HIP HOP'S DEEPEST DAYS

International Indigenous Hip-Hop Gathering brings artists, fans together.

LOS ANGELES – For Happy Frejo, the International Indigenous Hip-Hop Gathering was a place to make a stand. Not just for Native artists, but also for women.

That’s because the lineup at the Sept. 14 show was mostly male. Frejo, a Seminole/Pawnee singer and emcee, made a shirt that she and two girlfriends wore in protest.

“Got Wombyn?” it asked on the front. “I Am Hip-hop Too,” it said on the back.

“Hip-hop is male-dominated, but there’s a lot of women in it, too – event organizers, mothers, emcees, artists, singers; we’re just not represented as much,” she said. “We just have to do what we can to make a stand and let them know we’re still here.”

In its second year, the event’s aim is to highlight Native artists within the hip-hop industry, most of whom are independent artists on the outskirts of the mainstream. That’s where artists like Prophecy are most comfortable – speaking directly to their communities about problems only they have experienced and understand, he said.

“Our goal and our focus is to emphasize the youth to our people,” said Prophecy, Anishnabe/Potawatomi, of Antithesis. “They’re the most underserved community in the nation.”

And hip-hop is a medium that can bridge the gap between youth and elders, he said.

The event began with workshops tailored to youth, including one by the creator of the Arizona skate-wear company Apache Skateboards. Performances by groups across Indian country followed, with emcees hailing from such tribes as Oneida, Navajo and Pomo, and regions including Chile, Puerto Rico, Mexico and El Salvador.

The stated purpose was to share “music, vision, unity, tradition.” At $25 per general ticket, and $18 for youth, that was a pricey task for some. But others traveled long distances to attend the event – the only one of its kind in the country.

Daygots, 22, Oneida Indian Nation Wolf Clan, flew to the event from New York with a friend. An aspiring emcee and producer, she came to meet other Natives using hip-hop to make their voices heard.

“I think it’s very important for Natives to be seen and be heard and to tell our stories,” she said. “Personally, I’m learning and developing myself. It’s really awesome to be here and exchange and to share with people. It’s a real good feeling to see Native people getting together for the purpose of hip-hop.”

Traditional music and dance were woven within the hip-hop performances by Los Nativos, Kinto Sol, Culture Shock Camp, El Vuh, Buggin’ Malone, Rebel Diaz, Akil Ammar, Audiopharmacy, Magisterio, Skool77, Antithesis, Pedromo, Yaiva and The Prophecy.

The Southern California Intertribal Bird Singers performed songs that were once on the verge of dying out, but were revived by tribal elders. Six young men and a little boy in black ribbon shirts kept the beat to their songs with rattles. Two women and a girl swayed back and forth, swishing ribbon skirts and making small steps to each side.

The men’s dance steps were heavy and rhythmic, pounding the pavement in traditional steps that almost appeared like the root of hip-hop steps performed by break-dancers.

Toby Rabugo, 15, a Pala tribal member, said the group usually performs at pow wows and the event was their first hip-hop gathering. He listens to more mainstream artists, like X-Rated, Brother Lynch and Tec. He viewed his performance there as education.

“I like to perform because it’s a way to express my culture and get the word out that there’s different types of Indians out there. When we go out of state, they’re really amazed. They don’t know that we’re modern and still have our traditional ways.”

The ties between the traditional and the modern were fused by many of the artists at the event. Designers had reprinted shirts with old images and new slogans: “You are on Indian land,” “We were here before the borders, we will be here after they fall” and “Terrorizing Native America since 1492” with a picture of Columbus.

And in the lyrics of songs.

“We possess an essence divine. Find it within our heart, spirit and mind. All my Natives keep your heads up high. Unified as a tribe once again we will shine,” rapped the hip-hop trio Antithesis.

“As indigenous people, we need to send out a voice to the rest of the world of our issues, of our lives, of our future, in order to preserve our cultures and society,” said Cee-Los of Antithesis, who is from the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska. “That’s what’s important to me about hip-hop.”

via:Times Online

wo white supremacist skinheads have been charged over a bizarre plot to kill 88 African Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama on a state-to-state killing spree. Described by the authorities as neo-Nazis, Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman allegedly planned a deadly rampage through southern states, beheading 14 of their victims in a brutal homage to skinhead culture before ultimately gunning down the man who hopes to become America’s first black president.

The pair planned to drive as fast as they could at the Democratic nominee while wearing white tuxedos and top hats, blasting shotguns at him from the windows, court documents showed. 

Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Arkansas, were charged with making threats against a presidential candidate, illegal possession of a sawn-off shotgun and conspiracy to rob a gun dealer. Appearing in a Memphis court yesterday, the pair were refused bail and remanded in custody until a further hearing on Thursday.

The plot – the second against the Illinois senator to be uncovered - did not appear to be very advanced or sophisticated, court documents showed.

“We’re unsure of their ability or if they have the wherewithal to carry out any of their threats,” a source close to the investigation said.

The pair allegedly met on the internet one month ago, said an affidavit filed by Brian Weaks, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

After finding common ground in their shared “white power” and “skinhead” philosophy, they “began discussing a “killing spree”” the papers said.

“They further stated that their final act of violence would be to attempt to kill/assassinate presidential candidate Barack Obama,” Mr Weaks said. The young men said they expected to die in the attack, he added.

Cowart and Schlesselman had stolen guns from family members and planned to travel from state to state robbing and killing 88 people, 14 of whom would be decapitated. An unnamed high school with predominantly African-American students was to be the first target, agents said.

The two men had planned their first robbery for last Wednesday but left without breaking in and instead went shopping for ski masks, food and rope to use in later attempts. They were arrested later that day in Crockett County, western Tennessee. On the exterior of Cowart’s car were racially motivated words and symbols, including, on its hood, a swastika and the numbers “14” and “88”


Both numbers are symbolic in skinhead culture. The number 88 stands for “Heil Hitler” as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, special agent in charge James Cavanaugh said. 14 is a reference to a 14-word phrase attributed to an imprisoned white supremacist: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

Agents seized a rifle, a sawn-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested and said the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.

The pair, who detailed the plot in interviews following their arrest, also told investigators that on the day of the aborted robbery they had shot at a glass window at Beech Grove Church of Christ, a congregation of about 60 black members in Brownsville, Tennessee.

Nelson Bond, the church secretary and treasurer, said no one was at the church when the shot was fired. Members found the bullet had shattered the glass in the church’s front door when they arrived for evening Bible study.


“We have been on this site for about 120 years, and we have never had a problem like this before,” said Mr Bond, 53 and a church member for 45 years.

Mr Cavanaugh said authorities took the assassination threats very seriously. “They seemed determined to do it,” he said. “Even if they were just to try it, it would be a trail of tears around the South.”

Mr Obama’s campaign had no immediate comment on the alleged plot. The 47-year-old Democrat would become the first black president in US history if he defeats Republican John McCain in the November 4 election, some four decades since the end of segregation in the south.

Concerns about Mr Obama’s safety led the secret service to provide round-the-clock protection from early in his campaign. During the Democratic convention in Denver, three men were arrested in connection with a possible assassination plot and are currently awaiting trial on drugs and weapons charges, suggesting that the scheme was not particularly developed.

In Bells today, residents were shocked by the arrest of Cowart, who neighbours said seemed like a normal boy.

“If we had any skinheads in this county I wasn’t aware of it. We hardly know what they are,” said Sam Lewis, who lives across the street from Cowart's mother. Cowart, he said, grew up in the comfortable, well-maintained neighborhood and was not known as a troublemaker.

“His mother is a real sweet, nice girl, and this comes asa shock and a surprise,” Mr Lewis said.

No one answered the door at Cowart’s mother’s house, and no lights were on inside. Jasper Taylor, the City Attorney, said that Cowart had most recently been living with his grandparents in a southern, rural part of the county.

But In Helena-West Helena, on the Mississippi River in east Arkansas’ Delta, Schlesselman was described as a “troubled child" by a woman who works with his adoptive father, Mark Schlesselman.

Marty Riddell said she tried to offer Paul Schlesselman a pet lizard she couldn’t care for, but was warned by his family that “he would hurt it.

“They might have done that man a favour picking that kid up,” Ms Riddell said. “He was a troubled child already.”

It’s been eight long years since the boys said “wassup” to each other. Even with the effects of a down economy and imminent change in the White House, the boys are still able to come together and stay true to what really matters.

A call to our politicians to dig deeper past the black/white binary when discussing race in America.

Multi-Platinum Producer Kevin "Khao" Cates and Civil Rights Leader Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. will lead a march and rally Sunday, November 2nd in Atlanta, Ga. The march and rally is the culmination of the Million March 2 Vote Campaign, a non-partisan nationwide effort that calls on civic minded organizations to encourage their members and constituents to vote.

The campaign targets people that in the past may have never voted or been unaware of the steps to take to register to vote.  The March will begin at 2:00pm and the Rally at 3:00pm. Participants will assemble at Morris Brown Herndon Stadium at 12:30pm and march down Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd to the Georgia State Capitol. 

"It appears that the younger generations have lost sight of the struggles and obstacles that preceded them," said Dr. Steele. "We want to rekindle that spirit in our youth and encourage everyone to use the right that so many have died for."

"Our generation takes a lot for granted," Khao said. "There is so much to learn from one another and it's way overdue.  There is lack of participation from us.  I asked myself: who will be our leaders of tomorrow if we don't make a stand and vote?"

Dr. Steele and Khao will continue working together after the election with the Bridging da Gap Movement. Bridging da Gap is an International project meant to bring generations together to share information and create a society conducive to progress and awareness. Dr. Steele and Khao see the need to create a platform for the unification of youth and great leaders of the older generation.  The project includes various recording artists joining together to record an entire album with proceeds going to benefit Youth Programs and development of educational programs that promote such growth. The first single launching this collaborative movement is titled "Bridging da Gap" featuring Khao and Dr. Steele. Bridging da Gap will include curriculum that address the problems faced by today's youth, with solutions that spark discussions between the generations to permit an exchange of information.

Dr. Steele and Khao will perform this riveting and powerful song at the Rally on Sunday.  Celebrity guests will also be in attendance and perform. Community leaders, politicians, hip-hop artists, professional athletes and music executives will join Dr. Steele and Khao in the march.

via:http://www.newsday.com

Q-Tip threw down the gauntlet early at this year's CMJ Music Marathon, repeating his controversial complaint from years ago, saying, "Hip-hop is dead."

"The appetite for music is bigger than it ever has been," Q-Tip said at the "Hip-Hop Renaissance" panel yesterday at NYU. "But hip-hop will never go back to the way it was. Maybe it'll morph into something else."

Vibe Editor Danyel Smith said that may not necessarily be a bad thing, since the Internet allows music lovers to hunt down new artists in ways that didn't exist before.

"There is an underground again," Smith said. "We might be at the start of something new."

And finding something new is the center of the 28th CMJ Music Marathon, a five-day convention that started yesterday that will bring more than 1,000 acts and 100,000 music fans into venues of all sorts throughout New York.

"It's the new version of crate-digging," said Chris Inglish of the hip-hop group Cool Kids, adding that on the Internet, "if you suck, then you know it that day."

Q-Tip says that kind of discovery is what made hip-hop so successful early on. "More people were doing it for fun," he said. "There was a naiveté that people attached to it."

He said that hip-hop was co-opted "when the corporations came in and people started seeing it was making money."

But that has started to change. "I know it sounds hokey," Q-Tip said. "You have to love what you do."

Community leaders, educators and a hip-hop artist M-1, one half of the political hip-hop duo dead prez, discussed hip-hop, the presidential election and the youth vote at The Commons Center Sept. 25.

The panelists included Maya Rockeymoore, chief executive officer of Global Policy Solutions and author of The Political Action Handbook – A How to Guide for the Hip-Hop Generation; Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World and professor of international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.; Angela Woodson, director of faith-based and community outreach for the Ohio Governor’s Office and co-founder of Blacks United in Local Democracy (BUILD); Adam Mansbach, instructor at the San Francisco Art Institute and author of the novels Angry Black White Boy, Shackling Water and The End of Jews, andBakari Kitwana, author of The Hip-Hop Generation and co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention

The Cell OUT is an organized cell phone usage boycott from 12pm - 6pm on October 22nd to bring awareness of the Congo conflict over the natural resouces. Coltan, used in many electronic devices has caused many Congolese people to be killed since 1996. Why?

- Nearly 6 million people have died in the Congo since 1996 due to a scramble for Congo’s spectacular natural resources.

- Coltan is a key source of the conflict in the Congo. It is a mineral widely used in numerous electronic devices such as cell phones and game consoles (Microsoft X-Box and Sony Play Station) and is mined illegally in the Congo by rebel militia and foreign forces then sold to multinational corporations.

- The boycott is to bring awareness to the war in the Congo, which started in 1996 and continues to this day with 45,000 people dying each month till today. We would like to invite organizations on college campuses and in the community to support us in our endeavor to raise awareness about the atrocities taking place in the Congo.

What do I do during the Boycott?

- Turn your phone off from 12 noon to 6 pm on Wednesday October 22, 2008. No texting!

- Change your voicemail to this: “Did you know that Congo has anywhere from 64 - 80 percent of the world's reserve of Coltan, a natural resource that is central to the operation of our cell phones? As we benefit from coltan nearly 6 million Congolese have died in the deadliest conflict since world war two as a result of the scramble for coltan and other minerals key to the functioning of modern technology. Join us in solidarity with the Congolese people and turn your phone off for a day.”

”For more information:
www.congoweek.org
www.friendsofthecongo.org

http://www.sendspace.com/file/erzsd0 (FREE DOWNLOAD)


M.O.V.E. Records recording artist, Mekka Don, has recorded an inspirational remix of Tupac Shakur’s landmark record “Dear Mama”, entitled “Dear Obama.” The song serves as an open letter to Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama from three different Americans who are going through three different struggles. The letters capture the emotions and difficulties that many Americans are facing leading into the election.

The idea for the song came from The League Crew’s Terry Urban and Mick Boogie who earlier this week released, “Can I Kick It? Yes We Can!” - a free downloadable mixtape for Obama fans to listen to during the home stretch of his historic candidacy. Mick also joined with Dope Couture, Motivation Boutique, and A Tribe Called Quest to release the CAN I KICK I, YES WE CAN TSHIRT. When asked about the idea, Terry Urban said, “I was listening to ‘Dear Mama’ one night and the idea just popped into my head for doing a remix with Mekka. I called Mick and at first he laughed, then he said, ‘wait a minute, that would be dope!’We then reached out to Mekka and he was ecstatic about recording it.”Mekka Don said he was nervous at first because, “Dear Mama is one of those untouchable songs. It was penned specifically for Tupac’s Mother, Afeni Shakur and I wanted to make a song that she’d be proud of.”



Mekka Don wrote the song and recorded with producer/engineer 6th Sense and manager Viswant “V” Korrapati on the night of the second presidential debate. Mekka Don said, “I really wanted the lyrics to be meaningful. A lot of artists have recorded Obama songs but none seem to really take Obama to task or capture the true voice of the American people.Although I am a staunch supporter of Obama, I have some natural cynicism when it comes to politicians, and I think many others do as well. There are millions of Americans who are facing serious issues, and unfortunately many of them do not have the means to be heard. I wanted Barack to know that he must keep the promises he is making because the consequences are real.”Mekka Don, also a lawyer, then added, “I left the world of corporate law to pursue hip hop in part because I understand the power of music. Tupac is revered so much because he made music that inspired people.”



6th Sense remains shocked.“I couldn’t believe how good the song was and how much Mekka sounded like Pac without trying.”Mick Boogie added, “Terry and I listened to the record and we were floored by the song. Music like this doesn’t get made often.I think this is a song that every American should listen to.” Prominent entertainment attorney, L. Londell Mcmillan added, “The last time I spoke to Mekka he said that he wanted to make music that inspired people like Barack has.Once I heard this song I realized that he not only meant it, but was also capable of doing it. I think that this is a young man who the hip hop community can be proud of.”



The TSHIRT is available for purchase at http://www.dopecouture.com/shop/mentees/m6.html

A Kansas City grandmother is suing Republican presidential candidate John McCain, his running mate Sarah Palin, and his campaign manager for promoting hate speech. The Mary Kay Green claims some statements made about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama at an out-of-state rally terrify her as much as John F. Kennedy's assassination.

"I know the Secret Service is on this case, but John McCain and Sarah Palin can stop some of this by a statement that they abhor these death threats and will not tolerate them," Green said.

So what does a 66-year-old civil attorney do?

"You have to treat these things seriously," Green said.

Her lawsuit claims McCain's campaign "intentionally, recklessly and irresponsibly portrayed presidential candidate Barack Obama as un-American, a terrorist by association, and "not like us," a non-white individual.

It also accuses Palin of working a crowd at a rally into a frenzy "causing them to make death threats against presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Barack Obama with her audiences shouting "kill him," "off with his head," "terrorist," "Muslim terrorist."

"It strikes terror in my heart," Green said.

It also brings back bad memories.

Green says her father James F. Green managed campaigns for Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy in Nebraska in the 60's.

When assassins killed the Kennedys, it shattered her family.

Green says eight days after Robert Kennedy's death, her father dropped dead because of grief.

"The same bullet killed my father," Green said. "It was profoundly tragic for my family."

Green views Obama as a modern-day JFK and so she fears for Obama's safety.

"I think John McCain and Sarah Palin have no understanding of what we went through as a nation," Green said.

Neither the McCain nor the Obama campaign offered comment on the lawsuit, but privately, Green said the Obama campaign wants the lawsuit dropped.

"It will be dismissed as soon as I hear these public statements from these two candidates that they abhor these death threats and they will not tolerate these intruders in their audiences," Green said.

Green spent $350 on her lawsuit.

She believes it's worth every penny.