Filmed live at Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Pittsburgh by Director Paradise Gray, Jasiri X reconnects with super producer Cynik Lethal to provide a soundtrack for this growing movement that has taken the world by storm. We gonna Occupy!
Also check Davey D’s interview with Jasiri X about the Occupy Movement
I know, I’m probably the only rapper that would think to remix Jay Z and Kanye West’s song Otis from their album Watch the Throne, and channel George H.W.Bush and George Bush. But when I heard Jay Z’s first line, “I invented swag” my first thought was the line “I invented crack” which brought me to George Bush Sr., who was Ronald Regan’s VP and former head of the CIA when that whole Iran Contra scandal went down. I figured he could take as much credit for crack as Jay Z can for “swag”, although I wouldn’t want to take credit for either.
The rest of the song really just wrote itself, however the parallels between the elder Bush and the Son of a Bush (shout out to Public Enemy) were pretty striking. Both illegally invaded countries (Panama and Afghanistan) and went to war with Iraq. And both had some pretty bad economic policies that hurt our communities in the worse way. It’s amazing to me how their histories have been whitewashed, especially Bush Jr. I’m surprised that dude doesn’t get hit with rotten tomatoes everytime he walks out of the house.
So check out George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush going in over the Otis instrumental on their less than stellar records as President of the United States, reminding us how America got so messed up. (Lyrics are below)
LYRICS
George H.W. Bush -I invented crack
the highest hit with them scientists in the lab
proof
not hard to find it
read Gary Webb’s Dark Alliance
Truth
New terror alert Qaddafi
We tried to kill him in the 80s but were sloppy
Bombs hit his compound every wall was knock down
his infant daughter got found dead under a rock pile
George W. Bush -Damn W bush where the hell you been
Obama’s getting blamed for all of ya failures kid
Left trillions in debt they acting like I never did
Kanye even apologized now we’re hella friends
They say I’m stupid but I was dumb before
but they so crazy they forgot about my other war
and they don’t even mention my other other war
Almost destroyed America they still love me more
George H.W. Bush -Skull and Bones fresh
bomb you with the stealth
I’m bout to call the CIA on my self
I was the first ta
go after Saddam Hussein I tried to murk ya
bombed Iraq with those missiles air to surface
so we would have cheap oil for us to purchase
Iran contra no need for bail
I pardoned everybody they never going to jail
George W. Bush -A born again christian I’m never going to hell
my book about decisions is never going to sale
300 pages of crap it’s better in the shredder
I made history the worst president ever
I’m in Crawford with the golfers
cause of my cuts there’s just no job offers
now everybody in they house getting foreclosed
I’m done I’ll hit you ya tomorrow
George H.W. Bush -Welcome to Panama
Sent troops to get Noriega I am the law
he had pedico in kilos
we bought it from him that’s how come that we know
4000 dead it makes no difference
nobody cares cause it’s just less immigrants
no coincidence my son went from governor
to president leaving a debt so big we can’t get under from
George W. Bush -Can’t you see commercial jets flying over you
for seven minutes I froze like what the hell Imma do
put my Arab friends on planes with no kinda proof
even though they said the highjackers were Saudi too
Then I let Osama escape like the hell with it
so I could invade Iraq with fake intelligence
and over 6,000 troops died
but hey keep being mad at the new guy
I have marched until my feet have bled and I have rioted until they called the Feds.
What’s left my conscious said?
“Revolution” Arrested Development
When folks gather in DC for the Jobs and Justice March and the Martin Luther King Memorial dedication this weekend, I betcha a million bucks that somebody is gonna pose the same question that people have been asking for the last 40 years. “What would Martin Luther King Jr say if he was here, today ?” If MLK was at the march, he would probably mean mug the crowd and yell “after all these years, why are y’all still marchin’ ?”
While people have accused the Hip Hop generation of being politically, apathetic (many times for good reason) the hardcore truth is that many young folks are just tired of traveling down the same road that has led us to nowhere-ville. They just need for someone to tell them the best way to bring about change.
Unfortunately, most old school cats are still trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, themselves. They can’t answer the basic question, “after all these years of marching and protesting, why are the conditions of poor people, relatively, the same as they were back in 1963?”
The reason is simple. It’s called controlled chaos: when things appear to be out of order but they are really being controlled by a master shot caller. There are forces at work making sure that we stay lost in the wilderness and never make it to the Promised Land.
The government’s repression of political dissent goes back decades. One can trace it as far back as the early 20th century with the Bureau of Investigation’s attack on Marcus Garvey or the House UnAmerican Affairs Committee’s attacks on Paul Robeson and others.
While it is known that the FBI’s COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) played a major role in destroying political movements during the late 60’s and early 70’s, what must be examined in the 21st century is “how” they did it.
According to Ward Churchill and Jim Wall in their book, “Agents of Repression,” the FBI used several techniques to disrupt movements, including infiltrating organizations with agents, falsely tagging activists as “snitches” and assassinations. Another strategy was setting up phony, militant organizations or “pseudo gangs” “designed to confuse, divide and undermine, as well as do outright battles with authentic dissident groups.” This may even account for the street gangs of today who will kill on sight members of rival gangs but would never consider bangin’ on the system.
Also, although politicians praise the strategy of nonviolence, history teaches us that it is only after riots, when people start tearin’ stuff up, that the government suddenly is able to “find” money for all sorts of social programs that they couldn’t find before the rebellions. This is a technique that President Richard Nixon used as he transformed Black Power into Green Power.
One of the least talked about strategies to stop radical movements did not come from the Feds but from philanthropic foundations. According to Robert W Allen in his book “Black Awakening in Capitalist America,” these foundations used their money to co-opt the Black Power movement. The main organization responsible was the Ford Foundation, headed by former US national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy, who’s brother just happened to be William Bundy, former director of the CIA. Allen called the Ford Foundation “the most important, though, least publicized” organization manipulating the militant black movement.”
Not only did the foundations influence the direction of street organizations but they also manipulated Black studies programs at colleges to make sure they produced “Clarence Thomas’s” instead of “Malcolm X’s.” Noliwe Rooks discusses the efforts of the foundations to take the “black” out of Black studies in her book, “White Money, Black Power.”
Later, during the Hip Hop era, we see the role that entertainment corporations played in diverting the rebellious energy of poor and oppressed ghetto kids.
During the golden age of conscious Hip Hop (1988-92) we witnessed a period that best represented how rap music could be used as a tool to organize the masses. This was a time when Hip Hop artists, not only made songs about fighting the power, but also participated in acts of civil disobedience such as when members of the X-Clan were involved in the “Day of Outrage” following the murder of Yusef Hawkins in 1989.
However, after ’92, conscious Hip Hop was replaced by a materialistic music that made people want to be part of the system instead of fighting against it. They have made grown men walking around with their drawers showin’ the ultimate act of rebellion.
Perhaps the most telling example of the political manipulation of Hip Hop was the 2004 election when, instead of using their influence and resources to politically educate their constituents in the ‘hood, Hip Hop moguls created a politically ambivalent marketing strategy called “Vote or Die” that did little more than sell overpriced T-Shirts.
The most interesting political movement in recent history is Occupy Wall Street, as activists have successfully broken out of the box of the Republican/Democratic dynamic and have taken the fight straight to the seat of power. If this movement continues focusing on the source of the multiple problems facing the ‘hood ( the multi-national corporations) this could be a major tipping point, effecting the economic balance of this country.
However, we have already seen filthy rich celebrities co-sign what is supposed to be a poor people’s movement. And it is just a matter of time before some slick politician tries to turn radical, revolutionists into mild mannered voter registration political reformists good only for putting “Vote for Me” posters on people’s front yards.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Today we find ourselves at the crossroads; one way leads to Freedom and the other road leads to perpetual oppression.
We all have a choice to make.
Do we we leave the next generation a movement for real socio-economic change or just sore feet and worn out Air Jordans?
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott represents the Militant Mind Militia. He can be reached at militantmindmilitia@gmail.com Website http://www.militantmindmilitia.com
source: http://militantmindmilitia.blogspot.com/2011/10/controlled-chaos-why-are-we-still.html