Channel 4 Paralympics – Public Enemy Meets the Superhumans

With the Paralympics well under way, I’ve got to congratulate the creatives over at Channel 4 for using Public Enemy’s “Harder Than You Think” as the anthem for the marketing campaign for the Paralympics.

Here’s the official video of “harder than you think”, from their 2007 album “how you sell soul to a soulless people who sold their soul? in case you never saw it before:

Goosebumps indeed!

“Check the facts expose those cats
Who pose as heros and take advantage of blacks
Your governments gangster so cut the crap
A war goin on so where you at?

Fight the power comes great responsiblity
F the police but whos stoppin you from killin me?”

Public Enemy released their latest album “most of my heroes still don’t appear on no stamp” recently, I recommend it and support the best politically concious rap group of all time.

If you want to hear more about Public Enemy, check out one of my earlier posts – Public Enemy ‘The Black CNN’: When Hip Hop Took Control

Brother Ali Announces New Album “Mourning In America & Dreaming In Colour”

Brother Ali has announced the upcoming release of his fourth full-length album “Mourning in America and Dreaming in Colour” dropping August 21st.

You can listen to the first track “Stop the press” of the new album below:

Brother Ali explained the concept behind the new album:

“This is not just a new album, but a new chapter. There’s a kind of democratic reawakening in people at this point in time. I was really looking to take these topics and really hit them hard. To try to open ears and hearts and invite people to take some action and feel empowered. To be engaged and take some agency and responsibility for what’s going on in the world.”

Fully recharged and inspired by his eye-opening first trip to Mecca, the 2011 uprisings in the Middle East, and the worldwide Occupy movements, Brother Ali is prepared to unveil Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color. Created during a prolific, self-imposed two-month exile in Seattle and helped by platinum-selling producer Jake One, the album represents a brave new phase in Brother Ali’s remarkable career trajectory. Mourning In America and Dreaming In Colour presents a scathing, yet honest, critique of America and its many flaws while simultaneously presenting a hopeful outlook of its possibilities.

Mourning In America and Dreaming In Colour, in all its sonic and lyrical glory, promises to be both the voice of a burgeoning new critical American consciousness as well as the beacon of hope for those that hold fast to its ideals and potential. This is Brother Ali as you’ve never heard him before.

The album is released on August 21 & is available to pre-order on the Rhymesayers website now

Killer Mike – Reagun – R.A.P. Music

Watch & learn

Killer Mike – Reagan

From his new album RAP Music.

“Ronald Reagan was an actor, not at all a factor
Just an employee of the country’s real masters
Just like the Bushes, Clinton and Obama
Just another talking head telling lies on teleprompters
If you don’t believe the theory, then argue with this logic
Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Qaddafi
We invaded sovereign soil, going after oil
Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby
Same as in Iraq, and Afghanistan
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran
They only love the rich, and how they loathe the poor
If I say any more they might be at my door
I’m dropping off the grid before they pump the lead
I leave you with four words: I’m glad Reagan dead”

Go get that album!

HipHop Provides the Soundtrack to The Arab Spring

Since December, musicians have been responding to — and provoking — the protests in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, and much of the music being made about these movements is hip-hop.

Some of these songs have played a direct role in popular uprisings, while others have helped galvanize international support. Songs are rapped in both English and Arabic, and international collaborations have helped to spread the music over the Internet, via Facebook and YouTube.

If you go back to the early days of rap, its whole culture was created by the era’s disaffected inner-city youth. Nowadays, this outspoken form of entertainment has itself been distorted and made redundant by the very street culture that implemented it; instead of expressing a disenfranchised youth, hip hop artists exploit it.

It’s interesting to see how artists are adopting the former approach, to use their voices to wax lyrical about modern-day political strife – except on a global level rather than urban.

Here’s five of the best tracks:

Khaled M, Libya: “Can’t Take Our Freedom (feat. LowKey)”

Rapper Khaled M was born in the U.S. after his parents fled the regime of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. For “Can’t Take Our Freedom” he raps in English, drawing on the story of his father, a poet imprisoned by Gadhafi who fled with his family to Lexington, Kentucky, while also referencing the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

Omar Offendum: “#Jan25 Egypt (feat. The Narcicyst, Freeway, Ayah, Amir Sulaiman)”

“#Jan25 Egypt” was made by Arab-Americans, African-Americans and Canadians, most of whom were living in the U.S. at the time of the Egyptian Revolution. Syrian rapper Omar Offendum told Al Jazeera he contributed to the song to show “solidarity with the Egyptian people” and told NPR that the “true music of the revolution” was made by protesters on the fly. “#Jan25 Egypt” begins by refuting Gil Scott-Heron’s oft-repeated line: “I heard them say the revolution won’t be televised / Al Jazeera proved them wrong.”

Ibn Thabit, Libya: “Benghazi II”

Rapper Ibn Thabit’s website says he “has been attacking Gaddafi with his music since 2008.” On the site he offers dozens of songs for free, many of which were produced in collaboration with other Libyan rappers, producers and singers, musicians from Egypt and producers and engineers from the U.S.

Arabian Knightz, Egypt: “Rebel (feat. Lauryn Hill)”

Arabian Knightz trade a verse in Arabic for one in English, then allow their song to devolve into a sample of Lauryn Hill singing “I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel)” during her 2002 MTV Unplugged performance, in which the singer rasps “Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel,” over and over again. According to the group’s YouTube channel, they recorded the song in late January, and weren’t able to release it until the government stopped blocking the Internet a couple of weeks later.

El General, Tunisia: “Rayes Le Bled”

Hamada Ben Amor performs under the name El General. His song, “Rayes Le Bled,” which hit Facebook in late December, is a direct indictment of then-president Ben Ali’s rule, specifically, widespread hunger. Ben Amor’s arrest in early January sparked further protests in the already turbulent country, and when the revolution ended, “Rayes Le Bled” could be heard on radio stations across the country.

Juice Media presents “RAP NEWS 8: Osamacide”

Juice Media drop their latest Rap News bulletin and ask if Osama Bin Laden was in fact clubbed to death by seals and whether he was armed with a “muslamic ray gun”.

It’s the end of an era.

The decade which opened with a ferocious attack in the United States of America, closes with the announcement of the death of its greatest and most conveniently disney-like villain, Usama Bin Laden.

In a decade which has been dominated by the Empire Strikes Back, our affable and dextrous host Robert Foster invites us to scrutinise the events shrouding the killing of this twentyfirst-century Goldstein. Joining him in this May retrospective are Rap News regulars, General Baxter, the Pentagon’s most effusive spokesperson, attempting uncharacteristically to stay ‘on message’, and his counterpart from the world of alternative academia, the conspiracy industry’s favourite son, Terrence Moonseed.

What actually happened in Abbotabad?

Do the public have a right to see evidence of this event?

What is Terrence wearing on his head?

Was justice really served?

What next?

History is happening.

Ras Kass – Hello Iraq (Bin Laden Post-Mortem)

Rapper Ras Kass asks “now that Bin Laden’s dead, can we get our civil liberties back, that George Bush stole with the Patriot act?”

External Enemy?

Stay scared while the government steals your rights.

A Song for Sudan – Apollo Brown “The Times” Feat. Oddisee

Oddisee & Apollo Brown team up on “The Times”. Oddisee, who is half Sudanese, doesn’t normally bring his politics to the table, but in this rare moment Oddisee offers an entire song devoted to the turbulent changes occurring in Northern Africa, in particular the historic vote that split his home country of Sudan into two separate nations.

The Republic of Southern Sudan is now the newest African nation: listen to Oddisee break his thoughts down over the Apollo Brown beat.

Source: KevinNottingham

Get yourself that real revolutionary rap – Al Jisr hiphop mixtape “Bridging Cultures” Part II

As you know, every so often The Akh hits you off with some quality, concious, revolutionary rap, this time I’m pleased to offer the “Al-Jisr (Bridging Cultures) Part II Mixtape” bought to you courtesy of the brother Big Hass over at Revolt Radio.

It’s available to download and to stream over at the Revolt Radio site, so go and check it out.

Spare your ears that rubbish thats played on mainstream, get yourself something a lot more meaningful than the bling-bling, money, hoes and clothes posturing that passes as rap today.

Big Hass, The Akh salutes you.

Rap News 7: #Revolution

The latest Rap News bulletin was released by Juice Media recently, Rap News, Episode 7: It’s 2011 and amid a flurry of political leaks and revelations, revolutions have rolled across North Africa and The Middle East.

Join your host Robert Foster for long overdue analysis of these events, asking the question that’s on everyone’s lips — where will revolution spark next?

But when a news flash comes in from a special embedded correspondent, the episode takes an unprecedented turn, as that very question is answered in dramatic fashion.

How will the world treat the latest courageous country to throw off the yoke of oppression?

Is any cow sacred in this time of massive upheaval?

Can there be any doubt that History Is Happening?

The Narcicyst waking up the people – Brass

The Narcicyst released the video for his track “Brass” this week, most definitely worth a view and a listen, even if rap isn’t your cup of chai.

“You want to get out and see doe
so clouded
Sell out to be Dope”

The Akh would like to say well done to ‘narcy for staying independent and not being a slave to commercially driven garbage that the major record labels are pumping out these days.

Support the brother by getting the Brass single or Narcicyst album now at: iTunes or physical copies at www.iraqisthebomb.com