Rating:
  Release Date: June 13, 2006
  Website: Mr. Lif Website
  Label: Def Jux

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.