ATSIC S04E38 - Stand
You ever hear people saying that there’s no more Hip Hop with a meaning? That the mainstream is all garbage? Well play them this mix.
This episode is full of my favourite type of rap, the type where the emcees have something to say and causes to stand for. Fantasy raps about riches and women and glamourous luxuries are fun sometimes too, but that’s the porno of Hip Hop, it’s the lowest common denominator draw, and it’s probably not great for mental health or society in general if we’re being honest. Tonight’s playlist has a lot of topics to cover, from Land Back to Palestinian genocide, to racism at home. I want this platform to be a home for ideas of all types, but mostly the progressive ones that encourage love and acceptance. The world has too much anger and division already.
I wanted to play another one from RZA’s surprise drop this year, “Bobby Digital and the Pit of Snakes.” I didn’t want to play the entire thing though, because it’s sort of weird new age rock vibes for a few minutes after the Abbott rhymes at the start. So I cut in and said my piece about Spotify Wrapped instead.
With everyone making the posts showing their numbers (and their posts analyzing what it means that we all post to show our numbers), I can’t resist also offering my take: From what I saw, all the hundreds of thousands of supporters everyone apparently has would have made a lot of people rich if they’d have listened to Spotify to find artists or even regularly access music, but also taken the time to go make a digital purchase of the songs they enjoy the most. This is the ultimate case of me wishing other people acted like I do. We’d solve the worlds problems, I’m sure... Or at least we’d solve this “Spotify doesn’t pay” problem.
I realized I’ve never seen any artist tell people to buy their music digitally. They all point to merch and tickets and physical copies, normally vinyl. I don’t know if that’s greed (I don’t think so, Epic recently pointed out to me that pressing and shipping vinyl actually often costs so much that the profits on physical copies is non existent once you pay to ship the record.) If you want to support artists directly, that’s amazing. Do that. You can also did it by buying music digitally and saving the artist the hassle of spending thousands of dollars pressing vinyl.
Either way, I encourage people to find what they like on Spotify, use it as a menu, then go buy singles for 99 cents each. Save the mp3 to a drive somewhere, and keep your own library for insurance in the unlikely event that iTunes ceases to exist before humanity does.
Buy fewer shoes, buy more music, that’s the core of this thing. What you spend on a burger and fries without blinking would also buy you an entire album and make an artists day. Remember that crowd sourcing is the wave in the modern era. If people had 100 000 listeners who also each tossed them a dollar, artists would be rich, instead of complaining about how Spotify doesn’t pay them enough to keep making music. Listening to artists music is still valid, but if you can’t afford to toss them a dollar, make sure to be telling your friends about your new finds.
Now that I’m done dying on my hill, on with the mix. The rest of the topics are more important, but still, supporting artists and shows like ATSIC (hint hint) is a pretty solid way to make sure conversations about important issues are going to keep happening.
I was sort of drawing a blank on what to call the episode, it’s sort of beside the point really, I just like naming them so that it’s one more hook for me to try to remember what each episode was like. Stonam had sent over a new one called “Stand”, so now it’s the titular track on the mix. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. Stonam produces by the name Royce Birth, and this one is a return to an inspirational organic boom bap sound he locked into for his last album “The Fight Vol 1”. I haven’t seen it confirmed, but he did tell me he has more music coming in 2024, so I assume we’ll be seeing Vol 2 following up after a 3 year span.
“Stop Business as Usual” is the first track I’ve got to play that is actively talking about the ongoing Palestinian genocide. It’s also one of my favourites that I’ve heard yet from Vancouver based artist Kimmortal. She’s been dropping progressive music for a while, and I’ve been playing it. I’m no expert and I have no real valuable insights to add beyond the basics: people shouldn’t kill people, and that rich militaries killing poor people has got to be the worst of all. Ceasefire, there and everywhere. Killing in the name of a religion is some wack shit. Killing each other over land disputes is some wack shit. Killing each other over money is some wack shit. Killing for revenge is wack shit. Killing is some wack shit.
Tariiiq picks up from there, with “The Fog” talking about the fatigue induced by lost love, lost lives, and lost opportunity for peace. I’m not sure who sings the hook, but she does a great job, and Tariiiq is truly a top level lyricist in my humble opinion.
Matthew Progress is a Toronto based emcee with a new project out, “God Made Dirt”. The ODB reference in the title caught my attention, and my pick here, “Gen Pop” has Matthew rapping about the state of his generation. Using hallucinogens and chemicals to escape reality might not be the healthiest coping mechanism, but its one that a lot of us can relate to any ways.
“Stomp City” is probably my favourite from Kay the Aquanaut and cee.reality’s new album, “Before the Dog, After Humanity.” The whole album is raps to resist to, and I felt like Kay was really in the zone across the whole track list, so it was tough to pick what to play.
Halfcut and Rob Roy teamed up for “World on Fire,” a track that finds Rob taking the POV of a revenge seeking militant fueled by the loss of his family in a wartorn country. HC raps about his relationship to religion, and both of the Calgary based emcees bring heartfelt sentiment about watching the world as it seems to deteriorate.
YellowBunny & MamaRudegyal MTHC also joined forces for a single called “1969,” where they chronicle some of the harsh realities people live with and through. A day or two after posting this I saw YB on her socials sharing that she had recently had some near death experiences involving drug use, saying she was happy to be alive. I was happy to hear she was still with us, we lose too many to drug poisoning, violence, and mental illness. Check in on the people you care about, and show love to the artists you appreciate while they’re here to smell the flowers.
Park-Like Setting are back this week with another from “This, That and the Third.” This track, “At the End” finds them lamenting a feeling of helplessness watching the world descend into the apocalypse. It’s mellodramatic, for sure, but also highly relatable. I’ve wrote lyrics saying the same sort of thing.
Toronto emcee King Jus has a new project with Fresh Kils called “Work Hard II Retroactive.” I played “Sign of the Times” because it’s not only topically on theme for the episode, it’s got a catchy hook I couldn’t forget for days.
Up next I played “Marcus Garvey” from Blu & Nottz new project. It’s a big placement for Shad to be popping up alongside Quelle Chris and Blu on this one, and it’s got a lot of subject matter to pass off. Marcus Garvey, from my limited understanding, taught that Black people in America would never be free or truly equal without returning to Africa. I, as a white guy, have no deep or meaningful opinion on that philosophy, but the emcees here come at it from a bunch of different modern perspectives and discuss the concept. I’m happy to make this show a platform for the exchange of ideas.
Up next on “AFRICAN CUBISM” G Milla draws parrallels between Picasso’s usage of African Cubism stylistically to bring himself wealth and fame. He laments white boys getting rich off his work. I just want everyone to be clear that I’ve been doing this show for 4 years and made exactly 0 dollars in return for promoting new indie rap every week. I lose money buying digital singles of everything I play, this song included. That said, I hear what he’s saying and it’s on point, and I acknowledge that there are culture vultures who are making money off of an artform that was pioneered by Black people. Again, I try to use the ATSIC platform to present as many perspectives as I can, and to amplify other peoples voices more than my own.
Upcoming Fly in Formation guest Freelance Flint’s new track “Eastvan Ted Talks” has him adressing the reality of the opioid epidemic in Vancouver. He talks about being grateful for what he’s overcome and laments the loss of friends.
Classified sort of cops out and fence rides on his new one, “People”, walking a fine line that approaches “I don’t see colour” or something like that, while he talks about hating all people equally. He also manages to steer the ship back on course and call for everyone to forget our differences and find some unity in the world, which I can get behind. I’ve always been the type of guy who will tell you there’s a morally right and wrong side of the political spectrum, or Covid masking, or whatever else.. but I also know there’s a time and a place to die on a hill, and there’s a time to hold hands and sing kumbyeah. I’ll take this opportunity to do the latter. The episode has enough divisive topics, if anyone makes it this far through they deserve some peace regardless what they think.
“Dandelions” is from Quake Matthew’s Deluxe edition of “The Darkroom,” and finds him talking about being the rose that grew from concrete over top of some big bass. It’s overcame the struggle rap rap, and I’m here for it.
Elaquent is a Toronto producer with a new album, and I featured “Small Victories” with Dom Chronicles talking about taking your wins when you can and showing appreciation for the small things. That’s an important part of maintaining in this world.
“East Coast Family” flips a familiar refrain for the hook one more time, with reggae singer Jah’Mila recruiting fellow East Coast artists Wolf Castle and Aquakulture to supply verses. More unifying vibes on this one.
The mix finishes out with Moka Only blessing a beat from DJ K-Rec with an infectious hook that he delivers in a really unique cadence and tone. It’s as positive as I’ve ever heard fellow Vancouverite Checkmate be on a track, as he joins to drop a verse on the funky love balad. Spreading love is the solution to all the problems that emcees mentioned on this episode.
The power of rap is immense. Spoken word and story telling can be pivotal for changing people’s minds on topics they might have never considered in depth. That’s why I put mixes like this one together, to start people thinking, to start discussion, and to show people that there is still a lot of very engaging music being made, because the world is still an imperfect place. If we ever solve all the problems art will get a lot more boring.
Thanks for the support, thanks for checking in and reading. Let me know what you think of the mixes, the songs, the artists, or anything else. Sound off in the comments here, on Mixcloud, or on any of the socials (YouTube).
Fly in Formation Season 2 is done! Season 3 is back in January! The Jan/Feb schedule is up on Twitch right now for anyone curious. Make sure to hit follow on Twitch or subscribe so you don’t have to watch the ad breaks during that interview! Help build a community by popping up in chat and asking questions to me or the guests. I’ll do more promo for next season of FiF through December.
Each week I buy every song I play, unless the artist sent it to me and saved me a buck. I buy the music because I know how important it is to support independent artists. Making music is time-consuming and expensive. Streaming doesn’t pay much at all, and since streaming has become the way most people consume music, it’s even more important to make sure to buy tickets, buy music (physical or digital), and buy merch from artists you want to hear more from. Streaming pays next to nothing, so if you want artists working on more music instead of working more shifts at their day job, you need to show them love by opening your wallet and giving them financial support.
Stay Up.
