Yup. I know, I know… We JUST revamped the site. But, in light of a bunch of really dope things that are happening, the team felt the need to do another overhaul! So, in the meantime, we got shows coming up! Stay tuned to the site for all the updates — I promise you won’t wait too long…

This month’s Get Hip is with two artists that were part of my writing group, Ready Aim Speak in Watts and are now known as Jahlli. While all of my youth were talented, Jahcyy and Galli really found a love for the art of expression through music. They’re both 19 now, but they were dope when I met them at 16! This is a group that y’all need to get hip to for many reasons, but mostly because they haven’t even reached their full potential — be the early ones who get to say, “Oh, Jahlli?! I been on that, homie!” 

Stay tuned and catch more from these two in the near future! For now, read about them in LA Weekly, here.

WATTS UP!

Click picture or here to peep the store!

I was reading the newspaper yesterday during rehearsal (yes, I do still read the newspaper - old school) and read a story about a suspected Orange County serial killer named, Itzcoatl Ocampo. Itzcoatl is accused of killing 4 homeless men by stabbing them over 40 times each. But, that’s not what intrigued me about the story. Itzcoatl is a former Marine, like myself, who spent a tour in Iraq working in triage - which meant he was in charge of examining the wounded and directing them to the proper spot for care. So what, right? Well, the LA Times journalist who wrote the article interviewed his former roommates and a few former Marines who served with him and they all told the same story of a young man who started to show signs of mental illness. They described incidents where Itzcoatl would wake up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of his lungs, or fidgeting and spacing out during his waking hours. The Marine Corps even documented that he was showing these signs and that a mental disorder was present with Itzcoatl. But, regardless of those findings, he left the Marine Corps and attempted to transition into civilian life.

Itzcoatl came home to his family, now living inside of a big rig truck in a parking lot in Orange County. Itzcoatl’s father, Refugio Ocampo, had lost his job during Itzcoatl’s time in the Marine Corps and was doing odd jobs to keep his family fed. Refugio said that his son was very charitable and the article documents numerous times in which he gave his last dime to those he felt needed it more.

Itzcoatl, now home from the Marine Corps, began looking for work but could not seem to get any callbacks - despite his military experience and “service” to the country. Then at the end of 2011, police say that Itzcoatl killed four homeless men.

Now, believe me, I’m not justifying these slayings (if Itzcoatl in fact committed these murders), but I am asking you to look deeper into this story. Here is a young man who joined the Marine Corps, in the same manner that I did, under the guise of money for school and “serving” his country and his family. Then this young man was sent to fight in a war and is exposed to the gruesome sight of wounded men and women, dead bodies and brutal violence EVERY day that he was in that Iraq desert. He would come home and find that no matter how many times he put his own life at risk, this country couldn’t provide the basic needs that his own family needed to properly survive — his family was homeless. Finally, he separates from the military with documented mental illness and finds that as a veteran you may not get the help needed to properly transition: with both healthcare and job placement.

Could this have been prevented? Is Itzcoatl’s story an isolated one? Itzcoatl’s family and friends say he was often paranoid after his time in the Marines, believing that people were out to kill him. He would look for weapons he believed were hidden in various places so he could remove them and make sure they weren’t used to kill himself and his family. He was a classic PTSD case.  To me, this is the story of another pawn in the US’s game for imperialist gain and when he had served his purpose in that game, he was thrown away. Itzcoatl should have been in a facility that could offer him the care he needed. I hope that this story spreads and that we start to take a serious look at cases of PTSD. We will see a large number of these cases in our future as this war comes to an “end,” and these pawns begin to come home. 

A video has been circulating on the internet of 5 or 6 Marines urinating on dead Afghans. Folks have been hitting me up trying to get my opinion on the matter and I’ve had the same answer to them all, “I don’t know enough of the details surrounding the incident to make an educated statement.” I hold true to that still. BUT, if it is as simple as what we see on that video, we need to ask the question, “What did you expect?” We watched the last president declare war on an entire region and we’re surprised that Marines are urinating on dead bodies? In war, the only way to live with yourself after putting a bullet into another man’s head is to dehumanize them. This is why when we kill each other in the streets, we call our “enemies” names like slobs, crabs, nigguhs, marks, etc. because like my big homie Bone says, “You can’t kill your brother, but you can kill a nigguh.” Yes, I despise those Marines who did that to the dead, but I know that I should really be mad at the country that continues to flex its military force secondary to the fact that its citizens are broke. Itzcoatl is another victim of this cycle and in order for us to truly address it, we must first find the root of it. Dump.

So, this here is the first edition of RIOT STARTER and who better to highlight than my DJ, best friend and Chinese comrade, DJ Phatrick. 

I met DJ Phatrick during the beginning stages of the Native Guns run in 2004 and thanks to Kiwi, he became the third member of the group. After the Native Guns disbanded in 2007, DJ Phatrick and I continued to work on music and knock out shows — eventually collaborating on developing Sessions LA to where it is now. 

He and I have always done community work, but Sessions LA was the first time, in all the years we’d built music, that we actually worked together on a community project. 

At the end of 2011, our grant ended and Sessions LA was left to fend for itself. I’d like to say that I played a major role in saving Sessions LA, but in reality, DJ Phatrick’s persistence and dedication saved the program. DJ Phatrick, or Phatty, along with Ali, Laurent, Jaffar, Trebles, DJ Trackstar and the STUDENTS decided to start an internet campaign for donations via IndieGoGo. The goal seemed pretty out of reach, especially for a small group of instructors and youth in the middle of Downtown LA — but click on that picture up top (or HERE) and read what CNN wrote about Phatty and the saving of the program.

If you’re ever privileged enough to catch Phatty and I during our personal banter, you’d think all we did was talk shit to each other (and we do), but all that aside, I have nothing but respect and admiration for this Chinese asshole.

Catch DJ Phatrick and I at The Echoplex on January 19th. Start a riot.

On January 5th of this year, secondary to the heavy rains and Typhoon Sendong (December 16th), a landslide atop an “illegal” gold mine killed more than 50 people and sent the remaining survivors in search of the hundreds missing. This disaster adds to the already catastrophic Sendong typhoon that struck less than a month ago, whose death toll now stands at over 1800 with close to 50,000 people displaced and thousands missing. 

If you’re a Pilipino here in the United States, you may have heard your parents comment on the typhoon: “Oh, it happens all the time in the Philippines…” True. This natural disaster known as a typhoon does strike the tropical island cluster of the Philippines often. Still, the frequency of landslides is alarming and does naturally lead one to question whether there is another reason for the incessant collapse of soil. Well, if you dig deep enough, you may find that the existence of “illegal” mines and heavy deforestation to be the crux. Simply put, trees and other vegetation aid in the land’s ability to hold together. When you begin to remove the trees, vegetation and/or burrow a hole into a mountainside, the soil becomes weak — weak enough for a heavy dousing of rain to break up and cause a landslide. Why would anyone want to destroy these forests? Why would anyone want to dig giant holes into such a beautiful landscape? 

Easy: besides being rich with beauty and spirit, the Philippines is also wealthy in natural resources — like gold. In order to get to those resources, companies who want access to them will purchase the land and hire the people who live on the land to mine and ultimately destroy the land in search of these resources. I use the word “hire” very loosely, because rarely are these exploited people put on a payroll or “taken care of” by these companies. The land of their ancestors sits on top of minerals that are making these companies (usually of foreign origin) rich beyond belief, yet they still live in extreme poverty. Not adding up, huh? I’m sure the government of the Philippines, whose establishment is to secure the well-being of its people is taking the proper steps to prevent this blatant manipulation from running all over the country… Right? They wouldn’t pass an Act or law that could aid a foreign company in the raping of the land… Right? They did and have for many years (ie. Mining Act of 1995). But why? 

Great question. It all goes back to keeping the few wealthy families of power in the Philippines… Well, wealthy and in power. These foreign companies know that the Philippine government is selling it off like a basehead. Come through and buy the land cheap, buy the labor cheaper and profit like a mu’ufukkuh with NO interference and, again, NO regard for the people. This is real shit. Study up. Let’s build up and bring awareness to this brazen act of disservice to the people of my parents’ home. Only then can we organize the people away from a semi-colonial/semi-feudal system and toward a democracy that is truly dictated by its people. Build up. Study.

Thanks for reading.

Donate HERE to aid in relief that will go directly to the people.

As 2011 comes to a close and 2012 makes its way in, Josh The Goon (producer/engineer for Freddie Gibbs) and I dropped this new joint called None Left over at the Dopehouse. I hope ya’ll enjoy it and it helps bring 2012 in right for y’alls iPod’s/iPhone’s. So, download it, re-Tweet it and leave a comment, because the world might end… 

BANG! What’s up, y’all?! This is Bambu and I’m happy to introduce y’all to the new website (hosted by Tumblr, because its easy and most of y’all are on this thing anyway). There’s going to be some pretty dope shit on here once we launch next week. I’m going to be doing a few weekly spots on here that should keep y’all coming back to check up on it. Here’s a list and description of things to come:

Data Dump (Monday) - news 

Get Hip (Wednesday) - new artist(s) that I hope y’all get hip to

Riot Starter (Thursday) - organizers/activists/educators that deserve shine

Fit (Friday) - new attire/gear that I’m fuckin’ with

So, beside all that shit, this’ll be the spot to find out where I’m at, what I’m working on and anything else that I have popping off! Also, EVERY first of the month, I’ll be bringing y’all new music from me and my associates. GET HIP!

BAM