Here's an interesting read that I meant to type a few weeks ago, finally got to it:
"Friday marks what would have been the 35th birthday of slain rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur, and this year is the 10th anniversary of his death.
With more than 40 million albums sold, the vast majority after his murder, Tupac remains a revered figure around the world. Unfortunately, the mainstream media highlight his thug persona to the point that many forget Tupac was the son of a Black Panther and a well-read, politically astute artist. In fact, shortly before his death, he had set in motion a plan to encourage fans to become engaged in politics.
Tupac did not believe on should just go to the polls, cast a vote and call it a day. He believed one's vote was a way to "chin check" politicians who hadn't done right by the community. Shortly before his murder, Tupac held a press conferenace wtih Snoop Dogg and MC Hammer to announce plans for politiczing the 6 million fans who had bought his last album. Snoop and Hammer intended to do the same with their fans.
Those plans did not arise in a vaccum. Earlier, Tupac had called for acton against the Berkeley City Council, which had declared a moratorium on rap concerts in its city after a violent incident at the Berekely Community Theater. Artists and fans showed up en masse at a council meeting to demand a reversal of the decision. A Digital Underground member warned that the group already had made history by getting more than 2 million people to do the Humpty Dance and that it would be a shame if it had to make history again by urging fans to vote the council out of office.
The moratorium was lifted, and as a result of that incident, some Berkeley law students formed one of hip-hop's first political-action groups, GRIP, the Group for Rap Industry Protection. It put toegether a well-thought-paper on security at hip-hop concerts, which was instrumental in getting a ssimlar concert bad lifted at Oakland's Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
Now members of the hip-hop community can honor Tupac's political legacy by informing themselves and fighting an insidious congressional bill quietly being pushed by large televcommunications companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. It would put an end to the "Net neutrality" that allows Internet users to go seamlessly from one Web site to any other. With Net neutrality, broadband operators were prevented from charging to have content and services prioritized over their systems, and the little guy with something to say on a blog was able to compete with a giant news outlet, because he was just as accesssible..."
Taken from a newspaper article "Hip-Hop's next big stop: Capitol Hill" by Davey D. For more info check out www.savetheinternet.com.
"Friday marks what would have been the 35th birthday of slain rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur, and this year is the 10th anniversary of his death.
With more than 40 million albums sold, the vast majority after his murder, Tupac remains a revered figure around the world. Unfortunately, the mainstream media highlight his thug persona to the point that many forget Tupac was the son of a Black Panther and a well-read, politically astute artist. In fact, shortly before his death, he had set in motion a plan to encourage fans to become engaged in politics.
Tupac did not believe on should just go to the polls, cast a vote and call it a day. He believed one's vote was a way to "chin check" politicians who hadn't done right by the community. Shortly before his murder, Tupac held a press conferenace wtih Snoop Dogg and MC Hammer to announce plans for politiczing the 6 million fans who had bought his last album. Snoop and Hammer intended to do the same with their fans.
Those plans did not arise in a vaccum. Earlier, Tupac had called for acton against the Berkeley City Council, which had declared a moratorium on rap concerts in its city after a violent incident at the Berekely Community Theater. Artists and fans showed up en masse at a council meeting to demand a reversal of the decision. A Digital Underground member warned that the group already had made history by getting more than 2 million people to do the Humpty Dance and that it would be a shame if it had to make history again by urging fans to vote the council out of office.
The moratorium was lifted, and as a result of that incident, some Berkeley law students formed one of hip-hop's first political-action groups, GRIP, the Group for Rap Industry Protection. It put toegether a well-thought-paper on security at hip-hop concerts, which was instrumental in getting a ssimlar concert bad lifted at Oakland's Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
Now members of the hip-hop community can honor Tupac's political legacy by informing themselves and fighting an insidious congressional bill quietly being pushed by large televcommunications companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. It would put an end to the "Net neutrality" that allows Internet users to go seamlessly from one Web site to any other. With Net neutrality, broadband operators were prevented from charging to have content and services prioritized over their systems, and the little guy with something to say on a blog was able to compete with a giant news outlet, because he was just as accesssible..."
Taken from a newspaper article "Hip-Hop's next big stop: Capitol Hill" by Davey D. For more info check out www.savetheinternet.com.
