Tag: rap

APR 3, 2014 - GreenLeft.org has a cool interview up about Australian rapper Aisha Fukushima, and it asks her about her new song, "RAPtivism" and how the song declares that she is "bringing politics back to rap". Aisha told GreenLeft, "For me, the term "bringing politics back to rap" illuminates that on one level, a lot of the major distribution of hip-hop music has edited out music that empowers people and encourages them to think critically. I think part of the role as rap activist is not necessarily having all the answers or even telling people what to think, but to raise thoughtful questions that can help further our collective journey towards social change." We at JTMP couldn't have put it more eloquently. Read more of the interview of Aisha on GreenLeft.org.au here. Listen to RAPtivism from Aisha below.

NOV 1, 2013 - Music has been playing a huge role in the Arab Spring and helping to fuel the youth uprisings and calls for progressive changes in their countries. A Danish rapper, Martin Fernando Jakobsen, saw what was happening, and stepped in to help fund Tunisian and activist rappers across the Middle East. Jakobsen has set up "Turning Tables", where he helps young rappers who want to sing about political change get into the studio and get their words out. In an interview on TheNational.ae, he tells Janne Louise Anderson, "The youth movement and the young people's freedom of expression and artistic freedom face an uncertain future because of opposition by powerful conservative forces, societal norms and limited production and expression." Jakobsen also talks about the brutal governmental and police policies that arrest and even jail rappers for expressing their political beliefs. Some rappers in Tunisia have had to go underground after being sentenced to years in prison in absentia, merely for speaking out artistically. Jakobsen also tells Anderson, "We are supporting young people who are fighting for a Tunisia that respects basic freedoms and equal opportunities for all, through the targeted use of art festivals, music events, and the creation of independent media that conveys the youth's views on Tunisia's future." Jakobsen plans to spread his help to Syria and Jordan soon.

Turning Tables allowed Middle East rappers, Vipa, WMD and Katybon, to collaborate on "Up On The Roof" YouTube music video (watch below), and Vipa commented in The National's article, "Tunisians try to move forward with great desire, but there are always some barriers that prevent us from trying to spek about justice, be it political, or economic or social." Read the entire Jakobsen interview on TheNational.ae website here. To learn more about the non-profit Jakobsen has set up to help activist-rappers, check out TurningTables.org.

MAR 29, 2013 - JTMP is joining and supporting the calls for Reebok to drop rapper Rick Ross as a spokesperson because his new single talks about drugging and raping a woman. In the single he said, "Put molly [a drug] all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it / I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it." This is not only totally offensive and outrageous in general, but coming on the heels of the Steubenville rape case shows very bad taste. Sending the message to young people that it is okay to drug and sexually violate a woman is horrible, and he should be dropped as a Reebok spokesperson, and this single needs to be boycotted.

Ultra Violet has a petition going calling for Reebok to drop Rick Ross as a spokesperson here.

OCT 19, 2012 - Showing the importance of education and teachers, rap artist Drake studied and worked hard, and got his GED this month. He Tweeted, "“97% on my final exam. 88% in the course. One of the greatest feelings in my entire life. As of tonight I have graduated high school!” Drake added, "Thank you to my teacher Kim Janzen for spending the last 5 months working tirelessly with me!!" JTMP wants to give a shout out to Drake for being a role model for youth. JTMP wants to also take this opportunity to voice our support for more government funding for teachers, education, GED programs, community colleges, job and skill training and more. A strong education leads to great opportunities in life. Read more on ibtimes.com.  (Photo credit: CC/theupcomeshow)

To learn how you can get your GED like me and Drake, please visit the government's "Job Corps" website, where you can learn how to get your GED and more.
http://www.jobcorps.gov/home.aspx

MAY 8, 2012 - Tony Sclafani on MSNBC Entertainment has a great article about MCA, Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys, and how he brought social consciousness to the Beastie Boys. Adam passed away last week from cancer, and JTMP has been blogging about him recently and how he became a Buddhist and evolved into a socially conscious musical activist, with the Free Tibet movement being one of his causes. Tony writes how they started helping out many causes such as ASPCA,  Food Bank for NY, and Habitat for Humanity among others. Check out the article on MSNBC here.  (photo credit: blythe_d/Flickr)