Rap and The beginning of the end - A follow-up to yesterday
I was lucky enough to have several people read my blog yesterday. What made me even happier was it wasn't a sexy topic nor did I show any pics of me semi naked or naked (and I'm still not going to peeps who asked.....you know who you are ). The topic was bigotry. Religious bigotry.
Some people I've never met before read my blog and commented on it. One of these people The Boston aka Joe (he no longer has this blog I wrote this a while ago) had the song "The 4th Branch" by the Immortal Technique on his page. I don't normally like rap mostly because I usually can't understand the words and I feel like they don't usually use enough ingenuity but just sample clips of popular songs and slapped some lyrics to it. Then the song becomes popular because people like the song that was sampled. (NOW NO HATE MAIL PEOPLE I SAID NORMALLY AND USUALLY AND IT IS MY OPINION ONLY). This song is different. Not only do the words speak truths I believe but the music is rhythmically and audibly pleasing.
The song is appropriate to the topic of bigotry and hatred as well as Big Biz and the government. The first lines of the song are "The new age is upon us. And yet the past refuses to rest in its shallow grave" It is no secret how I view the current administration and world politics at large but if you don't know I will give you this warning: "If you are conservative or right wing you don't want to read any further." I interpret the first lines to mean that we have forgotten the past and we are doomed to repeat it. Just as Hitler used the fear and desperation of the German people to make them docile and compliant so he would carry on his program of fascisms and genocide. Our current administration is doing the same. They are using our fear of attacks like 9/11 to repress the opposition, and foster extreme nationalism by saying you are either with us or against us. If you are different, not one of us, it is ok for us to dehumanize you, hate you and blame you for all the problems in the world and not look inward and recognize our own complicity. The guy last night, who said "The German's were right to kill the Jews because all the problems in the world are caused by the Jews", could only have said that statement knowing that the current climate of hatred and distrust would garner him allies in the crowd at the bar. People who would and later did agree with him. So if you are willing to have an open mind read the lyrics to the song below and let me know what you think.:
IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE LYRICS
"The 4th Branch"
[Talking] The new age is upon us And yet the past refuses to rest in its shallow grave For those who hide behind the false image of the son of man shall stand before God!!! It has begun The beginning of the end Yeah.. Yeah... yeah, yeah
[Verse 1] The voice of racism preaching the gospel is devilish A fake church called the prophet Muhammad a terrorist Forgetting God is not a religion, but a spiritual bond And Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the Qu'ran They bombed innocent people, tryin' to murder Saddam When you gave him those chemical weapons to go to war with Iran This is the information that they hold back from Peter Jennings Cause Condoleeza Rice is just a new age Sally Hemmings I break it down with critical language and spiritual anguish The Judas I hang with, the guilt of betraying Christ You murdered and stole his religion, and painting him white Translated in psychologically tainted philosophy Conservative political right wing, ideology Glued together sloppily, the blasphemy of a nation Got my back to the wall, cause I'm facin' assassination Guantanamo Bay, federal incarceration How could this be, the land of the free, home of the brave? Indigenous holocaust, and the home of the slaves Corporate America, dancin' offbeat to the rhythm You really think this country, never sponsored terrorism? Human rights violations, we continue the saga El Savador and the contras in Nicaragua And on top of that, you still wanna take me to prison Just cause I won't trade humanity for patriotism
[Hook] It's like MK-ULTRA, controlling your brain Suggestive thinking, causing your perspective to change They wanna rearrange the whole point of view of the ghetto The fourth branch of the government, want us to settle A bandana full of glittering, generality Fighting for freedom and fighting terror, but what's reality? Read about the history of the place that we live in And stop letting corporate news tell lies to your children
[Verse 2] Flow like the blood of Abraham through the Jews and the Arabs Broken apart like a woman's heart, abused in a marriage The brink of holy war, bottled up, like a miscarriage Embedded correspondents don't tell the source of the tension And they refuse to even mention, European intervention Or the massacres in Jenin, the innocent screams U.S. manufactured missles, and M-16's Weapon contracts and corrupted American dreams Media censorship, blocking out the video screens A continent of oil kingdoms, bought for a bargain Democracy is just a word, when the people are starvin' The average citizen, made to be, blind to the reason A desert full of genocide, where the bodies are freezin' And the world doesn't believe that you fightin' for freedom Cause you fucked the Middle East, and gave birth to a demon It's open season with the CIA, bugging my crib Trapped in a ghetto region like a Palestinian kid Where nobody gives a fuck whether you die or you live I'm tryin' to give the truth, and I know the price is my life But when I'm gone they'll sing a song about Immortal Technique Who beheaded the President, and the princes and sheiks You don't give a fuck about us, I can see through your facade Like a fallen angel standing in the presence of God Bitch niggaz scared of the truth, when it looks at you hard
[Hook] It's like MK-ULTRA, controlling your brain Suggestive thinking, causing your perspective to change They wanna rearrange the whole point of view in the ghetto The fourth branch of the government, want us to settle A bandana full of glittering, generality Fighting for freedom and fighting terror, but what's reality? Martial law is coming soon to the hood, to kill you While you hanging your flag out your project window
[Talking] Yeah.. The fourth branch of the government AKA the media Seems to now have a retirement plan for ex-military officials As if their opinion was at all unbiased A machine shouldn't speak for men So shut the fuck up you mindless drone! And you know it's serious When these same media outfits are spending millions of dollars on a PR campaign To try to convince you they're fair and balanced When they're some of the most ignorant, and racist people Giving that type of mentality a safe haven We act like we share in the spoils of war that they do We die in wars, we don't get the contracts to make money off 'em afterwards! We don't get weapons contracts, nigga! We don't get cheap labor for our companies, nigga! We are cheap labor, nigga! Turn off the news and read, nigga! Read... read... read...
). The topic was bigotry. Religious bigotry.