You are here: Home / Archives for mrDaveyd

Wyclef Responds to Yele Accusations Clears the Air & Puts Folks On Notice..

January 16, 2010 By

Wyclef‘s press conference where he again addresses the issues at hand..Below is an excerptof the press conference.. You can and should see full conference which includes Q&A.. at

http://www.yele.org.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy69tYbiL4Y&feature=fvw

——————————————————————————————

I’m glad Wyclef spoke to this, because it was pretty disheartening to see people jump on the hate bandwagon when we let so much slide. Tax write-offs and filing are not the last or even the first word in corruption.. You want corruption.. ask your bank about the bailout money and the late fees they charge? Ask about Haliburton and Blackwater contracts paid for with your tax dollars? Ask about the way things DIDN’T run after Katrina.. Hell let’s be real ask why is George Bush and Bill Clinton  on the case when you look at their shabby track records with Haiti..

-Davey D-

Below is a blog that someone wrote in defense of Wyclef.. Its pretty thorough

←

Word to Yele-I Write the Wrong

http://iwritethewrongs.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/word-to-yele/

I  will never claim to be an expert in economics, my credit report alone would betray me. Nor can I profess to have gained any insight to the inner-workings of volunteer/humanitarian agencies.

Having been fortunate, I count my blessings that I have never had to lean on any such entity. My family in one way, shape or form has always provided whatever assistance any of us needed, be it shelter, food, clothing or simply bus fare. So again I must admit my lack of intimacy with such institutions.

However, I am not aware of any one who looks like me who does not remember the ravaging flood effects of Katrina and the flood of money that poured into one of the most popular volunteer relief organizations, the American Red Cross. Just about every high-profile philanthropist, bad boy thug-turned legit rapper, religious leader to media outlets and major companies, combined millions of dollars were donated to the relief efforts promised by the American Red Cross.

Let me note here, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) an agency of the U.S. government, and yes even under the executive orders of our beloved Barack Obama, directs charitable donations to the American Red Cross. The American Red also receives various grants from FEMA including http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18473

Now on its own website FEMA acknowledges “The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Grant Programs Directorate (GPD) is fiscally responsible for approximately 17,000 open grants and is programmatically responsible for more than two-thirds of those grants.

The following preparedness grants are programmatically managed by the Grant Development & Administration Division of GPD.”

According to policies set forth in its directorates on the site, these grants can cover everything down to staffing expenses of a volunteer/relief organization. So, in my estimation, the American Red Cross can be qualified as a money-laundering service for our government. It pays itself to do the work. Well I know it isn’t that cut and dry, but where I come from in the hood that’s what it looks like. You are an agency charged with overseeing a particular task, you then identify a group to perform such task for you, utilizing your dollars, training, directive, etc. ultimately reporting to you any funds raised which you in turn manage and act as fiscal agent over.

So that is the base understanding I’ve come to in trying to figure out why in God’s name, as we sit helplessly here on American soil watching as the poorest neighboring country is completely devastated beyond human capacity, would various entities attempt to discredit a movement to bring relief to the people of Haiti.

Wyclef Jean, for those who have not been attuned to hip hop prior to Cash Money or Young Jeezy, is a grammy-winning, international hip- hop artist who single handedly put Haiti on the map. Through his artistry and advocacy,  it brought to light history of Haiti for many who were just too young or simply never cared enough to realize Haiti’s rich history. It was the first country that freed itself from slavery and not only overthrew that heinous institution, but defeated the whole lot of French rule.

Wyclef in his music has always paid homage to his homeland, and shared the culture and pain of his countrymen unashamedly. He did this at a time when many Black Americans shunned any relationship to Haiti. At the height of his career as a member of the Fugees, (group first named ‘Refugee Camp’ for the conditions many Haitians find them selves when arriving on American soil) the group went back to Haiti and took several media outlets to document the plight there. Subsequently, that trip garnered Haiti prime shine in various magazine articles. During his solo career, Wyclef went back further still to his roots, releasing a full CD in creole titled, Welcome to Haiti Creole 101. And then in 2007, pledging a more substantive allegiance to his native land, Wyclef became a Haitian ambassador for the government.

Times photos: John Pendygraf
Wyclef Jean refused United Nations protection for a trip through Cite Soleil, Haiti’s most notorious, gang-infested slum, relying on his popularity to keep his group safe. “I am putting myself in the front line because I want that change to happen.” Jean said.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/13/Worldandnation/Haiti_s_hip_hop_helper.shtml

This to me, speaks volumes of his love and honor of his country. But greater than that it speaks of the mutual respect and pride the country has for him.

So why is it when a native son of Haiti yells out for relief from the devastation that has demolished his beloved land, why would there be questions of his intentions? What force would rally against his efforts and bring questionable allegations regarding his foundation http://yele.org

Smoking Gun posts IRS returns for the year 2009. Listing the foundation as being in operation for “12 years,” they say accounting has not been so transparent. Maybe it hasn’t. But check the records of many and you’d be hard-pressed to find squeaky clean accounting, even among the most financially prudent. But they continue to try and smear this guy by pointing out he “paid” himself for rent and performances.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0114102wyclef1.html

Check it… just on some real plain and simple hood logic: if you open a business/not-for-profit, foundation, carity, church, etc. you have to keep the lights on. Most times, that money is coming out of your very own pocket. You do what you must to hold yourself afloat until things start rolling. In the grand scheme of things, if you have an accountant savvy enough, you’l wind up writing a large amount off. Isn’t that what every tax paying American seeks out like a leprechaun searching for a pot of gold, that tax-incentive? I’d like every politician to disclose personal or affiliated returns for the public. Of course I know they have to go through the motions of making them public, but when is the last time your elected official directed you to his/her returns and they were in plain view? Uh, huh.

For me, I just can’t see what the deal is. For one, yes he may have performed at a charity event, yes yes I know his foundation gave it. But who said the band played for free? Did the production company who handled stage, lighting, hotel, travel, catering, security, attorney fees, and on and on the list could go. Did those entities get tossed in for free. Come on. In America? I doubt it. He probably had to pay them folks and somewhere down the line he figured he’d get his scratch back.

Hell, you wanna steer me away from giving to something? Show me an organization that has ties to assisting in wars, paid by war monies. Show me an organization that since its inception has had ties to government. Show me an organization that has claimed to be a relief and rescue agency for all victims of disaster, that existed pre-post slavery but has no record of providing relief to the families of the thousands of blacks who were lynched. Surely they knew of this hideous “devastation” since Ida B. Wells was traveling the same circles of the UN and such with her message of anti-lynching. Surely those families needed “relief.”

Well, I don’t have to look any further to see it. It is the Red Cross and I for one, if not for any other proof than the shenanigans of the Katrina debacle, won’t be giving my money anytime soon to its efforts.

But that’s just little ole me who does not have much insight when it comes to these matters.

BTW, if you’d like to know how much money RC has made in the last two days, check out the article below. Now where are their tax returns? Hhow are they accounting for all the donations?

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/kindness/post/2010/01/donations-to-aid-haiti-set-new-text-records/1

Yet, it took them longer to get on the ground than it took Yele.

I am signing off. And if you’re looking for me, I’ll be tweeting away, reminding you to text yele to 501501.

BTW, peep the video Wyclef did speaking about the work of his foundation long before the earthquake rocked Haiti.

http://www.forbes.com/thought-leaders/video/?video=/video/thought-leaders/tl_2009_1209

Peace

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

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

In These Troubled Times We Really Need to Remember Martin Luther King-Now More Than Ever

January 16, 2010 By

Click HERE to listen to Speech

 This weekend we celebrate what would’ve been Martin Luther King‘s 81st  birthday. In doing this we take time out to reflect on his life and the words he delivered on the issues of peace and social justice.

This year I wanted to put forth one of my favorite speeches by Dr King called ‘Entrance into the Civil Rights Movement.. It’s an important speech in the sense that it highlights what was at the core of King’s essence-his relationship to God and his ability to call upon the Holy Spirit.  It’s a very moving speech where he outlines the challenges he was facing as a leader and how he to look deep inside himself in order to move forward…
 
you can peep the speech here:

http://bit.ly/5t17Ns

 
As we celebrate, I am also including a YouTube video I put together called MLK vs the Radio.. This is contains portions of speech that King gave in August 1967 to a group of Black radio broadcasters. It’s an incredible piece where he talks about the responsibility and important role Black radio played in furthering the Civil Rights Movement. I wanted to reintroduce this speech because many of us are still reeling from the verbal assaults that have been occuring on radio shows like the one hosted by blowhards like Rush Limbaugh who recently made disparaging remarks about  50 thousand Haitans who dies in this weeks earthquake.. I want people to peep this video and ask yourself if media is doing right by you.. This piece also includes the voices of activist Rosa Clemente, Minister Farrakhan, H Rap Brown and Chuck D of Public Enemy…

-Davey D-

 Below is a quick bio  from Wikipedia…

 Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches.[1] A Baptist minister,[2] King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: , , , , , ,

President Obama Pens Article About Haiti for Newsweek

January 16, 2010 By

http://www.newsweek.com/id/231131

In the last week, we have been deeply moved by the heartbreaking images of the devastation in Haiti: parents searching through rubble for sons and daughters; children, frightened and alone, looking for their mothers and fathers. At this moment, entire parts of Port-au-Prince are in ruins, as families seek shelter in makeshift camps. It is a horrific scene of shattered lives in a poor nation that has already suffered so much.

In response, I have ordered a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives in Haiti. We have launched one of the largest relief efforts in recent history. I have instructed the leaders of all agencies to make our response a top priority across the federal government. We are mobilizing every element of our national capacity: the resources of development agencies, the strength of our armed forces, and most important, the compassion of the American people. And we are working closely with the Haitian government, the United Nations, and the many international partners who are also aiding in this extraordinary effort.

Haiti’s Earthquake, Close-Up

Zoom in to view the decimation in Port-au-Prince, including its cathedral and shantytowns.

How Cities Heal After Disasters

 We act for the sake of the thousands of American citizens who are in Haiti, and for their families back home; for the sake of the Haitian people who have been stricken with a tragic history, even as they have shown great resilience; and we act because of the close ties that we have with a neighbor that is only a few hundred miles to the south.

But above all, we act for a very simple reason: in times of tragedy, the United States of America steps forward and helps. That is who we are. That is what we do. For decades, America’s leadership has been founded in part on the fact that we do not use our power to subjugate others, we use it to lift them up—whether it was rebuilding our former adversaries after World War II, dropping food and water to the people of Berlin, or helping the people of Bosnia and Kosovo rebuild their lives and their nations.

At no time is that more true than in moments of great peril and human suffering. It is why we have acted to help people combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa, or to recover from a catastrophic tsunami in Asia. When we show not just our power, but also our compassion, the world looks to us with a mixture of awe and admiration. That advances our leadership. That shows the character of our country. And it is why every American can look at this relief effort with the pride of knowing that America is acting on behalf of our common humanity.

//

Right now, our search-and-rescue teams are on the ground, pulling people from the rubble. Americans from Virginia and California and Florida have worked round the clock to save people whom they’ve never met. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen quickly deployed to the scene. Hand in hand with our civilians, they’re laboring day and night to facilitate a massive logistical enterprise; to deliver and distribute food, water, and medicine to save lives; and to prevent an even larger humanitarian catastrophe.

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: , ,

Naomi Klein Says Don’t Get Shocked Again-pay Real Close Attention to Haiti and the Corporate Game Plan

January 15, 2010 By
Wow Naomi Klein on her website told folks to note how we are gonna get shocked and then said folks have gotten so bold that they are running down the game plan.. Maybe the Wyclef Yele Smoking Gun  thing was a distraction or a the jump off.. Time will tell..  One thing is for sure, these conservative folks recommend that we donate to the Red Cross.. After  Katrina, I can’t help but wonder..
 -Davey D-
 
Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again
by Naomi Klein

Naomi Kline

Readers of the The Shock Doctrine know that the Heritage Foundation has been one of the leading advocates of exploiting disasters to push through their unpopular pro-corporate policies. From this document, they’re at it again, not even waiting one day to use the devastating earthquake in Haiti to push for their so-called reforms. The following quote was hastily yanked by the Heritage Foundation and replaced with a more diplomatic quote, but their first instinct is revealing:

“In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region.”

This is the stuff from the conservative website..

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/13/things-to-remember-while-helping-haiti/

Things to Remember While Helping Haiti

Posted January 13th, 2010 at 3:32pm in American Leadership with 44 commentsPrint This Post Print This Post Today, the United States began surveying the damage inflicted by a devastating earthquake in Haiti this week. In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake should address long-held concerns over the fragile political environment that exists in the region.

 The U.S. government response should be bold and decisive. It must mobilize U.S. civilian and military capabilities for short-term rescue and relief and long-term recovery and reform. President Obama should tap high-level, bipartisan leadership. Clearly former President Clinton, who was already named as the U.N. envoy on Haiti, is a logical choice. President Obama should also reach out to a senior Republican figure, perhaps former President George W. Bush, to lead the bipartisan effort for the Republicans.

 While on the ground in Haiti, the U.S. military can also interrupt the nightly flights of cocaine to Haiti and the Dominican Republic from the Venezuelan coast and counter the ongoing efforts of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to destabilize the island of Hispaniola. This U.S. military presence, which should also include a large contingent of U.S. Coast Guard assets, can also prevent any large-scale movement by Haitians to take to the sea in dangerous and rickety watercraft to try to enter the U.S. illegally.

 Meanwhile, the U.S. must be prepared to insist that the Haiti government work closely with the U.S. to insure that corruption does not infect the humanitarian assistance flowing to Haiti. Long-term reforms for Haitian democracy and its economy are also badly overdue. Congress should immediately begin work on a package of assistance, trade, and reconstruction efforts needed to put Haiti on its feet and open the way for deep and lasting democratic reforms.

 The U.S. should implement a strong and vigorous public diplomacy effort to counter the negative propaganda certain to emanate from the Castro-Chavez camp. Such an effort will also demonstrate that the U.S.’s involvement in the Caribbean remains a powerful force for good in the Americas and around the globe.

 To assist Red Cross Relief Efforts, go to www.redcross.org

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: , ,

Army Imprisons Soldier for Singing Against Stop-Loss Policy

January 15, 2010 By

When I first heard about Army Specialist Marcus Waters being arrested recording a song about his frustration with ‘Stop Loss’  all I could do was shake my head in disbelief. I’m not  sure if anyone has been to a military base.. but for those who haven’t, our brave men and women who put their lives on the line are allowed to be entertained by comedians and rappers who joke and rap about everything from lewd sex acts  to who they shot down in the streets over a beef.. We’re allowed to have our soldiers exposed to that in the guise of entertainment..  Our soldiers can have radio stations that pipe in Pro-war politicized messages wrapped in religious cloth.. but if one of our men and women in military take a stance and talk about a policy that not only impacts the men and women who served, but is likely to have dire impact on the rest of us when a troubled, angry, post traumatized individuals return home to the community, they can wind up in jail…

This is absolutely crazy… Stop Loss is a problem onto itself and its high time.. President Obama do the right thing and reverse a policy put into place by his predecessor George Bush. Before folks start trying to pick a part this story and point out some sort of technicality or pompously state he signed on the dotted line and gave up his rights…blah blah blah.. People need to fall back and keep a couple of things in mind…

In many of our communities we have two types of people who have gone away and will soon be returning home. We have a lot of prisoners. Many who went to jail for a long time for ‘correctable crimes’,  meaning that they should’ve been rehabilitated, but in many places they are simply warehoused as we pump out our collective chests and say we are tough on crime…

Well sadly many of those folks come back, hardened, wacked out, angry at the world after experiencing the horrors of prison and have made up their mind that someone will pay-that’s usually us-the community.

The other group that’s returning are soldiers, many who enlisted because they were poor and saw their choices narrowed down to  run the streets and go to jail or ‘be all you can be’ and join the army… Well amny have been demoralized upon realizing they are fighting a war that seems to have no end in sight. Many are upset that they on the battlefield under false pretenses-the Big Lie about ‘Weapons of Mass Desrtuction’… many are despondant as they see that there are lots of people caking bigtime off these wars.. Companies like Haliburton.. Blackwater, DymeCorp..  etc.. War is big business aand the men and women who come from poor communities and are now on 3rd and 4th tours of duty are feeling the same frustration that was eloquently expressed in the song..

When these trained warriors return home they come to those same communities with returning prisoners.. We have two angry, traumaticized groups of people in the community and we have blowhards telling us we don’t need healthcare, job training, mental health facilities etc.. Folks we best be prepared..

We also need to keep in mind that the military just arrested a sister Alexis Hutchinson who refused to deploy because she has a 10 month old baby and no one to take care of him.. Talk about causing generational trauma.. How sad is that?  Am I the only one to think about how they described slavery where babies were born and slave mothers were made to go back on the field within a few days or weeks after giving birth?Here we have aguy exercising free speech who is arrested and woman who bares a child and is arrested for opting to take care of her 10 month old.. This is crazy.

Peep Marcus Waters song called Stop Loss here : http://bit.ly/4Rwqm9

-Davey D-

Army Imprisons Soldier for Singing Against Stop-Loss Policy

Friday 08 January 2010

by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t | Report
(Photo: Courage to Resist; Edited: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t)

Marcus Water

Army Specialist and Iraq war veteran Marc Hall was incarcerated by the US Army on December 11, 2009, in Liberty County Jail, Georgia, for recording a song that expresses his anger over the Army’s stop-loss policy.

Stop-loss is a policy that allows the Army to keep soldiers active beyond the end of their signed contracts. According to the Pentagon, more than 120,000 soldiers have been affected by stop-loss since 2001, and currently 13,000 soldiers are serving under stop-loss orders.

Hall, (aka hip hop artist Marc Watercus), who is in the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, was placed in Liberty County Jail for the song (click here to listen to “Stop-Loss,” by Marc Watercus), in which he angrily denounces the continuing policy that has barred him from exiting the military.

Military service members do not completely give up their rights to free speech, particularly not when they are doing so artistically while off duty, as was the case with Hall. He is charged under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which covers “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline” and “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.” The military is claiming that he “communicated a threat” with his song. Hall mailed a copy of the song to the Pentagon after the Army unilaterally extended his contract for a second Iraq deployment.

Hall planned to leave the military at the end of his contract on February 27, before his commander, Captain Cross at Fort Stewart, moved to have him incarcerated for the song. The military currently intends to keep Hall in pre-trial confinement until he is court-martialed, which is expected to be several months from now.

Jim Klimanski, a civilian military lawyer, member of the National Lawyers Guild and the Military Law Task Force, who is closely following Hall’s case, told Truthout that he feels the military is overreacting to the case, and that it is simply a matter of free speech and that the Army’s actions violate his First Amendment right to free speech.

“It’s a political case, and the military should know that,” Klimanski explained, “I think they are overreaching and overreacting because of Maj. Hassan (who went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood on November 5), and I can understand that to some degree, but cooler heads should prevail and they should deal with stop-loss, and maybe we’ll get the case thrown out. One would hope that common sense would prevail.”

Hall is opposed to the occupation of Iraq, and had told his commander he would not deploy if ordered. His unit deployed to Iraq without him in mid-December, but this is not why Hall is in jail, as he was jailed before his unit was sent to Iraq.

“The military never ordered him to go [to Iraq], they put him in jail before that,” Klimanski continued, “They can’t charge him with missing movement, because he couldn’t go because they put him in jail. He told them he wanted out, he wouldn’t go, but they didn’t put him in jail for not going.”

In a statement on January 5, Hall said, “”My first sergeant called me into his office to discuss the song’s nature. I explained to him that the hardcore rap song was a free expression of how people feel about the Army and its stop-loss policy. I explained that the song was neither a physical threat nor any threat whatsoever. I told him it was just hip-hop.”

Hall added, “My first sergeant said he actually liked the song and that he did not take it as a threat. He and my commander at the time just recommended me for mental counseling and evaluation.”

Truthout obtained a redacted copy of the Army’s Charge Sheet against Hall, filed by Marcus Seiser, that includes five charges. On the sheet, Hall is accused of telling someone he would “go on a rampage,” that “the song makes threats of acts of violence,” and that Hall is accused “of planning on shooting the brigade or battalion commanders.”

Jason Hurd, an Iraq war veteran who has been assisting Marc Hall, told Truthout that he believes the military is overreacting to Hall’s song due to the November 5 shooting at Fort Hood.

“It really frustrates me that they [military] are reacting in such an excessive way,” Hurd, a member of Iraq Veteran’s Against the War, told Truthout, “When you are talking about communicating a threat, a threat has to be at something or someone. If you listen to Marc’s song, he’s not saying he wants to kill someone in his chain of command, he makes broad artistic expressions of anger. The military likes to keep a lid on things, and it’s now very frustrating they are taking such extensive measures to save face, and they are afraid after the Ft. Hood shooting. So as a result of Ft. Hood, they have persecuted Marc, and now he’s incarcerated.”

Hurd also feels the case underscores an underlying hypocrisy within the military.

“From a military that has us, while we’re jogging, chant in cadence about killing babies, to then come down on someone for writing an angry song, is ludicrous,” Hurd added, “Marc is just expressing the anger that 13,000 soldiers are feeling right now, because there are currently that many who are stop-lossed. All he did was make his opinion heard.”

According to Hurd, who has been speaking with Hall regularly via telephone, Hall told him that how the military has handled his case “really got me thinking about the whole situation, and how we acted like thugs over there [in Iraq]. In good conscious I could not go back over there and do it again.”

Jeff Paterson, the founder and director of the soldier advocacy group Courage to Resist, which is assisting Hall, told Truthout, “Marc’s case is unique in that the military hasn’t shown a propensity to go after these political speech cases for several years. Here, since he’s an angry man who recorded a song, they are making him a target for having expressed his anger in an artistic way. We think this is an important case because it could set precedent for free speech rights for those in the military.”

Klimanski, along with underscoring the importance of the case for the First Amendment, thinks the case highlights the military’s ongoing use of stop-loss, which also contributes to how they have responded to Hall’s song.

“It’s a song, and he puts it out to the public,” Klimanski told Truthout, “We’re not talking about a Major Hassan who is quietly plotting violence … this is political hyperbole. This is his rant on stop-loss. It’s political speech.”

Klimanski said that by nature, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end, and Hall’s song expresses concern over the possibility of his never being discharged from the military.

“He’s over there saying I have no control over my life. I could be in here forever. We’re not talking about a war that is going to be over next year. We’re talking about a war that could go on forever. So poor old Marc Hall could possibility be in the military forever. Once enlistment starts dropping, the Army maintains troop levels by keeping the ones they have. If you’re not going to go to one place, you’re going to another, but you’re not going to get out. I see this as an issue of political speech. The military may not like what they’re hearing, but that’s what it is. There are people in the military saying their being in it is/was wrong, and they want out.”

Creative Commons License

 Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: , , , , ,

New Trials of a Hip Hop Educator-2010

January 15, 2010 By

New Trials of a Hip Hop Educator

By Tony Muhammad

Hiphopeducator19@gmail.com

http://tonymuhammad.wordpress.com/ 

Peace and Blessings! We are now in the year 2010; marking the beginning of a new year and the birth of a new era of intelligence in this universal culture we have come to know as Hip Hop.  Hip Hop has been best defined by one of its greatest icons, KRS-One.  In the song Hip Hop Lives, KRS-One says: 

Hip means to know

It’s a form of intelligence

To be hip is to be up-date and relevant

Hop is a form of movement

You can’t just observe a hop

You got to hop up and do it

Hip and Hop is more than music

Hip is the knowledge

Hop is the movement

Hip and Hop is intelligent movement

All relevant movement

We selling the music 

So according to this lyrical definition, in order to live and express Hip Hop to its greatest potential we must stay in tune with the modern times and act in accordance with what is most needed in those times.  As the Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan puts it, “Time dictates the agenda!”  I have encountered many “old school heads” that argue that we need to return to the spirit and expression of Hip Hop’s golden era (late 80s and early 90s).  Time and time again I have disagreed with this assessment.  While it is enriching and inspiring to study how the knowledge and wisdom that was pregnant in the music of that time inspired many of us to become the cultivated men and women that we are today, we must keep in mind that it may not be the medium of expression needed to have a significant impact on the hearts and minds of the people today; especially young people.  The music has changed and so too the culture has changed. 

What we are countering today goes far beyond the senseless street violence of the 80s that prompted noted Hip Hop artists to produce the Stop The Violence Movement in the East Coast and We’re All In The Same Gang Movement in the West Coast.  In truth, we have just experienced a whole decade in which the minds of our people, especially the youth, have been corrupted like never before.  Corporate media on all levels has fostered an attraction and consequently an addiction to materialism, violence, sex and sexual abuse.  This is so much so, that our young Brothers and Sisters, many of whom are growing up in homes that offer very little love and guidance, are being raised to believe that it is totally acceptable, and therefore normal, for a man to inflict harm on another human being so that his own senses could be pleased.  Our young men mainly become victims to this in the streets and our young ladies mainly become victims to this domestically “between the sheets” … or literally by force in the back seat of cars.  The predominant image of a young man of color by way of subliminal media suggestion is one that is constantly in and out of jail, jobless and maintains very little responsibility for self or others.  Our young ladies are made to believe that if they do not look like Beyonce or some object that is “sexually arousing,” then they are not valuable in the eyes of anyone, including themselves.  In response, many of those of the older generations within the culture become disgusted by the new trends and in their bitterness do not take the time to drop seeds of wisdom to the youth.  Either this or in their attempts to stay relevant (A.K.A. “cool”) and therefore financially successful, the older folks pick up the negative trends that the younger generation has adopted, both in music and lifestyle.  When all of this happens, there is no true guidance.  Overall, what has been fostered for well over a decade across the board is a culture of death and disrespect and Hip Hop has been one of the main vehicles used in order to bring it into existence.   

According to a recent national report compiled by Northeastern University criminologists, “54 percent of gun violence victims are black males between the ages of 14 and 17.”  According to the same report, “the number of homicides involving black youths — as victims and perpetrators — surged by more than 30 percent from 2002 to 2007, even as overall murder rates across the U.S. have been relatively stable.”  It is also noted in this same study that guns have increasingly became the weapon of choice since 2000 (by 40 percent).  While the homicide rate among Latino youth is statistically not as high as among Black youth, it is found that the homicide rate among poor urban Latinos is still well over three times higher than the white homicide rate. 

We must pose the question, “Can we afford to lose another generation of young people of color?”  Emphatically, the answer is “No!”  However, in order to effect a change, a new breed of role modeling within Hip Hop needs to be birthed.  We can no longer compromise and simply settle with financially successful personalities who market and distribute music and fashion that promote violence, sexism and unintelligent mass consumerism to speak to young people as why they shouldn’t engage in these behaviors.  These methods have proven to be ineffective. 

This is why a national call is being made right now by a network of activists and artists within the culture to consolidate our efforts nationally and to engage young people in the process of actively rebuilding our economically wasted cities; ultimately devoting ourselves to a day of service that we claim for ourselves in which we are in control of a responsible image of Hip Hop that we can claim for ourselves. 

For anyone interested in joining these national efforts please visit www.miacampaign.wordpress.com.  We can also be reached at Musicofamovement@yahoo.com or call 754-246-0222.

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

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

Breakdown FM w/ Davey D on All Day Play Radio: Episode 5: Give the Beats Some Room & Let Them Breath

January 15, 2010 By
We kick off 2010 w/ Breakdown FM on All Day Play radio with a nice set of classic  joints to get you through the day… How many of y’all remember Mantronix ‘Got to Have Your Love’ ? Masta Ace ‘Born to Roll’ ? or  MC san & marley’s ‘The Bridge’… Also featured in this show is an interview we did with Roots drummer Questlove.. Enjoy the set..
you can subscribe to all our shows by hitting up our page at http://www.alldayplay.fm/shows/breakdown-fm
 
 
As for this weeks show you can downplay or stream the show here:

http://www.alldayplay.fm/episodes/episode-5-give-beats-some-room-let-them-breath

Episode 5: Give the Beats Some Room & Let Them Breath

01-Around the Way ‘Really Into You’
02-Nas ‘I Can’
03-Master Ace-‘Born to Roll’
04-Mary J Blige w/ Game ‘Hate it or Luv It’ (rmx)
05-Mack 10 w/ Ice Cube & WC ‘Connected for Life’
06-Snoop Dogg ‘Gin & Juice’
07-MOP ‘Ante Up’
08-MC Shan w/ Marley Marl ‘ The Bridge’
09-Truth Hurts w/ Rakim ‘Addictive’
10-Tribe Called Quest ‘ Hot Sex’
 
11-Neptunes ‘Frontin’
12-DJ jazzy Jeff w/ Fresh Prince ‘ Touch of Jazz’
13-Soul II Soul ‘ Back 2 Life’
14-Mantronix ‘Got to Have Your Love’
15-Notorious BIG ‘Nasty Girl’
16-Foxy Brown ‘Bad mamma jamma’
17-Mark Ronson ‘ Ooh Wee’
18-Missy Elliott ‘Work It rmx
19-Main Source ‘Looking at the Front Door’
20-LL Cool J ‘Jinglin’ Baby’
 
21-Brand New Heavies ‘I Don’t Know Why I Love You’
22-Menehan Street band ‘ Tired of Fighting’
23-Interview w/ QuestLove of the Roots pt1
24-Mos Def w/ The Roots ‘ Rising Down’
25-Interview w/ Questlove of the Roots pt2
26-The Roots ‘Don’t Feel Right’
27-The Roots ‘ The Next Movement’
Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Breakdown FM Interviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

US Supreme Court to meet to Decide If Mumia Should be Put to Death-Sign Petition to President Obama to Save Him

January 15, 2010 By

The Supreme Ct is soon meeting to decide if Mumia should be put to death

Yesterday there was a huge development in Mumia’s case.

According to a posting yesterday on the US Supreme Court’s website, the Court has scheduled a conference for this Friday, January 15, to discuss Mumia’s case. Specifically, they are looking at the Philadelphia DA’s request to have Mumia executed without a new sentencing hearing.

The Supreme Court has apparently been waiting for the ruling on the Spisak case, which was also released yesterday. In Spisak, the court ruled to reinstate Spisak’s death sentence, but it is still unclear what impact this ruling will have. The common thread between Mumia and Spisak is the “Mills” precedent, and the Court yesterday ruled that Spisak’s case did not meet the standards of Mills.

This is the link to the Supreme Court posting:

http://origin.www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/08-652.htm

Here is a recent article by Jeff Mackler, explaining the importance of the Spisak case:

http://www.phillyimc.org/en/mumia-abu-jamal-faces-new-execution-threat
SOME BACKGROUND:

This past March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new guilt-phase trial, but the Court has yet to rule on whether to hear the appeal made simultaneously by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, which seeks to execute Abu-Jamal without granting him a new penalty-phase trial.

In March 2008, the Third Circuit Court affirmed Federal District Court Judge William Yohn’s 2001 decision “overturning” the death sentence. Citing the 1988 Mills v. Maryland precedent, Yohn had ruled that sentencing forms used by jurors and Judge Albert Sabo’s instructions to the jury were potentially confusing, and that therefore jurors could have mistakenly believed that they had to unanimously agree on any mitigating circumstances in order to consider them as weighing against a death sentence.

According to the 2001 ruling, affirmed in 2008, if the DA wants to re-instate the death sentence, the DA must call for a new penalty-phase jury trial. In such a penalty hearing, new evidence of Abu-Jamal’s innocence could be presented, but the jury could only choose between execution and a life sentence without parole.

The DA is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court against this 2008 affirmation of Yohn’s ruling. If the court rules in the DA’s favor, Abu-Jamal can be executed without benefit of a new sentencing hearing. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the DA’s appeal, the DA must either accept the life sentence for Abu-Jamal or call for the new sentencing hearing. Meanwhile, Mumia Abu-Jamal has never left his death row cell.

————————————————————————-

President Obama against the death penalty and for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Dear All,

please help to spread the petition to President Obama against the death penalty and for Mumia Abu-Jamal:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html

To: President Barack Obama WE THE UNDERSIGNED petition you to speak out against the death penalty for Mumia Abu-Jamal, and all the men, women and children facing execution around the world. This ultimate form of punishment is unacceptable in a civilized society and undermines human dignity. (U.N. General Assembly, Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty, Resolution 62/149, Dec. 18, 2007; reaffirmed, Resolution 63/168, Dec. 18, 2008.)

Mr. Abu-Jamal, a renowned black journalist and author, has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for nearly three decades. Even though you do not have direct control over his fate as a state death-row inmate, we ask that you as a moral leader on the world stage call for a global moratorium on the death penalty in his and all capital cases. Mr. Abu-Jamal has become a global symbol, the “Voice of the Voiceless”, in the struggle against capital punishment and human-rights abuses. There are over 20,000 awaiting execution around the globe, with over 3,000 on death rows in the United States.

The 1982 trial of Mr. Abu-Jamal was tainted by racism, and occurred in Philadelphia which has a history of police corruption and discrimination. Amnesty International, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, “determined that numerous aspects of this case clearly failed to meet international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings. [T]he interests of justice would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal. The trial should fully comply with international standards of justice and should not allow for the reimposition of the death penalty.” (A Life In the Balance – The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int’l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/
AMR51/001/2000.)

[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco (E-mail:MumiaLegalDefense@gmail.com; Website: www.MumiaLegalDefense.org).]
—
Berliner Bündnis Freiheit für Mumia Abu-Jamal!

———————————————————–

Obama: Post-Imperial?

[col. writ. 12/24/09]
(c) ’09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
  
According to a think-piece in a recent edition of Newsweek, President Barack H. Obama is a “post-imperial” leader, who seeks to bring ‘balance’ to foreign affairs, and a kind of disciplined realism to interactions with other nations.

 Of the similarities between the dreaded example of Vietnam and Afghanistan, the analogy fails because unlike the fateful Diem brothers, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai was ‘elected’ and has significant support.

 The analogy is about as weak as wet toilet tissue.

To say Karzai was elected is to do extreme violence to the term.

A recent piece in the Washington Post describes the Taliban as a virtual “shadow government” throughout much of the country, with dual governors, police chiefs, tax staffs  and village governments.

Indeed, the Post reports Taliban control covers “broad swaths of the country, especially Afghanistan’s vast rural areas.”  That’s because in many of these districts, the U.S. supported Karzai regime has no presence.

Back to the point — a corrupt, foreign – supported government, which is widely seen as a puppet regime.  Sound familiar?

Do we have another Vietnam?  Perhaps.  The imperial press dutifully followed Pentagon and White House reports, painting Vietnam in rosy colors until the walls came tumbling down.  They almost universally praised  the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as righteous  retribution.

Why should they stop now?

As for ‘post-imperial’, this is a label that is about as ridiculous as post-racial!

To invade countries that did nothing to it; to bomb and kill tens of thousands, to occupy and install puppets sounds pretty imperial to me.

And to add over 30,000 troops to this process means more of the same.

Is this ‘post-imperial?’

Hardly.
–(c) ’09 maj

[Source: Zakaria, Fareed, “The Post-Imperial Presidency”, Newsweek, (12/14/09), pp. 36-40; Witte, Griff, “The Shadow Government’s Clout: In Afghanistan, Taliban Officials offer a concrete alternative:, Washington Post, [Nat’l Wkly. Ed.], Dec.14-20, 2009, p.18]

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

Gang Peacemaker Alex Sanchez Finally Released on Bail

January 15, 2010 By
Glad to see that finally former MS13 member turned eacemaker Alex Sanchez has finally been allowed to make bail. This brother for as long as I’ve known him as been trying to spark peace and at every turn he’s run into serious resistence from the powers that be.. It’s almost like folks were resentful that he was doing the work in the community that was needed, or even worse, he was doing it better than many law enforcement outlets  that have been able to garner milions and millions of dollars  and craft all sorts of ‘tough laws’ .
 
-Davey D-
BREAKING NEWS: Alex Sanchez Granted Bail
January 13th, 2010 by Celeste Fremon

Alex Sanchez is one of the most respected gang intervention leaders in the country. LA Police Chief Richard Bratton has been jealous and been targeting Sanchez for years.

Around 11:30, at the end of the closed hearing that began at 10 a.m. Alex Sanchez attorney Kerry Bensinger came out of the courtroom to talk to Sanchez family and a very, very small handful of supporters, whom he drew into a side room and broke the news. There were many tears.

Bail is set at $2 million. It is to be divided into $1 million in properties, $1 million in sureties.

Since Sanchez supporters have already gathered $1.4 million in property, and $1 million in sureties, “it’s only a matter of the paperwork,” said Monica Novoa, a Homies Unidos board member who is very close to the family and thus was in the room.

Understandably, there will be stringent restrictions, which have been agreed upon but not been spelled out publicly.

“But all that’s fine,” said Novoa. “We really feel that this is the beginning of a fair trial for Alex. He’ll be able to see his family, meet with his attorney, and work for his own defense. That’s all we ever asked for.”

As to who was inside the closed hearing, there were assuredly LAPD officers. And there was supposed to be someone from inside City Hall, or who someone who works closely with City Hall.

I have heard floating rumors that the City Hall someone may have been City Council Member Tony Cardenas.

If true, this makes a great deal of sense. The mayor’s gang czar Guillermo Cespedes could have been called in but he’d have had little or nothing concrete in the way of personal knowledge to offer as he didn’t take over his post until September and prior to that he was running Summer Night Lights and would have had no reason to deeply interact with Sanchez and the area of town in which the government alleges he was operating.

There is former Jeff Carr, the mayor’s chief of staff who was formerly the gang czar. But Carr, while he had worked with Sanchez, would have been unwise to come down on one side or the other of this very controversy-fraught case because either way he leaned he would risk alienating a group that is important to the mayor.

Cardenas, however, is arguably the most knowledgeable of the three, and has a long-term professional relationship with Sanchez and other gang interventionists due to his multi-year chairmanship of the Council’s Ad-hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development. Thus he was in a position to gather some genuine intel.

Plus, although I have criticized Cardenas plenty of times over the years, I have also known him to also at times show an unusual amount of moral courage when the cameras were turned off and there was nothing to gain.

So, while I don’t know if the mystery City Hall person was Tony Cardenas, he would be my pick for the one whom Judge Real would have been wise to call. Had he been called in, I would like to think he would have told what he believed to be the truth—whatever that truth might be.

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

An Interview w/ Eternia-Download Here Mixtape

January 14, 2010 By

An Interview w/ Eternia-Download Here Mixtape

by Rebecca B-Fresh McDonald

http://bfreshphotography.com/2010/01/10/featured-artist-eternia/

Eternia, named Silk-Anne Semiramis Kaya by her mother, is from Toronto, and she splits half of her time between Queens, NY & Toronto (Rexdale). I sat down with Eternia to talk shop before she hits the road hard for promotion and touring in 2010 (see “At Last” project below).

B FRESH: For those out there who aren’t farmiliar with your work, what is your craft?

Eternia: I’m an emcee. Hip Hop Artist. Lyricist. Fill-in-the-Blank-Here. But I do a lot more than rap. I love, live, breathe, learn, grow…..

BF: Tell us 5 things that no one knows about you:

E: 1) I only listen to, like, 3 new rap albums a year. (on repeat, for years…) 2) I love Muse. 3) I havn’t been in a serious relationship in almost a decade. 4) I love 30 Rock. But I prefer to watch things on my own, limited, time schedule, so TV & me don’t mix. 5) If I could, I’d only make music with close friends. I view the music I make like my children, and I view unreleased, lost songs like ‘dead babies.’ I have a lot of dead babies. That’s why I’m always uncomfortable working with random people… it’s like having casual sex w/ a stranger and creating a baby outta the situation. Not a good look.

BF: What do you have planned for 2010?

E: “AT LAST”… At Last! (hehe). MoSS and I created this album together, and we both are equally passionate about the outcome. It’s been a long time coming… 2007 is when we started, to be exact. We’re dropping the album spring of this year. So that’s my 2010 in a nutshell.. touring, promoting, and generally being a worker bee for that project.

BF: Where can people reach you?

E: Pick a site, any site:

http://www.myspace.com/Eternia

http://www.youtube.com/Eternia777

http://www.facebook.com/EterniaMusic

http://www.twitter.com/theRealEternia

http://www.sonicbids.com/Eternia

http://www.Eternia.ca

BF: Any last words?

E: Minneapolis! I rocked B-Girl Be there in Sept and I really wanted to move there after what I saw and felt! Shout out to DJ Sav One at TheUndergroundComeup.com, for his friendship & the crazy man hours he’s been putting in. Shout out to positive, independent-minded folks who support good indie music (female or male, hip hop or not) Worldwide.   And to YOU, B Fresh, and this site, for having me on it.

–To see photos of B-Girl Be (by B FRESH Photography and Media), featuring Eternia,  follow these links:

http://bit.ly/4Vkqsh

http://bit.ly/7NFx0t

Check Eternia and Chesney Snow (beatboxer), Colin Dean (bassist) & DJ Boo (also a percussionist) rockin’ out at SXSW this March in Austin, Texas.  If you in the area, this is a show you do NOT want to miss- they will be performing unreleased material.  This is family to Eternia, and she is inviting you into her house.

Her team also sends out regular email blasts with new videos, songs, photos & new/press. If you’re interested, email: Dj.Sav.One@gmail.com to get put on.

DOWNLOAD her mixtape “Get Caught Up” HERE, featuring cover/back photos by B FRESH Photography and Media!

Eternia_GetCaughtUp_COVER

Eternia_GetCaughtUp_4WEB2

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Breakdown FM Interviews Tagged With: , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »