Reference is made to my last posting about the hip hop event scheduled at UC Santa Cruz (America's Wackiest University) on March 2 sponsored by the Committee for Justice in Palestine. One of the performers is someone named Lowkey (Kareem Dennis), a British-Iraqi rapper whose works tend to be pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel and anti-American.. The same group of performers is schedulted to appear March 1, at UC-Irvine-sponsored by the Students for Justice in Palestine.
Here are the lyrics from Lowkey's hit entitled, Obama-Nation.
Lowkey – Obama Nation (Official Lyrics)
[Intro]
This track is not an attack upon the American people,
It’s an attack upon the system within which they live.
Since 1945 the United States has attempted to overthrow more than 50 foreign governments,
In the process the US has caused the end of life for several million people,
And condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.
[Verse 1]
The strength of your dreaming prevents you from reason,
The American dream only makes sense if you’re sleeping,
It’s just a cruel fantasy; their politics took my voice away,
But their music gave it back to me,
The land where the lumpen are consumed by consumption,
Killing themselves to shovel down food in abundance,
I guess a rapper from Britain is a rare voice,
America is capitalism on steroids,
Natives kept in casinos and reservations,
Displaced slaves never given reparations,
Take everything from Native Americans,
And wonder why i call it the racist experiment,
Afraid of your melanin, the same as it’s ever been,
That aint gonna change with the race of the president,
I see imperialism under your skin tone,
You could call it Christopher Columbus syndrome.
[Chorus 2x]
Is it Obama’s nation? Or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation? Or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation? Or an abomination?
Doesn’t make any difference when they bomb your nation.
Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through perilous fight,
For the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
[Verse 2]
The world’s entertainer, the world’s devastator,
From Venezuela, to Mesopotamia,
Your cameras lie, cause they have to hide the savage crimes,
Committed on leaders that happen to try and nationalize,
Eating competitions? while the worlds been starving,
Beat up communism with the help of Bin Laden,
Where would your war of terror be without that man,
Every day you create more Nidal Hassan’s,
Kill a man from the military, you’re a weirdo,
But kill a wog from the Middle East you’re a hero,
Your country is causing screams that never reach your ear holes,
America inflicted a million Ground Zero’s,
Follow the dollar and swallow your humanity,
Soldier’s committing savagery you never even have to see,
Those mad at me, writing emails angrily,
I’m not anti-America, America is anti-me!
[Chorus 2x]
Is it Obama’s nation? Or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation? Or an abomination?
Is it Obama’s nation? Or an abomination?
Doesn’t make any difference when they bomb your nation.
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there,
Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave,
For the land of the free and the home of the brave,
[Verse 3]
I don’t care if him and Cheney are long lost relations,
What matters more is the policies, I lost my patience,
Stop debating bringing race into the conversation,
Occupation and cooperation equals profit making,
It’s over; people wake up from the dream now,
Nobel peace prize, Jay Z on speed-dial,
It’s the substance within, not the colour of your skin,
Are you the puppeteer or the puppet on the string?,
So many believed it was instantly gonna’ change,
There was still Dennis Ross, Brzezinski and Robert Gates,
What happened to Chas freeman? (AIPAC),
What happened to Tristan Anderson?,
It’s a machine that keeps that man breathing,
I have the heart to say what all the other rappers aren’t,
Words like Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan,
The wars on, and you morons were all wrong,
I call Obama a bomber cause those are your bombs.
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Am I offended? You bet. Let's put this in perspective. This guy is a Brit, not an American. I do not expect any loyalty from him to my country.
Is this an example of free and constitionally-protected free speech in America? Yes, absolutely, unequivocally and all-day long.
But what gets my jingoistic juices flowing is that this puke can come here, stand on our soil, trash our country, our president, our military, and our national anthym. On our own soil.
And he is sponsored by a group of dopey, brain-washed American college students to boot.
What is it about (once) Great Britain that continually sends pukes like Dennis, Ben White, George Galloway and so many other clowns to our country to tell us how screwed up we are? Look at their own country. Now he have that ibn sharmota Anjem Choudary coming to protest in favor of sharia in front of the White House, for God's sake!
But let the show go on. I won't be there because I can't stand hip hop nor do I consider it music. I just hope that the majority of students who pass by this monstrosity and hear the anti-American lyrics stop and think about who is putting it on.
And draw the obvious conclusions.
Oh the US is so bad that millions of people each year struggle to enter and live here, legally or illegally.
ReplyDelete...not to mention, this fool doesn't even know he's pushing right-wing Republican lyrics.
ReplyDeleteHere's a better video:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/middleeast/28youtube.html?ref=africa
Something Israelis and Arabs can agree on. Follow the link within the article to the video. It's a scream.
first of all, being a college student, i find it offensive that you characterize every college student as dopey. In doing so you're simply exacerbating stereotypes plaguing academically motivated college students today. second, some of his points are simply facts like invasions or supported revolutions(e.g. US fruit in Nicaragua or the bay of pigs). third, if you listen to the guy, hes not exactly fond of the british political scene either, nor is he a native brit, so i give him his due. In other news, He's widely regarded as one of the most influential and talented hip-hop/rap acts currently active in the uk. in case you felt like mentioning that
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteYour comment only helped perpetuate the stereotype. As for that puke, Lowkey, I think I made it clear that it is offensive for someone to go to someone else's country and "sing" "songs" that trash that country, its flag, its national anthem and its military. Only on a college campus could he get away with that. I'd love to see him try it in a country bar. Furthermore, if you as an American? applaud that, then I can't say much for you except that you have probably been brainwashed by your radical lefty "professors".
As for his "talent", sorry. Talent is when somebody is singing and someone is playing music.
And if he doesn't like the UK, there is always Iraq. He might find that more to his liking.
I'm so sorry this British-Iraqi rapper offended you, a U.S. citizen, because that is one of the worst violations of a country's sovereignty there is. Lowkey can complain about targeted killings by predator drones in Yemen and Pashtunistan, about the crime against peace that was the Second Gulf War and about the U.S. military turning Afghanistan into a patrimonialistic hellhole, but that's nothing compared to him offending someone across the border. I mean, what has the U.S. ever done against his people the Iraqis?
ReplyDeleteYou might consider his words offensive, but they are protected by your First Amendment and they show precisely why that First Amendment is there: to make sure that if the U.S. government treats people like shit, their cries can still be heard. And then itt's up to you to choose between listening to these victims of international injustice, or bashing them for shedding even the faintest doubt over your dogmatic idea of sacrosanct U.S.
Bart,
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a true Kool-Aid drinker. Yes, Low Key enjoys our freedom of speech so he can come to our country, which he apparently despises and insult us.
What if I went to his country-or your country and insulted it and "sang songs" insulting it? Do you think the Beastie boys of Britain would give me a good thrashing?
Wise up.
The fact that something is insulting doesn't mean it can't have a valuable message. If you criticize my country (the Netherlands) and the criticism is legitimate (colonial history, Srebrenica massacre, the bigotry of Geert Wilders and his supporters etc.) you won't hear me complaining, if the criticism is bullshit (do-not-euthanize bracelets, gays causing the Srebrenica massacre, exaggerated problems related to legalization of some drugs etc.) then that's just slander. I'm sure the same goes for Lowkey and other Englishmen, because your country was founded upon criticism of the U.K. and when you celebrate that on the fourth of july I don't hear any Englishmen complain.
ReplyDeleteSo the question is whether his criticism is legitimate. If you do your research you'll find the answer is yes. No one denies that Predator drones are committing targeted killings, which is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. It's no secret that the U.S. has about a thousand military bases overseas, that for instance the servicemen stationed in Okinawa are three times as likely to commit crimes than the Okinawans themselves and that the entire native population of Diego Garcia was deported because the U.S. wanted to use the island for a military base. The C.I.A. and the S.O.F. deliberately tried to destroy the economies of countries like Guatemala and Chile to give socialism a bad reputation, after which they staged coups to appoint brutal military dictators. The foreign policy of the U.S. is not a problem of the past, it's still continuing today and people like Lowkey are trying to stop it from creating more misery in the world.
Bart,
ReplyDeleteNo one is saying the US is perfect, but now that you have trashed my country, let me say a few words about yours (which I have visited many times). The best thing you have going for you in Holland is Geert Wilders. And yet, you try to put him in jail for speaking the truth as others try to kill him. You should have the courage of Wilders. Your country, in the name of tolerance, is tolerating intolerance. Need I mention the cases of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh?
As far as our military presence overseas, we would all like to bring them home especially from hell holes like Afghanistan, but if you study a little history, were it not for the US and especially our military, no country in the world would be living in any degree of freedom-and that includes yours. I am sure your parents can tell you all about WW 2 and the Nazi occupation. Right now Europe is returning to the dark days of the 1930s and 1940s. Ask yourself why Jews in places like Amsterdam and other places in Europe) are afraid to walk around in Jewish garb.
Before you trash my country, clean up your own house.
You seem to misunderstand, this is not about me trashing your country, this is about Lowkey's criticism being legitimate. I'm not interested in a mudslinging competition, I just want to show you that the U.S. is severely mistreating countries outside the Western World, because as a U.S. citizen you're the one who can do something about it. This is especially important with regards to foreign policy, because the principle of "Before you trash my country, clean up your own house." is pretty hypocritical if your country starts invading other countries for not cleaning up their house.
ReplyDeleteBesides, even if all your criticism against the Netherlands is legitimate (it isn't, but for the sake of argument let's assume it is), it still pales in comparison to what I mentioned above, and all the more to everything Lowkey has said about the U.S. You're talking about tolerating intolerance and the presence of antisemitism while I'm talking about war crimes and ruining entire countries. Obviously I am grateful for the U.S. military getting rid of the Nazis in my country, but that doesn't give it the right to use the world as its shooting range.
Bart,
ReplyDeleteReasonable people can disagree on whether we should have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. One could argue argue that we did a good thing in removing Saddam Hussein and his two sons from power and gave Iraqis a shot at living in freedom and democracy. Same with Afghanistan and the Taliban.
One could also argue that had people like you had their way, the rape rooms, torture chambers and mass graves would still be operating in Iraq and women would still be shot in soccer stadiums in Afghanistan.
As for Low Key, had he done his act anywhere but in a university setting, he probably would have had his ass kicked. I imagine if I walked into a bar in Amsterdam and started singing ditties trashing Holland, the same would happen to me. We engage in enough self criticism about our country among ourselves. It's never kosher to enter someone else's country and trash it. Of course, Low Key and others always get away with it on US college campuses because there isn't a lot of patriotism to be found.