well it's really good folks. filling in for abby martin this is breaking the set so with all the terrible news going on in the world right now we thought it be nice to feature some of our favorite musical performances on the show from the last months so coming up you'll see abby's interviews with am one from dead prez performing sacrifice and also prolific lyricist the narcissist performing leap of faith and let's break the stage. the key please please they are looking very hard to take a little look at the long. life that he ever had sex with that her great they're looking to. please.

please please please please please. 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 in the prison industrial complex to gaza and now dead prez in d.c. to speak about the cuban five five political prisoners who were thrown in the crosshairs of the us is vendetta against a small island nation well earlier i'm 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. yeah freedom old. trucks. make their way to kill so the fight. to shut the fuck are still in the intercept that. it's present today like. look this is no time to make the top of the james river but the someone to get. the flames remember things to keep the flame in this tight time and then lose everything to gain in this particular mamba keep your cool open the door to the pub and that's when the playful little the break through to the two permitted the kids they still don't remember this now they're given a fright because. they couldn't make a purchase on. the pitch to think it's over but was told he had the heart of

a song with his name i think about trying so now we don't win. this gig could you to junk could you feel when you did that you just paralyze the time you tested me take that. if you want to do with. a fight. take your sacrifice to show no interest. this is the life you know no right to kill sacrifice that you wish to kill sacrifice you with. this is the life. this is the life this kid yeah yeah. it's so serious for this is. if you can see the protests this is the reality it's not a test look. he was down with the be a like he was sixteen when he picks this team a sacrifice was made when i say sacrifice i don't need to practice to put this a patient is the best education that he will still have money don't make somebody

that's what they say get the speaks so we can so sweet for sacking to get the peek a rabbit the armies of the cow would be streaks down this time if you put it down let's get to duplicate. that to the slaughter the trying to keep to sweep the paths of the son daughter back to the women to the ground up in a town from a crown the colony the mouse policy that's what about the palestinians and the mexican government is that when a period of time can be a bad way politics is saying show me the benjamin is the one. to kill sacrifice because you know this is the lies right this is the life. they kill sacrifice for your call 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 valiant acts while community but who languish in prison who want to celebrate and celebrate it so they sort of also because it also talks about the relationship. this delicate relationship between the united states and cuba so 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 do 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 the war and his presidency well i think in the case of mia and people like many here 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. 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 the 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 they didn't cameras in the street like watching society with no respect for the people's right to privacy i mean hell this is before nine eleven 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 especially political or political education the more we know the more we are able to say ok we saw it coming out for 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 out here who's 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 more called from the ghetto to gaza what prompted the trip initially and what message are you trying to relay with the ultimately the same kind of sanctions in a bog those that have been exactly against cuba and zimbabwe happened against gaza and you know we know the united states' relationship with israel like they 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. 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 new film in 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 this place palestinians have been and use hip hop as as a way to learn and teach resistance would accrue call 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 to why it matters inside the united states from the ghetto to gaza and some 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 the back of them are 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 gangster 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 you know. i think it was exactly right the enemy of mankind because capitalism was born. it was born. so born from the brigandage and bondage blood sweat and tears of africans that produced the primitive capital to 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 we termed things today so many about what they would i do think the natural antagonistic

capitalism is something that looks like socialism why 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 system would be that would be a fair one exactly the right way we look at some of the movements that have happened especially coming out of the african community that nonviolent 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 the forwardness of consciousness and that's what's happening and we're having a revolution of consciousness right now and you better get on board. a man who really appreciate it and one dead president and having on thank you.

you're going to. get there we don't want to. see. it. so now we're in a deep place terry 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 calls the very place and they said it was going to eliminate they failed miserably and as a result everyone's got up to their neck in blood. sweden or finland to bring deep to join nato that would provoke some sort of free action on the part of russia is this a fly as far as the military calculus is concerned none of what faces humanity

peace the west north and south none of it can be solved by military means or do 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. there was very interested because it would drop out of the skull of the rohrbach a little would shift across a few degrees. of the circle of. the speed but you know just astronomical speeds. sigrid lumbered sure to mccurry was able to build the new age most since it's.

fortunately. mission to teach creation and why you should care about. this is why you should care only. 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 stage named the narcissist narcy 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 so without further ado here's the narcissus performing leap of faith. yeah. leave.

it. to sell a see if this is. the cost of if your heart is telling you to keep the would seem to sit in the shop . to 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 purpose of the afterlife only now what happened to. sit atop the past. six.

days all the. public felt the fabric was sixty dollars to treat a wife and. his mother to see he took a leap of faith the strings attached was the topic to see everything except the kid is what is c. . nothing mopsa papa said if you like to see the fish you know what you want to be . told me like a piece of shit keep it nice close with this. process made a lot of more subtle would. just look at the wife if i hit the flower pot. the sun like the palm to speak to take.

upset. 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 what 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 of 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 light hearted and about the energy and positive exchange of energy so i've had a great experience there got so far. as an 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 rock 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 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 there 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 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 at afi and growing up between the east and the west and going back and forth and i you know i've experienced three gulf wars through 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 the 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 whether we'll 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 that 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 wasn't around so we were connecting by email and sending m p three s.

the each other but as the you started seeing people in palestine and 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 on line 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're headed next we did our show called arab winter so that was. 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.

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ukraine recognizes russia's humanitarian convoy is carrying aid as more than two hundred trucks with help for struggling civilians are being stalled at the border. russia ridicules online reports that one of its armored units has been destroyed in ukraine with no evidence no wreckage to back up the allegations from kiev. the governor of missouri announces a state of emergency and brings in a curfew as rioters demanded justice for a teenager shot and killed by police in the us town of ferguson. and the e.u. approves aid to to kurdish fighters.