On the 10th Anniversary of the Iraq War We Recall key Anti-War Hip Hop Songs

With the 10th anniversary of the War on Iraq upon us.. I wanted to take a look abck at antiwar songs.. Below is an article penned a few years ago for the San Jose Mercury News

Give Hip Hop Credit for Anti-War songs

by Davey D

The other night ABC News did a special report on the growing popularity of anti-war protest songs. The report focused on how all these musicians were now coming out and providing a sound track to the growing discontent many of us are having with the war in Iraq. It talked about how people are more accepting of such songs and how major record labels were loosening up in the aftermath of the Dixie Chicks who got lambasted and later boycotted for speaking out against George Bush and his policies in 2003.

The report also brought to light the impact anti-war songs had on fueling the Anti-war movement against Vietnam in the late 60s and the question was raised as to what sort of impact todays rash of songs would have.

I cant remember all the singers they profiled, but I did recall seeing country singer Merle Haggard, Rock-N-Roll icon Bruce Springstein and pop sensation Pink. What surprised me was not seeing any mention of Hip Hop especially with the exception of KRS-One, since it was artists in the rap community that up to date have released more anti-war songs and were the first to unabashedly do so right after 9-11.

The late June Jordan

If we take a short walk down memory lane, folks may recall that the day after 9-11 Bay Area Hip Hop activists from organizations like Lets Get Free, The Ella Baker Center and Minds Eye Collective put together a rally that was held in Snow Park in Oakland. Close to 500 people attended this event which focused on the loss of human life and questioned the foreign policy missteps of the Bush administration. It was at this rally that many of us heard our last poem from the late June Jordan.

We also heard an incredible song from Michael Franti & Spearhead calling for healing and peace. A couple of months later, Franti appeared on Conan O’Brian and performed the anti-war song Bomb the World to Pieces only to find that his sentiments angered producers who threatened to censor the song when the show aired. Community outrage lead to OBrian’s people eventually showing the performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA8p_BV7uD8

Early on we heard anti-war songs from acts like the Beastie Boys (World Gone Mad), Nas (Rule), Wu-Tang Affiliates Known Associates (World So Cold), Talib Kweli (the Proud), J-Live (Satisfied) and Mr Lif (home of the Brave). All in all there are more than 150 anti-war songs that have been recorded by Hip Hop artists.

Paris

The song that really made heads turn was by Bay Area artist Paris who came out of retirement and released a 6 minute missive called What Would You Do? that went into great detail about The Caryle Group, Bush’s relationship to the Bin Laden family and the hawkish action plans of the Neo-cons serving in Bushs cabinet. Paris gave the song away for free and then followed it up with an entire antiwar album called Sonic Jihad which went on to sell over 200 thousand units. Another great anti-war cut off that album was ‘Sheep to Slaughter‘.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcxkw6ChKE0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaCPUIfr8PY

Another stand out effort came from San Francisco based Freedom Fighter records who released the first anti-war compilation featuring Bay Area artists called War Times Report From the Opposition. A year later LA based Hard Knock Records followed up with a critically acclaimed anti-war compilation called What About Us. It featured stellar songs like US History By Flipsyde

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQi4BTaYLj0

The most visible anti-war effort to date came from former San Jose resident Fredwreck who has produced tracks from everyone ranging from Eminem to Snoop Dogg and Ice Cubeto name a few. Using the name STOP Movement he gathered up a number of popular artists including Mobb Deep, WC of the Westside Connection, Daz of the Dogg Pound, RBX, Defari, Soopafly, Cypress Hill, Mack 10, KRS-One and Dilated Peoples just to name a few and released two anti-war songs called Down With Us and Dear Mr. President.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKC9-9BQO5Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiBI9TJ_iQs

Fredwreck

Fredwreck like Paris gave away the songs for free and even held a press conference only to find local commercial stations would not touch the record in spite of the big name artists he had assembled. In fact sources inside one popular station in LA, KKBT, noted that their deejays were instructed not to play those songs because they were too controversial. Whats even more ironic was Fred was supposed to be profiled in the ABC story. He was flown to NY but not shown in the report that I saw.

The other irony was after ABC aired the report one of the anchors decided to comment and naively noted that she never heard any of the songs from the artists they profiled on the radio therefore they must not be hits. We could do an entire column on what goes on behind the scenes and what it really takes to get records on the commercial airwaves, but suffice to say if what happened to Fredwreck is any indication of how key power brokers at radio get down, then of course we would not hear any of these songs on radio. However, it does not mean those songs or those artists are not popular or that people are not appreciative of their songs.

A couple of other songs that got overlooked was Snoop Dogg‘s Sister and Brothers and Dilated People’s War and Channel Live‘s Mr President.  There is also a powerful more recently made song from Lowkey and Immortal Technique called Voice of the Voiceless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZO0FXMFgRY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atovUH3dCgA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-mh-oAlr9c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w6rK4OkUhs

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Hip Hop Songs You Should Know As We Celebrate Black History pt1

With this being Black History Month, I been going through a lot of songs and videos that may give us food for thought, inspire us and reflect what this month should ideally be about…obtaining knowledge of self  and remembering that Black History is World History… It’s also something that occurs everyday, not just limited to the Month of February…

Remember when historian/ scholar Carter G Woodson established the second week in February Negro History Week in 1926,  it was done with the intent of acknowledging the birthday of Fredrick Douglass and providing us with a vehicle to push for Black History to be a foundation to American History…

Negro History Week grew over the years and in 1969 Black students at kent State expanded the week long celebration to a Black History month.. Several years later in 1976, President Gerald Ford acknowledged Black History Month..

Over the years lots of artists have stepped to the plate and delivered timeless songs that uplifted our history… I gathered a few for us to peep and reflect on.. Some of this is a mixture of the past and present.. enjoy..

You Must Learn by KRS-One

This is one of my favorites… it was dropped by KRS during what many considered the Golden Era of Hip Hop.. There were two different versions of this song. One used the break beat Supersporm by Captain Sky, the other  depicted in this video uses the popular break ‘Get Up and Dance‘ from Farther Than Imagination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVtVJ6Kq-Pk

Acknowledge Your History by the Jungle Brothers

This was always a favorite from the Jungle Brothers.. It’s off the album Forces of Nature.. I wish they had done a video because the song is dope.. Also coming out of Hip Hop’s Golden Era..

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

We Wear the Crown by Gary Byrd & Stevie Wonder

This is a classic song that has been written out of history in terms of its importance.. Two things we should note.. First Gary Byrd is more than just a talented musician who has put out several records prior to this one including Every Brother Ain’t a Brother in the early 70s that proceeds the first rap songs, Rappers Delight by Sugar Hill Gang and King Tem III by Fatback Band by several years. Byrd is a radio deejay who harks back to the days when ‘announcers’ routinely spit rhymes in between songs as way to display their vocal flyness..

Byrd when he released this song, teams up with Stevie Wonder in 1983 and does a stellar Black History song.. The pairing represented a break in ‘elders supporting rap/Hip Hop when so many at that time were highly critical and against it.. They saw Hip Hop as an embarassing throwback.. Byrd and Wonder saw things a bit differently..They saw the potential ion Hip Hop and wanted to help lead the way…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0U92sN-Eo

I Can by Nas

This song speaks for itself.. How can you go wrong with Nas?  He dropped this a song a few years ago and it garnered a few awards and lots of critical acclaim. For many it was a welcome breath of fresh air to see an artist of his stature and popularity step from beef and meaningless chatter and do something for the kids.. The Funky Drummer beat and Nas’ uplifting lyrics will always make this song a classic..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLmRoVMfsD8

Freedom Rap by Queen Latifah, Yo-Yo, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes (of TLC), MC Lyte, Patra, Nefertiti, Da 5 Footaz Salt-N-Pepa, Meshell Ndegeocello

Many people have overlooked or don’t even know this about this song. It was done for a hard to find sound track for 1995 movie Panther..That album had a quite a few songs, but this was a standout in terms of the allstar cast of female emcees and singers who were at the top of the field going for it.. This song will forever be a treasure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxyxqVDjSzs

Proud to Be Black & Black History by Run DMC

I’m going back to back with Run DMC.. This song is off the landmark album Raising Hell and it speaks for itself.. damn near every song off that album was a banger especially at that time.. and this song hit the mark..Rap was still making its way into the mainstream and it was good to see Run DMC do this song in prominent spaces.. during the mid 80s…

The second song, Black History is a rare and hard to find song that was given away for FREE back in like 1984 and proceeds the Raising Hell lp…The Black Cultural Workshop (BCW) put the actual video together for the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlP3mywBDz4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNdcOZhlgf0

The Truth About Race by Labtekwon

This song is a more recent offering from a prolific Baltimore based emcee who is no joke as a lyricist, scholar and artist..His 18th or 19th full length album  and 35th recording overall is called  Hardcore: Labtekwon and The Righteous Indignation- Rootzilla vs Masta Akbar. Here you’ll find a number of songs that can easily fit within this collection of songs to check for around Black History..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL-1tWiHB1Y

The Lost Tribe of Shabazz by Lakim Shabazz

Lakim Shabazz who hails from the Flavor Unit crew ala Queen Latifah and Mark the 45 King, was always a conscious cat who spoke truth to power. Him coming with Pro Black lyrics was to be expected..Vintage cuts like Black is Back and Pure Righteousness were the order of the day.. What wasn’t expected was when he shot his video for the title song from his second album ‘Lost Tribe of Shabazz‘ in Egypt.. At the time doing a video like this was not cheap.. Homeboy was literally putting his money where his mouth is and letting folks know that he was dead serious about the words he was spitting..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytRUPOpjJT0

Be Black by King Sun

This was a favorite from King Sun who was always coming with heat during the time he dropped this. It was the heart of the Afrocentric Golden Era. Interestingly enough it appears that Sun took a shot at the Native Tongue cats when he disses a group of guys who had on funny ‘gear’ in the video. Not too much was made of it.. But this song got a lot of run when it came out..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlSZ2BPUrnQ

That wraps up this round of songs.. There are lots of others including joints from groups like dead prez, Paris, Poor Righteous Teachers, X-Clan and Queen Mother Rage and many more.. We’ll post up some more videos in a couple of days.. In the meantime reflect and enjoy…

3 Dope Songs from KRS-One that You Should Find Useful and Inspiring

KRS-One photo by B-Fresh

One thing we should do in this coming year is shed the industry frame-work that has been attached to our music. By that I mean we need to see Hip Hop offerings as timeless and something to be embraced when our spirits move us and not something that needs to be consumed to further a record label’s bottom line.. Far too many of us have been caught up in measuring the success of an artists or the importance of a particular song by artificial criteria like first week’s album sales or heavy rotation on the radio station claiming to be home to Hip Hop and R&B..

Even amongst folks who say they shun commercialism there is still a short-sighted criteria where the name of the game seems to be who got an album first or who got an exclusive..It’s a self-serving criteria that allows one to appear ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ but unfortunately what gets lost is the important messages and concepts put forth by an artist who finds him or herself quickly discarded and deemed irrelevant by the hipster type with the same reckless abandon as their commercial counterpart.

Music at its best is communal..It’s to be shared and upheld. It’s a sound track to our lives. Its healing to our wounded souls. It’s inspiring, in a world that seems hell-bent on keeping us down..Hopefully artists don’t get discouraged and start changing up their process by abandoning expressions that reflects what’s on their hearts to create throwaway product that fulfils the needs of  fast food consumers and not those who need true mental and audio nourishment.

So for folks who are tired of the same ole same ole, please keep in mind there’s a treasure chest of good solid music waiting to be discovered.. Lets go back to browsing and digging for music that moves us vs waiting for it to be served by the tentacles of an industry that doesn’t have our well-being in mind..

Today we wanna celebrate a tireless champion and prolific artist.. Blastmasta KRS-One tha Teacha ... Here’s 3 songs you should take in..The lyrics and video are on point, uplifting and stand the test of time.. Shout out to his producer who is also a dope artists Mad-Lion.

The first song is Aztechnical.. It came out late last year and addresses the issue of the Mayan calendar and prophecy and the Earth supposedly ending. Well as you know that day Dec 21 2012 has come and gone.. But as KRS explains, what was supposed to take place was us reaching a higher consciousness in our thinking.. He takes you there in this song..

The second song ‘Just Like That‘ deals with a topic that KRS has addressed on at least 3 or 4 different occasions.. His upbringing. For those of us who know KRS, we might be tempted to say ‘I heard this story’ before.. But for folks who are just getting acquainted to KRS, its inspiring as and gives us insight on how we might overcome rough times.. In short the message is timeless

The third song was released a few days after Hurricane Sandy… It’s probably his most important song and shows KRS at his best.. Here he gives sound advice as to what we should be doing in preparation for a natural disaster..The song is called ‘Disaster Kit‘

KRS-One Aztechnical

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M7MZh_bvjg

KRS-One Just Like That

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q_C0o9GHsw

KRS-One Disaster Kit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g8cplYa_DE