!!RADICAL HIP HOP, FREE SHOW THIS WED~ X-VANDALS!!
author: Marlena Gangi
 e-mail: seditiousconspirator@yahoo.com
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At its inception, hip hop was a music genre that quickly became popular with Black and Latino youth. Originating in the Bronx in the mid-seventies, hip hop lyrics were largely apolitical. Over the years, hip hop become politicized as groups like Public Enemy, Dead Prez and The Coup came on the scene to deliver more socially consciousness and radically political lyrics.
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X-Vandals and The War of Art: Hip Hop duo provides soundtrack for the revolution
By Marlena Gangi
At its inception, Hip Hop was a music genre that quickly became popular with Black and Latino youth. Originating in the Bronx in the mid-seventies, hip hop lyrics were largely apolitical. Over the years, Hip Hop become politicized as groups like Public Enemy, Dead Prez and The Coup came on the scene to deliver more socially consciousness and radically political lyrics.
When corporate record labels discovered Hip Hop, they bought and packaged it and signed artists who were molded to produce work that would sell. A majority of Hip Hop artists would go on to create the biggest selling genre of hip hop called Gangsta Rap. Those who stayed true to their roots and continued to use their art as a tool of anti-authoritarian radical activism were not only not signed, but were not interested in signing with labels who appropriated hip hop culture for monetary gain.
Not4 Prophet and DJ Johnny Juice are two who have remained true to their roots. Their Hip Hop duo X-Vandals will be in Portland Wednesday November 12 to perform from 6-9 p.m. at Portland State University in the Smith Memorial Union Ballroom, 3rd floor 1825 SW Broadway St.
I recently spoke with Not4Prophet about the War of Art.
MG: Can you share a bit of your background, in terms of activism and performance?
N4P: We'll, my "politicization" came about mostly from my mother and father who were both Puerto Rican nationalists/independentistas and conducted their lives as such. When I started coming up in the streets as a kid, I wasn't very interested in "they schools", but I was interested in making art, because I used to like to write graffiti, and, at the same time, I was also interested in the struggle politics that my parents had taught me about. I was also greatly influenced to combine the political struggle with the art and music from artists such as reggae's Bob Marley, the afro-beats of Fela Kuti, soul and blues from Nina Simone, salsa's Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon and Rueben Blades (as well as Hector Lavoe) and last but not least, Hip Hop's Public Enemy, who, of course, DJ Juice was and is a part of. So it was a natural move towards making political art, or art that was concerned with politics and could even be used as a tool or weapon within la lucha. I always used to joke about how, within this modern day pop culture society, if Malcolm were alive today he would be an emcee in a Hip Hop group. Or if Che were alive today, he'd be a singer in a punk rock group. And, of course, Fela did say that "music is the weapon."
MG: What brought you and Johnny Juice together as X-Vandals?
N4P: It's interesting, when I was coming up, one of my biggest influences in terms of combining art and politics was the Hip-Hop group Public Enemy [PE], but I had no idea way back then, that there was a spic who scratched by the door. In other words, Johnny Juice, a Puerto Rican teenager, was PE's in studio DJ who was actually executing the amazing scratches that I was loving and living on those early PE classics, but I had no idea. Many years later, Chuck D (of Public Enemy) put out a single on his indie label that my band Ricanstruction did, of a cover song of Public Enemy's, and that's how I met Juice. But we always like to say that we were meant to be together to get this (political) party started.... right.
MG: What are some life experiences, influences or inspirations that have moved the two of you to aim toward the political rather than capitalist with the words and music that you write and perform?
N4P: For me it was just a natural development of how I was raised. As I said before, my parents were independentistas living in the belly of the beast. So everything they did was based on having to survive OUTSIDE the shitstem and the only part that capitalism played in their/our lives was how to get around, over or passed it. That's just how things was. So by the time I started making art, that was already my mind set, and I couldn't see it as being any other way. Don't get me wrong, I have never had anything against artists making money off the art that they create, I just always recognized the contradiction in writing songs that are against the very shitstem that is paying you to write them. At the end of the day, how "real" or revolutionary can one be when you are writing songs about how you wanna "slay your master" from right within the masters house, while lounging (and fucking) in the masters bed? Of course, as Puerto Ricans who were both raised in New York Cities "uptown", Juice and I shared many experiences and trials and tribulations coming up.
MG: How did you arrive upon "War of Art" and the name of your duo, X-Vandals?
N4P: Back in the day, in the beginnings of what is now called Hip Hop culture, there was a graffiti crew called Ex-Vandals (as in extraordinary). To a large degree, they were one of the bridges between gang-street culture and Hip Hop culture, because they were cats coming out of street culture who wanted to express themselves in a different way besides gang life. We made our name X-Vandals, though, as in "former" vandals or nameless (like Malcolm's X) vandals. Far as War of Art, it just made sense in terms of what we were talking about in the songs and art that we were creating. There is of course a famous manual or book on military strategy and warfare in general called The Art of War that was written in China in the 6th Century BC by Sun Tzu.
MG: N4P, you were a mainstay with the band Ricanstruction, which had quite an underground following, for at least a decade, as some of the musicians in that group came and went. What was it that had you stay as a band member for so long and why did Ricanstruction disband?
N4P: Well, there were many reasons. But mostly, as I mentioned before, I didn't get into making music to make (any) money. So when there was no money being made, it didn't hurt or effect me in any way. I just kept finding "alternative" ways to eat and keep a roof over my head, and still make music. But some of the other members of the band were musicians first and "activists" second, so when we were not making any money (which was always), it was much tougher for them both physically and mentally. So, some folks moved on, and were replaced by others. But Ricanstruction had an underground following precisely BECAUSE of its REAL anti-corporate stance, so there was no getting around that. Who feels it knows it, you know. But Ricanstruction never really "disbanded", even though the band itself stopped making music. Ricanstruction basically morphed into a network that is still carrying out the mission of Ricanstruction. X-Vandals is ALSO part of the Ricanstruction Netwerks cultural commando wing or cell or guerrilla band now. So, we still doin' it in a Ricanstruction revolutionary style....
MG: Your debut CD, The War of Art, directly and indirectly addresses the police state in which we live. I am utterly astounded by the sheer number of people who are oblivious to the fact that they have been stripped of their constitutional rights since 911. For us as people on of color, being stripped of our rights is nothing new. What do you have to say to this?
N4P: But I guess you are talking about the number of WHITE people who are "oblivious" to the fact that they have been stripped of their constitutional rights since 911", because, as you point out, for us colored folks it ain't no new thing. But that is exactly what we were trying to point out with the War of Art. That's why, with some of the songs, we might talk about "the police state", but instead of focusing on the current post 911 period, we might put a sample of something that happened to us black folks back in 1972 or 1982. As the Nuyorican poet Pedro Pietri said, this war has been going on for over 500 years. A lot of people think that this down-presession and this injustice and this police state and this war started in 2001 or when the u.s. attacked Iraq, but, of course, we know better then that, don't we?
MG: The first track on The War of Art, "There Goes the Neighbor-Hoods" begins with a 1954 news report about the four Puerto Rican nationalists who, after unfurling the Puerto Rican flag, popped off 30 rounds inside the United States Capitol in March of that year. Will Puerto Rico remain a commonwealth, and how are the people of Puerto Rico adversely affected by this in terms of colonialism?
N4P: No, I think that Puerto Rico will be an autonomous/independent/free/liberated nation in due time. It's just a question of when, not if. But, of course, we have been struggling for our liberation for over 500 years, so, yeah, it could take a while. We could get into the specifics of how colonialism affects the colonized, but I think people like Frantz Fanon probably have already done a better job then I could ever do of explaining/describing that reality. But, suffice it to say that as things now stand (and sit) Puerto Rico (and Puerto Ricans) currently exists for the sole purpose of being exploited by big business and the military.
MG: X-Vandals is working on its second release right now. I know the War of Art was a concept record, so will the second record be a concept record too?
N4P: Yes. But it's a continuation to the story or concept of the first one. I plan to have X-Vandals first three records be a trilogy of terror(ism). But in the next record there will be more of a concern with the current presidential elections, and the whole concept of (s)electing a president for these un-united states, and what that means, or doesn't mean for us non-white folks currently residing here in Babylon and on.
MG: Are you voting this year?
N4P: You mean for president of the United States?
MG: Yes.
N4P: No.
MG: No interest?
N4P: It's not that I have no interest. I live in the belly of this beast, so I am forced to have an "interest." But it's the interest of that of an outcast or outsider or outlaw. As a Puerto Rican, I neither have the right to vote (being a colonial "citizen") nor the inclination. Puerto Rico doesn't have a president, and Puerto Ricans (who advocate for independence) also choose not to legitimize u.s. control or jurisdiction over Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in any way. So, I've never voted and don't plan to any time too soon....
MG: Do you think anything will change, and what will remain the same, if Barack Obama wins the presidential election?
N4P: Personally, I don't think anything will actually change beyond the façade or a perception of what the u.s. is all about and how the u.s. feels about its black population. In order to be president of these un-united states, a politician (any politician) has to play by certain rules and appease certain people. Color or race got nada to do with it, really. Could be Obama, or Colin Powell, or Condoleeza Rice, or Clarence Thomas. But it couldn't be Malcolm or Nat Turner or Harriet Tubman or Assata Shakur. The color of ones skin makes very little difference within the context of being a tool for the shitstem and is only relevant to how much they can exploit you and use you to exploit ya own. Obama may get (s)elected, but we still ain't painting the white house black any time soon.
www.x-vandals.com
myspace.com/xvandalsboricuas
www.resisterrecords.com
This article also appears in the Nov issue of the Portland Alliance.
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