Music for the Revolution

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday June 10, 2002 00:01 by Emcee Lynx

'The goal of the revolutionary is to make revolution irrisistable....'

Bay-Area Celtic Hip Hop artist Emcee Lynx has gained global recognition in the last two years for his militant revolutionary lyrics and his groundbreaking production. His second album, Soundtrack for Insurrection Volume Two is currently being distributed for free via his website (http://circlealpha.com) as a protest against the comodification of music and culture.

On May 20th 2002 Bay-Area anarchist Hip Hop musician Emcee Lynx released his second album of all-original music online, free to download off his website. New songs disect the war on terrorism, patriarchy, class and race systems, and a wide range of other topics from a left-autonomist perspective.

The album is called Soundtrack for Insurrection Volume Two, and it marks a major turning point for not only the artist, but for the conscious hip hop scene as a whole. For far too long many artists have claimed to be "conscious," but failed to actually say much of anything at all with their lyrics - and quite frequently found themselves mired in their own sexism and homophobia. (Common, for instance is a well-known "conscious" underground hip hop artist in the States who is notorious for his homophobia)
Lynx tackles the internal hypocrisies of the Hip-Hop scene, the various radical scenes, and the corporate-fascist state with an incredible energy and finesse. The flows are some of the smoothest around and the instrumental work is dramatically different from the accepted 'norm.' Instead of the pounding drums and huge bass-hits that are common for so much of Hip Hop today, listeners will hear music based on melody as much as rhythm. Stylistically this is a turning point for Lynx as an artist, Soundtrack Volume 1 was filled with hard industrial-based beats and lyrics full of rage. The rage is still there on volume two, but there's hope as well - taken together the two albums express the dichotomies of love and rage that drive our efforts for liberation.

Standout tracks include:
- "Microphonin'" - where he tackles the conections between patriarchy, anorexia, the GATT, and homelessness.
-"Truth is the Power" - which tackles indoctrination in the public school systems, organized religion, and government surveilance and repression of activists.
- "You Are" - which is dedicated to the memory of Revolutionary Womyn like Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons and speaks directly to the sexism and patriarchy that exist in even the most "radical" circles.
and
- Cold Dreams - about the abuse of the homeless in San Francisco and other major urban centers.

All tracks are free to download and distribute in MP3 and Real Audio formats. Soundtrack Volume one was released in Prague as a Benefit for the Anarchist Black Cross Federation there, and organizations interested in printing and selling either album as a fundraiser for their work are encouraged to contact the artist.

The url for lyrics and for links to places to download both albums is http://circlealpha.com/soundtrack.html