1 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:09,250 Given the relatively dominant position that hip hop occupies atop the dizzying 2 00:00:09,250 --> 00:00:13,590 heights of the global entertainment-industrial-complex, it can be easy to lose sight of its humble 3 00:00:13,590 --> 00:00:17,199 beginnings and its enduring role as a source of revolutionary politics. 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,140 I got a letter from the government The other day 5 00:00:21,140 --> 00:00:23,920 I opened and read it It said they were suckers 6 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,880 I know this for a fact, you don't like how I act. You claim I'm sellin' crack 7 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:31,400 But you be doin' that I'd rather say "see ya" Cause I would never be ya 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:33,520 Be a officer? You wicked overseer! 9 00:00:33,540 --> 00:00:36,400 Call me Little Bobby Hutton, cause I'm first to push the button 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,580 Rappers don't be saying nothing to the system, we say fuck 'em 11 00:00:39,620 --> 00:00:42,400 That's why we say “fuck” That's why we make hip-hop 12 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:47,400 We don't care about your badge, baton or Glock Your mind's in shock fucking cop stop 13 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:49,400 Remember that time passes and never stops in the clock 14 00:00:49,580 --> 00:00:53,800 Though it didn’t really break out until the late 70s and early 80s, hip hop’s genesis 15 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,520 story began in the summer of 1973, in the South Bronx. 16 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,780 At the time, New York City’s northernmost borough was by all appearances a war zone. 17 00:01:02,780 --> 00:01:06,620 Decades of neglect, ill-thought out public infrastructure projects, white flight, 18 00:01:06,620 --> 00:01:12,580 racist redlining policies and urban decay had reduced entire city blocks to rubble. 19 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,460 Rampant poverty and unemployment had created a vacuum that was filled by street gangs, 20 00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:22,820 with hundreds of small crews constantly battling over territory, and literally setting large 21 00:01:22,820 --> 00:01:24,710 sections of the city on fire. 22 00:01:24,710 --> 00:01:29,750 Out of this simmering cauldron of social and economic tension, hip hop emerged as a vibrant 23 00:01:29,750 --> 00:01:34,290 DIY subculture, spread through house parties thrown by working-class Black and Puerto Rican 24 00:01:34,290 --> 00:01:38,870 youth who were alienated and excluded from New York’s decadent disco scene. 25 00:01:38,870 --> 00:01:41,460 A catalyzing moment of the emerging hip hop scene was the formation of the 26 00:01:41,460 --> 00:01:45,520 Universal Zulu Nation, on November 12th, 1973. 27 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,780 ...cars continue to change, nothing stays the same, there were always renegades 28 00:01:50,780 --> 00:01:54,240 Like Chief Sitting Bull, Tom Payne 29 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,980 Like Martin Luther King, Malcom X. 30 00:01:56,990 --> 00:02:00,000 They were renegades of the atomic age 31 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,630 Founded by members of a gang called the Black Spades, the Zulu Nation built hip hop into 32 00:02:03,630 --> 00:02:08,420 a tool for community organizing – bringing members of different gangs together, settling 33 00:02:08,420 --> 00:02:12,370 street-level beefs and introducing codes of conduct, all while imbuing the scene with 34 00:02:12,370 --> 00:02:16,292 formative political values of street-based community solidarity 35 00:02:16,292 --> 00:02:18,160 and pan-Afrikan consciousness. 36 00:02:18,170 --> 00:02:22,660 The Zulu Nation is credited with constructing the foundation of hip hop culture, forged 37 00:02:22,660 --> 00:02:24,280 around five core elements: 38 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,500 Mcs, Djs, Graffiti, B-boys & B-girls, 39 00:02:28,500 --> 00:02:31,200 and the fifth element: street knowledge. 40 00:02:31,300 --> 00:02:33,460 But then I got wise and I begin to listen 41 00:02:33,460 --> 00:02:35,980 To the whack teachers and the wick-wack system 42 00:02:36,020 --> 00:02:38,160 My mother put me in Weusi Shule 43 00:02:38,260 --> 00:02:40,560 Which means black school in Swahili 44 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:45,380 And there is where I learned black history And how to be the best that I can be 45 00:02:45,820 --> 00:02:49,680 We don't talk to police, we don't make a peacebond 46 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,760 We don't trust in the judicial system, we shoot guns 47 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:54,320 We rely on the streets we do battle in the hood 48 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,660 I was born in the G Code, embedded in my blood 49 00:02:57,940 --> 00:03:01,180 In the decades that have followed, hip hop has been transformed into a global phenomenon, 50 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:04,360 and a multi-billion dollar industry in its own right. 51 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:09,500 But the five foundational elements have survived and adapted over the years, providing a sustained 52 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:13,620 authenticity that has allowed radical artists to continue to innovate, carve out space, 53 00:03:13,620 --> 00:03:18,300 and even fight back against the industry’s overall creep towards commercialization. 54 00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:22,260 Over the next thirty minutes, we will explore hip hop as a potent and persistent source 55 00:03:22,260 --> 00:03:26,820 of revolutionary culture rooted in the oppression, exploitation and criminalization faced by 56 00:03:26,820 --> 00:03:29,770 youth and particularly poor youth of colour. 57 00:03:29,770 --> 00:03:32,540 Along the way we’ll speak with a number of grassroots artists who are continuing to 58 00:03:32,540 --> 00:03:38,560 spit truth to power, all while organizing their communities, tearing up stages and making 59 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:40,140 a whole lot of trouble. 60 00:04:13,780 --> 00:04:19,160 Hip hop stands for “His or Her Infinite Power Helping Oppressed People”. 61 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:20,970 That comes from the temple of hip hop. 62 00:04:20,970 --> 00:04:26,880 Okay so that's from you know OGs like KRS-One and other people getting together and figuring 63 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:32,100 how to effectively uplift the more positive elements of the culture that are based in 64 00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:34,430 community liberation and empowerment. 65 00:04:34,430 --> 00:04:41,139 Hip hop to me is a way to be able to spread a message of resistance to a large audience. 66 00:04:41,139 --> 00:04:49,190 Hip hop to me is a way to share my story before anybody else has a chance to twist up my words 67 00:04:49,190 --> 00:04:51,470 or to twist up my experiences. 68 00:04:51,470 --> 00:04:55,840 It is resistance and creativity, that's what hip hop is to me. 69 00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:02,160 Hip hop initially rose up speaking to injustices, eventually it rose into stories speaking to 70 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,210 the issues of the oppressed. 71 00:05:06,210 --> 00:05:11,430 The early days was very humble, there wasn't a lot of money there wasn't a big budget. 72 00:05:11,430 --> 00:05:15,580 It was kind of put together by people with whatever they had. 73 00:05:15,580 --> 00:05:20,180 People had come up with this medium of going through the rubble and putting graffiti up 74 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:25,600 and break-dancing and MCing and DJing and you know it was a way of resistance. 75 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,440 The same youth that were throwing bricks and rocks and pushing back the police, they had 76 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:32,480 something to say. 77 00:05:32,740 --> 00:05:38,700 For me, hip-hop is a tool for transformation A culture that has some life principles 78 00:05:38,700 --> 00:05:46,160 And some these are unity, love and respect But specially, having fun, to fill the need 79 00:05:46,170 --> 00:05:50,530 to defend happiness There's a quote by DJ Grandmaster Caz 80 00:05:50,530 --> 00:05:54,680 It says that hip-hop did not invent anything The hip-hop re-invented everything 81 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,720 We peeped the allegory at the campfire listening as elders shared the stories of the 82 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:01,980 vampire's victims. 83 00:06:01,980 --> 00:06:04,540 How do I not make the same mistake? Wisdom. 84 00:06:04,540 --> 00:06:06,840 Generate the vision, obliterate the prison. 85 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,460 Freedom's all I wanted but I couldn't afford it, 86 00:06:09,460 --> 00:06:12,280 my baby's got the spirit, just brilliant and gorgeous. 87 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:18,600 Oh yes, the self defence endorsement, always quiet when she about to load it. 88 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,400 Hold it, esa morra's bout to load it. 89 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:23,720 Oh shit, and the whole barrio support it. 90 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:25,420 Seen a whole lotta people want friends. 91 00:06:25,420 --> 00:06:27,340 Seen a whole lotta people want Benz. 92 00:06:27,340 --> 00:06:30,440 Seen a whole lotta people can't get what they want so a whole lotta people pop zans. 93 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:32,480 They say that means don't justify the ends. 94 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,720 Do the ends ever justify the means? 95 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:36,900 And would we end all of this hardship if we just put rich 96 00:06:36,900 --> 00:06:38,240 bigots in the guillotine? 97 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:43,380 Cuz I can't watch these kids die and then lie like I give a fuck and not do a fuckin 98 00:06:43,380 --> 00:06:44,960 thing but lie down like I've given up. 99 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:50,580 So get a gun if you ready, we grippin' on the machete for anybody involved we got a 100 00:06:50,580 --> 00:06:51,580 problem forgetting. 101 00:06:51,580 --> 00:06:57,300 Thinking for yourself is an expensive luxury For them it's not convenient that you leave 102 00:06:57,300 --> 00:07:00,600 the herd They win more if they keep us ignorant 103 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,440 Keep the people poor, more power for the state 104 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:09,620 Fuck the parliament, fuck the cops and fuck the robber baron bosses and fuck their offices, 105 00:07:09,639 --> 00:07:14,610 predominant model of economics and elephant cock in their ballot boxes. 106 00:07:14,610 --> 00:07:19,050 It came from the Bronx in the 70s in New York City and now it's world wide. 107 00:07:19,050 --> 00:07:24,000 Hip hop is like folk music, it's very much a historical record. 108 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,430 These are stories that are telling of the American empire you know, looking from within. 109 00:07:28,430 --> 00:07:32,009 And I think that's why it's so compelling and that's why it resonated people may not 110 00:07:32,009 --> 00:07:36,919 know it but I think the reason that hip hop spread is because they're stories that everyone 111 00:07:36,919 --> 00:07:40,650 needs to hear and is interested in hearing. 112 00:07:40,650 --> 00:07:46,090 Hip-hop is a universal culture That starts from a context of marginalization 113 00:07:46,090 --> 00:07:49,860 poverty and criminalization That's a very specific context from 1970's 114 00:07:49,860 --> 00:07:52,680 New York City That starts from a context of marginalization 115 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,180 poverty and criminalization That's a very specific context from 1970's 116 00:07:55,180 --> 00:07:57,470 New York City But that's similar to other problems in other 117 00:07:57,470 --> 00:08:01,050 places Like exploitation, lack of housing, the lack 118 00:08:01,050 --> 00:08:02,520 of opportunities 119 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:07,600 It came from people who had been displaced historically from the continent of Africa 120 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:13,050 to North America, to Central America, South America and the Caribbean. 121 00:08:13,050 --> 00:08:18,750 It also came from ethnicities that had been mixed in the process of the colonial subjugation 122 00:08:18,750 --> 00:08:21,919 and conquest of the so called new world. 123 00:08:21,919 --> 00:08:27,330 That was significant in drawing me in because we learned that we had a shared story. 124 00:08:27,330 --> 00:08:32,100 We had a story not only of oppression but of resistance. 125 00:08:35,620 --> 00:08:40,539 We can measure history in terms of what we know about our experience here in the United 126 00:08:40,539 --> 00:08:43,919 States as descendants of people who were stolen from the continent of Africa. 127 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:50,570 But we also have to be able to measure our existence and our influence on what happened 128 00:08:50,570 --> 00:08:56,190 before that, what's currently happening in the African diaspora and on the African continent 129 00:08:56,190 --> 00:08:58,840 and struggles for liberation and self determination. 130 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:04,720 The driving force is just the songs of my ancestors the songs that they sung to be able 131 00:09:04,730 --> 00:09:10,399 to speak to resistance to speak to fighting, to speak towards challenging and removing 132 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:15,300 any and all people that wish to destroy our people. 133 00:09:16,350 --> 00:09:21,600 Some of the major influences that I've had musically have been folks who share their 134 00:09:21,610 --> 00:09:27,600 narratives in a really honest way in a really vulnerable way especially when they go to 135 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:32,580 represent their anger and their rage with the way that these systems of oppression are 136 00:09:32,580 --> 00:09:34,180 set up around us. 137 00:09:34,180 --> 00:09:39,120 I recognize first and foremost that I am a guest in the house of hip hop. 138 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,450 I don't take someone else's experience and try to whiteify it. 139 00:09:42,450 --> 00:09:48,740 I see things through the lens of white people and so I feel like it's my job to criticize 140 00:09:48,740 --> 00:09:51,959 white culture in the way that a white dude can. 141 00:09:51,959 --> 00:09:58,640 So I use my music to confront the shittiest parts about white culture: imperialism and 142 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,300 colonialism and capitalism and authoritarianism. 143 00:10:13,330 --> 00:10:17,001 Although it has since spread all around the globe, hip hop first emerged from, and has 144 00:10:17,001 --> 00:10:21,580 always remained rooted in the lived experiences of Black and LatinX youth hustling to survive 145 00:10:21,580 --> 00:10:23,970 in America’s inner-city ghettos. 146 00:10:23,970 --> 00:10:27,570 And the so-called “Golden Age” of hip hop, spanning the late 80s to the mid 90s, 147 00:10:27,570 --> 00:10:29,700 were specially turbulent times. 148 00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:33,820 The flooding of poor, racialized neighbourhoods with crack in the mid-80s provided the spark 149 00:10:33,820 --> 00:10:37,700 for a rapid surge in street violence, waged between increasingly well-funded and heavily 150 00:10:37,700 --> 00:10:38,830 militarized gangs. 151 00:10:39,830 --> 00:10:43,730 This, in turn, provided the justification for the ramping up of Ronald Reagan’s 152 00:10:43,730 --> 00:10:49,070 War on Drugs, a policy framework for the wholesale criminalization of Black and brown communities 153 00:10:49,070 --> 00:10:54,100 that opened the door to enhanced police repression and mass incarceration, twin pillars of US 154 00:10:54,100 --> 00:10:59,000 domestic counter insurgency strategy that continue to this day. 155 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:04,420 In 1986 a group formed in South Central, LA, that fed off this raw sense of desperation 156 00:11:04,420 --> 00:11:07,300 and rage, forever changing the face of hip hop in the process. 157 00:11:07,310 --> 00:11:14,430 That group was NWA, the first successful pioneers of a new subgenre of hip hop: gangsta rap. 158 00:11:14,430 --> 00:11:18,860 These days, it’s hard to appreciate the shock and terror that NWA provoked in America’s 159 00:11:18,860 --> 00:11:23,330 white supremacist power structure, and specially its front-line troops, the cops. 160 00:11:23,330 --> 00:11:30,080 Rap music promotes by its very language and by its very actions, promotes violence against 161 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,830 authority and consequently violence against law enforcement. 162 00:11:33,830 --> 00:11:38,041 Songs like ‘Fuck Tha Police’ became rallying cries for a generation of Black and Brown 163 00:11:38,041 --> 00:11:42,860 youth whose rage would soon find popular expression in the LA Riots of ‘92. 164 00:11:45,140 --> 00:11:47,700 Fuck the police comin' straight from the underground. 165 00:11:47,700 --> 00:11:49,920 A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown. 166 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:55,600 And not the other color, so police think, they have the authority to kill a minority. 167 00:11:55,600 --> 00:12:00,269 But while NWA provided a megaphone to Black youth’s widespread hatred towards the police, 168 00:12:00,269 --> 00:12:04,560 they also injected mainstream hip hop with a violent strain of misogyny and homophobia 169 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:07,170 that continues to fester to this day. 170 00:12:07,170 --> 00:12:11,670 They also provided the emerging hip hop industry, largely controlled by the white capitalist 171 00:12:11,670 --> 00:12:16,269 power structure that they were rebelling against, an opportunity to make millions of dollars 172 00:12:16,269 --> 00:12:20,900 selling records that glorify Black and Brown youth killing one another over nothing. 173 00:12:27,940 --> 00:12:33,360 A lot of the brothers that were my same age man, they were involved in the type of shit 174 00:12:33,390 --> 00:12:34,700 where they were killing each other. 175 00:12:34,700 --> 00:12:38,240 You know, they were killing cats that they grew up with, that they went to church with, 176 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:42,670 that they went to school with, that they played ball with, trying to be part of the whole 177 00:12:42,670 --> 00:12:45,020 gang set culture you know what I mean? 178 00:12:45,020 --> 00:12:48,820 Or they were trying to get their money selling that dope and like that's cool, whatever... 179 00:12:48,820 --> 00:12:50,040 But really? 180 00:12:56,660 --> 00:13:01,930 I was living during the crack era and so the criminalization that began this whole mass 181 00:13:01,930 --> 00:13:07,050 incarceration that we have now, this new Jim Crow, it was heavily going on during that 182 00:13:07,050 --> 00:13:09,130 crack era all the way through the 90s. 183 00:13:09,130 --> 00:13:15,590 And so of course the theme in the music was about either fighting against this new drug 184 00:13:15,590 --> 00:13:19,870 that was dropped on to our community or else using it as a means to get out of the community. 185 00:13:19,870 --> 00:13:25,460 And so it's always been a part of the music from the very early days. 186 00:13:26,500 --> 00:13:29,120 Let's use the phrase "The Personal is Political" as a starting point 187 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:33,280 Because even if we think our actions are personal They are going to affect our family and our 188 00:13:33,290 --> 00:13:36,370 close friends Because even if we think our actions are personal 189 00:13:36,370 --> 00:13:40,810 They are going to affect our family and our close friends 190 00:13:40,810 --> 00:13:45,019 And in the community and the society that we are part of 191 00:13:45,019 --> 00:13:50,920 There's a difference between telling your story and glorifying some of the things that 192 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:52,680 you have to do to get by. 193 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:58,050 So I appreciate you know, when artists can yeah maybe talk about the gang-banging past, 194 00:13:58,050 --> 00:14:02,730 talk about the past where you had to sell some shit, you had to do some shit that you're 195 00:14:02,730 --> 00:14:03,730 glad you don't have to do anymore. 196 00:14:03,730 --> 00:14:06,840 Government plans, fencin' us in, life in the pen' 197 00:14:06,860 --> 00:14:09,780 For sellin' shit you put in our hood, knowin' I'll do it 198 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,820 We desperate, starvin' and dyin' to eat, die in the street 199 00:14:12,820 --> 00:14:15,680 For a fraction of what I get now for a soundin' fly on the beat 200 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:21,371 I feel the weight of not glorifying some of the things I've done in my past because I 201 00:14:21,371 --> 00:14:25,390 see it happening with other artist with their songs. 202 00:14:25,390 --> 00:14:27,390 Cold gang with the cocaine. 203 00:14:27,390 --> 00:14:28,910 The more money make more rain. 204 00:14:28,910 --> 00:14:31,070 Pourin' up a pint while I'm baggin' propane. 205 00:14:31,070 --> 00:14:33,690 Point blank range give a nigga nose rings. 206 00:14:33,690 --> 00:14:35,800 Skip to my lou with a pack in the cat. 207 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:36,800 Jiffy, Lube where the bricks where they at? 208 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,480 In hip hop they might call it, bitches, hos, guns, money, sex, murder and all that but 209 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:46,770 if you look at the army, navy, airforce, marines, and the US government, that's all it is. 210 00:14:46,770 --> 00:14:49,820 It's a reflection of the culture that we live in. 211 00:14:49,820 --> 00:14:55,520 It's the values that we've inherited as part of the conditions of survival in this country, 212 00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:00,220 to prioritize the things that are going to get us pussy, get us respect and get us paid 213 00:15:00,220 --> 00:15:04,840 and get another motha fucker to recognize us you know, and that is some bullshit. 214 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:13,639 It's been really motivational to me when artists cast aside all of the parameters of respectability 215 00:15:13,639 --> 00:15:21,130 politics and are willing to speak their truths without coddling the feelings of 216 00:15:21,130 --> 00:15:24,440 those who are oppressing us. 217 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:29,160 That's the job of my music, to challenge everything that has been imposed upon us to say no and 218 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:30,460 go drastic with it. 219 00:15:30,460 --> 00:15:36,000 Again like, I don't follow the format, the status quo of hip hop. 220 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,880 I'm also still unlearning a lot because it wasn't like I grew up in a Native community, 221 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:46,279 I grew up in a city, because of the fact that people that came generations before me were 222 00:15:46,279 --> 00:15:50,850 removed from their homelands and placed into cities. 223 00:15:50,850 --> 00:15:55,199 What you won't find me doing in my music, lyrically, you won't find me killing niggas, 224 00:15:55,199 --> 00:16:01,990 you won't find me on some exploitative, downgrading shit about women, you won't find me talking 225 00:16:01,990 --> 00:16:05,570 about killing faggots and faggot this and faggot that. 226 00:16:05,570 --> 00:16:09,280 There's lots of people saying fucked up shit in the world of hip hop, 227 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,260 to me I can't have that. 228 00:16:11,270 --> 00:16:16,120 You know I'm not going to throw a show where I book those guys or I can't do collabos with 229 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:21,710 them, I can't work with them, I'm not going to taint the work that I'm doing with this 230 00:16:21,710 --> 00:16:22,710 hate right? 231 00:16:22,710 --> 00:16:26,459 I try to promote the kind of hip hop that I like to see, I work with people that are 232 00:16:26,459 --> 00:16:29,130 doing the kind of hip hop that I like to see. 233 00:16:29,130 --> 00:16:34,200 No matter what the content there's a political context from where it 234 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,820 comes from Becuase there's a need to reclaim our history 235 00:16:38,820 --> 00:16:42,160 And even though it may not seem like "real" activism 236 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,740 There is an intention to survive a reality of violence 237 00:16:45,740 --> 00:16:51,519 I feel like it's extremely important that you are responsible and disciplined and mature 238 00:16:51,519 --> 00:16:53,850 enough to not abuse that platform. 239 00:16:53,850 --> 00:17:00,170 To be predatorial, to escape any accountability for patriarchal tendencies. 240 00:17:00,170 --> 00:17:05,839 I learned early that I had to be three times better than the guys to even remotely get 241 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:11,329 even recognized and it made me already come out swinging and I never stopped swinging 242 00:17:11,329 --> 00:17:15,809 because I already recognized that I had a disadvantage or I was already seeing patriarchy 243 00:17:15,809 --> 00:17:18,489 and sexism. 244 00:17:18,489 --> 00:17:23,509 Whenever I do a show and I'm the only woman on the lineup, we have to call it out, we 245 00:17:23,509 --> 00:17:28,720 have to address the fact that I'm not the only woman there because I'm the only woman 246 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:33,129 with something worth saying with something worth listening to, I'm the only woman there 247 00:17:33,129 --> 00:17:38,430 because we don't listen enough to the women around us and we don't give up the mic, men 248 00:17:38,430 --> 00:17:40,620 don't give up the mic enough. 249 00:17:40,620 --> 00:17:43,052 I put my face in a book ‘cause my people are profiled 250 00:17:43,052 --> 00:17:45,300 erased from the books and my people are told lies 251 00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:48,120 Sky’s the limit? Go fly! Cali green? We go high 252 00:17:48,140 --> 00:17:49,900 I mean back in ‘05, already knew I'd grow wise 253 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:03,380 Queen and Master of the chaos I inhabit Sometimes a tyrant, sometimes outlaw 254 00:18:03,380 --> 00:18:08,800 The best battle, is with myself I'm self government, my flag is anarchist 255 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,200 When I wake up, no makeup, half naked, I feel like I’m the shit 256 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,900 Pardon my language, but hang ups do not define the kid 257 00:18:14,900 --> 00:18:17,600 No, I’m not flawless, I’m scarred up and I’m fine with it 258 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,000 My body art a laundry list of all of life’s unkindnesses 259 00:18:24,929 --> 00:18:28,260 A lot has changed in the 45 years since hip hop’s founding. 260 00:18:28,269 --> 00:18:32,710 For one thing, many of the iconic inner-city neighbourhoods where hip hop first flourished 261 00:18:32,710 --> 00:18:36,769 have been redeveloped, their former communities scattered to the winds of gentrification. 262 00:18:36,769 --> 00:18:41,029 Far from the dilapidated pressure cookers of revolt and subversive urban decay that 263 00:18:41,029 --> 00:18:45,029 they were in the 70s, these neighbourhoods have become homogeneous sites of high-rise 264 00:18:45,029 --> 00:18:48,859 condos, hipster indie venues and Starbucks franchises. 265 00:18:48,859 --> 00:18:52,720 Which is not to say that this process is a done deal... and even less so that the social 266 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,399 contradictions that birthed hip hop have disappeared. 267 00:18:55,399 --> 00:18:59,690 The South Bronx is still a largely working-class area plagued by racist police violence, and 268 00:18:59,690 --> 00:19:03,720 there is tons of vibrant hip hop coming out of America’s traditional urban centers, 269 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,500 from Baltimore to Oakland. 270 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:06,100 Bam! 271 00:19:06,100 --> 00:19:11,920 The target of poverty by the white devil Because I wasn't testing at my reading level 272 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,739 I was testing any of these busters Yo, where you from? Pare?! 273 00:19:15,739 --> 00:19:18,600 Lola’s like, “Bakit ka nag tatambay dun sa calle parate?!” 274 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:23,710 But as urban demographics have shifted, so too has hip hop’s centre of gravity. 275 00:19:23,710 --> 00:19:27,700 In the United States, this shift has been most notable with the rise of Southern Rap, 276 00:19:27,700 --> 00:19:32,220 beginning in the early 2000’s, and the emergence of Atlanta as a new hip hop epicentre. 277 00:19:32,220 --> 00:19:36,779 Similarly, as it has spread to countries all around the world, hip hop has been transformed 278 00:19:36,779 --> 00:19:41,729 and enriched by countless local culture and traditions, each of which has added their 279 00:19:41,729 --> 00:19:46,929 own mark, while generally honouring the spirit of youthful defiance and resistance to authority 280 00:19:46,929 --> 00:19:50,300 that’s been so key to hip hop’s global appeal. 281 00:20:06,369 --> 00:20:11,990 Hip hop culture is an expression of oppressed people's reality. 282 00:20:11,990 --> 00:20:16,570 Hip hop is so global now that literally every neighbourhood, every community is representing. 283 00:20:16,570 --> 00:20:20,700 I see people doing hip hop in Palestine. 284 00:20:26,300 --> 00:20:31,980 Native artists are just really standing up globally and representing and telling a story 285 00:20:31,980 --> 00:20:36,119 that really needs to be heard and it reminds me of the early days of hip hop. 286 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:39,010 It's not like packaged and pretty and fake. 287 00:20:39,010 --> 00:20:44,669 Just raw truth and raw facts so big ups to all my native comrades out there holdin' it 288 00:20:44,669 --> 00:20:45,779 down with hip hop. 289 00:20:45,779 --> 00:20:50,330 We never even knew what it was like to be poor until money was shown to us in the first 290 00:20:50,330 --> 00:20:53,809 place, we didn't know what poverty was and so we're always trying to catch up to something 291 00:20:53,809 --> 00:20:59,110 that really we don't belong to, that in fact, our culture is at odds with, our traditions 292 00:20:59,110 --> 00:21:00,639 are at odds with. 293 00:21:00,639 --> 00:21:08,349 Let's remember that a lot of art is elitist That it sometimes comes and it's valued in 294 00:21:08,349 --> 00:21:14,269 certain places But hip-hop allows that from from the streets 295 00:21:14,269 --> 00:21:18,070 from the ghettoes, from marginality These voices can be created 296 00:21:18,070 --> 00:21:26,970 I feel like music is, specially important in sharing political ideals with youth, taking 297 00:21:26,970 --> 00:21:31,080 care of our people, to maintaining our identities. 298 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,260 So it's absolutely like, foundational. 299 00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:36,360 What is black? 300 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:42,040 Black is a response to white supremacist categorization of human beings. 301 00:21:42,049 --> 00:21:47,559 Something that doesn't even begin to encompass the vastness of history and cultural reality. 302 00:21:47,559 --> 00:21:53,869 When I'm in Zimbabwe as an 'ambassador' if you will for hip hop, I encounter people that 303 00:21:53,869 --> 00:21:58,720 are Shona, people that are into balée, people that are of these different cultural realities 304 00:21:58,720 --> 00:21:59,960 doing hip hop. 305 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:03,180 South Africa is big right now with the resistance music. 306 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:07,780 Y'all we've been colonized, it's not a lie, working class let's start to organize. 307 00:22:07,780 --> 00:22:12,539 I believe the masses will arrive, revolution will rise and decolonize. 308 00:22:12,539 --> 00:22:15,789 It is time to mobilize... 309 00:22:15,789 --> 00:22:21,440 For people all over the continent to have taken hip hop, not in an exploitative, oppressive 310 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:23,570 way, but in an empowering way. 311 00:22:23,570 --> 00:22:29,809 Taken Black culture born in the united states, created as a result of the separation from 312 00:22:29,809 --> 00:22:35,019 the continent of Africa, taking that back, reinterpreting it and it being a bridge for 313 00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:39,140 Black people all over the fucking planet Earth, that's a powerful thing man! 314 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,340 Anti-establishment feelings that I have, it could have been harnessed by a million things 315 00:22:45,340 --> 00:22:49,989 but it was harnessed by good, radical, politics, through music. 316 00:22:49,989 --> 00:22:55,409 Music has an opportunity to word things that are hard to say, music has a way of cutting 317 00:22:55,409 --> 00:23:02,979 through to the heart of something it has the power to give voice to a situation or to paint 318 00:23:02,979 --> 00:23:07,289 a picture about a situation in a way that writing doesn't. 319 00:23:07,289 --> 00:23:11,700 Every time that you're doing a show you have to carry that message regardless if it's two 320 00:23:11,700 --> 00:23:15,600 people, or two hundred people or a thousand people in the crowd. 321 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:20,299 I think smaller shows become more intimate so you have the ability to be able to interact 322 00:23:20,299 --> 00:23:25,359 with people there and also to be able to not just do the show and not just be the entertainment 323 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:29,769 but also to have the conversation with people and talk more about resistance afterwards. 324 00:23:29,769 --> 00:23:33,920 I want to connect with people that are doing real work and doing radical work and doing 325 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:38,100 revolutionary work and I want to bolster their movements and I want to use music 326 00:23:38,100 --> 00:23:39,080 to be involved in that. 327 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:44,639 That's what I love most you know, when I get to play at an actual site of resistance. 328 00:23:44,639 --> 00:23:49,499 It's like taking it back to the roots of what the music was created for. 329 00:23:49,499 --> 00:23:54,529 The free shows we do for the youth, the ghetto youth, are always the most powerful shows 330 00:23:54,529 --> 00:23:58,789 because they don't have the constraints that the commercial shows do. 331 00:23:58,789 --> 00:24:04,680 The truth rests upon the lies, our people been traumatized, so donald trump ain't no 332 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:07,380 different than barrack obama in our eyes. 333 00:24:07,380 --> 00:24:13,160 They are part of the system that wishes we was gone and history talks with forked tongues 334 00:24:13,169 --> 00:24:17,409 so the misery goes on in this illegally occupied territory of death. 335 00:24:17,409 --> 00:24:24,220 A number of shows that I ended up doing outdoors at standing rock had the same kind of energy. 336 00:24:24,220 --> 00:24:31,529 It was powerful in what that was coming together and the spirit of resistance and then we've 337 00:24:31,529 --> 00:24:36,710 had a number of shows with just a bunch of kids on the res, the same kind of energy. 338 00:24:36,710 --> 00:24:43,300 We the survivors, we the up-risers, yea we them savages banging on the colonizers, yea 339 00:24:43,300 --> 00:24:49,500 we them savages banging on the colonizers we are finally facing the end of the cycle 340 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:51,720 an end of the terror fueled by the bible... 341 00:24:53,020 --> 00:24:55,500 join the struggle, or live in denial. 342 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:13,400 There's a bunch of indigenous communities that are rapping in their language 343 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,000 There's mural art that's intersecting with graffiti 344 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:24,480 and the old scriptures Now we see a meeting between past cultures 345 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:28,460 And newer cultures But what hip-hop allows 346 00:25:28,460 --> 00:25:30,929 It's that you can incorporate into the current reality 347 00:25:30,929 --> 00:25:32,690 Something that was being lost 348 00:25:32,690 --> 00:25:38,950 There's a difference when I'm on a reservation or when I'm at like an inner-city program, 349 00:25:38,950 --> 00:25:45,769 doing a show for kids who might also be undocumented you know, doing a show for young women that 350 00:25:45,769 --> 00:25:50,830 have never been on stage but would like to be or have poems that they wanna write or 351 00:25:50,830 --> 00:25:51,830 whatever. 352 00:25:51,830 --> 00:25:57,320 It's so much more of a reciprocal occasion when it's folks who share identities. 353 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,880 It's like one of the last things that we have is our ability to speak out. 354 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,190 Even if we feel powerlessness, hip hop makes us feel powerful. 355 00:26:05,190 --> 00:26:11,019 Island woman rise, walang, makakatigil Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung 356 00:26:11,019 --> 00:26:13,520 ugat They got nothin’ on us 357 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,020 Nothin’ on us Nothin’ on us 358 00:26:17,020 --> 00:26:18,800 Nothin’ on us 359 00:26:24,300 --> 00:26:28,960 Within revolutionary circles, often times we can get bogged down in abstract theoretical 360 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,820 debates, and lost in what can seem like an endless cycle of protests, 361 00:26:32,820 --> 00:26:34,619 actions and organizing campaigns. 362 00:26:34,620 --> 00:26:38,920 And while these engagements are essential and should not be dismissed, it’s also important 363 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,420 to keep in mind the vital role that culture plays in building effective movements of resistance. 364 00:26:43,420 --> 00:26:48,940 At the end of the day, capitalism and the state are not just material forces, but ideological 365 00:26:48,950 --> 00:26:49,950 systems as well. 366 00:26:49,950 --> 00:26:54,299 This is something our enemies are well aware of, which is why they devote so much time, 367 00:26:54,299 --> 00:26:58,609 energy and resources towards creating propaganda – much of it masquerading as entertainment. 368 00:26:58,609 --> 00:27:03,029 From the countless high budget TV shows and Hollywood movies glorifying police and the 369 00:27:03,029 --> 00:27:08,349 military, to music promoting frivolous consumerism, a look at the dominant forms of cultural production 370 00:27:08,349 --> 00:27:12,300 can tell you a lot about the values being promoted by the powers-that-be. 371 00:27:12,300 --> 00:27:16,980 But thankfully, we have the ability to fight back, by producing and promoting subversive 372 00:27:16,990 --> 00:27:21,769 countercultures that promote our own values of solidarity, mutual aid, direct action, 373 00:27:21,769 --> 00:27:25,239 and antagonism to capitalism and the forces of the state. 374 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,240 Let’s not squander the opportunity. 375 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,859 Here we go yo, here we go yo, so what's the, what's the, what's the scenario? 376 00:27:33,180 --> 00:27:38,660 Here we go yo, here we go yo, so what's the, what's the, what's the scenario? 377 00:27:38,669 --> 00:27:43,919 Just don't sell the fuck out man, it's simple, just stay true to what the fuck you represent 378 00:27:43,919 --> 00:27:45,129 and don't change up 379 00:27:45,129 --> 00:27:49,509 Haters are always going to exist But the need to do it 380 00:27:49,509 --> 00:27:53,520 It's what's going to motivate us 381 00:27:53,520 --> 00:28:01,040 Be ready to do it against all odds, be ready to do it by yourself, but also be very intentional 382 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,840 about building community with others. 383 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:09,379 Don't be afraid to link a network with people that aren't in your neighbourhood, you gotta 384 00:28:09,379 --> 00:28:14,249 connect and you can't just preach to yourself, you can't just talk to yourself you have to 385 00:28:14,249 --> 00:28:15,249 connect with people. 386 00:28:15,249 --> 00:28:19,700 If you want to make it, yeah you can upload something to soundcloud, but to get 387 00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:23,779 the full experience of the art and for people to hear you, to get exposure, you're gonna 388 00:28:23,779 --> 00:28:26,330 have to go out there and perform, and you're gonna have to go out there and link up with 389 00:28:26,330 --> 00:28:27,330 other people. 390 00:28:27,330 --> 00:28:32,540 Backpack smacker, testament dropper, Amaru respecter, been to the hotter, kin to Assata, 391 00:28:32,540 --> 00:28:35,880 studied it all, past to the present, resurrected 392 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:40,220 You have a duty if you're making radical music, you need to help build the foundation in your 393 00:28:40,229 --> 00:28:41,820 community for radical music to come in. 394 00:28:41,820 --> 00:28:46,179 So you have to help book the shows, you have to help find the spaces, you have to get the 395 00:28:46,179 --> 00:28:47,739 sound systems, you have to help facilitate that. 396 00:28:47,740 --> 00:28:52,320 You're not just making music and radical music, you need to help with fostering 397 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,720 radical music community. 398 00:28:54,730 --> 00:29:00,109 The term is 'many hands make light work', we can get more done together than we can 399 00:29:00,109 --> 00:29:01,960 by ourselves in certain formats. 400 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:07,149 And then sometimes, less is more, sometimes you have to cut dead weight and you have to 401 00:29:07,149 --> 00:29:12,450 step away from people who don't have the same priorities as you and you have to be okay 402 00:29:12,450 --> 00:29:13,600 with doing that. 403 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,039 You also have to be very observant of your reality 404 00:29:16,039 --> 00:29:20,960 Stop and look at what's going on Listen and open your ears to hear 405 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,739 what's going on around you Becuase using words comes with responsibility 406 00:29:24,739 --> 00:29:29,019 And if you are going to use them you have to be honest 407 00:29:29,019 --> 00:29:32,869 as to who you are and where you are coming from 408 00:29:32,869 --> 00:29:37,640 And it adds value to your community 409 00:29:38,580 --> 00:29:42,899 nobody's gonna do this for you you know, look at the D.I.Y ethic of punk music, it needs 410 00:29:42,899 --> 00:29:48,389 to be applied to hip hop more, and we need to do for ourselves, and we need to build 411 00:29:48,389 --> 00:29:53,549 up our own spaces, our own community, our own networks and we need to share that amongst 412 00:29:53,549 --> 00:29:58,240 each other and everybody can rise together. 413 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:03,780 The goal of my making music isn't to explain myself to someone who 414 00:30:03,780 --> 00:30:05,780 doesn't understand my background. 415 00:30:05,789 --> 00:30:11,759 The goal is to connect with the folks who share that same path and who find strength 416 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:19,470 and healing in hearing their story being told, who may otherwise feel very much alone. 417 00:30:20,940 --> 00:30:25,680 It's cold because I can probably only speak to indigenous MCs based on an indigenous message 418 00:30:25,690 --> 00:30:30,639 because for me I understand that talking about resistance, talking about decolonization, 419 00:30:30,639 --> 00:30:37,419 talking about revolution, whatever it may be, the average person does not like to hear 420 00:30:37,419 --> 00:30:42,730 the indigenous perspective, the true indigenous perspective of resistance because it challenges 421 00:30:42,730 --> 00:30:44,300 even their existence. 422 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,620 Don't be afraid, don't cut yourself off, and don't listen to people who say 423 00:30:49,620 --> 00:30:53,389 “this hasn't been done so you can't do it” or “it's weird and it's different”. 424 00:30:53,389 --> 00:30:57,880 Some of our best artists were doing something that nobody else was doing before and it's 425 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:02,570 okay, it's alright to not rap in the same cadence that everyone else is rhyming in, 426 00:31:02,570 --> 00:31:08,159 it's okay to mix your music with other genres, it's okay to be different and to not sound 427 00:31:08,159 --> 00:31:09,479 like everyone else. 428 00:31:09,479 --> 00:31:13,320 Sometimes people aren't going to want to fuck with you you know, but stick with it because 429 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:18,669 eventually what happens is, after years and years, you get better about what you're doing, 430 00:31:18,669 --> 00:31:25,489 you get clearer about what you're doing, you learn from your mistakes, and when that is 431 00:31:25,489 --> 00:31:34,740 combined with a sustained sense of joy in relation to why and how you work, you're unstoppable. 432 00:31:35,289 --> 00:31:41,600 If you're going to try and build a radical current towards indigenous resistance, you 433 00:31:41,609 --> 00:31:46,549 can't waiver, you can't switch up based on the fact that you're not getting support. 434 00:31:46,549 --> 00:31:48,830 You're not going to get support. 435 00:31:48,830 --> 00:31:54,909 There's going to be so much stacked up against you, you have to be uncompromising because 436 00:31:54,909 --> 00:32:00,059 everything that you represent is problematic to the average person, even those people that 437 00:32:00,060 --> 00:32:04,089 suggest they support indigenous resistance. 438 00:32:04,780 --> 00:32:07,300 Stop inviting women to just the 'all-women events'. 439 00:32:07,309 --> 00:32:11,759 Don't be embarrased when we grab the microphone and rock it in your circle full of guys. 440 00:32:11,759 --> 00:32:15,289 When people start to look at diversity in that way of inviting people to the table so 441 00:32:15,289 --> 00:32:20,400 that we all can break bread and do this thing that we call our culture, it'll change. 442 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,440 And if they don't open the door, break the fucking door down, kick it open, fuck asking. 443 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,400 These record labels slang our tapes like dope You can be next in line and signed and still 444 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,320 be writing rhymes and broke You would rather have a Lexus or justice, 445 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,220 a dream or some substance? 446 00:32:34,220 --> 00:32:36,160 A Beamer, a necklace, or freedom? 447 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:37,740 Still a nigga like me don't playa-hate, 448 00:32:37,740 --> 00:32:41,080 I just stay awake, this real hip-hop and it don't stop 449 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,740 'Til we get the po-po off the block, they call it 450 00:32:43,740 --> 00:32:54,299 hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, hip It's bigger than hip hop, hip hop, hip hop 451 00:32:59,490 --> 00:33:04,270 As we continue to resist the resurgence of far-right reaction, further entrenched inequality, 452 00:33:04,270 --> 00:33:08,690 gentrification and an increasingly repressive state apparatus, it is very important that 453 00:33:08,690 --> 00:33:13,740 anarchists build and strengthen connections with those outside our immediate circles. 454 00:33:13,740 --> 00:33:17,360 Part of this requires that we actively spread our politics through popular subcultures like 455 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:21,160 hip hop, that resonate with millions of people who share our hatred of police and capitalist 456 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:25,180 society, but won’t necessarily be inclined to come out to all our meetings, rallies or 457 00:33:25,180 --> 00:33:26,530 reading circles. 458 00:33:26,530 --> 00:33:30,450 And the other part involves listening and learning from established histories of resistance 459 00:33:30,450 --> 00:33:34,950 and struggle, in order to better understand and identify points of affinity and possible 460 00:33:34,950 --> 00:33:35,950 collaboration. 461 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,780 Thankfully, there are lots of amazing individuals already doing this important work... 462 00:33:39,780 --> 00:33:41,400 but we need more of them. 463 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,690 So at this point, we’d like to remind you that Trouble is intended to be watched in 464 00:33:44,700 --> 00:33:48,640 groups, and to be used as a resource to promote discussion and collective organizing. 465 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,900 Are you a hip hop head interested in helping to contribute to your local radical scene? 466 00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:56,310 or looking to build one in a town where it doesn’t exist? 467 00:33:56,310 --> 00:34:00,210 Consider getting together with some comrades, organizing a screening of this film, and discussing 468 00:34:00,210 --> 00:34:02,280 where to get started. 469 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,440 Interested in running regular screenings of Trouble at your campus, infoshop, community 470 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:06,950 center, or even just at home with friends? 471 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:08,980 Become a Trouble-Maker! 472 00:34:08,980 --> 00:34:13,290 For 10 bucks a month, we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show, and a screening 473 00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:16,400 kit featuring additional resources and some questions you can use to 474 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,140 get a discussion going. 475 00:34:18,140 --> 00:34:20,160 If you can’t afford to support us financially, no worries! 476 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,940 You can stream and/or download all our content for free off our website: 477 00:34:23,940 --> 00:34:26,300 sub.media/trouble 478 00:34:26,300 --> 00:34:30,520 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics, or just want to get in touch, drop us a line 479 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:32,910 at trouble@sub.media. 480 00:34:32,910 --> 00:34:35,810 If you want to hear some tracks from the artists featured on this episode, check out the latest 481 00:34:35,810 --> 00:34:41,250 Burning Cop Car, our radical hip hop podcast, at sub.Media/bcc. 482 00:34:41,250 --> 00:34:43,280 Just a heads up that since subMedia is a fully 483 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,830 crowd-funded project, we’ll be starting our annual fundraiser drive soon, to make 484 00:34:46,830 --> 00:34:49,530 sure we can keep cranking out videos year round. 485 00:34:49,530 --> 00:34:54,350 This episode would not have been possible without the generous support of Todd, Marius 486 00:34:54,350 --> 00:34:55,350 and AvispaMidia. 487 00:34:55,350 --> 00:34:58,220 Stay tuned next month for Trouble # 16, as we take a closer look at the trial of the 488 00:34:58,220 --> 00:35:03,120 so-called J20 defendants, who were mass arrested in the streets of DC, at the historic protests 489 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:07,920 against the presidential inauguration of US War Criminal in Chief, Donald J Trump. 490 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,860 No one wanted to just show up and just show out, like there was a definite message about 491 00:35:12,860 --> 00:35:15,380 disrupting the inauguration. 492 00:35:15,380 --> 00:35:18,600 Now get out there…. and make some trouble!