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US Bombs Libya: Where’s Obama the Peacemaker?

March 20, 2011 By

As we enter into our third war, one has to wonder what’s the ultimate motivation? Many will try to fool themselves and say its needed to save lives.. The question is who’s lives exactly? In Libya is this a popular uprising or a civil war?

Are we on the side of those fighting oppression or are we giving lip service and using that as a good excuse while we aim for other things..In this case oil?

Is Ghadafy a detestable figure who is ruthless with his people? If so where’s our consistency around him? One minute we hating him ala Ronald Reagan.. the next minute we trying to do business with him under George W Bush.. Have we forgotten the US-Libya Business Association who have since took down their site but not before everyone from Haliburton to Chevron broke bread with a man we are now bombing..

Meanwhile all over the planet we have human rights violations being levied on all sorts of countries we consider friends with no talk of Regime Change.. We friendly with China in spite of their of their dastardly deeds.. We’re cool with Saudi Arabia inspite of their shoddy human rights track record. . We ain’t invading Yemen and it was there where we had a ship blown up USS Cole.  We could go on and on.. Hell lets talk about the drama with Israel and how they smash on their Palestinian neighbors..

What’s sad is the role President Obama has been playing. He came out the box saying he opposed the wars but as you can see over the years he’s ‘re-calibrated’ himself and seems as hawkish as any right wing war monger. How does a son of Africa bomb Africa?

I guess its when that Son of Africa sees himself as a politicians more interested in positioning himself and playing the game vs doing what is right. With all our collective brain trust there was no diplomatic solution?  We have a military that has no qualms applying pys-ops techniques on Senators to keep us at war.. But seemingly none to help nations be at peace..

What seems to be at play is those pys-op techniques being used to keep our anti-war movement silent.. Look most people would agree that folks fighting for liberation against oppressive regimes should be supported. But we can’t be selective and hwe have to stand on principal about being about peace.. We’re over in Libya demanding Ghadafiy bounce but we’ve yet to bring our own violators of human rights to justice. Can you say George W Bush? Dick Cheney? Or the soldier shown in the video below..

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

Peep the videos below outlining President Obama’s stance on the wars over the years.  As you watch ask yourself will there be consequences to our actions. Ghadafy has threatened to take down commercial airlines. he may not have the weaponry but he does have the money .. The US is fighting 3 Muslim countries is not good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhpKmQCCwB8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAwQRsaD6KI

Below is the link to Obama speaking on us bombing Libya …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unD7NJYuEDE

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Wyclef Jean Shot in Haiti-Aristide Returns

March 20, 2011 By

With the madness going on in Japan and now Libya many of us have forgotten that neighboring Haiti is still in shambles.  First there’s an election run off for President. The last election was marred with accusations of fraud which resulted in widespread violence. The emerging candidates is Wyclef Jean‘s former rival Michel Martelly, 50, is a singer and entertainer known to his fans as “Sweet Micky“. He’s running against a 70 year old former first lady Mirlande Manigat.

Second, the election has become even more complicated because former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti over the weekend after a 7 year exile. Why is this important? Because it marks the return of man who headed Haiti’s largest political party the Lavalas. That party has not been allowed to partake in Haiti elections primarily because they were not deemed favorable by US corporations and then George W Bush when help orchestrate a coup in 2004 which resulted in Aristide being ousted.

Folks should know Aristide was seen as a President who supported the poor and wanted to raise minimum wage. Sadly this was a coup supported by Wyclef Jean and his ambassador uncle Raymond Joseph.

Aristide has already denounced the elections as a sham.

As for Wyclef, He’s been back in Haiti stomping for his former  rival Michael Martelly. He was shot in his guitar playing hand. He was released from the hospital and is doing well.. There’s been no word on the assailants.

For those who want more indepth understanding on Aristide’s turbulent relationship with the US particularly under Bush and Clinton.. read the following article from investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill

Bill Clinton

In September 1991, the US backed the violent overthrow of the government of Haiti’s democratically-elected leftist priest President Jean Bertrand Aristide after he was in power less than a year. Aristide had defeated a US-backed candidate in the 1990 Haitian presidential election. The military coup leaders and their paramilitary gangs of CIA-backed murderous thugs, including the notorious FRAPH paramilitary units, were known for hacking the limbs off of Aristide supporters (and others) along with an unending slew of other horrifying crimes.

When Clinton came to power, he played a vicious game with Haiti that allowed the coup regime to continue rampaging Haiti and further destabilized the country. What’s more, in the 1992 election campaign, Bill Clinton campaigned on a pledge to reverse what he called then-President George HW Bush’s “cruel policy” of holding Haitian refugees at Guantanamo with no legal rights in US courts. Upon his election, however, Clinton reversed his position and sided with the Bush administration in denying the Haitians legal rights. the Haitians were held in atrocious conditions and the new Democratic president was sued by the Center for Constitutional Rights (sound familiar?).

While Clinton and his advisers publicly expressed their dismay with the coup, they simultaneously refused to support the swift reinstatement of the country’s democratically elected leader and would, in fact, not allow Aristide’s return until Washington received guarantees that: 1. Aristide would not lay claim to the years of his presidency lost in forced exile and; 2. US neoliberal economic plans were solidified as the law of the land in Haiti.

“The Clinton administration was credited for working for the return to power of Jean Bertrand Aristide after he was overthrown in a military coup,” says author William Blum. “But, in fact, Clinton had stalled the return for as long as he could, and had instead tried his best to return anti-Aristide conservatives to a leading power role in a mixed government, because Aristide was too leftist for Washington’s tastes.” Blum’s book “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II” includes a chapter on the history of the US role in Haiti.

The fact that the coup against the democratically-elected president of Haiti was allowed to continue unabated for three full years seemed to be less offensive to Clinton than Aristide’s progressive vision for Haiti. As Blum observed in his book, “[Clinton] was not actually repulsed by [coup leader Raoul] Cédras and company, for they posed no ideological barrier to the United States continuing the economic and strategic control of Haiti it’s maintained for most of the century.  Unlike Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a man who only a year earlier had declared: ‘I still think capitalism is a mortal sin.’”

Blum added: “Faced ultimately with Aristide returning to power, Clinton demanded and received — and then made sure to publicly announce — the Haitian president’s guarantee that he would not try to remain in office to make up for the time lost in exile. Clinton of course called this ‘democracy,’ although it represented a partial legitimization of the coup.” Indeed, Haiti experts say that Clinton could have restored Aristide to power under an almost identical arrangement years earlier than he did.

continue reading http://rebelreports.com/post/109822009/bill-clinton-named-new-un-envoy-to-stabilize-haiti-a

Filed Under: 2011 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Chillin’ w/PE pt1 Flav Set to Open Chicken Spot

March 19, 2011 By

Flava Flav of Public Enemy is always colorful and never a dull moment… On a recent trip to San Francisco we caught up with Hip Hop’s number 1 Hype Man to get the low down on his upcoming ventures.. He’s opening a Chicken spot in Iowa and introducing a line of beverages.. He explains where, why and how. He also is set to release a book.. Here’s our interview

http://vimeo.com/20676886

http://vimeo.com/20676886

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Meet Hip Hop’s Most Underrated Emcee-Black Thought

March 19, 2011 By

Who is Hip Hop’s most under rated emcee? Thats right you guessed it the one and only Black Thought of the legendary Roots Crew. He’s not to be toyed with and he proved that point when him and J Period wrecked shop at the True Skool 12th anniversary in San Francisco a few weeks ago. It was a show to remember and Thought came with it..Ya don’t belive me check out his flows..

http://vimeo.com/20907157

http://vimeo.com/20907157

Filed Under: 2011 Daily News Tagged With: , , , ,

The Master of Records… Our Intv w/ Afrika Bambaataa (Funk and Beyond)

March 19, 2011 By

It’s always a pleasure to sit down and chop it up with the Godfather of Hip Hop Afrika Bambaataa. Most of the time when folks get with Bam they wanna pick his brains about Hip Hop history.. Thats understandable considering Bam’s pioneering status.. When we sat down with him, we picked his brain about being a deejay… Here’s what he had to say…Big shoutout to the crew over at Open Line Media for hooking up the filming..

http://vimeo.com/21186080

http://vimeo.com/21186080

Filed Under: 2011 Daily News, Artist Interviews, Hip Hop Pioneers Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Good Bye Nate Dogg-He Marked an Important Era in Hip Hop

March 18, 2011 By

So much has been going on over the past few days that I never got a chance and properly reflect on the untimely passing of Nate Dogg.. Gone is a cat who was the cornerstone of an era..He was the soul of West coast Hip Hop. Nate was the ace in the hole, the clean up batter who you called to take your record over the top and make it a hit..He represented one of Hip Hop’s golden eras.. The G Funk Era…

Nate Dogg was the constant  soundtrack for a whole lot of folks who are now looking back and saying to themselves.. Homie put it down for us...He helped give voice to a generation. His smooth vocals and catchy hooks were such that he could make dog shyt sound nice..I don’t say that to be funny, but if you stop and think for a minute Nate said some hard stuff in some of his songs, but you hardly noticed because he was so seductive with his sound…Take the song ‘Regulate‘..I was playing it yesterday for my class and pointed out the irony of Nate singing about killing someone, but he did it so smooth, that we smiled and didn’t give it a second thought

Sixteen in the clip and one in the hole
Nate Dogg is about to make some bodies turn cold
now they droppin and yellin
it’s a tad bit late
Nate Dogg and Warren G had to regulate

I laid all them busters down
I let my gat explode
now I’m switching my mind back into freak mode
if you want skirts sit back and observe
I just left a gang of those over there on the curb

What was interesting about was Nate was he came on the scene at a time when people would frown and consider you a sell out for having singing on the hook. That sort of approach was most associated with R&B singers. Sure you had a few songs with Ki-Ci and JoJo, who were seen as legit,  but for most part singers on rap songs was not fully embraced until Nate Dogg came along and showed us how it should be done..

You listen to cuts off Nate’s album ‘Music and Me‘ and its clear that he was under rated… Cuts like ‘Another Short Story’ and ‘Nobody Does it Better’ which I think was his best song, bare that assertion out..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9CLYk7J3OU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8UD-eLIfw

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

Seems like everyone has a Nate Dogg story to tell…myself included. .I met dude on several occasions and he was always chill. He was accessible, not hiding behind 50 bodyguards..and even though he was from gang infested Southern Cali, you didn’t get a menacing energy when he was around.. Nate Dogg was cool..

I recall when the landmark ‘Up in Smoke Tour’ came to the Bay Area. Nate had some legal issues and wasn’t gonna show. Tyrese was scheduled to take his place. People like Tyrese and agree he’s talented, but Nate was the cat singing damn near half the hooks so him not being there was a bit of a let down..

When Dr Dre took the stage, he ripped into the song ‘Next Episode‘. At the part when the song says ‘hold Up‘.. Instead of Tyrese, we heard Nate’s voice who suddenly appeared from behind the curtain. He had made it after all and upon hearing his voice, the crowd went nuts.. Everyone cheered and gave high fives and the show was on for real.. It was an incredible show and Nate being classy shared his singing duties with Tyrese who adlibed and added to what Nate was doing.. Dude will certainly be missed..RIP Nate.

written by Davey D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCOK206_Q8k

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News Tagged With: , , , ,

Colt45 Malt Liquor, Blast & Snoop Coming to a Hood Near You this Spring

March 18, 2011 By

Somebody hit me up with this video the other day and I thought folks may wanna take a look and reflect on it. It’s a video outlining the marketing plans for a new alcohol drink that’s on par with the controversial Four Loko drink. It’s called Blast produced by Colt 45 malt liquor. The beverage is multi-flavored including Grape, Pomegranate and Blueberry among others. The spokesperson for this drink will be Snoop Dogg.

About 5:31 minutes into the video, the company representatives outline how they intend to impact the Hip Hop/urban market using all sorts of touch points. For industry people this may seem like nothing new, but for those who don’t spend too much time in this arena you may find it eye opening on a number of levels.

First, you may find it fascinating to see the amount of ground they plan to cover pushing this drink. It’ll be on radio and all the urban magazines. They will be at all the big festivals both music and cultural. More importantly it will be leveraged via the industry relationships Snoop and the company have with popular urban radio DJs and tastemakers in the community. .. From a company stand point the strategy is sound and will probably be effective..So effective that from the looks of things they’ll definitely be within earshot of those too young to drink, but will be aware of the product..

My question is why aren’t we hitting our community off with things that might be more useful? Why aren’t companies with more wholesome products not coming at our community with all the bells and whistles? Are we really all about drinking enhanced alcohol drinks so that we stay permanently buzzed and high or are we worthy of being approached for other things?

Imagine if the person speaking in this video was marketing director for college  or the marketing director for a high tech company where consumers are encouraged to invent and create?  Better yet imagine if this was a campaign to push Black History or maybe a local election featuring progressive candidate or agenda that centers on social justice issues?

Here’s the larger point, Colt 45/ Pabst is intending to pull out all the stops and go for the hearts, minds and pocket books of folks in our community with this beverage.. What sort of things are WE pushing on our folks?

This is not simply about Colt 45 having lots of money.  Sure I’m sure there will be some ducets tossed out there, but what’s really being leveraged are relationships.. People power…Is Colt 45’s relationship with the community stronger than the the local church or civic org?

The company intends to tap folks and use social media (twitter/ Face Book) which is free..How versed are we in those mediums? They’ll be tapping urban DJs can talk about any number of things.. They can talk about Blast as quickly as they can talk about a program to improve the hood.  Whats are relationship with them? If Snoop can sell alcohol.. he can also be a pitch man for any other number of things both good and bad..

I recall when Snoop brought together all the rappers from the west coast for a Peace Summit and got everyone to dead their beefs. It was largely successful. Why didn’t we tap him to be a spokesperson to promote conflict resolution in our schools? How many folks knew he even did this? Here’s a refresher.. Snoop Holds Summit to Squash Beefs

In watching this I kept thinking about other meetings that big corporations may have had.. Maybe there was a similar one with the big telecom companies to get Civil Rights orgs and their leaders to stay silent and endorse the plan to get rid of Net Neutrality. How many festivals, conferences did these companies sponsor to buy their silence? Here’s a list of the many…Civil Rights Orgs who sold out to Big Telecoms

Maybe there was a marketing meeting by the powerful Koch Brothers along with other corporate heads to launch a campaign at all levels to help take down unions..

Anyway though folks might find this interesting…Just keep in mind..the big boys with the mind numbing beverages are coming for you this spring. They’re coming with bright colored cans, a respected and trusted spokesperson and commitment to be everywhere you are likely to go.. What I found most ironic was dude said he endorses the drink, but he doesn’t drink it.(too much). rewind the video and peep what he says in the beginning.. That is all… Food for thought

-Davey D-

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

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News Tagged With: , , , ,

Celebrating St Patrick’s Day Hip Hop Style..This is How We Do!

March 17, 2011 By

When I wanna celebrate St Patrick’s Day I only do it with our Favorite Irish Hip Hop group House of Pain… How many of y’all remember these two classics? And just to keep things gulley i decided to toss in some classic footage from that St Patrick’s Day classic starring Ice T called Leprechauns in the Hood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-6HpC0Hssk

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX0qvCEcTWw

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Filed Under: 2011 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

3 Dope Songs on Nuclear Danger to Make You Think…

March 17, 2011 By

Gil Scott-Heron

Artists have always spoken to the issues of the day.. Some have reflected the present day crises, others have been ahead of their time.. Here’s are 3 songs to get you thinking.. The first is a classic from Gil Scott Heron… Called ‘We Almost Lost Detroit‘

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b54rB64fXY4

This track is from the Stop Rokkasho mixtape put out by Japanese artist Shingo02 who addressed the Japan’s love for nuclear plants several years ago. He was concerned there would be a day that such a danger as the one we’re experiencing now would occur.  Here’s a couple of remixes of his son..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b8_vPIsYlA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmczzlqVD2Y

Of course there’s always the classic song ‘Red Letter Year-The Atom’ by Ani De Franco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UheUihtC5g

Filed Under: 2011 Daily News Tagged With: , , , ,

Japan’s Nuclear Fallout..Hip Hop artist Shingo 02 Speaks Out

March 17, 2011 By

We chopped it up with longtime Japanese nuclear activist and famed Hip Hop artists Shingo 02 about whats going on in Japan. For those who don’t know Shingo has been speaking out about the potential dangers of these plants. He’s led protests, put out mixtapes and more importantly several years ago issued a widely read report on the topic. Sadly many of his concerns have come to light.. We spoke with him about this the other day on our daily Hard Knock Radio show.. You can peep the interview here: HKR Intv w/ Shingo 02 on Japan’s Nuclear Fallout

Here’s a quick essay Shingo wrote the other day from his blog at http://e22.com/blog/2011/03/14/radiation-why-we-should-be-concerned/ We also encourage you to check out his other site called http://stop-rokkasho.org/information/

RADIATION: WHY WE SHOULD BE CONCERNED

The following is a quick essay on what I believe to be technical misconceptions about radiation in the media.

First off, I understand people don’t have the patience to read more than a page of anything on the web. My main purpose here is to have something on here that I can be at peace with, for people to point to. That said, please read on, if you’re so inclined:

– – – – – – – – – – – –

People have sent me links to articles (both major and personal) stating that the nuclear disaster in Fukushima will be contained and shouldn’t be of any concern to the average citizen. Most seem to dismiss the potential effects of the intentional & unintentional leaks by blaming the media for sensationalism. Or are they?

For a lack of a better metaphor, just because an actor is having a public meltdown and the papers are right there to capitalize on it to sell more copies, it doesn’t mean that s/he isn’t.

While we all hope and pray the situation is not headed towards a Chernobyl-scale eruption, to assume the concerns are unfounded couldn’t be further from the truth. These articles do an excellent job explaining the basics of how a nuclear reactor works and its design to prevent a meltdown, but they all commonly seem to completely ignore these glaring points:

1. You should never equate the products of nuclear fission with background radiation, and other forms such as X-Rays.

The reason being, atomic fission splits Uranium (will write elements in caps) into dozens of combination of atoms, all of them highly radioactive. These radioactive isotopes do NOT exist in nature, because fission doesn’t happen on earth under normal circumstances, unless the Uranium is enriched by humans. (Fission was discovered in 1938, which lead to the atomic bomb and the same principles were applied to heating water, albeit at a much lower concentration.)

List of fission products: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission_product_yield

(also, though I regret I haven’t done an english translation, I did post a Japanese report in 2006,
complete with diagrams here: www.e22.com/atom)

Some radioactive elements when ingested, will be mistaken as nutrients and stay in your body (since atoms in the same column of the periodic table have similar properties). Once stored in your body, they continue to affect the neighboring cells which could lead to uncontrolled genetic mutation = cancer. Example: Strontium acts like Calcium, Cesium acts like Potassium.

Measured by half-life, some dissipate after days, some stay on for years. Radioactivity is a term for high-energy electromagnetic waves, and sometimes they happened to be grouped with X-rays because of its ionizing nature. Ionizing roughly means that it is strong enough to break bonds of common molecules.

Therefore, just measuring the amount of radiation in arbitrary units and making judgements is the same thing as measuring the weight and ignoring the content. Counters are useful in detecting the presence of radioactivity, but what we really need to be aware of is what might be present, and where they originated.

2. Fission products are NOT the same as what happens when uranium decays. Uranium decays naturally over millions of years, through several steps and eventually settles into a stable form of Lead. Decaying does not stop, but fission will without the proper environment. If we are detecting any fission products, it is safe to assume that others in the dirty laundry basket are present as well.

3. The health effects of radiation exposure may depend on the person and age, but there is really NO safe limit for internal radiation, even at low-levels. Infants and fetuses are highly susceptible, because they are still developing critical organs and functions. Saying the opposite is quite irresponsible if you understand the consequences.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

In the case of the reactors in Japan, if the housings popped to release the pressure, and we’re also detecting traces of fission products, there could have been a compromise in the integrity of the reactor itself. We already know for certain there was nearly twice the maximum amount of pressure that it was designed for.

I don’t think it’s overreacting to err on the safe side. The main dividing issue is that undermining the effects of radiation is the main tactic used for decades by the proponents of the nuclear industry. If you think I sound I’m exaggerating, I recommend reading a study like this:

CHERNOBYL: 20 YEARS ON by ECCR (summary)
http://www.euradcom.org/publications/chernobyleflyer.pdf

I have personally interviewed many scientists and engineers who have worked inside plants. They all had to leave in order to expose the truth with great conscience. Although the technology has improved, the principles have remained the same since its inception. We really need to realize that most “fears” regarding nuclear energy is indeed very true. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having such a big discussion in 2011.

Why do you think we haven’t had any new plants built in the US since Three Mile Island accident of 1979? Currently around 100, at one point the US government was aiming for 1000 nuclear power plants. The bottom line is nuclear plants are never safe nor economically viable, unless you’re heavily invested in Uranium.

Which side you want be on, is totally up to you.
Let’s keep working for the truth, for the people, for each other.

peace
Shing02

Filed Under: 2011 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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