo Rivera, who accused hoodie wearers as thugs,  off the air.

Also many media outlets while reporting on Zimmerman refused to connect the dots to larger issues. Very few made the connection of Zimmerman being a vigilante killer to the rash of vigilante killings directed at Brown folks going on at our borders. This toxic climate of killing those we deem ‘un American and threatening was ignored..Heck very few even connected the vigilante killing by Zimmerman to the rash of killings that took place in New Orleans after Katrina.

Even more egregious is many outlets while rallying up the masses around the murder of Trayvon and how unarmed Black men were unfairly being killed, those same outlets and pundits refused to bring to light the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement report which came out in the wake of Trayvon being killed and showed how pervasive such killings were happening.. At the time many were fearful that discussions that brought up the police would anger Police Unions and thus have impact on 2012 elections.. Well November is behind us there should be no excuse for ignoring that report now..

There are some hard conversations around Race, racial profiling and the overall disregard and disrespect for Black life.. As this trial unfolds, lets step to the plate and have them. Let’s push for real change to improve our lot no matter what goes down with George Zimmerman.

-Davey D-