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Presenting the message in a new way

Iraqi American Rapper TIMZWhen we hear the same message over and over again it can lessen the impact of the issue. That’s something the news channels have taken to heart using their 24 hour news cycle to dull the American consciousness. They know that they can can drive people away from keeping up with what’s going on in the world by covering non-issues like Anna Nicole Smith to the point of Ad nauseam…

Ad nauseam is a Latin term used to describe something that has been continuing “to the point of nausea” For example “This topic has been discussed ad nauseam”: it has been discussed extensively and everyone is tired of it. – The Wikipedia

To counteract this effect it’s important that from time to time you change the way you present your message. In this case Debbie Boen presented me with a great opportunity, one I don’t intend to pass up.

Hip Hop Music or Rapping. I know some of you plan to stop reading this article but I strongly encourage you to read on and to seriously consider watching the videos.

The part of a song that draws most people in is the music, the mixture of melody, pitch, tone, and rhythm which can convey a message to the soul. But music is but one part of a song. The lyrics are there to engage the mind. Have you ever just sat down and listened to music and actually dug into the words the artist used? Artists are trying to convey a message more often than not.

That is the case with the following two videos.

Iraq by TIMZ

Iraqi-American rapper TIMZ has released a politically charged music video that is getting national attention since it’s debut on YouTube.com this week.

“Iraq” is destined to be a true rallying cry during these difficult political times. “Dear Mr. George Bush,” TIMZ raps. “Why do you insist to make a fool of us? For over 200 years… we stood for what’s good, now we despised by our peers; And what do you…but add fuel to the fire and send in more troops. Oh the troops God save the troops; it wasn’t their war their lies their fault. America the beautiful what did they do to you, they used you its so indisputable!”

On his fiery and autobiographical debut CD, TIMZā€”aka Tommy Hanna, an American born rapper of Chaldean and Iraqi descent–gets right up in our faces, mixing explosive, Middle Eastern tinged beats with incendiary rhymes in an effort to shatter those ugly stereotypes that have plagued people who look like him since 9/11 and the start of the Iraq war.

Make no mistake, the title of TIMZ powerful, outspoken and heavy grooving 14- track collectionā€”a nominee for Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2006 San Diego Annual Music Awardsā€”says it all: the San Diego born and bred artist is Open For Business.

“Iraq” was directed by Ron Najor at TheBuzzLA.com

Well take a moment and listen.

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The 4th branchĀ  by Immortal Technique

This video is more general and covers the many crimes of the Bush Administration along with the religious tensions between Christians and Muslims.

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[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…

Think about it!

Bill Larson
Bill Larson
Bill Larson isĀ  is politically and socially active in the community. Bill is a member of the Friends of Dunbar Cave. You can reach him via telephone at 931-249-0043 or via the email address below.
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