Tag Archives: hip hop

The Rebel Beat 085: Dio Ganhdih

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Welcome back to the latest episode of The Rebel Beat podcast!

Our special guest on the show this month is Dio Ganhdih! Dio Ganhdih is a queer Indigenous MC, with roots in Awkwesasne Mohawk territory, and now based in NYC. She’s part of the epic Revolutions Per Minute family, and spits absolute fire on the mic. Check her out!

In our Turn It Up segment, we look at artists who are standing alongside Palestinians, both in Palestine and in the diaspora. Check out the initiative of Montreal-based artists in solidarity with Palestinian refugee Omar Ben-Ali.
www.tadamon.ca/omar

And finally, Kareem Samara from Firebrand Records is taking over the Firebrand social medias this week to talk everything Palestine & BDS related. Follow along as you rock to the brand new EXCLUSIVE premiere of the single “Nil’in” by Kareem, Ryan Harvey, and Shireen Lillith.

If you like The Rebel Beat, support the podcast! Throw us any amount you can through our Patreon:
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

**If you sign up to support us for only $2/month during the month of May, we’ll send you a beautiful Rebel Beat metal pin in the mail!

**Playlist**

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Dio Ganhdih (Photo:  Elena Kulikova)

Seun Keuti & Egypt 80 – Struggle sounds
Benjamin Zephaniah feat. Logic – I am a revolutionary
Dio Ganhdih – Native New Yorker
Snotty Nose Rez Kids – KKKanada
Dio Ganhdih – Indigenous lyricist
Dio Ganhdih – Pussy vortex
Alas feat. Savage Fam – Go away
Dio Ganhdih – Do it ourselves
Kareem Samara – Take away the right
Ryan Harvey, Kareem Samara, Shireen Lillith – Nil’in

 

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The Rebel Beat’s Best of 2017

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The year is almost up, and we get ready to turn our calendars on a year that has been marked around the world by rising sea levels, rising far-right movements, and rising repression. Luckily, there will always be social movements out there to confront these injustices, just as there will always be artists and musicians ready to put a deadly beat behind a righteous message.

As we get ready for 2018, here are some highlights of radical music and podcasts that we have enjoyed at The Rebel Beat throughout 2017. If you dig these artists, and if you have some cash to spare, do consider buying their music, as this is really the only way to support independent music in our digital age.

Also, if you enjoy The Rebel Beat, please consider throwing $1 per month (or more!) our way! You can sign up easily on our Patreon page today.

Oh, and we’re about to release the next episode of our podcast, which will feature an interview with Lido Pimienta! So if you don’t wanna miss that, subscribe today on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you like to get your podcasts.

 

Fiver – “Audible Songs From Rockwood”

Fiver (aka. Simone Schmidt from Toronto) is a phenomenal singer-songwritter who crafted this amazing album based on the archives of a women’s prison that locked people up in southern Ontario from the 1850s-1870s. It’s hard-hitting, insightful, and the wild thing is that pretty much all the issues that Fiver sings about on the album can still be seen in the prison industrial complex today.

 

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The Rebel Beat 079: Hitting the Ice With Propagandhi

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Welcome to the latest episode of The Rebel Beat! Class war on the dancefloor, delivered to you once a month, in a podcast.

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Our special guest on the show this month is Jord Samolesky, drummer and founding member of Propagandhi! We spoke with Jord while he was in Montreal touring the band’s new album “Victory Lap”. We spoke about the history of the band, the state of the world, and most importantly, hockey!

Plus we hear some new stuff from Ryan Harvey, Shireen Lillith, Kareem Samara, Talib Kweli, and the Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

Finally, in our Turn it Up segment, we give another shout out to Lido Pimienta for carving out positive spaces for women of colour in the music scene. Read more about that here.

***Support The Rebel Beat!***
Sign up on our Patreon page for as little as $1/month, and get some great swag!
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

 

Playlist

Snotty Nose Rez Kids – KKKanada

Talib Kweli – All of us

Propagandhi – And we thought nation-states were a bad idea

Propagandhi – Fuck the border

Propagandhi – Victory Lap

Propagandhi – Dear Coach’s Corner

Propagandhi – Resist/comply

Ryan Harvey, Shireen Lillith, Kareem Samara – Omar

A Tribe Called Red w/ Lido Pimienta – For you (The Light pt. 2) 

 

Check out the video for “Omar” by Ryan Harvey, Kareem, and Shireen!

The Rebel Beat 078: Gentrification Kills Music (and everything else you love)

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Welcome back to another episode of The Rebel Beat, a Firebrand Records podcast! This is your monthly installment of class war on the dance floor.

We have a stacked show lined up for you, as usual. The name of the game this month is capitalism, gentrification, and its impacts on underground music scenes. We know already that gentrification fucks over poor communities, the homeless, and immigrant neighborhoods, but how much have we looked at how gentrification can actually hurt the music we love? From venues being shut down to make way for condos, to artists being priced out of their homes, that’s what we’re gonna explore on this episode of The Rebel Beat.

Our feature interview this month is with long-time anarchist MC Lee Reed, and Alex from the Hamilton Tenant Solidarity Network.

** If likeThe Rebel Beat, support us on Patreon! Even $1/month helps:
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

In our Turn It Up segment, we pay some respect to Princess Nokia, the hero who threw hot soup on a racist on the NYC subway. Read more about that here.

Lee Reed was one of the first guests we ever had on The Rebel Beat! Check out our older interview with him here.

The Rebel Beat is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts. Check them out here:
www.channelzeronetwork.com

**Playlist**
Playlist
The Slackers – Eviction
The Evaporators – Gassy Jack
The Weakerthans – My favourite chords
Lee Reed – Members of the board
YG feat. Nipsey Hussle – Fuck Donald Trump
Lee Reed – No Kanada
Lee Reed – Bad Gas
Immortal Technique – Harlem streets
Lee Reed – The new steal
Princess Nokia – Tomboy

The Rebel Beat 077: Nazim & Rap Battles for Social Justice

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Welcome to the Rebel Beat, a Firebrand Records podcast! This is your monthly dose of Class War on the Dance floor, hosted by Aaron Maiden.

It’s September, class is back in session, and to help us fuse the old school with the new school, educate, agitate, and organize, we’re gonna be introducing you to a Rap Battle like you’ve never heard of before – the Rap Battles for Social Justice based outta Montreal. Our special guest on the show is one of their coordinators, Nazim. Nazim is also an amazing MC in his own right. Check out his stuff here.

***If you like The Rebel Beat, support us!
Donate for as little as $1/month, and get some awesome swag in return:
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

In our Turn It Up segment, we honor Lido Pimienta an Indigenous Colombian artist based in Toronto, who just won the Polaris Music prize for Best Canadian Album of 2017! Check out “La Papessa” by Pimienta here.

**Playlist**
Billy Bragg and Wilco – all you fascists
Downtown Boys – A wall
Propagandhi – Victory lap
Lycka Till – Gaza
Nazim – Ta3ban
Nazim – Back to Egypt
Nazim – Diaspora blues
Rap Battle for Eco-Justice track
Lido Pimienta – Agua

Rebel Beat Summer Playlist

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What’s up Rebel Beat massive! Hope you all have been having a great summer so far. Inspired partly by our homies at SubMedia who have made some amazing music playlists this summer, and partly inspired by our need and desire to keep sharing and amplifying the rhythms and rhymes of resistance, we’ve put together a special Rebel Beat playlist for you all to rock out to this summer. There’s a bit of everything here – some punk, some folk, some hip-hop, and some new tunes from Firebrand Records. Enjoy!

 

The Rebel Beat Se2 Ep13: Brother Ali

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Bonjour!

Welcome to the latest episode of The Rebel Beat podcast! Our special guest on the show this month is the veteran Minneapolis underground rapper Brother Ali! Brother Ali is a mainstay of the venerated RhymeSayers label, and a true legend in the game. His music encapsulates so many parts of his identity: activist, father, lover, Muslim, body-positive albino, deep thinker. He has a brand new album out called “All the beauty in this whole life”, and we caught up with him while he was touring his album through Montreal last month. What follows is a conversation on the new album, racism in America, how to lead a virtuous life, and why he can’t watch horror movies.

**3 easy ways to support The Rebel Beat podcast**

-Tell a friend about the show, or share it on social media!

–Subscribe to the podcast!

-Support us on Patreon! Even $1/month helps. http://www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

Our special co-host on the show this month is Jesse Freeston. Jesse is a documentary filmmaker, and his most recent work, Resistencia, is an inspiring story about the battle of peasants in the Aguan Valley of Honduras. Check it!

Channel Zero Network

Yup! We’re proud to say that we’re officially part of the Channel Zero Network of anarchist podcasts. The network website will be launching any minute now. Stay up to date on their Facebook or Twitter pages.

We gave a quick shout-out to those organizing the legal defense for the J20 defendants. Click this link to find out more, or make a donation!

Turn It Up segment

We honour the Black Lives Matter chapters of Toronto and Montreal, who briefly shut down the Montreal Jazz Festival during a demonstration for justice for Pierre Coriolan, murdered by Montreal police on June 27th. Here’s a report for more info.

Thanks for listening!

 

 

Playlist

Enter-Tribal – Sisterz

Sa-Roc – Lilith’s psalm

Sa-Roc – Heaven on Earth

Brother Ali – Uncle Sam goddam

Brother Ali – Dear Black son

Brother Ali – Before they called you white

Brother Ali – Hearts

Built for the Sea – Sound Your Bell

Tyrone Washington – Universal spiritual revolt

 

The Rebel Beat Se2 Ep12: Kiwi Illafonte

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On this latest edition of The Rebel Beat for June, 2017, we meet Kiwi Illafonte. Kiwi is a California-born, Montreal-based radical Filipino hip-hop MC, graphic designer, and community organizer. He’s a former member of the seminal Bay-area Filipino-American groups Native Guns and Mass Bass. Our conversation touches on hip-hop as a powerful vehicle for self-expression, and anti-imperialist struggles world-wide. Check out Kiwi’s stuff here:
kiwizzo.wordpress.com/

**If you enjoy The Rebel Beat, please support us! Click here to sign up on our Patreon support page:
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio
We’re extending a special offer until June 30th – for everyone who signs up at only $2/month, you’ll get a custom-made Rebel Beat enamel pin sent to you in the mail!

For our Turn it Up segment, we look at the beautiful compilation “Hugs for Chelsea” to support Chelsea Manning, put together by Evan Greer. You can check that out here:
hugsforchelsea.bandcamp.com/

And, as an added bonus, we also have a “Turn it Down” segment, where we talk about Radiohead, and their stubborn insistence to entertain apartheid in Israel. More info on that here:www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/uk-…03101841006.html

Enjoy!

Playlist

KRS-One – Same shit
Brother Ali – Dear Black son
Meryem Saci (feat. Tali Taliwah) – This too shall pass
Kiwi Illafonte – Free
Native Guns – Hammer
Mass Bass – Ooh mama
Kiwi Illafonte – Seeds
Kiwi Illafonte – Highway robbery
Ike Reilly – Bolt cutter

 

To check out “Sounds of a New Hope”, a documentary film featuring Kiwi Illafonte, click here: http://soundsofanewhope.blogspot.ca/

 

 

The Rebel Beat Se2 Ep10 – Alas Spits Decolonizing Fire

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Welcome back to the latest edition of The Rebel Beat!

Our special guest this month is Alas. Alas is an MC who is consistently spitting out pure revolutionary fire, and when she’s not on the mic, you can probably find her on the front lines of the struggle to decolonize Turtle Island. You might already be familiar with her work with Savage Fam, who we’ve also interviewed on this show, and we had a chance to talk to her about the time she spent at Standing Rock in so-called North Dakota last winter. Check out her Bandcamp page!

Also, if you like this show, please support it! The podcast is free, it always will be, but if you wanna support revolutionary music being pumped into your ears and podcast apps every month, please consider throwing us a 1 or 2 bucks per episode. You can support us on our Patreon page: www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

Or if you want to make a one-time donation, we’ve got a big Paypal button at the top of our website, which you can find at rebelbeatradio.com.

For our Turn It Up segment, we look at 2 very different but very important struggles:

-The battle to save Radio Centre-Ville, a long-running multi-lingual community radio station in Montreal. To find out more, visit:
www.facebook.com/frauderadiocentreville/

-The “Battle of Berkley” on April 15, when anti-fascists confronted neo-nazis, fascists, and other Trump supporters in the Bay area. For more info and reporting, visit:
itsgoingdown.org/igd-black-bloc-d…ve-nazi-salutes/

Enjoy the show!

** Playlist **

Snoop Dogg w/ BadBadNotGood – Lavender (Nightfall remix)
Sa Roc – I am her
Mob Bounce w/ Boogey the Beat – Vision quest
Alas – Outlaw
Alas – A game (the poor can’t afford to play)
Alas – Tourist
Savage Fam w/ Alas – Walking with the Dead
Alas w/ Savage Fam – Go away
Dio Ganhdih feat. Chhoti Maa – Indigenoust lyricist
Moscow Death Brigade – Papers please

 

Click here to download this podcast

Some faves of The Rebel Beat lately

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Fiver

 

One downside of only publishing the Rebel Beat podcast once per month is that I feel there is just TOO MUCH GOOD RADICAL MUSIC OUT THERE to fit onto a monthly show! So this is a bit of an attempt to bring together some things I’ve been listening to lately – all artists that I hope we’ll feature as guests on the podcasts some day, and albums you should check out. So hope you enjoy this video mixtape!

Fiver – Audible Songs from Rockwood

Fiver is the solo project moniker of Simone Schmidt, a gifted songwriter, ex lead singer of One Hundred Dollars, and also a dear friend of mine. For her upcoming album, due out in April, Simone spent years doing research in the Ontario archives about women who were locked up in the Rockwood asylum in the 1800s. The result is a beautiful collection of songs based on some of the real stories of women who were incarcerated there. If you want to hear a great interview with Simone, as well as teasers for some of the songs, check out this recent episode of The Imposter podcast. And here’s a great little mini-doc about the album!

 

Narcy – World War Free

To me, Montreal’s very own Narcy can do no wrong. In a climate of heightened xenophobia and racism against refugees, this video couldn’t have come any sooner.

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