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Lauryn Hill Pens Open Letter About Her Sony Deal and Money Woes

May 1, 2013 By

Many folks have taken shots at Lauryn Hill for a variety of reasons.. It may be because she is notoriously late for her shows.. For me it’s always been a good 2 hours. For others it’s because at times she’s come across as disjointed and not always clear with her thoughts. When folks heard that she might be going to jail for not paying taxes, the jokes continued, with the aforementioned problems being cited as the likely cause for her dilemma… Lauryn Hill decided to set the record straight and she does so in fine fashion.. Here’s her open letter.. A lot of ground is covered here, especially around the issue of artist freedom and commerce..

lauryn hillIt has been reported that I signed a new record deal, and that I did this to pay taxes. Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment, to launch a new label, on which my new music will be released. And yes, I am working on new music.

I’ve remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye. This is an old conflict between art and commerce… free minds, and minds that are perhaps overly tethered to structure. This is about inequity, and the resulting disenfranchisement caused by it. I’ve been fighting for existential and economic freedom, which means the freedom to create and live without someone threatening, controlling, and/or manipulating the art and the artist, by tying the purse strings.

It took years for me to get out of the ‘parasitic’ dynamic of my youth, and into a deal that better reflects my true contribution as an artist, and (purportedly) gives me the control necessary to create a paradigm suitable for my needs. I have been working towards this for a long time, not just because of my current legal situation, but because I am an artist, I love to create, and I need the proper platform to do so.

The nature of my new business venture, as well as the dollar amount reported, was inaccurate, only a portion of the overall deal. Keep in mind, my past recordings have sold over 50,000,000 units worldwide, earning the label a tremendous amount of money (a fraction of which actually came to me).

Only a completely complicated set of traps, manipulations, and inequitable business arrangements could put someone who has accomplished the things that I have, financially in need of anything. I am one artist who finds value in openly discussing the dynamics within this industry that force artists to compromise or distort themselves and what they do, rather than allowing them to make the music that people need. There are volumes that could (and will) be said.”

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Wyclef Jean Takes Waka Flocka To School

May 1, 2013 By

wyclef-jean-takes-waka_floc1Rapper/producer/musician Wyclef Jean took a hiatus from music to take care of some very important work. Just over three years ago, an 7.0 earthquake shook the tiny island of Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands and leaving millions homeless. When news of the earthquake broke, Wyclef headed back to his home country to help out. The former Fugees member was very vocal about the rebuilding process and even threw his hat into the political arena to run for president in Haiti. Although he his presidential hopes were dashed, Wyclef still does what he can to help out his fellow Haitian brothers and sisters in the slow, pain-staking process of putting their lives and country back together.

Fast forward a couple years later and Wyclef, who also released an autobiography while taking a break, is back on the music scene with a brand new mixtape. Taking all of hip hop artist to school. Giving the heart of hip hop and music new life. Titled, April Showers, the Grammy-winning rapper and producer makes a triumphant return with a solid mixtape filled with club bangers, soulful hits and freestyles.
To mark the release of April Showers, Wyclef held an exclusive listening party for industry insiders and VIP guests. Held at The Spot located on the first floor of the luxe Trump Soho in lower Manhattan, the Haitian native moved the packed crowd with tunes from his latest project.

On hand were several artists featured on April Showers. Including Atlanta Georgia Rapper Waka Flocka Flame.

The rest is at 4UMF

 

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LA Sheriffs Fire 7 Rogue Cops Known as ‘Jump Out Boys’

April 27, 2013 By

LA Sheriffs Fire 7 Rogue Cops Known as ‘Jump Out Boys’

Jump Out Boys In the middle of the Christopher Dorner saga the LA Sheriff department fired 7 Rogue officers known as the Jump Out Boys. These officers considered themselves Alpha Males and were aggressive and celebratory with each shooting their members were involved in. They sported tattoos like the one shown here, which was against department policy.

There written creed found in a pamphlet read as follows:

“We are alpha dogs who think and act like the wolf, but never become the wolf. We are not afraid to get our hands dirty without any disgrace, dishonor or hesitation… sometimes (members) need to do the things they don’t want to in order to get where they want to be.”

Around the time of the firing, several deputies came forth to launch a lawsuit stating that their bosses were members or had close ties to White Supremacist gangs. This story came and went without too much fan fare in 2013..

What caught our attention was that the deputies named off one of the gangs within the department known as the Vikings. For many of us who have been following this, the Vikings was a name that first surfaced about 10-12 years ago when members of the group Aztlan Nation did an investigative report for Rap Pages Magazine. It included famed cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz and journalist Esteban Zul who discovered that there where white supremacist gangs within the LA Sheriffs who used names like Vikings and Nomads.

A few years ago we did an interview with former Rollingstone editor Randall Sullivan and former LA Police Detective Russell Poole.. Our discussion was on the killing of Notorious BIG which Poole was a lead investigator. He was emphatic that the Biggie investigation was hindered by rogue cops associated with Death Row Records and the Bloods street gang. Poole went hard on the rogue cops and said they ruined the force.

We asked him about the Rap Pages investigation from years prior and brought up the issue of White supremacist gangs within Southern Cali Law enforcement. Detective Poole bristled at the notion and stated that at one time they were a problem but had been eradicated from the ranks.

A visitor to LA County Jails Gabriel Carillo was savagely beaten deputies

Gabriel Carillo

To hear deputies in 2013 filing complaints name check the Vikings White Supremacist gang in 2013 was eye-opening and bothersome on a number of levels. First there was hardly any coverage of this. Second, in spite what detective Poole told us in that 2004 interview, the gang was obviously was still functioning.

Last year in 2012 Colorlines reported on another rogue gang within the LA Sheriff department known as the 3000 Boys who routinely brawled with deputies outside of their clique. Read about that HERE or watch a video from a couple of years ago HERE

Since the firing of the Jump Out Boys, the LA Sheriff department has been hit with new allegations of abuse and corruption. This time 18 current and former members have been charged with everything from rape to groping 14-year-old boys to brutally beating visitors to the jails.. such as in the recent case of Gabriel Carillo .. Read about that HERE..

Much more is set to come in 2014.. Stay woke on this story

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News

Jailhouse Roc: The FACTS About Hip Hop and Prison for Profit

April 24, 2013 By
Homeboy Sandman

Homeboy Sandman

GoldenUndergroundTV recently released an interview I did with them late last year. I got a bit animated at the end. Only so many interviews in a row I could handle being asked about Chief Keef.

My tirade wasn’t really about Chief Keef. It wasn’t about Gucci Mane or Wocka Flocka or any of the acts spontaneously catapulted into stardom by synchronized mass media coverage despite seemingly universal indifference (at the very best) regarding their talent. Whose arrests, involvement in underaged pregnancies, concert shootouts, and facial tattoos, dominate conversation for weeks at a time, with their actual music a mere afterthought, if thought of at all.

My tirade was about marketing. It was about media powers seeking out the biggest pretend criminal kingpins they can find, (many of whom who shamelessly adopt the names of actual real life criminal kingpins like 50 Cent and Rick Ross), and exalting them as the poster children for a culture. It was about an art form reduced to product placement, the selling of a lifestyle, and ultimately, a huge ad for imprisonment.

This is not my opinion.

Corrections Corporation of AmericaLast year Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the biggest name in the private prison industry, contacted 48 states offering to buy their prisons. One stipulation of eligibility for the deal was particularly bizarre: “an assurance by the agency partner that the agency has sufficient inmate population to maintain a minimum 90% occupancy rate over the term of the contract.

What kind of legitimate and ethical measures could possibly be taken to ensure the maintenance of a 90% prison occupancy rate?

Two months later an anonymous email was sent out to various members of the music and publishing industries giving an account of a meeting where it was determined that hip-hop music would be manipulated to drive up privatized prison profits. Its author, despite claiming to be a former industry insider, did not provide the names of anyone involved in the plot, nor did he specify by which company he himself was employed. As such, the letter was largely regarded as a fraud for lack of facts.

Here are facts:

stop-big-media-187x203Ninety percent of what Americans read, watch and listen to is controlled by only six media companies. PBS’s Frontline has described the conglomerates that determine what information is disseminated to the public as a “web of business relationships that now defines America’s media and culture.” Business relationships. Last year a mere 232 media executives were responsible for the intake of 277 million Americans, controlling all the avenues necessary to manufacture any celebrity and incite any trend. Time Warner, as owner of Warner Bros Records (among many other record labels), can not only sign an artist to a recording contract but, as the owner of Entertainment Weekly, can see to it that they get next week’s cover. Also the owner of New Line Cinemas, HBO and TNT, they can have their artist cast in a leading role in a film that, when pulled from theaters, will be put into rotation first on premium, then on basic, cable. Without any consideration to the music whatsoever, the artist will already be a star, though such monopolies also extend into radio stations and networks that air music videos. For consumers, choice is often illusory. Both BET and MTV belong to Viacom. While Hot 97, NYC’s top hip hop station, is owned by Emmis Communications, online streaming is controlled by Clear Channel, who also owns rival station Power 105.

None of this is exactly breaking news, but when ownership of these media conglomerates is cross checked with ownership of the biggest names in prison privatization, interesting new facts emerge.

Vanguard GroupAccording to public analysis from Bloomberg, the largest holder in Corrections Corporation of America is Vanguard Group Incorporated. Interestingly enough, Vanguard also holds considerable stake in the media giants determining this country’s culture. In fact, Vanguard is the third largest holder in both Viacom and Time Warner. Vanguard is also the third largest holder in the GEO Group, whose correctional, detention and community reentry services boast 101 facilities, approximately 73,000 beds and 18,000 employees. Second nationally only to Corrections Corporation of America, GEO’s facilities are located not only in the United States but in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.

You may be thinking, “Well, Vanguard is only the third largest holder in those media conglomerates, which is no guarantee that they’re calling any shots.” Well, the number-one holder of both Viacom and Time Warner is a company called Blackrock. Blackrock is the second largest holder in Corrections Corporation of America, second only to Vanguard, and the sixth largest holder in the GEO Group.

There are many other startling overlaps in private-prison/mass-media ownership, but two underlying facts become clear very quickly: The people who own the media are the same people who own private prisons, the EXACT same people, and using one to promote the other is (or “would be,” depending on your analysis) very lucrative.

Such a scheme would mean some very greedy, very racist people.

There are facts to back that up, too.

Prison industry lobbyists developing and encouraging criminal justice policies to advance financial interests has been well-documented. The most notorious example is the Washington-based American Legislative Council, a policy organization funded by CCA and GEO, which successfully championed the incarceration promoting “truth in sentencing” and “three-strikes” sentencing laws. If the motive of the private prison industry were the goodhearted desire to get hold of inmates as quickly as possible for the purpose of sooner successfully rehabilitating them, maintenance of a 90% occupancy rate would be considered a huge failure, not a functioning prerequisite.

Likewise, the largest rise in incarceration that this country has ever seen correlates precisely with early-80’s prison privatization. This despite the fact that crime rates actually declined since this time. This decreasing crime rate was pointed out enthusiastically by skeptics eager to debunk last year’s anonymous industry insider, who painted a picture of popularized hip-hop as a tool for imprisoning masses.  What wasn’t pointed out was that despite crime rates going down, incarceration rates have skyrocketed. While the size of the prison population changed dramatically, so did its complexion. In “‘All Eyez on Me’: America’s War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial Complex,” Andre Douglas Pond Cummings documents the obvious truth that “the vast majority of the prisoner increase in the United States has come from African-American and Latino citizen drug arrests.”

war-on-drugsAdd to this well-documented statistics proving that the so-called “war on drugs” has been waged almost entirely on low-income communities of color, where up until just two years ago, cocaine sold in crack form fetched sentences 100 times as lengthy as the exact same amount of cocaine sold in powdered form, which is much more common in cocaine arrests in affluent communities. (In July 2010 the oddly named Fair Sentencing Act was adopted, which, rather than reducing the crack/powder disparity from 100-to-1 to 1-to-1, reduced it to 18-to-1, which is still grossly unfair.) This is not to suggest that the crack/powder disparity represents the extent of the racism rampant within the incarceration industry. The U.S. Sentencing Commission reported in March 2010 that in the federal prison system, even where convicted for the exact same crimes, people of color received prison sentences 10% longer . Where convictions are identical, mandatory minimum sentences are also 21% more likely for people of color.

Finally, let us not forget the wealth of evidence to support the notion that crime-, drug- and prison-glorifying hip-hop only outsells other hip-hop because it receives so much more exposure and financial backing, and that when given equal exposure, talent is a much more reliable indicator of success than content.

Mos def

Yasiin Bey aka Mos def

Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) put it best; “‘hip-hop” is just shorthand for ‘black people.'” Before our eyes and ears, a “web of business relationships that now defines America’s media and culture” has one particular business raking in billions of dollars while another defines the culture of a specific demographic as criminal. Both business are owned by the same people. Mainstream media continue to endorse hip-hop that glorifies criminality (most notably drug trafficking and violence), and private prison interests, long since proven to value profits over human rights, usher in inmates of color to meet capacity quotas. The same people disproportionately incarcerated when exposed to the criminal justice system are at every turn inundated with media normalizing incarceration to the point that wherever there is mainstream hip-hop music, reference to imprisonment as an ordinary, even expected, component of life is sure to follow.

Conspiracy theorists get a lot of flak for daring entertain the notion that people will do evil things for money. Historical atrocities like slavery and the Holocaust are universally acknowledged, yet simultaneously adopted is the contradictory position that there can’t possibly be any human beings around intelligent enough and immoral enough to perpetrate such things.  Even in the midst of the Europe-wide beef that was actually horse-meat fiasco, and the release of real-life nightmare documenting films like “Sunshine and Oranges,” there is an abundance of people content to believe that the only conspiracies that ever exist are those that have successfully been exposed.

The link between mass media and the prison industrial complex, however, is part of a very different type of conversation.

The information in this article was not difficult to find; it is all public.

This is not a conspiracy. This is a fact.

Time Warner Cable Holdings

Viacom Prison Holdings

CCA Holdings

Private Prisons Public Functions

All Eyes on Me.. War on Drugs

written by Homeboy Sandman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF5BddCHDfs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi-HwupJ0DA

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Thoughts on Earth Day 2013: Down With Monsanto!

April 22, 2013 By

earthToday is Earth Day and in celebration, let’s put  a major middle finger up to Monsanto... If you don’t know about them, get familiar, this is the most gangsta of the big agribusiness companies. They have worldwide reach and their presence is felt by many in the most tyrannical ways..

First of all they patent seeds and make folks all over the world pay for those seeds to plant corn and other crops. because of wind and other types of weather Monsanto seeds oftentimes wind contaminating other people’s crops. When this happen the laws are now such that people have to pay Monsanto for the crops that grown that exhibit traces of their patented seeds. So for example, if corn is naturally white, a company  like Monsanto may have developed corn that’s yellow in their labs.. They patent the seeds so that yellow corn that doesn’t even yield seeds grow..

Now let’s say a farmer paid x amount of dollars for these patented Monsanto seeds and due to wind, rain etc, some of those seeds go onto the property of his neighbor..one might think that’s no big deal. But in reality it is.. When that neighbors crops grow and all of sudden he has corn that’s yellowish vs white, Monsanto lawyers will come a calling demanding payment ..This sort of tactic is happening globally..This is just the tip of the fight around GMOS (genetically modified foods) which is what Monsanto is all about..

It’s a damn shame that the NAACP sided with Monsanto and the GMO industry when  historic legislation was introduced on the California ballot, last November. That was Prop 37 which would’ve required food companies to let you know you were using GMOs.. Millions came out in support of the Law.. the NAACP sided with Monsanto..  It was a damn shame..

It was equally shameful when President Obama went along and signed HR 933 which contained a rider dubbed the Monsanto Protection Act. This means Monsanto can not be stopped by courts for growing GMOs even if those things raise major concerns or are even dangerous…  Lots of people made excuses for Obama, saying he had to sign the bill otherwise the government would’ve been shut down.. blah blah blah.. We didn’t see him objecting too much when he signed the rider. We haven’t seen him objecting now or even supporting the efforts which included petitions with close to 500 thousand signatures..

While some tried to excuse Obama, saying his hands were tied, we see that his hands were not tied when he appointed former Monsanto executive Michael Taylor as the deputy director for the FDA.. what was his excuse for that?

Shame on Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee and had an opportunity to hold hearings on this rider when HR 933 was put before her.. She knew about the mass outcry, but caved in to lobbyists and refused..

The Obamas, the NAACP and maybe even Sen Mikulski will probably celebrate Earth Day today thus confusing folks as to where they really stand.. let the record show they supported something that was terrible…Down with Monsanto.. Down with GMOs.. That’s a globally held perspective!..

Check out this conversation about Earth Day via League of Young Voters..

http://www.ustream.tv/leagueofyoungvoters?utm_campaign=t.co&utm_source=5715821&utm_medium=social

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu8QthlZ6hY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koETnR0NgLY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9pUrpb2C6g

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3 Dope Songs from Public Enemy: The Hard Rhymer Never Lets Up

April 18, 2013 By

public Enemy ptAs we celebrate Public Enemy being inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight.. We wanted to remind people of some of their work.. What they have on deck is impressive.. These were some of the songs I really dug.. Enjoy..

So Whatcha Gonna Do Now This is one of my favorite songs from Public Enemy.. It was off the Muse Sick in Our Message album and sadly was overlooked by a lot of folks..  This song spawned one of  the first videos to show a Black President…15 years before Obama takes office..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKqsIe283c

You can’t really talk about Public Enemy without making mention of this classic song ‘By the Time I get to Arizona‘. The video to this song sent shock waves throughout the country as the group depicted themselves killing two Senators and Governor  who opposed the Martin Luther King Holiday in Arizona.. The resulting controversy had critics calling rap and Public Enemy violent and a bad influence on kids.. Others said Dr King wouldn’t have like the video.. Those of us who tired of Arizona’s out right racism cheered the group on…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFOb_f7ubw

Burn Hollywood Burn brought together 3 legends, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube and Chuck D who killed in both subject matter (Black stereotypical images in Hollywood and their performance.. This is a must for anyone who is a student of Hip Hop… It’s what made the so called Golden Era so powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhQGH6CbKhw

I know I said 3 Dope Songs, but I’m gonna toss this bonus cut in from Terminator X‘s album called Buck Whyling. Although known throughout New York for her activism.. Lisa Williamson became known to us as Sister Souljah and is the star of this video..She later went on to do her own album with production from the Bomb Squad … I wish PE and Souljah had done more songs together.. She was and still is a force to be reckoned with and her voice was able to cut through the noise like Chucks.. I don’t think America and maybe even the group itself was ready for that pairing..

On another note Terminator X’s album was butter.. he had a number of dope songs and was the first to pay tribute to Hip Hop pioneer Kool herc by actually having him do a song for the album.

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

Lastly what y’all know about this song and rarely seen video? I’ll let it speak for itself.. I remember when the group performed this outside the GOP convention..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGFj7ypDfXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c

A must see is this documentary about Public Enemy Prophets of Rage

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

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News, 3 Dope songs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

We Salute: Public Enemy Inducted Into Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame Today…

April 18, 2013 By

public-enemy benchToday April 18th 2013 is Public Enemy Day… Yep that’s right.. Today we celebrate the landmark group that has been together for almost 30 years.. They are deemed Hip Hop Royalty and tonight they get inducted into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame.

Last night they performed at House of Blues in LA and absolutely killed.. DJ Terminator X who retired from the group several years ago to do some ostrich farming.. returned to the fold to help celebrate.. Also on hand at HOB was Kool Moe Dee and the Treacherous Three, DMC, Doug E Fresh, Method Man, Whodini, JJ Fad and many more..  It was a testament to the love and respect folks have for Public Enemy..

I first met Chuck D back in summer of ’88 at the New Music Seminar when the group was just starting to make noise.. They had already released their album Yo Bum Rush the Show..But it was Nation of Millions and the singles like Rebel Without a Pause that came off that album that forever define the musicality of the group.

Chuck D along with fellow group members, Professor Griff, Flava and S1Ws willingness to sit down and build with folks for hours at a time would forever define the group as stand up individuals who would garner life long friendships and relationships with folks all over the world.. I know for myself, I would hang with Chuck for hours after a show building on all sorts of stuff related to politics and Hip Hop in general. It was he , who got me to abandon my fear of flying , get a passport and see the world, a move I have never regretted. thousands of folks have stories about uplifting interactions with the group..

Public-Enemy-train-500In any case, as we celebrate their induction, i went digging through my archives and found an old cassette from an interview/press conference Chuck and I believe Brother Roger or James from the S1Ws did on after one of their early concerts in Oakland. It was at the Kaiser Convention Center in 1989.. EMPD was on the ticket..  I never played the interview on air, because at the time, my tape recorder had run out of batteries and the sound was all messed up.. I finally transferred it over to my digital docks and cleaned it up somewhat and am now happy to share.. What Chuck is talking about in 1989 is why so many at the time were drawn to the group. The honesty, the fearlessness, the intelligence..

In this interview, Chuck’s main theme was dealing with outsides points of view trying to dictate terms and regulate on folks.. Chuck also takes issue with famed writer Greg Tate who trashed the group in a column he penned for the Village Voice. Chuck noted Tate was an ‘outsider’.. I started recording just as someone was asking about violence in Hip Hop.

Chuck D

Chuck D

Chuck D pt1

Chuck D pt2

Below is a great documentary on Public Enemy called Prophets of Rage…Definitely worth watching

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmw7kw_public-enemy-prophets-of-rage-bbc-special-2011_music#.UW_t24JAuEU

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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The Sordid Legacy of Margret Thatcher.. What We Should Never Ever Forget

April 17, 2013 By

Margret thatcherThe funeral of former British prime minister Margret Thatcher took place in the UK today, one day after the Boston Marathon tragedy.. We talked to long time activist Lee Jasper former senior advisor to the mayor of London and co-chair of BARAC & National Black Members Officer for the Respect Political Party in UK about her legacy..

Lee noted that there’s been an all out attempt to lionize Thatcher and remake her similar to the way Ronald Reagan was remade and sanitized. They gave her full military honors which caused quite a bit of controversy.. They also expected to have the streets lined with millions. Thatcher’s funeral drew less than 100 thousand people. More folks came out in the streets of London for the funeral of former IRA (Irish Republican Army) leader and hunger striker Bobby Sands then they did Thatcher..

During our conversation Jasper broke down the alliance Thatcher forged with brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and later Ronald Reagan to enact neo-Liberal policies that continue to this day…. He talked about how Thatcher made it a priority to try and break the unions and severely economically cripple working class people. He also spoke about her outright hostility toward Black people..

Jasper talked about the policing policies Thatcher oversaw including one called SUS  (Stop and Search) where thousands of Black people were jailed simply on police suspecting they did a crime..They now have in place a policy that was the prototype for Stop and Frisk.. Lee explained Thatcher’s brutal policies along with her refusal to have investigated a racially motivated fire started by a white supremacist where 13 Black teens were killed led to a major riot in 1981 in the Brixton section of London. Police enhanced the SUS laws and more than a 1000 people were detained and hemmed up by police.

We also talked at length about Thatcher’s foreign policies and her support for white supremacist leader Ian Smith who presided over Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe.. She talked about her seeing Nelson Mandela and the ANC in South Africa as terrorists. The woman was grand hater of Black liberation.

Lee Jasper Gives us the breakdown on Margret Thatcher

Lee Jasper Gives us the breakdown on Margret Thatcher

It’s with that in mind that Jasper expressed disappointment in the praise that President Obama showered on Thatcher considering the intense dislike many had for her and how divisive she was.. . Of course we should not be surprised considering that strong ties Thatcher had with Reagan and Obama’s repeated praise for the man we once called ‘The Gipper’.

Also during our interview we talked about the tragedy in Boston and how Londoners had to deal with constant bombings during the hey day of the IRA, … Lee expressed condolences to the folks in Boston and then talked about how it led to widespread fears resulting in intrusive and harsh laws..One of the laws that emerged was the precursor to what we now know as one that allows for indefinite detainment of what we call enemy combatants. He talked about the type of stigma and brutality heaped upon the Irish by police during that time and how many were deemed to be that..

Check out the Hard Knock Radio interview by clicking the link below..

Hard Knock Radio logo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Common Jumps in the Cuba Debate -Adds Scorching Lyrics to Jay-Z’s Open Letter.

April 16, 2013 By
Common

Common

So Jay-Z sparked controversy with his song Open Letter which was a response to the hoopla some in Congress was making about his trip to Cuba.. Well J Period hooked up a remix and added a scorching verse from Common.. I gotta note Common hits hard but may throw folks with his lyric about still riding for Obama..especially since he’s also talking about his support for Assaata Shakur.. In all fairness Common’s  been riding w/ the Pres from day one and hasn’t wavered.  So we’ll have to debate that another time.. In the meantime,  politics withstanding the song is a head bopper for real.. I hope other rappers come on and add their own take and expand the conversation about why we need to respect Cuba and drop the embargo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8pzz9PCTVM

 

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: , , ,

Planting Seeds of Distrust & Seeds of Fear: The Boston Marathon Tragedy

April 16, 2013 By

Davey-D-yellow-225-frameYesterday was a sad day.. Who would’ve thought an exciting, highly anticipated and celebrated event like the Boston Marathon would turn to utter chaos and destruction.. 2 dead and over 150 injured.. yesterday caused us all to pause.. In looking at yesterday’s events  it was hard not to remember the emotions and disbelief that surrounded the 9-11 tragedies 12 years ago. It’s hard  to look at the bombings that took place in Boston without having a degree of caution and skepticism.. We saw a tragic event like 9-11 that was supposed to unite us and help us see the humanity in one another evolve to where we are divisive, uncaring and inhumane with our actions.. On top of that we moved to a point where we are willing to surrender our power and civil liberties to those we put into positions of power to further agendas that are Draconian ..

After 9-11, when we heard reports of police flowing out into the streets a thousand at a time to patrol stadiums and subways, we greeted the news enthusiastically and gave them a thumbs up.. Now when we hear such news we think of intrusion and unnecessary abuse..We think of stop and frisk and harassment before we think protection We hear about extra cameras being put up and we think undeserved surveillance and privacy invaded before we think a necessary sacrifice to catch those responsible for causing so much harm and terror.

NY Times Headline

NY Times Headline

They say one should not politicize a tragedy, and ideally one should not, but as soon as we turn on the TV, the politicking is in full swing.. It ranges from the wording the President uses to describe what took place to the music, signage and footage shown endlessly on news outlets to gratuitous headlines like the one put out by the NY Times designed to shock vs inform? What’s being presented seems designed to keep us agitated and in a constant state of fear, with politician after politician using the event to hold press conference to supposedly to ‘ease those fears’. Ironically their announcements about some mass security action they are going to order winds up stoking fears..

After the yesterday’s bombing I don’t think there was a city or town in this country where a mayor or police chief did not hold a press conference explaining how they were gonna ramp up security..For example, here in Oakland, I heard our police chief on the local media talking about how extra police were gonna be on hand making sure fans attending the Oakland As and the Warrior games were ‘protected’.

Boston bombingAfterwards they shifted to LA where we heard similar announcements of extra police in Hollywood and on the subways.. Then we saw press conference in New York where Mayor Bloomberg was talking about sending extra cops out on the streets to protect everyone.. Then it was back to the Bay Area to talk with officials in San Francisco where they were talking about beefing up security for next month’s Bay to Breakers race. After that we saw press conference in London to explain how security details were being tightened to make sure Margret Thatcher‘s funeral goes on without a hitch… As I’m writing this column the local news has just shown the SF police chief talking about extra patrols and now they switched over to the BART subway officials who are announcing they have extra police on deck, all designed to protect us..

Call me skeptical, but the first thoughts that ran through my head was; after 9-11 didn’t we create a Department of Homeland Security that was supposed to be keeping us safe 24/7?  Didn’t we open up the government purse strings and pour seemingly unlimited amounts of money to make sure all the right agencies and new technologies like face recognition cameras, bomb sniffing robots, x-rays, listening devices etc, are always in place at high alert? Such questions need to be asked especially when our recent history is showing that over the past 15 years all sorts of horrific upheavals have taken place around this time.. From Columbine to Virginia Tech school shootings. From Waco to Oklahoma City bombings. Hitler’s birthday and Tax day with more and more people with each passing year vocal in

Are all these police chiefs and officials just doing a dog and pony show, one that was replicated all over the nation? One might ask what’s the end goal? In almost every press conference we saw the request from officials to report anything ‘suspicious’, but there was no description as to what suspicious means? Is it Muslim, Latino? teenagers, white guys with shaved heads?  The seeds of distrust are being planted when we ideally should be coming together..

Boston bombing 2Whatever the case, this Boston Marathon tragedy seems  like field day for the media.. Reporters  and anchors seem more frantic than the people I see walking the streets outside.. It all seems manufactured even when they highlight the heart-wrenching story of the 8-year-old, Martin Richard being killed or the young 12-year-old  boy from the Bay Area who was watching his mom run and was seriously injured…..Absent from all this coverage is the human touch..

Absent from the coverage is the heroism from folks helping out in the mist of the chaos those 130 people injured. Absent from a lot of the coverage is the fact that people from over 90 countries run the Boston Marathon..It’s like a mini Olympics.  Were any of the international folks running or watching injured? Why no news about them vs showing the same video footage over and over again? But that might too much since we hardly cover the numerous bombings that take place sometimes daily in countries all over the world. There was hardly a peep of the bombings in Somalia where 30 were killed and Iraq where over 50 were killed over the weekend? Our outpouring of grief should be for loss of life everywhere…Why not show the first responders and doctors who were on hand tending to those injured and seriously saving lives in the most challenging conditions vs showing officials beating their chest talking about they got guns and firepower to deal with any sort of threat..Fear and Distrust is big business for many.

Bombing in Somalia

Bombing in Somalia

One of the hardest lessons we learned after 9-11 was during those times after 9-11 where many grieved that those with nefarious thoughts went to work and snatched away civil liberties and took us into wars that had nothing to do with the days horrific events..It wasn’t long before we wound up being no different from some of the countries we once criticized all in the name of fighting the new War on terror. In the aftermath of Boston one has gotta wonder, what’s in store for those seeking to game moments like these?

Writer Naomi Klein calls it shock and awe..so while we should keep our eyes and ears peeled for those who might wanna plant a bomb, we best keep our eyes and ears on those who wanna plant bombs of distrust and have us turning on one another. We best keep our eyes on those sitting in halls of power who will use this tragedy to plant legislative bombs that cripple our freedoms vs underscoring them.. All of this being done in the name of fighting the war of terror..

-Davey D-

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , ,
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