Category: Streetwise Hip-Hop

This was my favorite album for a while in high school. It taught me a lot about the absurdity of life & how to take it all as it comes, no matter how nonsensical everything is. There are a lot of drifter vagrant anthems on here because Buck was homeless when he wrote a lot of these songs. I thought that was rad for some reason when I was a teenager. Also there’s lots of contemplations about “suicides” via Buck’s profound “Riverbed” series. I hope you get as much from these abstract rhymes as I did so many years ago. ♥Neonn

This album feels unreal in how brave it is. This motherfucker is really out here talking this hardcore of revolutionary shit I can still hardly believe it even after listening so intently to it all. “They fucked the slums so hard they gave birth to a resistance….” Carrying Dead Prez’ torch on here, telling folks in the hood to redirect their anger (& traumatized destructive expressions of it) at the system that oppresses them rather than their neighbors who might disrespect them. Hip Hop needed this album, bringing back that Panther energy. Please listen, it will blow your mind. ♥Neonn

“KXNG Crooked dropped a new album titled Good Vs. Evil, his third project of 2016. The LP sees Crooked donning the persona of a superhero from an alternate reality. In this universe, lower class citizens use violence to fight back against oppression.

“It all started when I was watching a news segment on the murders of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and all the other black people killed by Police” Crooked said. “I saw Tamir Rice’s mother on TV and the pain in her eyes made my blood pressure boil. No mother should lose a child like that. Then, I watched cops kill unarmed people on film and go home to their families like black lives didn’t matter. No charges and with paid leave. At the same time, I watched officers capture Dylan Roof alive and buy him a hamburger after he slaughtered nine black churchgoers. I thought to myself, are we under attack as black people to the point where I might have to shoot an officer just to survive a mere traffic stop? I thought, how crazy is it that we even have to think about in America (in 2016)?  Then I thought, how ill would it be to have a black superhero (that other black children can look up to; the same way we do Marvel characters) to tackle and these issues.” [XXL]

🔥 Anton Iorga (@antonyofegypt) is a prolific metagnostic activist scholar poet, my favorite emcee in the world, & a good friend of mine, who writes verses from the perspectives of various mythological guises, such as Kalki, Antony of Egypt, Legion, Kikwaakew, & Sunya, to name a few.. 👽
They’re busy writing & studying & juggling a ton of different projects, including managing a fully nonprofit hip hop record label called Revolt-Motion Records, which publishes all their music & literature & graphics & videos as free culture in creative commons, so they leave it up to listeners to upload their tunes across the interwebs 🎃 so heere ya go fam, Enjoy & Evolve! 🔮

For tons more intersectional activist music & resources, check out their website www.revolt-motion.com/

Send your compliments directly to the poet @ www.facebook.com/kikwaakew

And check out my epic interview with this brilliant artist on the Utopian Cartography podcast @ www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQu78Vl7-5c

“Orlando-based rapper/singer E-Turn will release her third full-length, Young World, this fall on Fake Four Inc. Backed by the soulful, melodic boom bap of Swamburger (Solillaquists of Sound), E-Turn utilizes a multitude of deliveries and croons to issue a call to arms against the maladies of modernity.

The title of the album refers to how in the grand scheme of history, life as we currently know it is extremely young. Hip hop is young, too. While early returns of the digital age are awash with tales of rampant greed, cruelty, and alienation, E-Turn expresses hope that the tools at our disposal can be used for the greater good of humanity. And hip hop, at its best, can play its part. Entertainment helps us forget ourselves. Art helps us remember ourselves.”

“LEE REED, the latest signee to Strange Famous Records’ digital imprint SFdigi, is a Hamilton, Ontario O.G. and a respected veteran of the Canadian indie music scene. For over 20 years and 8 albums, he’s been stomping stages and studios, spewing his incendiary brand of fiery, anti-capitalist rant-hop.

From his beginnings as the mouthpiece for legendary punk-hop band Warsawpack, through a solo career that continues to steamroll along today, Reed has remained committed to revolutionary struggle, crafting a musical legacy that voices anti-oppressive politics through Hip Hop, soundtracking and supporting the efforts of communities and organizers fighting on the frontline for social and environmental justice….”

“The man you hear above, is a reflective man, who’s able to look back and appreciate all the lessons learned throughout his twenties (a few more years for I enter them 30s). And what I find most compelling, is that this trilogy embodies my twenties. Not just on some “I made a project during these years”, but more along the lines of having created a bit of a audio diary that I can always look back on. I’m proud of that.

I was locked up in this room, this apartment, writing and recording. When I left, it was to see my granny and help my pops with her situation. So I appreciate everyone’s patience, and I appreciate the love and support y’all continue to give.

The final chapter to the three-part TPOLAW Trilogy, and the ending (and beginning) of a story half a decade in the making. Since 2012, back when I first began recording The Purity of Love and War, my story has been something that I’ve enjoyed sharing through my music very much. So much has happened, and had happened throughout the years, and to have lived long enough to share that journey with you all has been a beautiful blessing. I’ve had my ups and downs like any artist I’m sure, but to be here in this position is something I’m very grateful for. Take a second to enjoy the sounds, read over the lyrics, and make sure to be on the lookout for the visuals that are to come with this project (and the others as well). I’ve enjoyed this journey so much, and I look forward to the next chapters. Forever Villainous.”

“Civilization ended the moment it began. So when we face up to our industrial poisonous civilization, we will one day have to forage and hunt singing “I refuse to be miserable even though brick is still inedible!””