have you ever had sex with the earthquake they're looking. for the please. please please please please please please. please oh please please please please. please. please. dead prez is a group that has been in the rap game for almost two decades and you'd be hard pressed to find a hip hop duo that's more politically active. a little better known by his stage name and one clayton gavin aka stick man have toured all over the world in order to raise awareness about everything the president austral complex to gaza and now dead prez in d.c. to speak about the human five five political prisoners who were thrown in the

crosshairs of the us as vendetta against the small island nation well earlier am one join me to break the stage and talk about why it's so important to use music as a way to inspire grassroots action against the powers that be so here he is performing sacrifice. all power to the people. here freedom all. the way to kill sacrificed. himself to fight for sure the officer said that. to its present day life. to shanghai look the same no time to take the tops of the games remember the someone else get enough balls everybody the flames they can remember don't make you stick your claim in this type of good lose every day the game destructive the bible to cool it with a fool to the pundits with such little time but i think it's great to keep you know what to do. maybe because they struck the field from

a body because now they give them a fright but he. was told he had the heart of a town with his knee i think about trying so now we're going. to junk could you feel when you did that you just paralyzed us to meet. anyone. for a fight. to kill sacrifice to show no interest. in the life you know no right to kill sacrifice that you wish to kill sacrifice you with. this is the life. in prison the life. is so serious his purpose is to rest if you tell him. that this is the reality it's not a test look. he was down with the be a like he was sixteen when he picked this team

a sacrifice was made a sacrifice that don't be too stupid to suppresion is the best education that he would. make somebody that's what they think of the speaks so we can so sweet person to get the peace the families of the cow would be streaks this time if you put it in let's get to duplicate. the slaughter to change the pictures we get back to the sun but back to the way to the crown of my crown the colony of my policy that's what about the palestinians and the mexican. politicians saying is. i want to. propose to kill sacrifice because you know this is the life right this is the life. they kill sacrifice freedom all to kill sacrifice because you know no this is the

life to which now yeah yeah yeah. and when you're in town to perform for the five cuban five what is it about these five that you're so passionate about well i think the question of political prisoners comes up and the secret that america holds the heroes and she roles that are buried and it's dungeons warehouse in this prison industrial complex you know these are people who have done badly in x.y. community but who languish in prison who want to celebrate and celebrate it so what if you got five it's awesome because it also talks about the relationship this delicate relationship between the united states and cuba so two very important issues it's been decades since the cold war yet cuba is one of four states that the u.s. government has deemed a state sponsor of terrorism why socialism is has been

a bad word in the ugly word in the political circles for years but the reality is there's some things that we can learn from you know this this government and you know it's important i mean i think especially in the crises of capitalism we have to dare to imagine what how can the system be better what system is better and i think cuba has done a fantastic example if you look in south america and its relationship with venezuela and in some places in europe we see some fantastic relationship so you wonder why the embargo or the sanctions against cuba exacted by the united states let's talk more about political prisoners why you think obama hasn't used his his clemency powers to grant amnesty to people like them. to people like leonard peltier who are serving life terms not only them but i guess just anyone i think bush pardoned away more people before there's more in his presidency well i think in the case of media and people like to hear you bring up freedom fighters you know

this is an oprah winfrey issue if i make. hard core issues they do with the belly of the beast of american society it's also. real liberation and what it means to have freedom in this country when you talk about all especially as it relates to the police and the brutal terrorist acts that happened against our community we don't talk about those acts in the same way but they are exactly the same in two thousand dead prez but at the police state the lyrics say f.b.i. spying on the radio antennas and then hidden cameras in the street like watching society with no respect for the people's right to privacy i mean hell this is before and i don't love it i mean what are your thoughts now looking back at how insanely huge the national security state has gone i think we were clear about america's agenda and much more things that they planned to make you fear however information is key especially political or political education the more we know the more we are able to say ok we saw a king alfred plan and we see other. plans and agendas that the united states has

to continue to violate our rights so we can't be surprised by it as a matter of fact we have to be proactive we have to sort of networks to defend ourselves and defend our rights so anybody who awake in two thousand and fourteen has to be on one side or the other it's forcing us to choose a you know she said you know where i understand in the trajectory that you guys understood a long time ago that it's just going to get worse unless we stand up and fight it and you also want to gaza a few years ago and then subsequently went on the speaking or called from the ghetto to gaza what prompted the trip initially and what message are you trying to relay with the more ultimately the same kind of sanctions and embargoes that have been exactly against cuba and zimbabwe happened against gaza and you know we know the united states' relationship with israel like there were violating the human rights of those people actually went on a human rights mission the crew was called and in that

convoy of maybe two hundred people i met some really important artist and activist an artist and. it made me want to know wall. yes we were able to get into gaza but not without tearing through miles and miles of political red tape and being watched by the government only because we want to present a. diapers and things that people need who are on a war and undeclared war basically and two years later i was able to go back on the other side to ramallah and to some of the camps displaced palestinians have been and use hip hop as as a way to learn and teach resistance. existence is resistance so there was a d.v.d. made of it and it's called hip hop is bigger than the occupation so we were trying to teach through music about what's happening in the so-called middle east and why palestine is so important and our relationship. why it matters inside the united

states from the ghetto to gaza and so grossly misrepresented here in america considering the strict allegiance that this country does have with israel what is your group's album is called gangster what the cause why do you feel it's so important to have a cause instead of just. how many other rappers are correct he was called revolutionary by gangster montra mainly because of acronym r b g come from the letters red black and green which were made. available to me by marcus garvey one of the first human rights activists if i will but definitely the father of the black power movement inside the united states and for me why do we have to be revolutionary but gangsta why does it have to be a cause because if we don't organize ourselves around something then we are being organized and i think a lot of times we don't understand the agenda desk before us we have to be conscious of where we place our next steps in and how we see our future for our children and for elders who carry the torch for so that's why they call us and know

better frequency then to communicate it through then this medium of culture music and then turn it into our propaganda that's why in an interview. wired stick man the other half of that prize called capitalism the enemy of mankind i was wondering what you thought about that assessment if you agree with that and if so what would the second american revolution look like. i think it was exactly right the enemy of mankind because capitalism was born. it was born. one from the brigand bondage blood sweat and tears of africans that produced the primitive capital start up capital for what's happening today and then the pedestal that imperialism is today and what's happening so if we look at what it's all rome you know in order to stand up on this edifice the correct way you have to turn this system upside down and what would it look like what would this revolution look like

you know sometimes the names get in the way i think we things today there are so many about what they would i do think that natural antagonistic capitalism is something that looks like socialism because it gives to everybody who was involved in producing i think that's fair and i think we've got to talk about whatever a system would be that would be a fair one exactly in the right way we look at some of the movements that have happened especially coming out of the african community the non violent ones as well as. skirmishes erupted in our community that sent us to i think we have to find a way i think we have to find a new way that has not been here before and learn from those ways so i look forward to this revolution is happening and i look forward to it heightening and i look forward to being there so we can make some solutions and i couldn't agree more of these isms are really stunting the debate really something in the forwardness of consciousness and that's what's happening and we're having a revolution of consciousness right now and people better get on board. a man who

really appreciated i'm one dead president and having on thank you. take. on america and the financial world. take time to seize to moments cannot stop because it is there is only taking the demands of credit good good. and life there are there. so now we're in a deflationary spiral where resources are scarce and people are going to war to get control of the remaining resources the words base everyone against everyone everyone's at each other's throat because all that money printing did not work it

was a failure it calls the very depletion they said it was going to eliminate they failed miserably and as a result everyone's got up to their neck in blood. sweat and or finland the brain deep to join nato that would provoke some sort of free action on the part of russia as this is why as far as the military calculus is concerned none of what faces humanity east the west north and south none of it can be solved by military means or we have crafts or satellites or nuclear weapons military is outdated it should go like cannibalism and slavery and child labor it doesn't belong to civilization to kill each other.

cross talk rules in effect go to and you can jump in anytime you want. it's rare to find artists that can bridge cultural divides so seamlessly this is

exactly what makes my next guest unique his name is the scene i saw him on that are known as stage name the narcissist and are seen as it is an iraqi born canadian citizen who grew up in the united arab emirates this global perspective and politically charged lyrics make him one of the most socially conscious artists today and so without further ado here's the narcissus performing leap of faith. yeah. leave. it to fight. to sell a seat this is. the cost of if your heart is telling you to keep the would seem to sleep better finish. the spread just selfish but you should. never be scared.

if this is the scofflaw see these kids to try. to plan a search of. the afterlife only know what happened. to church sits atop the past. would. they be. public. policy to treat a wife. to see he took a leap of faith the strings attached was the topic to see everything except the kid this is what i see. nothing of the pops it. is expected to know

what you want to keep for stock exchange so we like to. keep it nice close with this. process made a lot more subtle would. just look at the why if i hit. the subject like the pope to speak to take. absent. would. you.

up. justin you just performed a song called leap of faith and it you talk about a prophet can't save us how can a church synagogue or mosque pray and hope it works what's the message the message of the song why do you write it well leap of faith was really the story of my life in a way you know many of us in life have moments where we have to decide you know a or b. so that song was more about my life and my parents' life and the decisions they took in order for me to be in the position that i'm in right now but when i ask those questions obviously it's also related to the religion becomes institutionalized and how that affects our understanding of our faith or our spirituality so it was really a point in my life where i was questioning everything so i put it down on paper like saying you know what if these institutions that are teaching us how to believe

don't really know how to believe really when it was well said iraq and they're going to have one foot in north america one foot in the middle east how do people react to music when you perform in places like jordan and elsewhere in that region it's you know there's very diverse audiences everywhere i go especially if you go in arabia you know every country is very diverse now there's a lot ex-pats so the crowd is sort of multinational every every city that i perform and so they're always going to have people that don't agree with your politics or your opinion but then most of the time my shows are more lighthearted in about the energy and positive exchange and as you say i've had a great experience that got so far. as in iraq i can't imagine what your perception is of the horrific violence and destabilization going on on the ground right now in iraq have you ever performed in iraq no i don't mean to iraq in over two decades you know we've sort of moved our family slowly out of the country as the

wars wars progressed. and i wouldn't want to go perform in iraq the first time that i go back after all this time because. a country that deserves justice. more than it deserves a concert so i would like to go there and listen instead of speak the first time that i go in and take in the experience and really learn my roots as i know them i'm very attached to the nation and the culture and my family always kept that alive so hopefully i get to go back and visit before i go perform you're talking about some aid work that you were doing in syria with some friends or helping do talk about that i have an arabic album coming out and when i did that arabic album we fundraise for a couple of iraqi kids that were from basra from my father's own town who had a congenital disease and we raise money to get them to go and have surgery and get cured so that was during the process of recording and a lot of the artists are of arab origin on the album it's all in arabic it's called they're not just the project so i want to continue that humanitarian work and when

we release the project we're doing a video for a song called and within now we're raising money for one hundred children who need new limbs who are amputees and it's using three d. technology to sort of do limbs that are easily produced within syria or outside of syria and turkey and things like that so we're slowly putting the project together right now i can't really give full details but it's it's very important for us to use our art to be able to channel that power that we developed making music into direct change as opposed to just fund raising and throwing money at something i'd rather see that directly affect somebody that needs to you said in the past that nine eleven politicize you and your family and i was wondering if there was a certain moment in a post nine eleven world or was it just the rampant islamophobia that i guess the world was encountering at that time i mean being it out the and growing up between the east and the west and going back and forth and you know i've experienced three

gulf wars through the media so there was always a backlash and also growing up my father was a big movie buff so movies like true lies are indiana jones there was always that like evil arab character that was there but i took it for. i was young i didn't really understand but as i started studying media and experiencing it i realized that it's always been there it was before september eleventh it was sort of. a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way through media but when september eleventh happened obviously our identity was questioned everybody that was of arab or muslim origin was like is this person a so in the beginning we took a very defensive stance with our music and it was we are not terrorists but you know now i think in the last five years where there would be visual artists or musicians or any form of creative we've decided to create our own narrative and sort of instead of being defensive we have a proactive and this is who we are this is we don't say this is not who we are this is who we are yeah yeah i think that's more important than anything is to shift the

narrative ourselves if we can you know media is in our hands now so we've got to take it take it within our own grasp and do it ourselves and you taught a university course i thought this was really interesting on the hip hop and the muslim identity how have you seen the muslim identity and just identity politics change within hip hop since you got started in your career i started in early two thousand and eight before two thousand and one and i started seeing you know you tube wasn't around then twitter wasn't around there facebook was and around so we were connecting by email and sending m p three s. the each other but as you started seeing people in palestine in lebanon in tunis in libya in iraq or like all these arab artists were doing their thing simultaneously but weren't aware of each other so when i went and did my thesis i wanted to sort of encapsulate all of that as a independent movement. that is happening on its own in a grassroots level and to see where it is now a lot of the times in the media it's represented as like

a revolutionary only speak about revolution and politics but there's such a diverse sounding voice coming out of arabia right now within hip hop music or within music itself so we're working on a couple of projects to sort of bring all that together. as content online to represent the diverse background that exists in the middle east and you also were involved in a film study of life a couple of years ago took place in dubai are you could be venturing more into other film other mediums of art like you're saying now with the medium where you where you had. we did our show called arab winter so that was a multimedia arts show in montreal where i live i also recently wrote and acted and did up sort of code directing a film called rise which is a short film based on my next album we have online channel that we're trying to build right now for arab musicians to put up their content so there's a lot of different things i have my hands in apart from teaching and i'm just

trying to keep it moving you know i'm very i'm a gemini some all over the place so we'll see what happens in the next year my mind might change thank you so much man really are you coming on thanks. still searching for a. sick

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still. he. was. still searching for. the first. still searching. there was very interesting because there were dropped out of the sky all of the

roar. of the word shift across a few degrees. of do a circle and other speed but you know just astronomical speeds. in december two thousand and ten. more likely to be raped in college than in the real world. i don't think people did that to each other when they knew each other i thought rape was a stranger on the bus this. girl complaining about the son of an alumni. millions of dollars through the school why listen to somebody who's going to lose money at a school if schools that make money based decisions are much more common than they would ever admit publicly.

rezoned just soldiers this spits no soldiers russia's internal special forces but being tough and good with a gun may not be enough for these extreme terrorists. only the most capable will be to the end. of. those whose dreams can melt away your jewels in the ranks put themselves through fine smoke and water but not from money promotion. is the coveted crimson beer with. so now we're in a deep play cheri spiral where resources are scarce and people are going to war to get control of the remaining resources the workspace everyone against everyone everyone's at each other's throat because all that money printing did not work it was a failure it caused the very deflation they said it was going to eliminate they have failed miserably and as

a result everyone's got up to their neck in blood. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our press we've been hijacked like handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once. market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem try rational debate and real discussion critical issues facing. ready to join the movement and while they.

don't yet skin in eastern ukraine suffers more attacks from the army that bring despair and devastation for its people while tons of russian she monetary and aid is still being held up on the border. moscow ripoffs claims by the ukrainian president of russian. destroyed after crossing the border citing a blatant lack of evidence. and in the us the police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager the riots is named outrage continues to brew over the heavy handed approach of police to the protests. and as the e.u. greenlights the supply of.