Music and Popcorn

Tenda McFly

This is Tenda McFly all the way from Brisbane, Australia and he's originally from Zimbabwe (aka Tatenda Chimbari). If you can be patient enough to tolerate all the hiccups on his mixtape, you'll like him (otherwise use Google Chrome for smooth listening). Y'can tell he's a graduate of the Lupe Fiasco, Kanye, and Saul Williams school of hiphop because he brings a similar, yet unique poetic edge to hip-hop, but he fuses it with indy and electro beats, creating his own sound. It can sound a li'l trite/generic in places if you sit through one listening, but that's your fault, one straight sitting of most albums will do that to you before you grow to love them. I'm not sure about the accent switching in places, but he's aight, dope like that. I'm still deciding on my favourites, but Definition, Sticks and Stones and Story of My Life are front-runners...But there's the issue of the name though. Can he use the name McFly? Isn't it copyrighted to the band McFly and unless it's one's birth name can he use it in the same way Daddy or Doctor was used by rappers in the 90's? Maybe McFly are nice like that and don't really mind who riffs off of their name.
Anyway, y'can sample and download his mixtape @ www.tendamcfly.bandcamp.com.

In DOPE Music WE Trust.

postcard from lahore...

Lahore: Pakistan, two day old pigeon

Global Terrorism

New N*E*R*D Video

 

Available on iTunes, 2 November 2010.

Pictures

1. Lucian Read - Civilian Corpses, Iraq

2. Jerome Delay - Dead Man in the Forest, Congo

3. Unknown - Children Mourning the Death of an Infant, Gaza

The New KKKlan in the Age of Obama

New Tea Party Ad

 

And then they go 'We have a Black President, we're a post-race nation'. Absolute nonsense! This is dirty, disgusting, KKKlan type politics and I felt so hurt watching this. I wasn't offended by the Joker image before of Obama because I knew the back story of the original artist, but it's appropriation in this context is deeply offensive and so is the Angel of Death comparison. 

In the Age of Obama, the new KKKlan's propaganda operates at a not-so subliminal level.

And then Black people like Lloyd Marcus (rhymes with Ruckus) wanna join this? Really? 

And then you get this other kind of foolishness that just makes me weak! iHave no words! My people, I implore you, enough with this Souljah Boy (thank God my ancestors were slaves so could I rock my bling today) kinda stupid, wake up and realise what's going on.

Update: comment from We Are Respectable N*gros:
The Baracka Flacka Flames video is also proof of an instinct I have long held dear and (usually) kept private to myself: white supremacy is the greatest invention of all time, not because of its durability per se, but rather because of how the subject internalizes it, reproducing the conditions of their own self-hatred and subordination.

I am unafraid to speak to the obligations of black respectability. Sadly, while some of us are ready for the responsibility of having our first Black President, others have clearly demonstrated that they are not. How pitiable and tragic that some confuse a poverty of material circumstances with a poverty of self-respect and black pride.
It's well worth reading in it's entirety: http://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/2010/10/some-black-people-are-not-ready-to-have.html

vid 1 jacked from Feministing.com & fisttap @sonjasugira for links 2 videos.

My African Mind

Film: My African Mind

MY AFRICAN MIND from BOFADACARA on Vimeo.
I saw this on Love(me)less's blog (http://aimemoimoins.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/my-african-mind) and have tried to find out more info, but alas nothing could be found apart from that it was posted by Bofadacara on Vimeo. If anyone has more info, hit me up, otherwise kickback and enjoy a six minute history lesson on the construction of race.

postcard from san carlos...

San Carlos, Venezuela. A farmer spreads urea fertilizer over a rice field. 

Pic by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters, jacked from The Guardian

I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young.

 I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.

With Love, Gideon Osborne xxx

plagiarised from Neill Kinnock

pic by Chris Ridell (copyright) jacked from The Guardian

Eritrea Stand Up!

Asmara All Stars: Adunia feat. Mahmoud Ahmed Omer, Temasgen Hip Hop & Doc Reggae
Release Date: 11 Oct 2010 on Amazon

Asmara All Stars - Adunia by OuthereRecords

Jacked from ThisIsAfrica.me, this track is featured on an album compilation of musicians from Eritrea with a wide range of musical influences from Ethio-jazz to contemporary soul-funk, hip hop, reggae and gwaila ( a very popular Eritrean music form which makes use of drum machines and electric krar). The artists were put together by French producer and music collector, Bruno Blum and the project has gotten mixed reviews: the Financial Times review has described it as ridden with world music cliches that erase the specificity and uniqueness of Eritrean sounds whereas someone called Tim writing for Eritrea Compass described it as a musical showcase of Eritrea's cultural diversity and firmly puts Eritrea on the world music map. Not sure what to make of the whole thing, but the track above is alright wiv me!

Who Put the Crack in Angela's Pipe?

Angela Merkel, Potsdam, Germany

"At the start of the 60s we invited the guest-workers to Germany. We kidded ourselves for a while that they wouldn't stay, that one day they'd go home. That isn't what happened. And of course the tendency was to say: let's be 'multikulti' and live next to each other and enjoy being together, [but] this concept has failed, failed utterly....For several years more people have been leaving our country than entering it...wherever it is possible, we must lower the entry hurdles for those who bring the country forward....Germany should … get tougher on those who refuse to integrate before opening itself up to further immigration."
- Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel

Response: They who, Angela? The Arabs, Turks, Asians, Africans? Who? The Jews, the Muslims, the Sikhs, the Scientologists? Who?


Multiculturalism is a failed project but not for the reasons Merkel points out, she's playing to the gallery because there's a lot of discontent within the party and conservative Germans over immigration. Multiculturalism's like this trendy thing Europe thought they'd name integration as a way of appearing progressive so the EU pressed full steam ahead with policy, but multiculturalism is impossible without first exorcising history's demons and poverty - Merkel needs a reality check. Multiculturalism failed because Germany didn't make it work. Granted it's not an overnight job as the Germans themselves took long enough to get along, but Merkel's not exactly been pro-multikulti or pro-immigration in her policy and strategically distanced herself on these issues so whose collective failure is she talking about? The Financial Times estimates say there's a skills shortage of about 400000 jobs in Germany and but they suggest that this gap can be filled by employed skilled migrants but visa restrictions prevent non-Germans from having certain jobs - so how do people work? Declaring multikulti has failed when you haven't even tried is a bad political tactic, it's evident that resorting to populist rhetoric is def-o a sign of desperate times, I guess the Baden-Wuttemberg 2011election is not looking too great then, Angie?

IMO multiculturalism's more of a Eurocentric cultural project that legitimises the consumption of 'the exotic other' by celebrating diverse cuisines, music and languages, but it doesn't engage people. Governments purposely build ghettos by ethnicity then in a schizophrenic twist embark on projects to de-radicalise 'the other' and pour money into fostering social cohesion to keep things calm...some work, some fail, but at the heart of it: it's the economy, stupid. 
Integration supposed to be the aim of multiculturalism but it's really just mainstreaming everyone into the dominant way of life, a kind of inclusive exclusion - thou shalt not wear a hijab or burkha, but thou shalt speak one standard French and remain in your poor, segregated ghettos. When the ship goes down, blame it on the poor and the migrants, same ol' same ol' and there's much more of this kind of populist talk to come the tougher things get.

pics jacked from The Guardian, Langerhall.com and Zazzle.com.

Black History Month

I 

just 

remembered

A 

time 

when

 I 

am 

just

 black

Just 
one
 month 
this year.

...I am a black man 
throughout all the days of the year. 

 Please don’t honour me for just 31 days of the year.

Honour me every day and in every way. 

Stephen Lawrence, stabbed to death for being black

Please don’t clutch your handbag 
when you see me walking 
towards you 
or cross the street just to avoid me. 

It’s alright to make eye contact, nod or even acknowledge my presence. 

I’m probably headed to or back from work 
when we meet…
matter of fact
 the other day I was off to a café with a good book in hand. 

Just 
so
 you
 know, 
I 
want
 absolutely
 nothing
 from 
you 
except 
a little respect 
all the days of the year.

Happy

....to those who still believe 
that one month 
is all we deserve.

Aluta Continua...


by
SirNigel

The first verse of this is a haiku by Sir Nigel (www.sirnige.com) and the rest are his words, I felt they sounded poetic so with his permission, I re-arranged his words into a poem. 
copyright: sirnige
All images jacked from Google, too many to do fotocred.

Failed Asylum Seekers: Dzokai Muyemwe

"We have today announced the resumption of enforced returns to Zimbabwe for failed asylum seekers judged by the independent courts to have no right to remain in the UK. This decision reflects the improved stability in Zimbabwe since 2009 and the UK court's view that not all Zimbabweans are in need of international protection. Those facing return will join the hundreds who have returned voluntarily, responding to calls by Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to return home and help rebuild their country. The British Government takes its international responsibilities seriously and will always grant protection to those in genuine need, and continue to monitor events in Zimbabwe."

- Immigration Minister, Damian Green's statement on Thursday on UKBA's on return from a fact finding mission in Zimbabwe to determine whether or not it is safe to resume deportations for failed asylum seekers.

Apparently the UKBA (UK Border Agency) thinks its safe enough to resume it's racially-biased deportations of Black Zimbabweans, but some of my friends say that's BS because if it's not safe enough for the England cricket team not to go on tour Zimbabwe, it's not safe enough to return people. Frankly, I couldn't care less if England doesn't want to play with us. Bangladesh, India, Ireland, the West Indies and Kenya have come and will all come back again to play cricket,  so David and Nick, 'keep your Britain and [we] will keep [our] Zimbabwe.' But  some of my friends are mad at the UK for this, but I fail to see what they're so angry about; that England and Scotland don't want to come and play, yet Zimbabwe is safe for Zimbabweans or that deportation is an inhumane practice by a country that believes it is a defender of human rights? If it's the former, are they saying that England and Scotland's tours to Zimbabwe are the benchmark of all things Zimbabwean? Are Zimbabweans not safe to go back to Zimbabwe because England and Scotland won't come ...to play cricket? C'mon people Mother Empire's long friggin' dead, for goodness sake! 

My friends know that the evidence on the ground concurs with the findings of UKBA (shock horror!) so why is it that 'Zimbabwe is hell' becomes the default position when we talk about mass deportations but when we talk about the economy it's 'Zimbabwe's coming back to life'? We all acknowledge that persecutions continue, but for the majority of the populace things are significantly better, so why this opposition? We also all acknowledge that next year's elections could tip the balance of peace in favour of violence as this has become the ZANU way of elections, but, honestly what number of these failed asylum claimants were political activists?Are people suddenly doped up on 'Zimbabwe is hell' rhetoric that they instantly forget there are no firing squads waiting for them? 

iCan't understand it.

If it is the latter reasoning that they're upset with UKBA - fine, I geddit, but who hasn't always known the UK to be two-faced in these matters, it's nothing new. I think it's blindingly obvious there will never be such a thing as fair immigration in this country, there will always be disproportionate treatment of migrants from developing nations and deportation is one of those biased, inhumane forms of treatment. As I've iterated several times on this blog and elsewhere, I believe in open borders; there's nowhere on God's green earth that no human being should be prevented from going in order to make a better life for themselves and, in principle I think it's nonsense that poor people should be deported from rich countries and it's ridiculous that visa requirements for people from poor countries are set at an impossibly high level and visa rejections are the standard response, even for those who meet the requirements. If a mass influx of migrants is payback for this attitude in policy as well as colonialism, unfair loan/debt policies and unfair loan/debt policies between nation-states, the extreme wealth of corporate nations and disparities between mega-wealthy individuals mainly in the West and the poor of the planet, then payback's a B!^£#. 

Having said that and acknowledging how deeply messed up the UK asylum and deportation system is (RiP Jimmy Mubenga) , of the +10000 Zimbabweans facing deportation I see two groups of people I sympathise with differently: genuine and fake failed asylum seekers. If failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe are genuinely in fear for their lives and made their claims before 5 March 2007, then they must go the Further Submissions Unit route (Google) to plead against deportation and I pray things work out for them. For those who know deep down in their hearts there is no real threat on their lives and they've invented stories of violence, take the £3000 package and return home. Go start up a small business, help rebuild your country.  Zimbabweans should not create a national culture of gaming the system at the expense of the country and personal dignity. Being locked up in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre or living off of State benefits and charity handouts because you're prohibited from gainful employment and with promises to cut back on everything, poor non-EU migrants will get hit the hardest first. The UK isn't paved with streets of gold, it may have it's pluses, but the UK really isn't that amazing a place to be. For all the births, baptisms, graduations, dowry proceedings, weddings, funerals and endless days of sunshine people have missed out on whilst pleading for asylum on this muggy island, 
Blighty really ain't worth all that, trust!

Harare International Airport
all pics jacked from Google Images

postcard from miami...

Miami, US: A man has glitter applied as he prepares to take part in the Miami Broward One carnival. 

The event celebrates Caribbean culture.

foto & caption cred: Lynne Sladky/AP& TheGuardian

Umthombo: An Alternative

fisttap mahala.co.za

This is a new promo ad for Umthombo, a project to rehabilitate Durban's (S.A) street kids through surfing and other positive sporting and health projects. It's run mainly by former street kids who are now trained as youth care workers, social workers, advocacy leaders etc, Umthombo depends on the generous donations of the public so if you have second hand surfing gear or are interested in helping in other ways - through donation, gift-giving or volunteering please checkout: www.umthombo.org.

Of Firing Squads, Morons and Patriots

The above title partly comes from a phrase in a comment someone made on a friend's Facebook post about Gamuchirai Nhengu, the X Factor contestant everyone in the UK is buzzing about since she failed to make the final 12 or 16 as it were, last Saturday. The public mood has gone from sympathy to outrage when it was discovered that her family visa had been judged out of time by UKBA (UK Border Agency) and her mother was found to have wrongly claimed working tax and child credits and so because their application had been denied they are now subject to an administrative removal (not deportation) and will have to go back to Zimbabwe for a year before re-applying. Within a heartbeat the tabloid press had labelled the mother a 'benefits cheat' and 'thief' while a trail of xenophobic and racist comments were left on newspaper comment boards, Twitter and Facebook - there's even a Deport the Gamu Family page to rival the Gamu Should Have Got Through fan page that has now become the playground of xenophobes and vile racists. 

If anyone needed to know just how racist and moronic some members of the British public can be, this case is a perfect example but at the same if anyone needed to know just how generous and sympathetic the British public can be then this case is also a perfect example as the pictures of crowds bearing gifts pictured outside the Nhengu's family home show. The response of Zimbabweans has been nothing but sympathy and support, lobbyist groups and (disappointingly) a few the online press are doing their best to protest UKBA's decision. Zimbabweans in the diaspora and at home have stood in solidarity with the family, all until this morning that is. 

The News of the World published an exclusive interview with Gamu in which she pleaded for a chance to stay in the UK, claiming that if she was sent back she'd face Mugabe's 'firing squad.' Her words were: “It’s like I’m being sent home to a firing squad and they’re putting me in front of it, They will punish us if we go back. Our lives are in danger.” 

Firing squad? Punish? Danger? *Rolling eyes double time* Her lawyers may have advised this rather colourful response, the News of the World may have gotten a little creative with her words or Gamu may be so desperate she will say whatever she can to prevent her family's impending removal. Whatever it is, it's untrue. Zimbabwe may be a lot of things, but a hell hole of punishment it is not, neither do we have firing squads for people, least of all wannabe pop stars. There are people out there who genuinely face persecution if they return to the country, but Gamu is not one of them and if in reaction to this story one or two sick n depraved alleged  agents of the regime threaten her, it's to scare her but I honestly don't know how real that threat would be. So many Zimbabweans have milked the political unrest in the country to acquire a right of stay all over the world and these people are no different to Gamu because they want the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. While I completely understand the desire for the right to pursue prosperity and happiness, that desire does not mean pursuit by any means necessary and does not justify falsely maligning the already battered image of your country.

Right now Zimbabwe is undergoing transition, life is so much better there than it was three years ago when price controls wrecked the economy or ten years ago when war vets took over the farms. True, some political activists, writers, artists and singers are in prison or have been incarcerated, but others live in the country and carry out their political works without fear of persecution so where does a rising pop star all the way in Scotland get off making claims like that? The myth that 'Mugabe is the bogeyman and his henchmen are coming to get ya' shows just how low people's sense of patriotism that they'll sell out their country for South African, British, Canadian or American citizenship. Worst of it all is that it's to the detriment of genuine asylum seekers who face greater risk of deportation when stories like these get called out. Instead of going the sensationalist route, Gamu might have used this as a chance to highlight the claims of those who face real danger on the basis of their political or religious (Rastafarians) beliefs. 

She is young, but she is not stupid, neither are her lawyers and one hopes they start giving her the right advice before this gets any more sensational. She's already made a mistake of speaking to News of the World and has been a little too creative with her story. Why the heck did she sell her story to News of The World when it belongs to the same tabloid group that branded her mother a cheat and a thief when the benefits story broke on Tuesday. For the whole week, The Sun has been fanning the flames of xenophobic and racist angst against this family and the she goes and tells The freaking News of the World! She'd rather have kept her mouth shut and waited till better newspapers or TV channels came along and made sure not to divide the support of Zimbabweans - judging by the Facebook, Twitter and Zim news comments I've read the majority of people express their sympathy with her situation but are very pissed off with her for making such exaggerated claims, and rightly so. There are those who claim she's just a kid and she doesn't know any better, but with lawyers on your side, the folly of youth can never be the disguise for stupidity. This group argues that no one really knows how this story transpired and who said what exactly - fair enough, I hear you. However, there is a minority who seem to think it's okay because 'everybody does it.' That's just daft, you cannot legitimize lying just because others are doing it, especially now when things in Zimbabwe are so much better, very far from perfect, but a lot better both politically and economically. Maybe Gamu should go back home for a year to face the imaginary 'firing squad' so she can re-discover her roots and find just how much people are willing to help her, as one hip hop producer based in Harare suggested.

As for the judicial review, I really believe the family has a strong case, firing squads and bogey men nothwithstanding and taking into account: Inland Revenue's screwup in granting the mother credits, supporting case law concerning tax credits, EU Human Rights, Article 8 provisions on the right to a family life and supporting case law. Also, UKBA and X Factor screwed up by playing this out in public and if I was Gamu's mother I'd be hunting down Courtenay Griffiths to get him to take my case pro bono. Never mind that he's a criminal lawyer, I'm sure he, like many immigration lawyers, would relish the opportunity to stick it to UKBA and the Cowell pantomime.

postcard from the seychelles...

Zef Side

Evil Boy is the latest track from Die Antwoord, a South African band of three friends (Yo-landi, Ninja and Waddy Jones (aka Max Normal)) creating their own brand of zef beats. iLike this group, questions of authenticity aside (see www.africasacountry.com for a good, long discussion on this) but this video just sucks to the nth degree. Evil Boy sounds so much better when heard rather than seen, the excessive freakishness takes away from the valuable criticism the song had of circumcision, bling culture and sexual prudishness. Too much masculine penis envy and obsession with racial undertones agwan there, it's not even artistically gaudy, it doesn't work for me. 


As a general comment about Die Antwoord's music and videos, there is something to be said of their excesses as performances of race, gender, class, power and identity in post-Mandela, post-apartheid South Africa and they seem to be aware of what they are doing if you watch the second short video and the beginning of Enter the Ninja when Ninja says all identities are mixed up in him. But just how much are things mixed up in him that Die Antwoord's gangster attitude, imitation prison number tattoos and alleged gang connections can pass off as 'authentic' or is Ninja the mash-up the trajectory of whitesploitation consuming and producing itself in more radical and satirical ways over and over? Radical yes, but satirical - of what exactly? Die Antwoord are the edgy pop hip-hip embodiment of White working class angst fused with a 'discovered 'inner' Coloured' to use Rustum Kozain's phrase. Given this interesting fusion of working class identities, to what extent are they performing critique in their music and to what extent are they themselves the joke when they're speaking... BS?....Life is zef, china.


Their album drops 12 October and is available on iTunes.



STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S PIEL from Die Antwoord on Vimeo.

ConquistaDora the Explorer

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Destroying Native culture has never been so fun-ducational.

And the Winner is...

Liu Xiabo

jacked from The Guardian

Up in Flames

Been meaning to post my fav'rit choon of the minute, Up in Flames by Labrinth feat. Tinchy Stryder and Devlin. Please subscribe to Labrinth's YouChoob channel for a free download, but UK massive please be sure to buy the single when it comes out on the 24th of October, along with Devlin's Runaway (17 Oct) and Kano's Upside - artists don't make sick music for free all the time.

In DOPE Music We Trust!

Images & Thoughts on Nigeria at 50

Felasophy

jacked from punch-records.co.uk

"I'm tired," 

the 48-year-old musician and son of the late Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti says, his eyes drooping after just emerging from one of Lagos's epic traffic jams, a constant source of frustration in this teeming city.... No electricity, no good health care ... people are dying in hospital, bad roads, corruption beyond your imagination," he said. "Let's say it's a sad birthday....When my father was fighting, I was 13. I am 48 ... same story and nothing has really changed for the better," he said. "We have survived these terrible times. "A vibrant generation is coming ... who hopefully will not take nonsense from corrupt leaders and who will be very strong and fight for a better Africa" 

- Femi Kuti on Nigeria's 50th Birthday

jacked from the Mail &;Guardian, S.A.

Foto Credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei AFP/Getty

Mend said: 

"Several explosive devices have been successfully planted in and around the venue by our operatives working inside the government security services....There is nothing worth celebrating after 50 years of failure. For 50 years, the people of the Niger Delta have had their land and resources stolen from them. The constitution before independence which offered resource control was mutilated by illegal military governments and this injustice is yet to be addressed."

jacked from PM News, Nigeria

"Today, we need to celebrate the remarkable resilience of the Nigerian spirit. We need to appreciate, that even though the road has been bumpy; we have trudged on, in hope. We may not have overcome our challenges, but neither have our challenges overcome us. Whenever we are completely written off, we always bounce back from the edge to renew our national bond for the benefit of our progress. That is the Nigerian spirit. This is what has kept us together as a country even when other countries with far less challenges have fallen apart."

                                                 speech delivered at 50th Celebration.

- President Goodluck Jonathan 

 Lucy Azubuike

The Mask Hides Nothing

jacked from creativeafricanetwork.com

"...if we are to achieve any meaningful change then we should start by studying and documenting the actions of  these pioneering and contemporary women and realise that within us we have an enormous amount of knowledge and the power to bring about change.  It is women who successfully challenged the colonial authorities and traditional rulers.  It is women who have been at the forefront of the non-violent struggle for justice in the Niger Delta though this has largely been ignored. It is feminists like Amina Mama, Lucy Azubuike and Chimamanda Adichie who are placing women at the center in their writing and artistic work.This is not to elevate women to a superior place in our societies but to recognize that it is in the interest of men and everyone irrespective of their gender, status, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference to engage with feminism so as to create an environment where radical transformation can take place."

- Sokari, Black Looks.org on Nigerian Women & Independence

Recommended Reading: http://www.blacklooks.org/2010/09/women-and-the-nation/