NEW VIDEO & FREE DOWNLOAD: Thurzday (U-N-I) - Rodney King

THIS IS WHAT HIP HOP IS ALL ABOUT...





Thurzday (of U-N-I) - Rodney King by GYMRblog

GYMR-Approved: Wade Waters - A Post-Racial America

THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS HERE. NUFF SAID.



Wade Waters - A Post-Racial America (Parts 1 & 2) by GYMRblog

Want more from Wade Waters, go to WadeWaters.com.

#MusicMonday Leak: AWKWORD ft. C-Rayz Walz & Chief Kamachi - "Imperialism" #MM

"Imperialism", the new single they are calling "hot" and a "masterpiece", dropped on Saturday, October 30, 2010, as Track 8 on The White Shadow album "Destiny", which also features Kool G Rap, Joell Ortiz, Ras Kass, KRS-One, ILL BILL, Reef the Lost Cauze, Planet Asia, Thirstin Howl III, M-Dot, and more. The album can be purchased now on iTunes for $9.99. The song can be purchased for 99 cents. "Imperialism" will also appear as an INTERNET BONUS Track on AWKWORD's forthcoming 100% for-charity global Hip Hop project World View. For more information on this one-of-a-kind philanthropic effort, go here (link): http://AWKWORDrap.com



**DIRECT-DOWNLOAD LINK**

Imperialism ft. C-Rayz Walz & Chief Kamachi (AOTP) by AWKWORD



IMPORTANT NOTE: The 2dopeboyz.com-sponsored original version of "Imperialism" is also available now for purchase on iTunes. Produced by Jonny Lupo (of Moldova) and featuring AWKWORD, C-Rayz Walz and Reks, this song is the FIRST SINGLE off World View, which means that 100% of your $0.99 purchase is donated to Guns 4 Cameras (a.k.a. Aim to Live), a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to combating gun violence by educating and empowering our innercity youth. To help us combat street violence and support indie hip hop, purchase NOW here (link): http://bit.ly/Imperialism_iTunes

#MusicMonday #MM : AWKWORD - "Colors" (Original Version) ft. Werdplay of BLESTeNATION (Presented by Ungovernable Resistance)

As a follow-up to its interview with AWKWORD, Ungovernable Resistance unlocks the original version of AWKWORD's track "Colors" (prod. FNTM of Czech Republic). This version appeared on the 26-track free mixtape "AWKWORD Presents: WE ARE THE BASTERDS (The 9/11 Edition)" but has not been made available as a single until now. The final version of "Colors" is slated to appear on AWKWORD's 100% nonprofit global hip hop album World View (2010? 2011?).

Click the image to download — and read AWKWORD's description of the meaning behind the track.

VIDEO: Howard Dean Calls Fox News 'Absolutely Racist' For Its Handling Of Shirley Sherrod Controversy

I guess it's easy to tell the truth when you're not running for some ivory throne somewhere, but whatever, THANK YOU HOWARD DEAN!



Oh yeah, and Senior VP of Fox News Michael Clemente responded with this gem:

"As we said this past week, some people such as the failed candidate Dean reflexively blame Fox for almost anything."

2DopeBoyz Exclusive Leak: AWKWORD - "Imperialism" ft. C-Rayz Walz & REKS (prod. Jonny Lupo)

FREE #MUSICMONDAY: #FreeRayzWalz

Recently, AWKWORD linked up with C-Rayz Walz, REKS and 2dopeboyz.com for an exlusive leak promoting the forthcoming World View album. With production from Moldova's Jonny Lupo, the track bangs.

C-Rayz called it "one of the top-five songs I've ever spilled my soul onto." He predicted "this shit will make Uncle Sam piss his tight blue bubblegum jeans." And dopeboy SHAKE agrees, as seen below.



From 2dopeboyz.com

With C-Rayz currently locked up*, Awkword thought it was a good time to let loose of this anti-imperialist anthem. I agree, this shit is dope. 2dbz premiere off Awk’s upcoming album, World View. Featuring guest emcees from coast to coast and production from 15+ nations and every continent.

* While the song is free, the artists are asking that you show support for C-Rayz by donating to his Paypal (suncycle7[at]gmail[dot]com) or reaching out to his family and management via Twitter.

Click the banner above to download. Or, click here. To stream, click play on the player below.




Also featured on these leading hip hop sites

- LI Empire
- Real Hip Hop Forever
- MBC Digital
- 1134 Mix Show
- WE ARE hunted ("99 most popular emerging songs")
- Dot Got It
- Off The Trax
- The Hip Hop Chronicle (UK)
- Raw Rap (Poland)
- Get Known Radio
- Bostonianz 617
- Not I Said The Fly
- Dope Drops
- Hood Hollywood
- Ethereal Material (3-Hour DJ Tim Mix, 06/08/10)
- I GOT SOLE HIP HOP
- Mixtape Leak
- Nation of Hip Hop
- NEWSoDROME
- iHipHop.com
- Ink Drop
- Musik Share One
- The Hype Machine

Also from AWKWORD, C-Rayz Walz & REKS

- AWKWORD - Notes From A Different Kitchen (Blog Rap) (prod. The White Shadow of Norway)

- AWKWORD - New York Minute (World View Remix) ft. Jadakiss, Mazzi (S.O.U.L. Purpose), Vast Aire & Punchline (prod. Harry Fraud)

- C-Rayz Walz - "Explosion" ft. Royce da 5'9" & Tamu (DJ I-Dee)

- C-Rayz Walz - "Catching the Strange" (prod. Falside)

- REKS - "Rap-A-Nomics" ft. Slaine & Torae (prod. Statik Selektah)

- REKS - "Henny at Halftime" ft. Ron Artest (prod. Statik Selektah)

Terrence Stevens (In Arms Reach) x AWKWORD (World View)

Terrence Stevens, community leader and former Green Haven maximum security prisoner, called AWKWORD April 1, 2010, to congratulate him on his personal essay on AmeriKKKa's criminal injustice system, which featured a story about Terrence's incarceration and eventual release. On the call, Terrence mentioned his affiliation with hip hop... so AWK mentioned World View.

Though both based in New York City, the last time AWK and Terrence linked in person was at Green Haven, more than eight years ago. Who knows? Perhaps AWK's earlier blog post will lead to a monumental musical collaboration now.


[Russell Simmons x Terrence Stevens]


[Terrence Stevens x Dame Dash]


[Bill Cosby x Terrence Stevens]


[Terrence Stevens x Mario Cuomo]

We at GetYourMindRight would ALL like to send a special shout to Terrence for that call, and for being a great role model for our youth.

To learn more about Terrence's organization, In Arms Reach, which serves children of incarcerated parents, click here.

Every child deserves a chance.

Monte Smith No Holds Barred Interview on Blog Talk Radio

Internationally acclaimed street poet, rap journalist, community-based educator, anti-racist activist and member of the Anti-Injustice Movement (AIM), Monte Smith speaks... And when he speaks, you LISTEN.

The AmeriKKKan criminal (in)justice system -- an incarceration rate nearly double that of Cuba!

That's right, one in every 133 people in this most honorable country of ours is in state or federal prison... and I'm going all in on the bet that this number doesn't even take into account the transient homeless or the border jumpers...



From 2000 through 2002, I volunteered at the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, NY -- upstate. The car pulled up to the monstrous concrete barricade. Into the lobby, past the tired and emotional mothers, brothers, sisters and wives. Shoes off, belts off, wire bras off. Metal detectors. I go off -- it's the metal in my arm. Every time.

Down the dark hallways, past windows offering a close-up view of the yard, the courts, the weights... Past lines of prisoners. They look you in the eyes. Head nods... Past guards, at strategically placed intersecting hallways and heavy metal doors. Looks of condemnation, hate, fury.

And we deny culpability for the prison mentality, for recidivism.



During this time that, weekly, I visited Green Haven, locked up there was Terrence Stevens, a mostly paralyzed, humbled 30-something-year-old black man convicted eight years earlier on cocaine charges. He had been blessed with the MINIMUM sentence -- 15 years to life, or the same as that for murder and kidnapping and more than that for rape, manslaughter and armed robbery.

He was wheeled into the meeting room, one wall a map splattered with dots for all the prisons nationwide and another a floor-to-ceiling burner (graffiti-style mural). The volunteers and inmates hugged, exchanged daps, gathered in a circle. The group discussed -- in English and Spanish -- current events, politics, and prison conditions. Guard abuse. Rape. Racism. Crimes committed. Dreams. Nightmares.

In January 2001, Terrence Stevens was granted clemency by then Governor George Pataki. No repayment for the time lost.

By the next year, the walk down the halls took us on an intentionally circuitous route, across the prison, cell block after cell block, up the stairs, past the the wood shop and library, the mosque and the church. Into a closet-sized box in a remote corner. White walls. Cameras in two out of the four corners. No hugs. No daps. Door slammed shut.

And we wonder why in prison weed heads become con men and con men become cop killers.

(Get to know the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment.)



And it gets worse.

U.S. Prison Facts

1. Today, there are 2,424,279 inmates incarcerated in the United States. As of 2007, the total federal, state, and local adult correctional population -- incarcerated or in the community -- had already grown to more than 7.2 million. About 3.2% of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 31 adults, were incarcerated or on probation or parole. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2007, 2009.)

2. From 2000 through 2007, the number of sentenced prisoners increased by 15%, while the general population increased by 6.4%. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008.)

3. From 1975 to 2000, the number of state prison facilities increased approximately 70%. (Urban Institute, 2004.)

Rest of World

4. Almost half of the people held in penal institutions throughout the world are in the United States, China or Russia. (International Centre for Prison Studies, 2007.)

5. At 738 per 100,000 of the national population, the United States has the highest prison population rate in the world. Turkmenistan is at 489, Cuba at 487, Belarus at 426. And more than 3/5 (61%) of the countries have rates below 150 per 100,000. (International Centre for Prison Studies, 2007.)

Violent v. Non-Violent

6. State prisons held a total of 1,296,700 inmates on all charges at yearend 2005 -- 166,700 for murder, 177,900 for robbery, 129,200 for assault, and 164,600 for rape and other sexual assaults; and 253,300 for non-violent drug offenses, and 98,700 for public-order offenses (e.g., being homeless in public). (U.S. Department of Justice, December 2008.)

7. Federal prisons were estimated to hold 179,204 sentenced inmates in 2007. Of these, 15,647 were incarcerated for violent offenses; 95,446 were incarcerated for drug offenses, and 56,237 were incarcerated for public-order offenses. (U.S. Department of Justice, December 2008.)

8. The U.S. non-violent prisoner population alone is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska. (Justice Policy Institute, 1999.)

9. Since the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug users, the Federal Bureau of Prisons budget has increased by 1,954%. Its budget jumped from $220 million in 1986 to more than $4.3 billion in 2001. (U.S. Department of Justice, 1997; Executive Office of the President, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2002.)

Racism

10. Of the 253,300 state prison inmates serving time for drug offenses at year-end 2005, 113,500 (44.8%) were black, 51,100 (20.2%) were Hispanic, and 72,300 (28.5%) were white. (U.S. Department of Justice, December 2008.)

11. Nationwide, black men are sent to prison on drug charges at 13 times the rate of white men. (Human Rights Watch, 2000.)

12. Most drug offenders are white. Five times as many whites use drugs as blacks. Yet blacks comprise the great majority of drug offenders sent to prison. (Human Rights Watch, 2000.)

13. Nationwide, one in every 20 black men over the age of 18 is in prison. This compares to one in every 180 white men. (Human Rights Watch, 2000.)

18. At the start of the 1990s, the United States had more black men (between the ages of 20 and 29) under the control of the nation's criminal justice system than the total number in college. (Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998).)

Abuse & Isolation

19. In December 2000, the Prison Journal published a study based on a survey of inmates in seven men's prison facilities in four states. The results showed that 21% of the inmates had experienced at least one episode of pressured or forced sexual contact since being incarcerated, and at least 7% had been raped in their facility. (Human Rights Watch, "No Escape: Male Rape in US Prisons - Summary and Recommendations," 2001.)

20. A majority of parents in both state (62%) and federal (84%) prison were held more than 100 miles from their last place of residence. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2000.)

21. As early as 1999, 2.8% of all children under age 18 had at least one parent in a local jail or a state or federal prison -- a total of 1,941,796 kids. One in 40 has an incarcerated father. (U.S. Department of Justice, December 1999.)

22. An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535, or 53+%, held in the nation's prisons at mid-year 2007 were parents of minor children, or children under age 18. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009.)

Recidivism

23. Department of corrections data show that approximately 1/4 of those initially imprisoned for non-violent crimes are sentenced for a second time for committing a violent offense. (Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998).)

Threat to Public Safety

24. As early as 2001, the prison system was operating at 32% over capacity. (Executive Office of the President, Budget of the US Government, Fiscal Year 2002.)

Monetary Cost

25. States spent $42.89 billion on corrections alone in 2005. To compare, states only spent $24.69 billion on public assistance. (National Association of State Budget Officers, 2005.)

26. Expenditures for operating the nation's justice system increased from almost $36 billion in 1982 to more than $185 billion in 2003, an increase of 418%. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004.)

27. The average daily cost per state-prison inmate per day in the U.S. is $67.55. State prisons held 253,300 inmates for drug offenses in 2005. That means states spent approximately $17,110,415 per day -- or more than $6 billion per year -- to imprison drug offenders. (American Correctional Association, 2006; U.S. Department of Justice, 2007.)

Economic & Political Benefits (Urban v. Upstate)

28. The economic benefits of new prisons may come from the flow of additional state and federal dollars. In the decennial census, prisoners are counted where they are incarcerated, and many federal and state funding streams are tied to census population counts. The federal government distributes over $140 billion in grant money to state and local governments through formula-based grants. (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2003; Urban Institute, 2004.)

29. Every dollar transferred to a 'prison community' is a dollar that is not given to the home community of a prisoner, which is often among the country's most disadvantaged urban areas. In New York, for example, 2/3 of state prisoners are from the city, while 91% of prisoners are incarcerated in upstate counties. (Urban Institute, 2004.)

30. The effect of prisoner location on population counts may influence the allocation of political representation and, therefore, political influence. (Urban Institute, 2004.)

The Meaning of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing", 20 Years Later

Click the movie poster above to read the article by Viveca Greene and Chris Tinson for The Nation entitled: "'Do the Right Thing': Still a Racial Rorschach at 20". A discussion amongst intellectuals on racism then and now, in media and outside of it, this is an interesting read.

Remember Yusuf Hawkins, 20 Years After

People talk about the civil movement in the South
but there was a significant movement in the North...
It started in 1989 with Yusuf Hawkins.
-- Al Sharpton (Sunday, August 23, 2009)


Click the above photo, of Yusuf Hawkins (at or around age 16), to read the New York Times City Room blog on the 20-year anniversary of his Yusuf's death at the hands of a white mob in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

A Choice of Weapons (On Photographer Gordon Parks)

One of the homie Lewis Hegeman's (LH's) favorite photographers, Gordon Parks, will now have his 4,000 prints and 20,000 negatives preserved, cataloged, and made available for public view and study.

Parks, who died in 2006, was the first black photographer to work for the likes of Life and Vogue. And his urban images served as inspiration early in LH's career.

Click the photo of Parks below to read the full story and view some of his most famous images.



Parks Photos





A Choice of Weapons
To buy the book, click the cover image below.

Words From The Wise: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Racism is the maximum amount of hatred for the minimum amount of reason
Abraham Joshua Heschel
[20th Century Rabbi]