'Free the P' - Palestine takes the East Village by Storm

By Anonymous (not verified) , 28 October, 2005

Author

Ytzhak

...The young crowd came out to support Free the P, the new CD compilation of “hip-hop and spoken word, dedicated to the youth of Palestine.” The proceeds will go to Slingshot Hip-hop, “a documentary film that focuses on the daily life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel.”...“I love the Al Aqsa Mosque.” he remarked. But Nafar doesn’t want the Palestinian flag to become a symbol of racism, like the Israeli flag .... "Muslims, Christians and Jews,” made up Palestine before the Zionist gangs pillaged the state.... ...

"Free the P" - Palestine takes the East Village by Storm

Free the P: Palestine takes the East Village by Storm
Remi Kanazi - Submitted to Palestine Monitor
October 13, 2005

View the 5 minute trailer to SlingShot Hip Hop

http://www.slingshothiphop.com/wmv-trailr.html

http://www.slingshothiphop.com/qt-trailr.html

As I walk down the darkened staircase into a muggy basement in a lower East Side dive bar, a scruffily bearded supporter smiles and waves a four foot wide Palestinian flag. The chatter begins as the room fills with anxious people awaiting the show. The young crowd came out to support Free the P, the new CD compilation of “hip-hop and spoken word, dedicated to the youth of Palestine.” The proceeds will go to Slingshot Hip-hop, “a documentary film that focuses on the daily life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel.”

Within moments our hostess, Arab-American comedienne Maysoon Zayid, takes the ground level, makeshift stage and gets the crowd going with her dry, political humor.

Shortly afterward, La Bruja hops on the mike, entertaining the crowd with her multitalented combination of poetry, song, rap and Reggaeton. This Bronx born artist’s songs are infused with a mix of politics, humor, and raunchy jokes. Appreciative of La Brjua’s performance, DJ Kuttin Kandi grins and spins in the background.

Next is Akil Dassan, a half black, half Jewish, freestyling rapper, singer, and guitarist. Sweat rolls down his face while he conversates about the heat and the ghetto nature of the basement. Packed in like refugees in Rafah, 200 spirited fans groove to his guitar rhythms and words of unity and justice. Dassan finishes his segment by serenading his Filipino love in her native tongue.

Driving twelve hours from Detroit to support her collaborators and peers on Free the P, Invincible takes the stage, representing the woman’s rap movement in Detroit and NYC. With lyrics promoting the Palestinian cause, Invincible impresses the crowd with her track “No Compromises,” featured on Free the P.

The track “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People,” lays the base for the next rapper, Chosan. He reflects how the basement is like Africa when the lights go down then comments on the pervasive injustice in Sierra Leone, Sudan and Palestine.

Other highlights of the night were Anthony Morales, who opened the evening with spoken word focusing on Puerto Rican and minority pride. Special guest and phenomenal rapper Immortal Technique stimulated the audience with a one song performance. “The government laughs at you,” he declares. He breaks down the reality: many drove down to the show in their cars guzzling the gas the government fed them, eating McDonalds and fueling the corporate sponsorship. “Boycott!” he exclaims. The only way to defeat the injustice sustaining Palestinian misery is to boycott the legs they stand on.

Met with an explosion of cheers and roars reminiscent of opening day at Yankee stadium, DAM, the al-Lyd based Palestinian rap trio closed the show. They performed several songs, including “Stranger in My Own Country,” a song which articulates the struggles of being Palestinian living in Israel. DAM gave a brief English synopsis of each song before cutting back to rap in Arabic. They made jokes about the occupation and how Arab companies won’t pick up their record because they are Palestinian—born in a land where their grandparents were displaced—in Israel. Video recorders documented this group’s charged American debut as cameras flashed and the crowd waved their fists in solidarity.

After playing two songs, Tamer Nafar, DAM’s most vocal member, looked to the supporter waving the Palestinian flag and spoke his mind, “It’s not that I don’t love the flag. I do.” He went on to explain that this particular flag bore the picture of the Al Aqsa Mosque as its centerpiece.

“I love the Al Aqsa Mosque.” he remarked. But Nafar doesn’t want the Palestinian flag to become a symbol of racism, like the Israeli flag which focuses on the Star of David.

Nafar elaborated, “Muslims, Christians and Jews,” made up Palestine before the Zionist gangs pillaged the state. The injustice and racism that has enveloped the Israeli state should not be allowed to suffocate or hinder the Palestinian cause, which seeks justice, unity, and peace for all Palestinians. The audience of Muslim, Christians, and Jews erupted as the beat rolled on in the background.

This was more than just another show in some East Village dive bar. As a Palestinian seeking solutions in the struggle for justice, it made me feel hopeful.

Free the P CD is on sale at http://www.freethep.com. Let Slingshot Hip-hop be heard straight from the lyrical voices of Palestinians living in occupied Palestine and Israel at http://www.slingshothiphop.com. Your actions, like these groups, can take the world by storm.

* Remi Kanazi is the primary writer for the political website http://www.PoeticInjustice.net. He lives in New York City as a Palestinian freelance writer and can reached via email at remroum@gmail.com

"Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law" (From Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Israel is a signatory)

see also:

"Then I just get home, sit down and make the concepts in my head into reality, and watch how they never cease to change and evolve once they're out of my head, and how no idea or concept no matter how good it is, will stay completely the same in your mind. John Coltrane spoke about the same thing with regards to getting the music in his head out into the real world of sound. But anyway, technically I use my computer, I got a mixer, a nice mic, and a Korg Keyboard, two nice monitors and a compressor which doesn't work right now. It's all about what you do with it though, what's in your mind." -- yoshi

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/41736.php

and

Hip Hop: the subliminal criminal: Pick up a stone

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/05/40536.php

and

"Sat in the back of the class with my hand up/Two wild security guards, grabbed my man up/Threw him in detention for 5 days suspension. Cuz he said, the teacher was lyin about the Indians.I stood like a man then I questioned my teacher/Why don't we speak about the wisdom of the sages?/And how did Europe black out in the dark ages? And when they got light did they white-wash the pages? ...And why it seems that half the school is racist?" -- rza and masta killa

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/40092.php

http://www.mastakilla.net/

and

Last month, the Palestinian-American hip-hop crew The Philistines announced the release of a CD dedicated to the youth of Palestine. The compilation CD, titled "Free the P," brings together over 20 hip-hop and spoken word artists. Its aim is to promote awareness about the Palestinian struggle for freedom while raising funds to support an upcoming documentary film--SlingShot Hip Hop--about hip-hop in Palestine. -- Hip Hop: Hip-Hop for Palestine Phi-lis'tine (fi-lis'-tin)

http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/44106.php

http://www.thephilistines.com/Music.html

E-mail

montuf65@hotmail.com

Link

http://www.slingshothiphop.com/wmv-trailr.html