Rating:
  Review Date: February 8, 2007
  Website: Cleveland Steamers Website
  Label: Focused Noise Productions

Cleveland Steamers “Treasure Chest” Album Review 
The Cleveland Steamers’ “Treasure Chest” is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t judge a book, or a CD for that matter, by its cover. The album cover contains a treasure chest filled with items such as a diamond-crested pimp cup, pearl necklaces, a skull with a shiny grille, a pistol, and a picture of President George W. Bush … all things with which I don’t agree. In addition, a Cleveland steamer is a dirty sex fetish where someone defecates on their partner’s chest and then smears it in with his or her butt cheeks. Tasty, huh?  

With this in consideration, I quickly jumped to the conclusion that the Cleveland Steamers were another replication of the thug-gangster-bling-baller-player sound and mentality seen all over television or heard whenever you turn on the radio. But then I actually listened to “Treasure Chest,” and realized how wrong I was.

In reality, the cover of their album and even the name of their crew is simply a real hip-hop group being ironical. The Cleveland Steamers quickly prove that they are just as disgusted as I at the current state of hip-hop, at least the hip-hop praised in the mainstream, at our national politics and our materialistic society. And they show this disgust first hand with eclectic instrumentally-stacked production, hard-hitting flows and socially conscious and heavily-charged lyrics with which I can’t seem to stop singing along.

Yet these cats do fit the description of a Cleveland steamer in at least one sense of the term, as their music allows them to verbally defecate on people they don’t like, including clichéd rap artists, money-grubbing capitalists, corporations, hip-hop groupies, gluttonous political scandalists and, of course, our lying and murderous president and administration.

Hip-Hop’s Quest for the Truth
While pretty much every track of this album bumps in one way or another, whether through quality production or the interestingly-unique trading of flows and lyrics between the two talented yet diverse emcees, the stand-out song on the album is “The Decider,” a ridiculously creative track in which the emcees trade lyrics back and forth with sound clips from George W. Bush. Bush’s verses consist of a combination of Bush-isms, lies he has told over the past six years, and other stupid-ass shit he has said while in office.

After listening to the song a couple times, I started to wonder how many things our President has lied to us about. This encouraged me to do some research, and I was amazed at how President Bush and his administration truly failed the American people in Iraq, in New Orleans and on September 11, 2001. I’ve always believed that good conscious hip-hop can bring you closer to the truth, and the Cleveland Steamers’ “Treasure Chest” is another great example of hip-hop that serves to educate, inform and question the things around us. I’d highly recommend checking it out . you just might learn something.

If you’re interested, I’ve published some of the results of my Cleveland Steamers-inspired research below. I was shocked and appalled at some of the things I learned, and at some of the horrible lies of President Bush and his administration. Big ups to Cleveland Steamers for encouraging this research, and big ups to hip-hop for allowing this medium for discussion.

Bush is a Liar!
Although George W. Bush has lied about virtually any topic you could think of, including his military experience, his victory in the 2000 presidential election, the environment and global warming, education, civil rights, and his economic policies and their intent to help the underprivileged, the lies that have affected the most people could be divided into three categories: Iraq, 9/11 and Katrina.

Bush Lied About Iraq

1. Weapons of Mass Destruction – While preparing to go to war with Iraq, Bush told the American people that Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction that he planned to give to affiliated terrorist organizations. He later claimed that stockpiles of these weapons had been found on multiple occasions. To this day, no WMDs have been found.
2. Terrorist Connections – Another major reason the American people agreed to go to war with Iraq is because Bush and his administration repeatedly drew a connection between them and Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization we believe is responsible for the 9/11 attacks. However, the 9-11 Commission found “no credible evidence of a collaborative relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda” despite having access to all the same evidence as the administration.
3. UN Inspectors – While searching for weapons of mass destruction, Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein would not let United Nations inspectors in to search for any wrongdoing. However, sources say it was President Bush who ordered inspectors to leave Iraq preeminently because an invasion was imminent.
4. Troop Support - Throughout the course of the war, Bush has vowed to support our troops in Iraq. However, the administration’s war budget reports refused to provide funding for soldier body armor, refused to give National Guard and Reserve Army members access to normal solider health insurance, and cut $1.5 million in funding for military medical facilities and family housing.
5. Jessica Lynch – Remember the story about the captured American soldier Jessica Lynch? She took several bullets and was rescued by US Special Forces in an intense bullet-filled storming of an Iraqi hospital. However, British news sources deny this story, claiming that Lynch was never seriously wounded, never held captive and released to our military by the Iraqi hospital. The rescue attempt was apparently staged for news purposes. Lynch herself has denied much of the Pentagon’s version of what happened to her.

Bush Lied About 9/11

1. Al Qaeda Attention – Bush and his administration have consistently blamed previous presidents and their administrations for not preparing adequately for terrorist attacks, and claim they worked from the beginning to prevent terrorist attacks and increase counter-terrorist funding in the United States. However, records indicate that Bush did nothing to prevent terrorism before 9/11, barely ever mentioning terrorism or Al Qaeda and even threatening to veto Congress’ attempt to shift funding from missile defense to counter-terrorism programs before the attacks occurred.
2. War on Terror – During the last presidential debates, Bush claimed that they had brought 75% of Al Qaeda to justice. However, only 3 of the 27 terrorists on the administration’s most-wanted list have been captured. The rest of our resources have gone directly to the war in Iraq.
3. Jealous of our Freedom – I think we all recall George W. Bush standing in front of the cameras after 9/11, claiming that Al Qaeda knocked down the trade center towers, crashed into the Pentagon and almost hit the White House because they were jealous of our freedom. Sadly, what he forgot to mention, and what most Americans to this day refuse to realize, is that we were attacked as a result of years and years of shady foreign policy in the Middle East.

In fact, a simple study into the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, with special attention to events such as the Iran-Contra affair, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Saddam’s massacre of the Kurds in Iraq, and Operation Desert Storm will teach us everything. In reality, the United States’ holds large amounts of responsibility in each operation and has for years provided weapons and funding to Israel, arguably the world’s greatest long-term terrorist force, in their merciless campaigns against Muslims all over the region.

Bush Lied About Katrina

1. The Levees – Bush and his administration has claimed that they had no idea the levee walls in New Orleans would have broken under the even the worst possible hurricane. Yet reports indicate that the White House knew up to two days before the Katrina hit that the hurricane held the possibility of breaching the levees, and CNN confirmed that officials for years have warned of the effects of a category 4 hurricanes on the city of New Orleans.
2. To read more about the questions concerning the government and administration’s failure in handling Katrina, click here.

And sadly, this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. I got so heated while doing this research that I had to walk away. I recommend everyone investigate everything Bush and his administration have said, because it appears there is more lie than fact everywhere. Oh well, only another year and a half and they’ll all be retired . hopefully. Peace.