an entire village of. international why world governments need. to. 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 nurses performing leap of faith and let's break the stage. it was a. very hard to take a. look. at her act was that her right

there looking. at least. 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. obama better known by his stage name and one clinton gavin aka stick man have toured all over the world in order to raise awareness about everything from the president a stroll complex to gaza and now dead prez in d.c.

to speak about the putin five five political prisoners who were thrown in the crosshairs of the u.s. is vendetta against the small island nation 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 so harry is performing sacrifice. all power to the people. here freedom all to. try. to make their way to kill sacrifice. will sacrifice for sure all for the. good to see the light. just look the same no time to take into account the games remember the someone to get enough power to the flames they can remember to go things to keep the flame in this life time. game. should cool open the door to the police with the playful little prick look to the trooper maybe because they struck just remember

this now they going to try. and say they couldn't make. the kids think it's cold he had the heart of a song with his name i think about trying so now we're going. to skid could you to junk could you feel when you did that you just paralyzed tested me take the. anyone if you would. prefer to. take your sacrifice to show no interest. in the life you know trying to kill sacrifice that you think you'll sacrifice you with. this is the life. in prison the life. is so serious this procedure. if you can see that this is the reality it's not

a test look. he was down with to be a like he was sixteen when he picked this team a sacrifice was made when i say sacrifice i don't mean just to put this a patient is the best education that he would. make somebody that's what they seek in the streets that we can so sweet person is that going to get the peace the families of the cow what the streets. let's give the duplicate. to the slaughter the next to change the pictures we get back to the son daughter back to the women to the crown the crown the colony the mouse polaski that's what about the palestinians and the mexican government is that when it can be a bad way politics is saying and. i want to. kill sacrifice because you know this is. the lies right this is the life. they kill sacrifice for your ball to kill sacrifice because you don't know 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 are celebrated and celebrated 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 some places in europe we see some fantastic relationship so you wonder why the embargo or the sanctions against cuba are 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 are more in 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 hidden 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 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 it's your 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 more ultimately the same kind of sanctions and embargoes that have been exacted 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 wanted 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 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. why it matters inside the united states from the get go to gaza and some mis represented 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. so many other rappers are correct he was called revolutionary by gangster. mainly because the back of them are. 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 against the 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 stick was exactly right the enemy of mankind because capitalism was born. it was born. 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 i think we things today so many about what they would i do think that 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 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 that nonviolent once 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 prez amazing having on thank you. chris. keep me going to see. if there were job which. i was trained. in december two thousand and ten. more likely to be raped in college and in the real world. i didn't think people did that to each other when they knew each other i thought rape was a stranger in the bushes. girl complaining about the son of an alumni. millions of dollars from the school why listen to somebody who's going to lose money at the

school of schools that make money based decisions are much more common than they would ever admit publicly.

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 what are known as stage name the narcissist narcy as it is an iraqi born canadian citizen who grew up in the united arab emirates it's a 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 sell a cd this is a take. this it cost if if your heart is telling you to keep the wood see this in the shop. the french are 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 the church sit atop the past. six. to. every day so the. public felt the fabric was sixty dollars to treat a wife. to see he took a leap of faith the strings attached was the topic to see everything except the

king it is what is c. . nothing of the papa said fifty life is expected to know what you want to meet. me like to. keep it nice close with. to proceed to load it up for such would. just look at the wife if i hit the flower pot on the subject like the palm to speak to take use. they.

upset. you. up. justin you just performed a song called leap of faith in 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 there 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 light hearted in about the energy and positive exchange of energy so 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 rack in over two decades you know we sort of moved our family slowly out of the country as the war's 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 and when we release the project we're doing a video for a song called and within that 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 use it 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 the 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 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 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 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 to see 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 you started seeing people in palestine and lebanon in tunis in libya and morocco 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 just 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 a multimedia arts show in montreal where i live i also recently wrote and acted and it sort of called 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 . sick. sick. sick. person. still searching here.

still. and my children just so just kill them all but i hear you say. was some land called. the right by. still searching for a flag. was something called. grandma's. right the first was. still searching for life as the piece.

of. technology innovation called the developments around russia. the future covered. join me. for in-depth impartial and financial reporting commentary for news and much much. only on the bus and. dropped out of the sky.