I stumbled upon this while going through Stone Throw’s weekly newsletter this weekend. The Whitefield Brothers are a German-based funk/soul band that is getting ready to release their new album “Earthology.” The Gift is a track from that album featuring American emcees Edan and Mr. Lif. Click below to listen to the Whitefield Brothers’ The Gift:

[See post to listen to audio]

And click the following link to download the track for FREE: Download

Mr. Lif “I Heard It Today” Album Review
I’ve got to admit, I’ve been a little disappointed with hip-hop’s lack of awareness recently. While everybody came together in support of Obama, we all just seemed to drop off in the months following the election – as if there was no economic instability, housing crisis or social injustice being done in this country. Luckily, Mr. Lif stepped up with “I Heard It Today,” an album intended to create dialogue about various problems that plague our nation today.

Why I Like This Album?
I’ve always been a big fan of Lif. I just like his unique rhyme style and conscious lyricism. And I could go on and on about that if I wanted to. Instead, kinda like my reviews for his last two projects “Mo’ Mega” and “Black Dialogue,” I’d like to point out some of the topics Lif talked about in “I Heard It Today” which few emcees seem to be tackling these days.

1. The Housing Crisis – It amazes me that no one in hip-hop has talked about the housing crisis, despite the fact that it affects many hip-hoppers. But then again, this is one of those problems that are beyond the understanding of many of us who aren’t economists. So in the title track I Heard It Today, Lif manages to explain the housing crisis in everyday terms, and basically attempts to tell why it happened. The following verse blames the crisis on greedy lenders and lack of government intervention:

They were willing to give people with bad credit loans/
‘Cause they knew within a few years, we’re out of our homes/
And they could buy up all the same properties they sold us/
For the wealthy and maniacal, the shit was a gold rush/
They told us rates could fluctuate, but they didn’t say they could spike/
Now our credit is like/
How we gonna get another place/
Look at our face/
Distress at best and yes anger manifests/
When our president knows we’re drowning in the elements/
And really doesn’t give a fuck, so we ask for hesitance/
Bush offers only one-tenth of us pompous relief/
They may or may not decrease grief/
He’d rather help the lenders/
Original offenders/
Then send us off to get job number three/
Humbly sacrificing education and healthcare/
He’d rather just perpetuate the war ‘cause there’s wealth in it/
Health benefit it heavily tinted/
Windows of CEOs rooms remained closed/
So they never have to listen to those who oppose/
The path that they chose to slow economic woes/
They prey upon our desperation/
Instead of seeking elevation/
Shit is catastrophic in my estimation/
It happened during the Republican reign/
And some of y’all still went and voted McCain/
I heard it today/

2. The Economy – Lif has always been an emcee that speaks for the people. Therefore, it came as no surprise to me that many of his lyrics discussing the faltering state of the U.S. economy revolved around the belief that the wealthy trick the lower and middle classes into complacency by dangling monetary gains in front of them like a carrot in front of a donkey. The following verse from What About Us? stresses this point.

Is this in our best interest/
To infest the world with stress/
Just so you can dress best/
I guess you answered yes/
As we linger at the precipice/
Just to hear from dying – hear the crying?/
That old couple with the hopes of retiring/
About to clap you with the iron/
Trying hard not to let go/
Old goals are set from the get go/
Lost they power and the price of petrol/
And now they Petro/
And so the story goes/
Death with no memorials/
Editorials on this don’t exist/
Income tax is just a myth/
To make the bankers richer/
So they can sell you half the picture/
And seize your assets quicker than you can go acquire them/
We have the right to fire them/
Instead we co-conspiring/
Through silence, through science that’s social/
And economic/
They manufacture our consent to make a profit/
The papers been powerless since they left the Gold standard/
They using currency to woo the whole planet/

3. Police Brutality – So yeah, this isn’t exactly a topic that nobody talks about in hip-hop. But nobody talks about it like Lif does – who often stresses the deeper causes and effects of police brutality. The following verse from Gun Fight talks about the social consequences to families and communities, the lack of judicial response, and the belief that police brutality is just a small part of America’s system of modern day slavery.

Lorenzo, Darby, now let’s bring it back to Rodney/
Cops ain’t sorry they never small like a safari/
They viewing us as three-fifths human so they guns booming/
Death is glooming ain’t no punishment pursuing/
Them cops got off scot free, it doesn’t shock me/
Until they use their Taser to shock me/
They use Freeze Plus to seize us/
Dogs and leave us is dark alleys/
Protest they beat you with balies/
Families don’t recover/
From the loss of a brother/
Mother, sister or father/
It’s outright slaughter/
Emancipation Proclamation just some documentation/
To rock you to sleep, knowing your cell is waiting/
This nation is a plantation/
The government it’s slave master/
Police are trained to gather slaves faster/
Ask them brothers down in Alabama/
They brought the chain gangs back in ‘95/
Slavery’s alive/
Housing crisis, oil prices/
Low pay and high prices/
As the desperation rises/
They’ll be ready to fight us with shields and snipers/
Kill your kid in diapers, they’ll murder anybody like us/

4. Spirituality – One of the things I love about Mr. Lif is that, despite his political agenda and anger toward the powers that be, he maintains a level of positivity and spirituality in his rhymes. In fact, I often sense that it is Lif’s deep belief in a common spiritual purpose or energy that has helped to form his social and political stances. The following verse from former HHL track of the week The Sun illustrates this spiritual vibe.

I came from the wind, came from the seas/
Came from kings, came from queens/
Provided means to express what’s seen/
I’m the hope that will gleam/
When things seem useless/
Futile, fruitless/
I’m hoping you can use this, the truth can be ruthless/
You’re launching your attack, then you need some theme music/
Expressing your emotions in sync with the oceanic/
Tide – believe but gonna grind, don’t panic/
I could be frantic or maybe mellow and soothing/
No matter what tempo, with form I’m still moving/
I move Bob Marley and I moved Etta James/
Then they claim when the fire breaks out, I’m to blame/
Same people who raised hell in their youth/
Now they got all types of advice to tell you/
Do what you feel if your actions are real/
Then you shall find glory when the truth is revealed/
Just follow your call and when your visions are done/
Then wander …/

Overall: Ridiculously dope. I just can’t stop listening to this album, and it just keeps getting better. Mr. Lif’s “I Heard It Today” is easily among the best hip-hop albums of 2009 thus far, and definitely a must have for any hip-hop fan. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I highly recommend doing so now. Peace.

Album Track Listing:

1. Welcome To the World
2. What About Us?
3. Breathe (feat. Bahamadia)
4. Collapse the Walls
5. Folkore (feat. Dumbtron)
6. Police Brutality (Scene)
7. Gun Fight (feat. Metro)
8. PNN 1
9. Hatred
10. Homecoming (Scene)
11. Head High
12. I Heard It Today
13. The Sun
14. Dawn

This week’s quotable track of the week is dedicated to my homie FatherTime, who could probably relate to the song’s lyrics, and who could definitely use a little theme music right now. Mr. Lif’s The Sun is probably my favorite track from his new album “I Heard it Today,” which just keeps getting better every time I hear it.

Not only is The Sun an uplifting track that could make you feel better about having to make tough and often unrewarding decisions, but it’s also available for a FREE download at Amazon right now! Click below to listen, and click the following link to download for FREE: Download

[See post to listen to audio]

And be sure to follow along with the lyrics after the break.

[Verse 1]
I came from the wind, came from the seas/
Came from kings, came from queens/
Provided means to express what’s seen/
I’m the hope that will gleam/
When things seem useless/
Futile, fruitless/
I’m hoping you can use this, the truth can be ruthless/
You’re launching your attack, then you need some theme music/
Expressing your emotions in sync with the oceanic/
Tide – believe but gonna grind, don’t panic/
I could be frantic or maybe mellow and soothing/
No matter what tempo, with form I’m still moving/
I move Bob Marley and I moved Etta James/
Then they claim when the fire breaks out, I’m to blame/
Same people who raised hell in their youth/
Now they got all types of advice to tell you/
Do what you feel if your actions are real/
Then you shall find glory when the truth is revealed/
Just follow your call and when your visions are done/
Then wander …/

[Verse 2]
Where did I come from? Well it starts with the drum/
Enemies run once you hear my rhythm, you’re done/
You shouldn’t have come/
It shouldn’t have spun us into bondage/
Forty acres and a mule, another broken promise/
We’re working in the fields where you should pay us as farmers/
Make a compromise, well that’s the way you Uncle Tom us/
Divide and conquer, on the road we grow stronger/
Every situation you create will make us thoughtful/
Freedom’s what we long for/
Our pain and our soul/
All captured by a reel as our story is told/
So our future generations can express and unfold/
In modern societies as we’re nearing our goals/
Emcees will be the vessel, as long as they don’t aim/
The minds of our youth toward material gains/
If this starts to happen then you’ll turn towards the captain/
That’s where you’ll find me checking in ready for action/
Solar generated, cultivated by the sun/
Just follow your call and when your missions are done/
Then wander …/

[Verse 3]
Where did I come from? Sit back and just wonder/
Earth is my element – lightning, thunder/
Grey skies signify the pain I been through/
You can see it in my eyes unleashed at every venue/
Messages I send you can cut like Tenchu/
Until you recognize your potential I won’t let you/
Wander aimless, nameless, carrying the stainless/
Steel concealed, fucking with crime to gain famous/
Low – wanna race around the world, let’s go/
No luggage though – that anger that you carry let go/
I ran far, way past the prices in Bien Mur/
Through to the Mugabe where eternal sands are/
Gazed at the horizon and the future looked enticing/
So my only choice, lay out my path and keep grinding/
Wiling – saying fuck the critics, never compromising/
I’ll push your eyes in if you’re sleeping while I’m verbalizing/
Yes I do this out of love and for the fun/
Just follow your call and when your missions are done/
Then wander…/

I stumbled across this last night when I was researching this week’s hip-hop quotable, Mr. Lif’s The Sun. I guess Lif dropped the “I Heard It Today Mixtape” earlier this month before the real album dropped. Luckily, it’s still available for FREE download. Click the link below to download Mr. Lif’s “I Heard It Today Mixtape” for FREE:

Download

In any case, Lif’s past couple of albums have shown an interest in the continent of Africa, which I am starting to see as a major political issue for the hip-hop generation.

Therefore, I spent the weekend doing a bunch of research on the recent and current history of African places such as Rwanda, Congo, Sudan and Darfur. Damn, man … the more I read, the more I realize that problems in Africa appear to be blatantly understated by our country’s media. Most people in this country probably don’t even know what’s going on over there.

Ultimately, it seems obvious that the older generation is not interested in helping Africa, and it will become the job of the younger hip-hop generation to take up the cause in the future, especially if things continue to get worse. I think we all need to educate ourselves on what is happening in Africa and what we can do to help.

So please catch up on the recent history of Rwanda, Congo and Sudan, including the ongoing Darfur Conflict, as well as examining the role of the international community in African genocide. Click here to read my quick summation of this history and find what Lif had to say about it. Peace.

Mr. Lif “Mo’ Mega” Album Review
Despite the fact that I really liked Mr. Lif’s Mo’ Mega, I’m not going to write a review for it. This album is getting a decent amount of press as it is, and the last thing we all need is another cat saying the same things …

That Lif still came correct lyrically despite veering between political, personal and comical tracks; that El-P’s grungy production, sounds which represent why I like the Def Jux sound, continues to provide an excellent backdrop for Lif’s deep monotone vocals; that Lif gave the listener a refreshing look into his personal and optimistic sides even if it may have effected the continuity of his album. If you’d like to read a good review of Mo’ Mega, check one of these: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to elaborate on one of the messages Lif is trying to get across to his listener. Lif’s past two efforts, Mo’ Mega and Black Dialogue (Perceptionists), feature a handful of verses that discuss the problems in Africa while pointing the finger at the United States government’s unwillingness or inability to act. This has encouraged me to do some ongoing research on the current affairs of the continent of Africa.

Rwanda

The Bush Administration’s worth nothing
Just fuck ‘em! Throw ‘em in the barrel, buck ‘em!
Oh, you ain’t know them flood waters was coming?
You can’t smell that African blood running?
Oh, to y’all people is worthless or something?
Fuck Clinton too!
You ain’t really down because you live uptown, bitch
Rwanda!

from Mo’ Mega

Although you can’t really point a finger at the exact starting point of current problems in Africa, Rwanda is a good place to start, especially when considering ways in which the outside world has failed to help.

During a 100 day period in mid-1994, around 800,000 people in Rwanda were massacred by a combination of extremist Hutu militia. Despite several warnings and proof of weapon amassment by the militia, followed by widespread media coverage of the ongoing massacre, the United Nations, the United States and most first-world countries failed to respond.

After 100 days, a rebel movement known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front ended the genocide on their own by overthrowing the Hutu government and seizing power. In response, hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees fled into eastern Zaire, which is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Congo

Now we’ve seen it in Iraq and the Congo
America’s motto
“Kill their leader then we build a stronghold!”

from Black Dialogue

The mass immigration from Rwanda into Congo brought ethnic hatred and violence into the country, which helped to fuel both the First and Second Congo Wars: Roughly seven years of destruction and millions dead . this world’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Now although the war officially ended in 2003, the country is still losing an estimated 1,250 people a day to preventable causes, mainly disease and malnutrition, again with very little help from the outside world. For more insight into the Congo, click here.

Darfur and Sudan

Darfur’s in a state of emergency
It’s genocide
Code red classified
If this was Kosovo it’d be over, bro
But it’s brothers so it equals no coverage, mo’ sufferage
People drawn and quartered
Castrated, slaughtered, burned, disgraced
Gang raped, displaced
While the rest of the world just turn face to chase
Some economic goals
Balance the lost souls

from Mo’ Mega

Darfur is a region in western Sudan that is in the midst of a terrible conflict in which Sudanese government-supported militia are mass murdering small tribes of people and farmers. Since 2003, an estimated 400,000 people have died and most major countries have classified the situation as genocide. Yet the international community still remains virtually uninvolved.

Now what’s really horrible about the Darfur conflict is that it is starting to look just like the Rwandan Genocide because the international community is again failing to recognize the drastic nature of the situation, and thus failing to help these people that are being murdered every day. You would think that Rwanda should have taught us a valuable lesson, and that it would be clear that we need to act now to prevent more loss of African life in Sudan.

Africa and the Hip-Hop Generation
In addition, the situation is starting to show some hypocrisy on the part of the United States. Apparently, American support for “humanitarian intervention” in Darfur is being bolstered by pro-Iraq War conservatives in the United States, possibly as a means to distract the world from the crimes being committed in the Iraqi conflict. In short, this means that our country’s only interest in Darfur could be to improve its public view so that our administration can continue its war in Iraq.

Crazy, huh? Mr. Lif is right in questioning our country’s involvement in these conflicts, because these situations need American aid. Yet Africa is receiving very little help because our resources are being used up by an Iraqi War that appears to be fought under false pretences. If we were really trying to be humanitarians and help people, we would probably be looking more at Africa and less at the Middle East.

So educate yourself on Rwanda, Congo, Sudan, and the Darfur Conflict. Check out Def Jux and Mr. Lif for hip-hop’s perspective. And click here to find out how you can help. Africa is a big mess, ya’ll . the hip-hop generation should know about these problems and how our involvement could help save millions of lives, as it is bound to be a major part of our country’s future politics. Peace.