Freedomain Radio

   I know a lot of people dislike hip-hop these days, and I understand why. Like a lot of media, the mainstream got a hold of it, exploited it, and turned it away from its intent: To inform (mostly) lower class people of civil atrocities; to enlighten them, and sometimes to inspire anger against an oppresive system.

   That being said, I wanted to share this video with FDR to show that the purpose of hip-hop has not been completely squashed.  Also, I am hoping to inspire dialogue about what the video is saying. I've been a fan of this video for a few years now, but I only had a vague idea of what the artist was expressing until I found FDR.

   El Producto, a.k.a El-P, seems to be traveling voluntarily through N.Y.C., but every person he encounters has a 'red gun' pointed at him. Some people in this video are even pointing guns at each other.

  I think the red of the gun stands for socialism. The fact that El-P and everyone else seems to not notice or care that there are guns pointed at them signifies how Americans respond to coercion and threats of violence. Another thing I find interesting about this video is that there are no law enforcers holding guns. They are holding themselves hostage.

   There are couple artist I truly admire for their ability and courage to interpret social problems. El-P is one, but my favorite--by far--is Aesop Rock on the albums "Float", and " Labor Days". If anyone is interested in wrapping their brain around some truly unique and in depth lyrics, I would definitley check them out.

   Well, that is all I have. I would like to hear other people's opinions about this video, others like it (whether they are hip-hop or not), or any other related topics.

   Oh, and please ignore my join date. I have been part of the community for a while. Just had to sign up again to post on the forums. What is that about?

Anyhow, I love this community!

Thanks Jamar! I just watched the video (I'll have to get back to you on my thoughts), and read Aesop Rock's wikipedia page - I love discovering new artists. You're right about hip-hop. About 10 or 12 years ago hip-hop was big for me, but it has since faded. I always hated the typical money lust, violence, and clubbin' focus of most mainstream stuff - sort of like Hollywood & most mainstream American culture. But I've always loved the more message oriented lyrics of Arrested Development, Mos Def, Outkast, The Roots, etc. etc. 

I like rebel music - in all its forms across the globe. 

I've been listening to El-P (and Aesop) for a couple of years now and I find him to be one of the most intelligent and creative musicians out there. The more I listened to him, the more I realized how his lyrics have a lot in common with the issues discussed on this site. A couple of his songs in particular come of as strongly anarchic. I'll post them along with the lyrics if anyone's interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQG6urHxT0I

Dear Sirs
If the pavement comes alive on Flatbush Ave with toothy smiles
Comprised of traffic cones and manholes become eyes
And birds burst into flames while singing Satan's praises
And fold into the sky and rain down ashy danger

If every office empties and all slaves walk in dazes
To a pool of liquid money where they bathe blissfully naked
And drugs no longer taunt me and flooze around my conscience
And every woman beating rapist is securely in their coffins

If every open hydrant in a Brooklyn time summer moment
Is opened up by cops and folds out into an ocean
And rent is paid by bread literally and parking isn't paid for
And food stamps can be planted and childhoods can't be damaged

If fire could power space ships that safely ship the creators
Of dynamite and gun powder to the graves of all who faced it
And the slurping nerf of beauracrat life and bean coutning slave owners
Is twisted in on itself til they shave off their own faces

If all the coke and crack in the nation is collected in a top hat
And force fed to the children of every CIA agent
And dust heads get an angel and an acres worth of rainbow
And the projects turn to clouds and the stupid aren't so proud

And the snivelling grimace mongrels of infected money slobbing pesticrats ignite
into a brilliant beam of light
And mercy is the rule
And the exception's mercy too
And the desert comes in Brooklyn and the President goes to school

Time flows in reverse
Death becomes my birth
Me fighting in your war is still, by a large margin
The least likely thing that will ever fucking happen...ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clW-eiA6Cx0

And the kids say
Watch your man
I think he's faking the band
Y'all will either run the world or destroy it while holding hands
Architect, terrible vet with bent flashback
Me clutchin' a 30 od, burn village laughing
Gas mask latched in
Signal for the whirly
Worm killer bird on the set
I flex early
Got to beat the rush and report it all to the hive mind
Weathermen and such, motherfucks, try to malign mine
Let's digress now
Kings, put your cans up
Paint the city scope with the prettiest type of cancer
Watch 'em laser surg every tumor like a fatal relica
New York is the truancy burg, sate of hysterica
It's a brutalized lab bunny jumpin' the fence
Grab the money and the charger for the microchip embedded in head
Brooklyn is the life
Equal parts joy, strife
I sit up in the cribbo and carve these 'noid kites out of lead
The same weight of the monkey on my neck
Who crawled off my back and tried to make friends
Now I'm walkin' 'round lit like the fun never ends
But someone ran their key on my whip, plus left dents
Welcome to my bastard delight night, gents
Where everything has a meaning but none of it makes sense
Living is so demeaning but rappers still wanna offer
Fake aliens...from lying saucers
I don't have the time, man
I'm searching for bigger answers
The beat is so sick
Made with real bits of panther
The clay of the city streets don't take to these broken cleats
But I hold my johnson and walk it retarded
It's just me
what up, Tame?

[Tame One]
Desperate men do dangerous things
Full alarm system, New York with No Kings
Desperate kids do dangerous shit
Full alarm system, it's on where you live

[El-P]
My name is El-Producto, my friend
I walk rawly
Oddly, bent pood beast
Fiends try to draw me
Another close copy but not the god hardly
Sex shit sloppily
Fuck yourself (Pardon me)
Look, here comes the scientists
Here they come to cure us all
Mind is on your money, sonny
Brain is on the curtain call
Give the kid a sack a D
Pass the child a bag of C
Even in the tenement residence there's a pharmacy
Deadly young people
Deadly new day
Young deadly dumb kick snare pattern play
Dignity for criminals
Science for religion
War stole the future
Peace is for bitches
Eveything's a felony
Relatively hellishly
Cops make guns whistle like "Here, check the melody"
You need to learn to worship the warships
Anything made of steel, of course, can leave corpses
Cops on four horses
Hot to draw quarters
The morbidist thoughts are mad laws and enforced quick
Don't lift your foot off of that land mine switch
Till I make the 20 yard dash and cover my eyelid
We don't need no edumucation
There's no patience
My team is on the food line
Blicker in the waist and
Walkies all connected
Gotta wait for the signal
Weathermen are the lefties that burn to the bone gristle
Insight is disease
Feed the criminal rotary
All over the world it's the same skull fuck locally
Alpha flight airs the are rare we rock openly
Feeling like a kid again, umbilical choking you
Never shit on my faction of bastards
Not openly
Don't you even whisper shit
Not even if jokingly
Straight out of poisenville
Comin' up for air again
Nah, the air is poisonous
Environment choking me
Do it again

[Tame One]
Desperate men do dangerous things
Full alarm system, New York with No Kings
Desperate kids do dangerous shit
Full alarm system, it's on where you live

I'm a huge fan of El-P, Aesop Rock, as well as related and semi-related artists, such as Sage Francis, and Sole.  The power of hip-hop to educate has been hidden under a brilliant fog of bling and chronic smoke, but I believe people will see its return as a powerful force of education.  The recent hip-hop debate between Keynes and Hayak is a great example of that.  I would love to see someone who can write some rhymes do so with the principles of philosophy to back them up.

As to the question posed by the OP, I don't think that these guys really get it, as in consciously, but I think they're close.  I've found them very approachable when I've met them at shows (especially Sage Francis and Sole), and I think they'd be open to listening a CD of a few carefully selected podcasts.  There is quite a bit of nihilism and anti-corporatism disguised as anti-capitalism in their music though, so it'd be interesting to see what sort of defenses would come up for them.

Hmm, as I commented before watching the video linked, I have to apologize.  I think he does get it.  Very clearly he gets it.  Great song, great video, thanks for posting!

Interesting post and video, thank you.

Paul, I've never heard of Sole. I went searching for him and haven't had much luck. Can you name an album or popular song by him? It would be appreciated as I love finding new thinking and perceptive artist.

I never thought about preparing an FDR CD for artist who are on the track of liberty. I live in a small town in Montana so we don't get many big acts here. But because its so small, when they do come through they are easy to approach because the venues are small.

Has anyone listened to the album Deltron 3030? Wikipedia calls it "a rap opera concept album set in a dystopian year 3030". Del doesn't understand the importance free market capitalism as he refers to capitalism in a negative manner a couple times on the album. Outside of that, he paints the dark picture of a future where tyranny reigns supreme. Another favorite album of mine I wanted to share.

Here's an example from what I think is his best album:

I have heard Deltron, but I haven't listened to the lyrics carefully.  I'll have to check it out again, thanks!