mrDaveyd | Hip-Hop and Politics

Rebel Diaz Moves Onward with a New Video About Hugo Chavez

March 29, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Rebel Diaz collective Glad to see Rebel Diaz and the RDACBX Collective are standing strong and pushing back hard in spite of the set backs imposed on them by the greedy developers in the Bronx, NYC and its gentrification projects and the FEDs.. After the group painted a mural on the walls of their community center, bringing attention to political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, there was a chilling response from those in power.. The building owner refused to sell the space to the group and he refused to take their rent or negotiate for new terms… He also never expressed concern about the mural..but nevertheless the group came to learn it was a trigger..

As they noted in a recent press conference, RDACBX is not limited to a building, it’s the spirit of the community and that community is everywhere and expanding..Their latest project is a song and dope video that pays tribute to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who was a big supported of the South Bronx community center the group and the neighborhood built.

Here’s what they penned about the video..

Peace Familia!

The direct connection we have with the The Bolivarian Revolution is
that our community space The Rebel Diaz Arts Collective -BX (RDACBX)
was directly funded by Venezuelan owned oil company- Citgo. For 4 1/2
years we received direct assistance from Comandante Hugo Chavez and
the people of Venezuela.

This song is our tribute to him as we consider him to be a champion of poor people around the world. Hugo
Chavez supported Hip Hop in The South Bronx. Hugo Chavez is Hip Hop.
Our community space was violently shut down on Feb. 28th by The NYPD and federal
marshalls. We know what it is. We were a threat because we were
teaching the youth, speaking out against Stop and Frisk, doing
political graffiti, doing open mics, etc.

We are living historic moments of oppression to which we can only respond
with historic moments of resistance!! It is time to Work Like
Chavez!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKkveMo-2NA

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez, Mumia abu jamal, RBDACBX, Rebel Diaz, Rebel Diaz Moves Onward with a New Video About Hugo Chavez, South bronx, Work Like Chavez

Important Follow Story About Bay Area Rapper Saafir & His Health Challenges

March 29, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Since we ran that story from Shock G about Saafir and his health challenges there has been massive response from all over world. It was one hardly anyone anticipated…Its been much appreciated..Many folks had lots of questions, concerns .. Many had lots of advice and wanted to help.. Below is the first of two stories that are important follow ups courtesy of Bay Area scribe Garrett Caples of the SF Bay Guardian. He reached out and did two stories.. One is called ‘Injured Player in the Game’ the other is called Reality Rap which is an exclusive Q&A which you can access here…http://www.sfbg.com/noise/2013/03/27/reality-rap-qa-saafir-saucee-nomad.. Big salute to Garret for rocking this..-Davey D-

Injured Player in the Game

Saafir Photo: Garret Caples

MUSIC “I have a new respect for people with disabilities,” Bay Area legend Saafir, the Saucee Nomad says, sitting in his wheelchair in the East Oakland living room where he’s temporarily crashing. “I was aware of their plight, but I never imagined how much strength it took mentally to deal with every day, day to day. It’s a cold strength.”

The extent of Saafir’s disability, revealed last month by Digital Underground leader Shock-G on Davey-D’s Hip Hop Corner blog, took the rap world by surprise. I’d heard Saafir was in rough shape, following a 2005 operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his spine, though the release of his unexpectedly religious album Good Game (ABB, ’06) seemed to signify a recovery. Yet a numbness that began in his toes in ’08 gradually crept up his legs to where he can no longer walk or even stand. His inability to work coupled with his medical expenses has wiped him out financially.

Tweeted by Questlove to his two million Twitter followers, Shock’s account went mini-viral over social media and hip-hop blogs. Wanting to interview Saafir, I called Shock, who gave his number but warned, “He’s a little heated ’cause I didn’t clear that story with him and I got some details wrong. But he wouldna let me post it. He’s a soldier.” And it takes some convincing before Saafir grudgingly agrees to an interview, though by the time we meet, his anger at the unwanted attention has largely dissipated into relief and acceptance. He’s allowed Chris Clay, a protégé of Shock’s who’s also a web designer, to set up a site, www.tostandagain.org, where fans can make Paypal donations. He’s even plugged the site in a phone interview on Sway and King Tech’s Wake Up Show (Shady 45 radio).

That the Wake Up Show was the first national music media to reach out to Saafir is unsurprising; the epic battle between Saafir of Hobo Junction and Casual of Hieroglyphics that the show hosted in 1994 when it was on KMEL was arguably step one in a series that leads to Sway interviewing Obama. A high-water mark of Bay Area rap history, Hobo v. Hiero occurred the same year Saafir released his debut, Boxcar Sessions, on Quincy Jones’s Warner imprint, Qwest. Saafir scored the $250,000 deal on the strength of his performances on Digital Underground’s Body-Hat Syndrome (TommyBoy, 1993) and in the film Menace II Society (1993), but even those didn’t quite prepare the world for his surrealistic syntax stretching on Boxcar or the tripped out beats of Hobo producers JZ and J.Groove.

While it became an enduring underground classic, Boxcar dropped at a time when the golden age was giving way to the bland consumer-speak that still dominates rap. After another album, The Hit List (1999), Saafir left Warner only to sign with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath as a member of Golden State Warriors, a supergroup with Xzibit and Ras Kass. But the project ultimately didn’t yield an album.

“We didn’t get held up by Aftermath; we had internal issues,” Saafir says. “We did a lot of high-profile records but we could never push past that level.” Following the group’s demise and his cancer operation, Saafir had just relaunched as an independent artist when he began to experience the first symptoms leading to his present condition.

The whole persona of a rapper is about being extraordinary, but in many ways Saafir’s current situation is typically American, Obamacare notwithstanding. Like any rapper who signs to a major in his 20s, he bought “some dumb shit” with his Warner money and has regrets, but he always set aside money from his deals; he has kids he’s putting through high school, among other expenses. But even with some insurance, he’s lost everything, and it’s impossible for him to make money the way a rapper does— always hopping flights to the next show — when it takes him two hours to get dressed.

After last year’s failed quest for laser surgery, described in Shock’s post, Saafir’s again working with his original doctor to determine the cause of his loss of leg function. If it can be restored, he estimates he’s looking at over $80,000 of uncovered expenses for surgery and rehab. If it can’t, he needs to get himself into an accessible assisted living situation, because couchsurfing in his condition is untenable.

But wheelchair or no, Saafir plans to continue rap.

“I’m a boss but I’m an injured player in the game,” he says. “I’m a very strong injured player in the game and I can still make plays from my position.”

Below is a link to an exclusive Q&A with Saafir via Garret Caples of the SF Bay Guardian…

http://www.sfbg.com/noise/2013/03/27/reality-rap-qa-saafir-saucee-nomad

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: Bay Area, Boxcar Sessions, Digital Underground, Garrett Caples, healthcare, Important Follow Story About Bay Area Rapper Saafir & His Health Challenges, Saafir, Shock G

Rapper Rick Ross Explains His Song Was just a Big Misunderstanding-He Loves Women

March 28, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Rapper Rick Ross appeared on a radio show on q93.3 in New Orleans and attempted to do some damage control by explaining the lyrics to his song..U.O.E.N.O. (you ain’t even know it)..In the song he describes what many call a ‘recipe for rape’ , where he brags about slipping a molly into a woman’s drink, taking her home and having sex, all while she is under the influence and doesn’t know..

The firestorm it set off has been widespread, including a big article in today’s Washington Post that includes a petition demanding key record executives be held accountable.. You can peep that article HERE..

In the article Industryears co-founder Paul Porter tells the Washington Post

Porter goes on to argue that artists should not be solely responsible for their lyrical content. According to him, the bar is being set increasingly lower and many are relying on shock value for mass appeal. This might explain why it seems the lyrical content gets progressively worse in its promotion of violence and drugs. And with media outlets not doing the best job in self-policing the airwaves, references to “Molly” and other drugs continuously get heard on the radio and in music videos.

“Somebody is responsible at every record label for what gets approved,” says Porter. “These are the people that we never talk about. The guys that profit the most never get talked about. Until the pressure is at the top – the bottom is never going to change. Rick Ross is just a pawn.”

There are times when I question the power of our voices against these massive corporate machines. What could we write/say that hasn’t already been written/said? What could we do that would actually hurt their bottom line? And if we reach one artist, aren’t there hundreds of others who are just the same?

Rick Ross in his interview says that he has love for women and they are sacred. He refers to them as Queens and says he condemns rape..He claims his lyrics were a big misunderstanding and that its important for artists to clarify.. He starts talking about the song 4;26 into the 8 minute intv..

It remains to be seen how Ross’s explanation will sit with folks.. Many are upset at the stations who promote such songs and are still pushing for them to pull that and other songs that celebrate rape culture..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzR-yTSWZgI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lI7VOqLYLiY

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: New Orleans, Paul Porter, Rape culture, Rapper Rick Ross Explains His Song Was just a Big Misunderstanding-He Loves Women, RickRoss, Rocko, Washington Post

Breakdown FM: End Violence Against Women (No More Tears, No More Shame)

March 28, 2013 By mrDaveyd

logo-End-Violence-No-More-tears-No-More-shame In recent weeks there’s been far too much violence directed at our sisters, mothers, daughters and women in general.. It ranges from the reaction to Steubenville rape verdict and the local NAACP President Royal Mayo saying she wasn’t really a victim to the recent Rick Ross song advocating ‘date rape’..to highly publicized gang rapes in India to on going assaults in our own military where they say as much as 30% of the women enlisted have been assaulted..

A couple of years ago we did this mix in reaction to the disturbing domestic violence incident between singers Chris Brown and Rhianna. We wanted to bring it back out and give folks something to think about..Much of what was expressed then is still relevant today, if not even more so.. We wanted to leave folks with a message that is hopefully uplifting and healing.. Consider it our Anti-Rick Ross mix..

Speaking of which folks should be aware there is a petition directed at industry executives around Rick Ross and his disturbing song.. Be sure to check it out, sign it and pass it along

https://www.change.org/petitions/rape-rick-ross-and-responsibility-rrr

There is also another campaign designed to remind people about the horrors of rape and how we must draw clear lines.. The video below speaks for itself..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lI7VOqLYLiY

Lastly with respect to the mix.. among the cuts we got hold of include jams from Brother J and X-Clan called ‘Wiz Degrees‘. Its a nice song about love and his appreciation for his partner and what she means to him. Its off the album ‘Mainstream Outlaw‘ which is banging.

Desdamona out of the Twin Cities has a searing song that’ll make you pause and think called ‘Faulty Fuse‘.

Two of my favorite songs addressing this issue comes from MC Hammer and Brand Nubian. Hammer’s track ‘Big Man‘, off the Family Affair album hits a homer as he reminds folks the harsh consequences of such behavior.

Brand Nubian‘s song ‘Sincerely‘ was completely overlooked when it was released on the 1st anniversary of the Million Man March‘. You will be asking yourself, why wasn’t this record being exposed to the masses? It’s an incredible song.

Two other songs to check is Bridgette Gray‘s heart wrenching Letter to Hip Hop. She lays out some serious questions that still have yet to be adequately answered.

We follow that up with a piece from fellow spoken word artist Amir Suilaman called ‘How Beautiful‘.

Anyway there’s lots of joints to get you thinking. Enjoy, reflect, pass along and most importantly Try to make a difference help bring about a world where the horrors of violence against women no longer exist….

Listen to 25 Joints by clicking link below:

25 Joints to Get U Through the Day #9
No More Tears-No More Shame-No More Violence

01-PSAStop Domestic violence
02-Tabb Doe ‘Sleeping w/ the Enemy’ (San Francisco)
03-MC Hammer ‘Big Man’ (Oakland)
04-Poetess w/ Def Jeff, Kool G Rap, Almighty ‘Love Hurts’ (LA)
05-Brand Nubian ‘Sincerely’ (New York)
06-KRS-One ‘Brown Skinned Woman’ (New York)
07-Bridget Gray ‘Letter to Hip Hop’ (LA)
08-Amir Suilaman ‘How Beautiful’ (Oakland)
09-Hard Knock ‘Hands of a Stranger’ (New York)
10-Sister Souljah ‘Relationships’ (New York)
11-Paris ‘Assata’s Song’ (San Francisco)
12- J Boogie w/ Zumbi ‘For Your Love’ (San Francisco/Oakland)
13-Michael Franti & Spearhead ‘Hey World’ (San Francisco)
14-Urban Ave 131 ‘Heaven Help Us’ (Washington DC)
15-X-Clan ‘Wiz Degrees’ (LA)
16-Bambu ‘Nicole’ ft Micah (San Francisco)
17-Desdamona ‘Faulty Fuse’ (Minneapolis)
18-NY Oil ‘You’re A Queen’ (new York)
19-M-1 ‘Love You Can’t Borrow’ (New York)
20-Gabriel Teodros ‘Warriors’ (Seattle)
21-Public Enemy ‘Revolutionary Generation’ (New York)
22-Queen Latifah ‘Nature of a Sista’ (New York)
23-Kofy Brown ‘Just a Woman’ (Oakland)
24-Michael Franti & Spearhead ‘U Can’t Sing R Song'(San Francisco)
25-Jennifer Johns ‘Afraid of Me’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: Breakdown FM: End Violence Against Women (No More Tears), date rape, domestic violence, MC hammer, No More Shame), Rape, RickRoss

Steubenville, NAACP President Says Rape Victim Ain’t Really a Victim…Nat’l NAACP Condemns Remark

March 28, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Update (03-29-13) So yesterday after we ran this story about Royal Mayo who was identified as president of the Steubenville, Ohio NAACP, stating he didn’t think the rape victim was really a victim, we soon heard from the National NAACP..Derek George Turner, director of communication sent this statement:

NAACP Condemns Remarks Disparaging Steubenville Rape Victim; International Business Times Article Misidentified Mayo as Local NAACP President

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The National NAACP released the following statement condemning the remarks disparaging the victim of the sexual assault in the Steubenville case:

“The NAACP abhors the remarks attributed to Royal Mayo regarding the rape victim in the Steubenville. The remarks are Mayo’s own, and do not reflect the position of the NAACP and its membership.

Mr. Mayo is not the president of the Steubenville NAACP and is not a spokesman for the NAACP. The article attributing him as such has been corrected by the International Business Times.

Rape is a despicable crime of violence. The NAACP understands that comments that blame victims for the actions of their attackers contribute to and perpetuate a culture of acquiescence to rape.

The NAACP advocates strongly for a society where victims of rape and sexual assault can come forward and seek legal redress without further retribution from the community, media or society at large.”

Royal Mayo

Reading this article from Steubenville, Ohio, where the NAACP president Royal Mayo is raising the issue about why only two men got convicted and not everyone else.. His claims and layout of the incident should not be immediately dismissed, especially as he places it in the context of long standing police corruption in Steubenville. He notes it’s the first police department in the country to come under a federal court decree..

Where Mayo, loses me and I’m sure many other folks is when he makes the outlandish statement that this teenage girl really isn’t a rape victim.. He claims that the teenager shown in those sordid videos and pictures wanted to have the type of sex the young men from the football team were on trial for… Unbelievable.. No wonder we have such confusion amongst people about sexual assault…Thinking like this is not usual it’s embedded in the minds of far too many people..The thinking goes; If she’s drunk and out of it and unable to stand, she’s good to go.. Inevitably that leads to young men making moves to get a young women in that condition.. ie Dropping a molly or some other mind altering substance in her drink.. All that gets accentuated when popular entertainers like rapper Rick Ross rap about it in a song..or as you may recall last fall, Cee-Lo Green gets accused of doing this..

Perhaps its time we draw clear lines in the sand similar to ‘No means No‘.. How about we make it clear, being drunk, too high, unable to stand and be in full control of your faculties means ‘No’.. end of story?

The article that appears in the IBTimes has the following excerpts: Peep the entire article

http://www.ibtimes.com/steubenvilles-naacp-president-says-rape-victim-was-drunk-willing-exclusive-1149517

Mayo described the 16-year-old girl as the “alleged victim” and said she might have been having consensual sex. “She said her mother brought her to the party, at 3 o’clock, with a bottle of vodka,” Mayo said. “Where did you get it, young lady? You brought it from home? Where’d you get it? You came to the party with your mother.”

Mayo added that she might have been a willing participant, apparently unfazed by the inflammatory nature of such statements. “They’re alleging she got raped; she’s acknowledging that she wanted to leave with Trent. Her friends say she pushed them away as she went and got into the car, twice telling them, ‘I know what I’m doing; I’m going with Trent,’” Mayo said.

By 10:30 p.m., other partygoers were making catcalls and bets to urinate on her, according to a New York Times time line of the incident. The victim was “carried” out of the party by Richmond and Mays two hours later. In the car on the way to another party, Mays was videotaped digitally penetrating the victim. At a third party, the victim was unable to walk on her own, and, according to testimony, Richmond was seen digitally penetrating her from behind. In the videotaped testimonies from the teens at the party, they understood that something wrong was happening but did not stop the sexual assault, as reported by Gawker.

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: NAACP President Says Rape Victim Ain't Really a Victim..., New York Times, Rape, Rick Ross, Royal Mayo, Sexual assault, Steubenville, Steubenville Ohio

Not Every Artist is An Artist..Some Are Lapdogs & Spokespeople For Oppression

March 27, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Davey-D-brown-frame In response to Beyonce telling women they are B–tches and to bow down and Rick Ross rapping about date raping someone, there are some who tried to explain that we should leave such artists alone and that they have FREEDOM of SPEECH.. Lets get a couple of things clear..

If you are pushing oppression and have multinational corporations with million dollar budgets and vast resources, promoting destructive messages then YOU ARE NOT an artist.. What you are is a worker…You are a lackey for corporate interests and should be seen as such.. You are no different then Ronald Reagan when he used his acting skills to be a spokesman for General Electric..In this case you are a spokesperson for oppression. Your creativity and artistic talent is being pimped out for repression not liberation..

Spokespeople and workers for oppression look for huge paychecks, cheap fame and an ostentatious lifestyle so they can bury their shame, ease their guilt and distract us from the fact that their souls were sold and their principles forever compromised. A corporate lap-dog will make excuses for having their talent and art be marketed for young minds and used destructively. They’ll tell you about the importance of ‘sales’ and ‘staying relevant’ or how parents should raise their kids.. These are corporate talking points all designed to avoid responsibility.. It doesn’t change their wrong doings of spreading corporate poison and using ‘art’ as the validating vehicle

soul-for-sale-yellow This is not about telling artists they don’t have freedom of speech or there is one particular party line they gotta adhere to..This is about waking up folks and making it very clear who’s imperialistic interests some who call themselves artists are furthering..It’s about shining a bright light on the deep pocketed nefarious forces behind the work being hawked to the masses..

Are you in the business of saving souls or selling souls? Are you leading us on to the plantation or off? Time will tell the side you choose to represent…

Davey D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFN9f8q5g0

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

Earlier when I posted this.. I got an insightful response from former BLA (Black Liberation Army) leader and former political prisoner Dhoruba Bin Wahad..Here’s what he added to my remarks..

I think maybe we should understand how the status of “Race Music” has been transformed in America by a combination of technology, social change, and the corporate globalization of culture. Once “Black” music, R&B, Jazz Gospel, Blues etc, were separate and apart from white corporate and popular music personified by “Tin-Pan Alley” top song listing.

In the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s Our music was patronized and confined (segregated) to our community therefore it reflected our communal reality (faults and all). But after the upheavals of sixties, the rise of the white Hippie “Love Generation” , the urbanization of white supremacist power to control inner city Blacks, mainstream White culture subsumed it’s Black sub-cultural counterpart. This process at once depoliticized Black music, dummed it down to nursery rhyme like songs (almost every popular Rap track, gangster, or “Dirty South” song sound like nursery rhymes appealing instantly to the adolescence generation that was never really taught what growing up means- but more importantly changed the nature of community musical introspection into gross expressions of sex, violence, money, and the values of misogyny.

Hence acting and behaving as backwards Niggers is acceptable.. authentic, the “Hood”. What we used to call “country” (Gold grillwork dressing like a clown in a bad circus act, is now glorified in videos and on stage) because the money corporate America can generate from ghettoized entertainment serves not just they’re bottom-line, but also the promotion of American values, mystique and material wealth – and most importantly the place of the Black man/woman in the overall scheme of things, we have the artists we do today making millions.

I may be wrong, but the last time I looked, white youth were the major consumers of Hip-Hop music and related paraphernalia. White girls don’t consider themselves “Bitches” in the street sense of that odious term – so what Beyonce says in this respect doesn’t resonate with them – what resonates is her outfits and style, so its not unusually for folks to admire stylish assholes, or that an entire generation of young Black women in the “Hood” have raised and are raising a generation of Shanniqa’s and children named after their Moma’s favorite perfume or club drink or luxury car. What does it say about one’s class status and values when waking up in a new Bugatti is a dream come true?

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: artists, Not Every Artist is An Artist..Some Are Lapdogs & Spokespeople For Oppression, Oppression, Rick Ross, Ronald Reagan

Khan: 10 Years After the War in Iraq, The Anti-War Movement is Virtually Dead

March 27, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Freelance Journalist Nida Khan

Last week marked the official 10-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. Leading up to the commemoration of this bloody and costly engagement, major networks, newspapers and online outlets acknowledged the decade milestone with extensive coverage. They parsed the many ways in which the Bush administration misled everyone and orchestrated a brazen attack on a sovereign nation. And they criticized the media’s own fallacy in helping to sell the war to the American people. But out of all of the supposed lessons learned and promises to rectify our ways going forward, it’s amazing just how little we have changed. In some sort of twisted irony, many of the most vocal opponents of the Iraq war are virtually silent at this very moment when we are actively entrenched and engaged in more areas of the world than possibly ever before. An estimated 6 million people demonstrated against the war in Iraq (according to Al Jazeera). Viewing old footage of these protests, one thing became vividly evident: 10 years later, any semblance of an anti-war movement has been all but crushed.

Michael Mooregreen-225 “As Americans, now whenever we’re told anything, somebody comes on and says there’s reports that maybe this and maybe that, we have to have the most skeptical, critical eye and ear to what we’re being told,” said filmmaker Michael Moore last Tuesday on ‘Piers Morgan Tonight’. Responding to reports of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria, and Ahmadinejad’s potential nuclear capabilities in Iran, Moore emphatically stated that our government – ‘the real government’ as he put it (Wall St., banks, the military) – hasn’t earned a right to be trusted. He went so far as to say that unless Ahmadinejad walks in the room with a bomb in his hand and shows it to him, he won’t believe anything he’s told about Iran. Watching Moore call out our rush to judgment (and subsequent action) around the world, it became blatantly obvious how rare his dissent actually is. In all the hoopla of ‘how could we let this happen’ in regards to Iraq 10 years ago, hardly anyone had the backbone to say that we’re still falling for the same playbook today save for one Michael Moore and a few others that have just been pushed to the margins.

Regardless of what your own personal views may be on Qaddafi (Gaddafi), Ahmadinejad, Abbas or the latest ‘bad guy’ on our list, the fact remains that we are still projecting them through a specific lens that gets drummed up in our mass media without appropriate context or complete information from all angles. And what follows is our involvement in yet another foreign independent country without adequate debate back home. Just because we may now align ourselves with a few other allies when doing so, does that make our actions really any less different than what happened with Iraq? And let’s put aside the notion of dictators that
need to be toppled for a moment and examine the use of weaponry in a host of other nations. Actively utilizing the predator drone program in Somalia, Yemen,

Mali, Afghanistan, Pakistan and numerous other countries, we are still dropping bombs that undoubtedly kill innocent civilians in the process. And yet, where’s the
objection from those that demonstrated against Iraq?

Medea Benjamin

Whenever the concept of drones is addressed in our common discourse, a majority almost instantaneously defend its use because it requires less forces on the ground, and less loss of American lives. Pressing buttons, dropping bombs and watching explosions on a screen as if it were some sort of video game, the individuals operating drones in Nevada or elsewhere are not only further desensitized to the notion of taking lives, but so are the rest of us. No longer do we have to protest the lack of images of coffins with dead U.S. soldiers – we don’t even consider the use of drones an act of war. Under the same open-ended guise of ‘fighting terrorism’, the drone program is fundamentally unchecked from independent entities, and functions pretty much without accountability because it remains a covert process (though there’s talk to move it from CIA control, but we have yet to see). It wasn’t until Congressman Rand Paul’s recent filibuster of Brennan’s confirmation that many Americans likely heard about drones for the first time – and many probably still haven’t. The silence, from all sides, has been quite deafening.

Rallies and marches against the war in Vietnam played an intricate role in the larger struggle for civil rights in this country. While we may be losing less troops today of course (which is a plus), modern warfare still results in the murder of innocents. Every time a supposed target is hit by a drone, civilians – often times women and children – are killed simultaneously and many others permanently wounded. And that goes for every bomb dropped, every time, in every town, in every village, in every city, in every country. But when was the last time we saw 6 million protest that? Or even a million? For that matter, when was the last time we saw any sort of massive anti-war protest anywhere? Have we become such a complacent society that out of sight really has translated into out of mind? Or have we become neutralized because the dynamics of warfare have changed? Any which way you look at it, it’s pretty shocking.

With the exception of a few journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill that have been discussing drones at length for some time now, the vast majority of our press has been silent (minus recent Rand Paul coverage). Instead, we have media that continues to tell us that the drone program is effective in defeating terrorism and getting the bad guys. Rather than questioning a policy as journalists should do, they have been selling it for years – much in the same fashion that the Iraq war was sold to us 10 years ago. In all the focus on the anniversary of the invasion, never once did pundits and journos from either side of the aisle highlight the fact that we are repeating the same mishaps again, right now, in the present. And in discussions of the media’s complacency in selling the war, how often did we hear an acknowledgment of its current complacency in selling any of our present conflicts?

Guess people will wait to talk about today’s failures another 10 years from now.

written by Nida Khan follow her on twitter at

twitter.com/NidaKhanNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPqpV9olIlw

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: Anti-war movement, Glenn Greenwald, Iraq, Iraq War, Jeremy Scahill, Khan: 10 Years After the War in Iraq, Michael Moore, Nida Khan, The Anti-War Movement is Virtually Dead

Rosa Clemente Blasts Rapper Rick Ross.. Calls on Hip Hop to Say ‘No’ to Rape Culture

March 26, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Rick Ross brown In recent days a lot has happened that has kept the issue of rape and rape culture in the forefront.. It ranges from two female social commentators/ bloggers Zerlina Maxwell and Adria Richards being threatened with rape after speaking out against sexual assault and inappropriate sexist jokes to massive rapes in the military to recent fights and resistance that proceeded the passing of the Violence Against Women Act..

Most recently its come in the form of former law enforcement officer turned rapper Rick Ross, kicking lyrics in a new song that advocates date rape…. At a time where one out of three women globally are sexually assaulted and almost half of Black and Brown women in the US being sexually assaulted, Ross’s words are beyond wack. They’re dangerous, irresponsible and reflective of a corporate business culture that has hijacked cultural expression to plant seeds of poison.

The other day long time Hip Hop activist and former Vice Presidential candidate for the Green Party Rosa Clemente responded to Ross with a stinging rebuttal that she posted on youtube.. It was a stark reminder of whats at stake in terms of whats at stake.. Clemente ask for men in Hip Hop to step up draw lines in the sand and protect the culture and the women around them..She calls upon people to put an end to rape culture and uplift the humanity in us all..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lH7pU7PvFA

Long time industry vet Dee Dee Cocheta stepped up and penned a heartfelt open letter to Rick Ross that appears on All Hip Hop..

Greetings William,

I am writing you a letter because I have sat back and observed long enough. I am coming to you as a ‘sister’ of the human family we all belong to. WE are connected! AND you my brother, I am tired of hearing negative things about you and now I am mad at how you are treating yourself. So please do not take this wrong or feel I am coming at you to scold or beat you up with my words. I am coming to you because I CARE and LOVE YOU!

What brought me to the point of writing this open letter was after reading ALLHIPHOP.com Hip-Hop Rumors on your new song, “U.O.E.N.O.” (you ain’t even know it) titled: YOWZA! New Rick Ross Lyric Will Upset Smart Women! So yeah I’m a little upset and rightfully so as the lyric you wrote about refers to ‘date rape’ and is exactly how I lost my virginity; someone STOLE it at the age of 14 before entering in high school. I take responsibility for being at a party I had no business being at but I want you to know how scary this now 41-year-old woman felt to wake up to blood on the sheets with an aching pain and empty feeling, that your heart is sunken where you feel you lost something. Well I did, I lost the right to choose whom I wanted to share that special moment with because I was knocked out and taken advantage of. See William, your lyric doesn’t educate it only further glamorize what fools like that man did to me 27 years ago. I happen to believe in karma and I know that man got his without me having to lift a finger.

You can read the rest of this letter at http://allhiphop.com/2013/03/25/open-letter-to-rick-ross-from-a-music-industry-vet/

To further demonstrate the extent Rape Culture has encroached upon us, here’s a panel discussion we did last year for Free Speech TV dealing with the topic..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_-YfUKVGKY

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: Dee Dee Cocheta, Open letter to Rick Ross, Rape, Rape culture, Rick Ross, Rosa clemente, Rosa Clemente Blasts Rapper Rick Ross.. Calls on Hip Hop to Say 'No' to Rape Culture, Sexual assault, Victim blaming, Violence Agaisnt Women Act

Hip-Hop’s Ascension Officially Begins

March 25, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Tomorrow my first official album drops called “Ascension” on itunes and everywhere. Peep my video for “The Wheel” where I go UFO hunting and get chased by the FBI, and check my promo single “Mandela”

“I was patient like Mandela in prison/ cell sittin but never fell victim cause you can’t jail wisdom”

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News

500 Female Emcees Everyone Should Know (Davey D’s Ultimate List )

March 25, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Below is a list of 500 Female Emcees and the first thing that everyone reading this should know is that the list is not complete. To be honest there’s more than 500 names, much more, but still the list is not complete nor will it ever be. There are too many places and spaces that I have never been nor have the incredible artists like Aisha Fukashima the Raptivist, Mad-lines, Aima the Dreamer, Raw G, Ximbo, Invincible and D’Labrie who over the past year contributed greatly to this list.

The list is not complete even as we have other wonderful lists like; the Illest Female Rappers, Women of Hip Hop, Female Rappers Tumblir, The Female Rappers Network or more recently Patrick McNease‘s Ultimate Female Emcee List. If we really think about it, we don’t want this or any list to be complete. There will always be more emcees to add as long as this culture call Hip Hop is alive, well and is global. If the list stops growing Hip Hop stops growing..

With that being said, the reason why the list came about in the first place was out of frustration and a realization that many within this industry , in particular my male brethren needed to be enlightened.

It was a frustration that many of my women friends within Hip Hop were having when they would hear some pompous music critic or ‘industry expert’ say some ignorant crap like; ‘all women sound the same‘ or ‘these women need to put out hit songs‘, women need to grind harder and promote themselves better or ‘there aren’t a lot of quality women emcees out there‘. All those statements are gross generalizations and reflect a laziness on the part of those making the claim or extreme bias.

The frustration many were feeling was one that would come after hearing announcement after announcement for some huge mega-Cochella-Sumer-Jam-Rock-the-Bells-Spring-Bling type concert that would feature 20 plus acts and only one woman would be on the bill. It was frustration that was felt after pointing out such egregious oversights only to be ignored and ridiculed.

It was the frustration of hearing promoters doing smaller shows claiming that women won’t attract an audience and hence would not be a sound business move even to have one open up a show.

It was frustration of going to a club featuring a popular deejay lauded for being a Hip Hop icon with a reputation for ‘digging in the crates’ and turning audiences onto new music from far off lands and forgotten times only to discover that they rarely dig in crates and ‘discover’ a dope female emcee…

And don’t get it twisted, this refusal to share space has been going on a for a while and many women have expressed frustration the ones I know have not been sitting around waiting for miracles to occur. Many have started doing their own shows and put on vibrant events..From Invincible out of Detroit who I saw do several all women showcases at SXSW and have them packed with lines out the door to Aisha the Raptivist who has traveled the world and and done her own tours to Raw G who promotes here in the Bay Area locally and always brings out incredible women emcees like Alika from Argentina Dunay Surez from Cuba or Ximbo from Mexico, folks are steady grinding and making moves

Where I think folks are getting short changed are in male dominated spaces where female voices, POV and approaches toward Hip Hop are not readily present. Its a cipher that’s incomplete and that has got to change.
The list below was ideally to serve as a guide of sorts to anyone who had this female emcee blind spot.

Its a guide for started yapping about there ain’t no good female emcees hence they couldn’t rock any during a deejay set or mixshow.. Out of all the emcees featured on this list there are are some hard hitters out there they can not and will not be denied.

The list below is guide for promoters who say there’s no market out there for women emcees. A quick look at some of the folks on this list crushes that assertion down to its very last compound. No matter what city. No matter what country, there are emcees listed for you to check out.. From Brooklyn to Oakland to Russia to new Zealand to Pakistan and beyond..

The list is a guide for academic types who can speak at length about male artists over various eras in Hip Hop but when it comes time to referencing women, they only know MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and Nicki Minaj.. This list is for them to check out and help exapnd their hip hop vocabulary. Try referencing dynamic artists like; Sa-Roc, Stahhr, Rocky Rivera, Shadia Mansour, Keny Arkana, Cihuatl Ce, Kellee Maize or Farrah Burns. Rock their songs, play their videos, examine their lyrics

The way the list works is each name is linked to a video and in a few cases to a sound cloud page.. Some of the names are linked to 3 Dope Song series page or a 500 Female Emcee page. In putting this list together it was noted that one song or video often didn’t do artists justice. They are much more complex. As you will note I included in the list some singers who and spoke word artists whose presence and influence in Hip Hop can not be denied. They can’t be easily categorized.

It’s hoped that folks will peep the music, read about the artists click on the links associated with them and start digitally digging in the crates. Not everyone is gonna be great. Not everyone is gonna have a masterpiece of a song or album, but many will and as lovers and protectors of this culture we all should be pushing ourselves to do a better job bringing forth ‘new finds’ vs having it be dictated to us by corporate interests and their mouth pieces.

-Davey D-

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