PARIS
TFS Release Date:10/01/2003
RAPPER PARIS AIMS TO PUSH POLITICAL BUTTONS
**USUALLY SHIPS WITHIN 24HRS
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SONIC JIHAD
LABEL:GUERRILLA FUNK RECORDINGS
DISC : 1
CONDITION:NEW
By Soren Baker
Special to the Chicago Tribune
September 25, 2003
The cover for the new album from rapper Paris is intended to send a chill
down your spine. The artwork for "Sonic Jihad," which hit stores Tuesday,
features a computer-generated picture of an airliner about to fly into the
White House.
The image is tame compared to the messages contained in the San Francisco
Bay area rapper's music. On such songs as "What Would You Do?," Paris
accuses the current Bush administration of helping orchestrate the terror
attacks and murdering people of color for profit.
The rapper says that he is not anti-American. Instead, he is against many of
America's policies. He said the current war in Iraq, which he said was
launched for oil, not to root out weapons of mass destruction, is an example
of the U.S. government misusing its resources.
"The album is a rallying cry against acts of terror sponsored by the United
States," Paris said. "The entire objective of it is to spark dialogue."
LOOK IT UP
On the recently released "AfterMath: Unanswered Questions From 9/11"
DVD (which Paris narrated and scored) and Paris' guerillafunk.com Web
site, Paris provides plenty of documentation for his beliefs.
Paris said that people must be willing to do their own research when reading
about current events.
"You will never hear any real dissection of the events of 9/11 in the
conventional news media," Paris said. "The wealth of information is out there
for anybody that's willing to look for it."
"What Would You Do?" notwithstanding, "Sonic Jihad" contains plenty of
food for thought on a variety of equally volatile subjects. On "Evil," for
example, Paris speaks from the perspective of evil as if it were an entity
(implied to be the United States government), while on "AWOL" he acts as
though he's a minority youth who joins the armed services with hopes of
traveling the world on America's dime, but instead finds death and
destruction in the war-torn area he visits overseas and a curious
disease and resentment when he returns home.
This is the type of political commentary that has earned Paris a steady
following.
"He always pushes the political buttons," said Billy Johnson Jr., urban editor
for Yahoo's Launch.com music site. "His goal is to go to the extremes and
he really puts himself out there. I think he could care less if he sells any
records or gets any radio play. I think he just wants to get his message
across."
Calls to Chicago-area radio stations weren't returned, but it's likely Paris'
album won't receive airtime on local stations because it's an independent
release, something many stations tend to ignore.
Paris' scorn isn't limited to the government. He attacks the current state of
hip-hop on "Ain't No Love" and "Lay Low," two cuts that lament that
hip-hop has lost its political edge in favor of music that, largely controlled by
white executives, caters to negative imagery of African-Americans.
If Paris provokes any problems with the content of "Sonic Jihad," it won't be
the first time the incendiary rapper has had to deal with conflicts over his
subject matter.
His second album, 1992's "Sleeping With the Enemy," was supposed to be
released prior to the 1992 presidential election. But Paris was dropped from
his record label, at the time Time Warner subsidiary Tommy Boy Records,
because of two songs, "Bush Killa," which called for the assassination of the
first President Bush for neglecting America's oppressed communities, and
"Coffee, Donuts & Death," which included Paris advocating the murder of
police officers who rape, brutalize and kill African-Americans.
Time
Warner, already shaken by an earlier controversy with rapper Ice-T over his
song "Cop Killer," decided to dump Paris rather than release his album.
Being released from his contract led Paris to start his own imprint, Scarface
Records. He released his next three albums on the label. ("Sonic Jihad" will
be available through his Guerrilla Funk Recordings.)
PRUDENT INVESTOR
Paris' bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California,
Davis helped him run his fledgling record company and earn a comfortable
living from stock market investments in the late 1990s. That financial
stability allowed him to wait until he had an adequate distribution deal for his
next album, which ended up being "Sonic Jihad," his first since 1998's
"Unleashed."
"I can't be mad at somebody that gets mad at `Sonic Jihad' when they give it
a cursory [listen] because they don't know any better," he said. "[They would
say,] `I don't know how he could make that,' but by the same token, these are
the same people who seem to not really have a problem with records that talk
about black-on-black violence. But what's really more violent?
"What's worse: this Photoshopped image on this album or murdered
civilians?" he asks. "People like to exercise a selective morality when it
comes to this."
Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune
TRACK LISTING
1.AVE BUSHANI~Listen
2.FIELD NIGGA BOOGIE~Listen
3.SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER~Listen
4.SPLIT MILK~Listen
5.TEAR SHIT UP~Listen
6.FREEDOM~Listen
7.AIN'T NO LOVE~Listen
8.LAY LOW~Listen
9.LIFE GOES ON~Listen
10.YOU KNOW MY NAME~Listen
11.EVIL~Listen
12.AWOL~Listen
13.AGENTS OF REPRESSION~Listen
14.WHAT WOULD YOU DO ?~Listen
15.HOW WE DO~Listen
16.FREEDOM (THE LAST CALL REMIX)~Listen
(FIRST CLASS WORLD WIDE SHIPPING)
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