Episode 102: Test Their Logik on 10 years since the G20 in Toronto

Exactly 10 years ago this June, Toronto was a battleground. The G20 had just invaded the city, with the leaders of the world’s largest economies meeting behind fortified fences to discuss pillaging the world. Outside were thousands of us, there to crash the meeting.

The massive demos, and some rioting that followed, gave way to the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Two of those people arrested were our guests on the program today, Testament and Illogik of the long-standing anarchist hip-hop duo Test Their Logik. They join us to reflect on the history of their group, the 10 year anniversary of the G20, and their new album “See”.

Like this podcast? Then support us on Patreon!

Grab the new Test Their Logik album on their bandcamp page here! Also check out these other dope projects that Test Their Logik are involved in: Realitea Cannabucha, and the True Cost of Coal book with the Beehive Collective.

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Episode 98 – Snotty Nose Rez Kids

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The Snotty Nose Rez Kids, an Indigenous hip-hop duo hailing from the Haisla nation, join us to chop it up about their new EP “Born Deadly”, the #ShutDownCanada movement against pipelines and artist life under COVID-19.

Like this podcast? Then support us!

www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

Paypal: rebel@ckut.ca

Tracklist – Snotty Nose Rez Kids : 

Real Deadly

Warriors

Cops with guns are the worst!!!

KKKanada

Boujee Natives

Skoden

Episode 97 – An Update From Wet’suwet’en

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Happy new year! And welcome back to another edition of The Rebel Beat. On this edition, I wanted to share a radio program I guest-hosted on CKUT radio in Montreal, Funky Revolutions. What you’re about to hear is a 2 hour music mix of funky soul, hip-hop, reggae, and folk, with a special focus on the struggle against pipelines on Wet’suwet’en territory.

We’re joined by Jennifer Wickam (35:00), a Wet’suwet’en land defender who has been holding it down at the Gidimden checkpoint. The tension has been high over the last few weeks as RCMP police are poised to attack the community yet again.

**Like this podcast? Then support us!

http://patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

Playlist

LaBelle – Moon shadow

Buffy Sainte Marie – Now that the buffalo’s gone

Willie Dunn – I pity the country

John Trudell – Rich man’s war

Alanis Obomsawin – Odana

A Tribe Called Red – Stadium pow wow

Interview with Jennifer Wickam

JB the First Lady – Front lines

Snotty Nose Rez Kids – Son of a matriarch

Rapsody (feat Gza) – Ibtihaj

A Tribe Called Quest – Left my wallet in El Segundo

Amerigo Gazaway – Peculiar mathematics

Otis Redding – The glory of love

Carla Thomas – B-A-B-Y

Jackie Shane – Sticks and Stones

Bruxas – Plantas falsas

Nanku Phiri – Sifo

Ibibio Sound Machine – The chant

Roland Alphonso – Guantanamera ska

Nora Dean – Barbed wire

Junior Murvin – Cool out son

Macka B – Never played a 45

 

We’re Back! Episode 093: Backxwash

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** Do you like this podcast? Then support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

After a prolonged hiatus for most of 2019, we’re back with a brand new episode of The Rebel Beat! This one is a bit of a throwback to our old format, since it’s part of a residency we’re doing at our beloved local community radio station CKUT. So you’ll hear a lot more music here!

Special guest on the show is the delightfully militant trans rapper Backxwash. Originally from Zambia, she’s now based in Montreal. She’s been tearing up the local scene lately, from playing huge stages like Montreal’s Pride festival, to countless community benefit shows. And her new album “Deviancy” is fire!

Enjoy!

**Playlist**

 

Anderson Paak – King James

Jamila Woods – Blk girl soldier

Sa-Roc – Heaven on earth

Narcy – Superhero

Tribe Called Red – The OG

Saul Williams – Experiment

Backxwash – Devil in a moshpit

Limp Wrist – Punk ass queers

Backxwash – Don’t come to the woods

Backxwash – Burn me at the stake

Jackie Shane – Any other way

Big Freedia – Azz everywhere

G.L.O.S.S. – Masculine artifice

Femmpire – Eyes of the patriarchy

Against Me! – Transgender dysphoria blues

Nakhane – New Brighton

Las Cafeteras – La bamba rebelde

Rebel Diaz – Free the children

Soul Jazz Orchestra – General Strike

Episode 091: 18 Year Old Xiuhtezcatl Throwing Down for The Land & People

 

What’s up! Welcome to the latest edition of The Rebel Beat for November 2018! Our special guest on the show this month is Xiuhtezcatl! Xiuhtezcatl is maybe the busiest, fiercest, and most accomplished 18-year old we’ve ever spoken with. He’s an Indigenous hip-hop artist based out of Boulder, Colorado, a youth activist, and he’s even written a book on resisting climate change. A huge inspiration dropping beats that the next 7 generations can revolt to.

 

**If you like this podcast, then support us! http://www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

In our Turn It Up segment, we give mad respect to Benjamin Zephaniah, a British dub poet who recently turned down an offer to be the UK’s poet laureate. Check out the article, and Zephaniah’s righteous response here.

Playlist

Narcy – Fake news

Marc Ribot & Steve Earle – Srinivas

Xiuhtezcatl – Young

Xiuhtezcatl – Magic

Xiuhtezcatl – Broken

Xiuhtezcatl – Sage Up

Xiuhtezcatl – Break Free

Benjamin Zephaniah – I am a revolutionary

The Rebel Beat 088: Kimmortal on Pipelines, Power, and Vancouver’s Finest FemmeC’s

 

On Episode 88 of The Rebel Beat, we have the pleasure of meeting Kimmortal. Kimmortal is a queer non-binary pilipinx artist based on unceded, unsurrendered Coast Salish Territories also known as Vancouver, BC (Canada). Her music is an inspiring mix of hip-hop, RnB, and guitar-driven pop, all with a radical, empowering message. Check Kimmortal out!

In our Turn It Up segment, we give props to Lee Reed, who just dropped his “Steal City EP” to support a tenant strike against gentrification in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. Go check it out, and support the class war on the dancefloor!

**If you like the Rebel Beat, then support us!
www.patreon.com/rebelbeatradio

 

* Playlist *
Jasiri X – The whitest house
Tom Morello – Rabbit’s revenge (feat. Killer Mike, Big Boi, Bassnectar)
Kimmortal – I’m blue
Kimmortal – Doodle #1
Kimmortal – She
Kimmortal – Jungle (feat. Jillthy and Missy D)
Kimmortal – 88 and Beyond
Lee Reed – Too ambitious

The Rebel Beat 085: Dio Ganhdih

 

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

 

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

 

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)

 

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