Mark Devlin is a UK-based club and radio DJ and music journalist. In more recent years he has begun speaking about the dark forces that have been manipulating the music industry for decades. This led to the publication of his book 'Musical Truth' in 2016, with Volume 2 following in early 2018.
His debut novel, 'The Cause & The Cure,' arrived early 2020.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/markdevlin
https://odysee.com/@markdevlintv:e
E-mail: markdevlinuk@gmail.com
I'd like to say it happens more often, but about once a year, Mrs. D and myself escape on a quick break to our favourite spa hotel, The Alexander House in West Sussex. We managed to unload our two-year-old for the night, but this time compromised by taking our new daughter Akilah with us. It was 24 hours of good food and great pampering that was over all too quickly ... although I've gone off the hotel slightly since learning that Jordan and that Alex thing recently spent a night there. Yuk. Hope it wasn't in our room. My regular spot at The Living Room in Milton Keynes rounded off that week on Saturday 5th.
Road trips of 1,000 miles or more are routine in the US and Australia, but are considered a big deal in the UK. For the second weekend of March I'd lined up one of my marathon treks to Scotland. With gigs in three cities, it made little sense to fly, then try and get around by train/ bus/ taxi, so driving it was. 1,144 miles were covered by my trusty (and highly economical, I'm happy to say) Bima, which allowed for a hell of a lot of new promo and mix CD listening in-car.
With warm Spring weather at home, the forecast for Scotland made for grim reading. Friday's six-hour drive was sunny up until the Scottish borders. By the time I'd got to Glasgow, it was nasty Arctic sleet all the way. I kicked off the three-night sweep by hanging out with key G-Town player Gavin Somerville at his gig at Bamboo, before going on to the massive Garage complex, where I joined legend Ray Woods on the decks. Ray's been Glasgow's leading urban DJ since the 90s, holding down classic spots like Blanket, The Crib and The Velvet Rooms. It's always good to play in Scotland's largest city, but its confusing one-way system and sprawling road infrastructure is something I never miss.
The weather had taken a turn for the worse by Saturday, but thankfully I only had the short distance to the Falkirk Travelodge, (living in style) then on that night to the capital city. I got to Sportsters Bar near Edinburgh's Waverley Station at 11pm, where DJs P45 and Fabuloz were holding their new Deuces Saturday nighter. Headlining were US DJs D-Cas and Azul, who'd flown in from Atlanta specially. I got things bubbling with a 90s R&B and dancehall set, before they stepped up to blaze it. It was a great session, and the party continued in the DJ booth for a short while after lights up - here's a highly entertaining video of that!
On to Sunday, and it was up the M90 to Aberdeen, passing a whole bunch of place names that brought back memories of my Dad catching the Scottish football results on World Of Sport back in the day - Stenhousemuir, Arbroath, Forfar, all that good stuff. Early evening, I linked with Aberdeen DJ Kojo for a quick social drink at my hotel, before hitting rainy Union Street for Sunday Shakedown at Espionage alongside Paul Doherty. The night bubbled nicely, its 2am curfew feeling unnaturally early. I grabbed just enough sleep to see me through the eight-hour drive home on Monday, arriving back with the three female Devlins around 7pm.
I don't actually have any Irish ancestry. My name stood me in good stead for a few days later, however, as I headed off to Northern Ireland for my first taste of St. Patrick's Day on the Emerald Isle. I mixed airlines, flying back with BMI from Belfast City, but heading out with Aer Lingus to the more distant Belfast International. There, I was collected by a driver who put me in mind of Frank Carson and we headed across the city to Bangor. The venue, Cafe Ceol, is more of a spacious bar than a cafe, and has a nightclub upstairs that's been known by various names over the years, including The Boom Boom Rooms. I took over from resident DJ Neil Hunter, and ended up spinning just about every style of music in my collection to a packed and up-for-it crowd. The only drawback as the 1am curfew with no opportunity to get a drink afterwards, which felt far too early after such a great night. Good fun, and I hope to get back soon.
Mirage in Aylesbury and The Second Bridge in Bath rounded off the last two Saturdays of the month, while on Friday 25th, I headed to London, first to interview the poet/ philosopher Rodney Paradox for Black Sheep Mag (fascinating guy - check him out at http://www.myspace.com/rodneyparadox), then moving on to Stretch Taylor's 40th birthday bash in EC1, where a cracking music line-up was on the cards, including a two-hour 90s hip-hop set from Stretch. I could listen to that stuff all night.
Other than that, I put out a couple of new podcasts, which are now live on the Soundcloud page. One is an instalment of Just Buggin covering the first quarter of 2011 - the very heaviest underground hip-hop tunes of the first three months of the year:
The other is a little more extreme - a Just Buggin 'Illuminati special', for want of a better description! The lowdown on what it's all about is via this link. Suffice to say, this is NOT Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. We're dealing with real music and real talk on subjects I happen to think are pretty damned important. I hope you agree:
Just Buggin Illuminati Special (with lyrics) by Mark Devlin As many are starting to realise, we're living in incredible times, and a mass awakening of human consciousness is underway. The first stage of this is the realisation that the world is not run by the people we've been conditioned all our lives to believe it is. It's a network of occult secret societies who actually control all aspects of human life. And it's finally coming down. It's a complex network, but 'The Illuminati' has come to be adopted as a collective term for the covert controllers.
More than any other genre, the hip-hop world has been paying attention to the revelations, and Illuminati/ New World Order-related lyrics are being infused into tracks by more and more vigilant artists - those that aren't owned by one of the control-system corporations, that is!
So if I'm a nutter, so are a hell of a lot of rappers!
In this special one-off edition of Just Buggin, Mark Devlin presents a carefully vetted selection of tracks whose lyrics address various aspects of the global conspiracy - along with the occasional foray into the nature of reality itself and the false version of history we've been fed, because they're all fundamentally linked. Not your average fluffy family fun then! No Rihanna or Nicki Minaj here. This is music for mature, open-minded grown-ups who aren't afraid to think for themselves.
The lyrics for as many of the tracks as it was possible to find are included below.
So ...blinkers off, X Box down, third eye open - let's go!
**
CANIBUS: CHANNEL ZERO JERU THA DAMAJA: SCIENTIFICAL MADNESS DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY: TELEVISION, THE DRUG OF THE NATION LUPE FIASCO: STATE RUN RADIO VINNIE PAZ Featuring BLOCK MCCLOUD & DAVID ICKE: END OF DAYS DEEFLUX Featuring GADGET: GOT ME THINKING WADE WATERS: A POST RACIAL AMERICA (PART 1) RAS KASS: NATURE OF THE THREAT PHAROAHE MONCH: THE GRAND ILLUSION LUPE FIASCO: WORDS I NEVER SAID REKS: LIMELIGHT TY GREEN: SOLITARY CONFINEMENT BILL HICKS: LIFE IS LIKE AN AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE
**
JUST BUGGIN' ILLUMINATI SPECIAL - SONG LYRICS
LUPE FIASCO: WORDS I NEVER SAID
It’s so loud Inside my head With words that I should have said! As I drown in my regrets I can’t take back the words I never said I can’t take back the words I never said
I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets How much money does it take to really make a full clip? 9/11 building 7, did they really pull it? Uhh, And a bunch of other cover-ups Your child's future was the first to go with budget cuts If you think that hurts then wait, here comes the uppercut The school was garbage in the first place, thats on the up and up Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the uppercrust You get it then they move you, so you never keeping up enough If you turn on TV all you see’s a bunch of “what the f-cks” Dude is dating so and so, blabbering 'bout such and such And that aint Jersey Shore, homie, that's the news! And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit That's why I aint vote for him, next one neither I’m a part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful And I believe in the people.
Now you can say it ain't our fault if we never heard it But if we know better, then we probably deserve it Jihad is not a holy war, where's that in the worship? Murdering is not Islam! And you are not observant And you are not a muslim Israel don’t take my side 'cause look how far you’ve pushed them Walk with me into the ghetto, this where all the kush went Complain about the liquor store but what you drinking liquor for? Complain about the gloom but when’d you pick a broom up? Just listening to 'Pac aint gone make it stop A rebel in your thoughts, ain't gon' make it halt If you don’t become an actor you’ll never be a factor Pills with a million side effects Take 'em when the pain's felt Wash them down with Diet soda Killin off your brain cells Crooked banks around the World Would gladly give a loan today So if you ever miss a payment They can take your home away
I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth So scared of what you think of me, I’m scared of even telling you Sometimes I’m like the only person I feel safe to tell it to I’m locked inside a cell in me, I know that there’s a jail in you Consider this, you're bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through
VINNIE PAZ: END OF DAYS
The greatest form of control is when you think you're free when you're being fundamentally manipulated and dictated to. One form of dictatorship is being in a prison cell and you can see the bars and touch them. The other one is sitting in a prison cell but you can't see the bars but you think you're free.
What the human race is suffering from is mass hypnosis. We are being hypnotized by people like this: newsreaders, politicians, teachers, lecturers. We are in a country and in a world that is being run by unbelievably sick people. The chasm between what we're told is going on and what is really going on is absolutely enormous.
It's like we all know what's going down But no one's saying shit, what happened to the home of the brave? These motherfuckers they're controlling us now But no one's talking about it, made us proud to be slaves
And everybody's just walking around Head in the clouds, we won't awake until we're dead in the grave By then it's too late, we need to be ready to raise up Welcome to the end of days
Everybody is a slave, only some are aware That the government releasing poison in the air That's the reason I collect so many guns in my lair I ain't never caught sleeping, never unprepared Yeah, The Shaytan army, they just break it proudly George Bush the grandson of Aleister Crowley They want you to believe the lie that the enemy Saudi The enemy ain't Saudi, the enemy around me There's fluoride in the water but nobody know that It's also a prominent ingredient in Prozac (For real?) How could any government bestow that? A proud people who believe in political throwback That's not all that I'm here to present to you I know about the black pope in Solomon's Temple Yeah, about the Vatican assassins and how they will get you And how they cloned Barack Hussein Obama in a test tube
Whoever built the pyramids had knowledge of electrical power And you know that that's the information that they suppress and devour Who you think the motherfuckers that crashed in the tower? Who you think that made it turn into ash in an hour? The same ones that invaded Jerome The ones that never told you about the skeletons on the moon Yeah, the ones that poison all the food you consume The ones that never told you about Mount Vesuvius Tomb The Bird Flu is a lie, the Swine Flu is a lie Why would that even come as a surprise? Yeah, the Polio vaccine made you die It caused cancer and it cost a lot of people their lives Do y'all know about Bohemian Grove? How the world leaders sacrificing children in robes? Lucifer is God in the public school system I suggest you open up your ears and you listen
The greatest hypnotist on the planet Earth is an oblong box in the corner of the room. It is constantly telling us what to believe is real. If you can persuade people that what they see with their eyes is what there is to see, you've got them. Because they'll laugh in the face of an explanation then which portrays the big picture of what's happening... and they have.
**
DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRICY: TELEVISION, THE DRUG OF THE NATION
One nation under God has turned into one nation under the influence of one drug
Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., it satellite links our United States of Unconsciousness Apathetic, therapeutic and extremely addictive The methadone metronome pumping out 150 channels, 24 hours a day you can flip through all of them and still there's nothing worth watching T.V. is the reason why less than 10 per cent of our Nation reads books daily Why most people think Central Amerika means Kansas Socialism means unamerican and Apartheid is a new headache remedy absorbed in its world it's so hard to find us It shapes our mind the most maybe the mother of our Nation should remind us that we're sitting too close to...
Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V. is the stomping ground for political candidates Where bears in the woods are chased by Grecian Formula'd bald eagles T.V. is mechanized politics remote control over the masses co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases watch for the PBS special It's the perpetuation of the two-party system where image takes precedence over wisdom Where soundbite politics are served to the fast food culture Where straight teeth in your mouth are more important than the words that come out of it Race baiting is the way to get selected Willie Horton or Will he not get elected on...
Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., is it the reflector or the director ? Does it imitate us or do we imitate it?
because a child watches 1500 murders before he's twelve years old and we wonder why we've created a Jason generation that learns to laugh rather than to abhor the horror T.V. is the place where armchair generals and quarterbacks can experience first hand the excitement of warfare as the theme song is sung in the background Sugar sweet sitcoms that leave us with a bad actor taste while pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars You saw the video You heard the soundtrack Well, now go buy the soft drink Well, the only cola that I support would be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost Of Living Allowance) On television
Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
Back again, 'New and improved' We return to our irregularly programmed schedule hidden cleverly between heavy breasted beer and car commercials CNN ESP NABC TNT, but mostly B.S. Where oxymoronic language like 'virtually spotless', 'fresh frozen' 'light yet filling' and 'military intelligence' have become standard T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined like 'recession' to 'necessary downturn' 'Crude oil' on a beach to 'mousse' 'Civilian death' to 'collateral damages' and being killed by your own Army is now called 'friendly fire' T.V. is the place where the pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects Where imagination is sucked out of children by a cathode ray nipple T.V. is the only wet nurse that would create a cripple
Television, the drug of the Nation Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
**
JERU THA DAMAJA: SCIENTIFICAL MADNESS
Scientifical Madness My status is the baddest
There's a hole in the ozone layer I'm rippin vampires You think I give a fuck Who's the biggest player? Or who's got the fattest bank roll? What is it if a man gains the world And lose his own soul? Bioengineered mutated chickens Niggaz lickin' one another Brother killin' brother And you demon muthafuckas Start coastal rivalries The worlds greatest lust is jewelery Mind, Jah lick you with disease So I inflict MC's like Ebola Or some other man-made cancer Fuck a two-hundred dollar sweater We need to try and reach the niggaz On the corner But all we do is create drug dealers Envy then creates murderers Diamond rings, pretty hoes Fat chains, expensive things Just watch which way Ya burner swings in this world of...
Chemical warfare The telephone man acts like he lives here The goverment is putting mad shit in the air Projects are strategically set-up In the case that shit you up They easily blown up Poisonous gases The so-called righteous help for the masses But it's them that judge their own asses Knowing what their task is But still receding, ass backwards Do you need to ask me who the devil is Some may call it showbiz I just call 'em hipocrites 'Cause they don't teach the children shit positive Like how a man should live They only focus on the negative So they're stuck in the ghetto While you drive a car and got a condo It's all for the dolo It's killing your own people profits greater than Peneco Forget about whats equal In this world of...
Artifically inseminated White bitches have babies most black youth are incarcerated In the ghetto babies having babies but no loot So most pregnancies are terminated Warlocks keep the covenant And the souls of the ignorant ones empower it It's transparent You see Uncle Sam as your parent When Amerikkka has beef you jump up to defend it But you can still be a defendant Ask my co-defendant And we're both innocent Every black man in Amerikkka faces imprisonment Ridicule, and torment But in this tournament The chosen few shall be triumphant And the devil will be decapitated So you can keep your duckets And your dressing, I wont be emasculated In this world of...
**
RAS KASS: THE NATURE OF THE THREAT
Let freedom ring with a buckshot, but not just yet First we need to truly understand the nature of the threat And a pale man walks in the threshold of darkness Roughly 20,000 years ago the first humans evolved with the phenotypical trait, genetic recessive Blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin Albinism apparently was a sin to the original man, Africans So the mutants traveled North of the equator Called Europeans later, the first race haters So here's the Devil's alpha to the beta Cause history's best qualified to teach one Quoting German philosopher Schopenhauer "Every white man is a faded or a bleached one" Migration created further mutation Genetic drifts, evolution through recombination Adaptation to the climate As the Caucus Mountain man reverted to that of a primate Savage Neanderthals, until the late Paleolithic age That's when the Black Grimaldi man came With the symbol of the dragon, fire and art Check cave paintings in France and Spain to the Venus of Willendorf Around 2000 B.C. Southern Russians migrate in small units Those who travel West populated Europe Those who went East settled in Iran, known as Aryans 1500 B.C. some crossed the Khyber Pass into India and created Hinduism, the first caste system, the origins of racism A white dot on the forehead meant elite The black dot - defeat; untrustable, untouchables They wrote the holy Vedas in Sanskrit That's the language that created Greek, German, Latin and English Now the Minoans around 2000 B.C. Starts on the island of Crete, in the Agean Sea The Greek culture begins Western Civilization But "Western Civilization" means "White Domination" Myceneans learned from Kemet, called Egypt in Greek It existed since at least 3000 B.C. Creating geometry and astronomy This knowledge influenced Plato, Socrates and Hippocrates 'Cause Imhotep, the real real father of medicine Was worshiped in Greece and Rome in the form of a Black African The word Africa comes from the Greek "Aphrike" meaning "without cold"; the word philosophy means "love of knowledge" Stole from first man, Greek power expands The first Greek fraternities band The word gymnasium is Greek for "naked" This was the place where adolescent boys were educated, and molested This was accepted because Greek culture was homosexual For example, Sappho trained girls on the island of Lesbos Hence, the word lesbian (Ay let these dumb motherfuckers know) December 25th, the birth of Saturn A homosexual god, now check the historical pattern December 25, now thought the birth of Christ Was Saturnalia, when men got drunk, fucked each other then beat their wife Fact is, it was still practiced, til they called it Christmas So put a gerbil on your Christmas list The Hellenistic Era, Alexander the Great Conquers all the way to India leavin four successor states By the Fifth century B.C., R.O.M.E. succeeds to be the conqueror of Egypt and Greece But had the threat of the Black Phoenicians in Sicily The Punic Wars began 264 B.C. The Black general Hannibal and Carthaginian Peace In 146 B.C. Carthage fell after a six-month siege Rome sold every citizen to slavery The first genocide of history And more bisexuality in sight; Julius Caesar was known as "every woman's husband and every man's wife" (BEE-ATCH!) Spartacus Revolt, a slave rebellion that lost Where 6,000 slaves was nailed on a cross Cross? Aw, shit! Jesus Christ! Time for some-act-right Christians get your facts right Cause Christ was not his name That's Greek for "One who is anointed" Yahshua Ben Yosef was his name, do Christians know this? So who do you praise, do you know his name? Or do you do this in vain? Accepting the religion they gave slaves to behave Peep the description of historian Josephus "Short, dark, with an underdeveloped beard was Jesus" He had the Romans fearing revolution The solution was to take him to court and falsely accuse him After being murdered by Pilate how can it be these same white Romans established Christianity Constantine would later see the cross in a dream In his vision, it read "En Hawk Signo Wonka": "In this sign we conquer" - Manifest Destiny In 325 he convened the Nicean Creed And separated god into three Decided Jesus was born on December 25th and raised then on the third day is a myth Plus to deceive us Commissioned Michelangelo to paint white pictures of Jesus He used his aunt, uncle, and nephew Subconsciously that affects you It makes you put white people closer to God (Yo, 'The Man' got game like a motherfucker!) True indeed, fuck it, Jihad In the eight century Muslims conquered Spain, Portugal and France and controlled it for 700 years They never mention this in history class cause old faiths are threatened when you get the real lesson Moors from Baghdad, Turkey threatened European Christians Meaning, the white way of life; hence the Crusades for Christ On November 25th, 1491 Santiago defeats the last Muslim stronghold, Grenada King Ferdinand gave thanks to God for victory And the Pope of Rome and declared this date to forever be A day of "Thanksgiving" for all European Christians
.. Now listen, when you celebrate "Thanksgiving" What you are actually celebratin is the proclamation of the Pope of Rome Who later, in league with Queen Isabella sent Cardinal Ximenos to Spain to murder any blacks that resisted Christianity These Moors, these black men and women were from Baghdad, Turkey And today, you eat the turkey, for your "Thanksgiving" day as the European Powers destroyed the Turkeys Who were the forefathers of your mothers and fathers Now fight the power, you bitch-ass niggaz!
Now around this time, Whites started callings us Negroes That's Spanish for black object, meaning we're not really people but property, and the triangle trade begins - they seize us Queen Elizabeth sends the first slaves on a ship named Jesus Stealin land from the indigenous natives Gave them alcohol to keep the Red Man intoxicated Whites claim they had to civilize these pagan animals But up until 1848 there's documented cases of whites bein the savage cannibals, eatin Indians In 1992, it's Jeffrey Dahmer They slaughtered a whole race with guns Drugs, priests and nuns 1763, the first demonic tactic of biological warfare As tokens of peace, Sir Jeffery Amherst passed out clothin and blankets to the Indian community Infested with smallpox, knowin they had no immunity Today it's AIDS, you best believe it's man made Cause ain't a damn thing changed.. let me explain Now since people of color are genetically dominant and Caucasoids are genetically recessive and Whites expect to be predominant, meaning survive as a race then they simply must, take precautions That's why they're worried about their future now Cuz by 2050, almost all the Earth's population will be brown, then black, so understandin that, whites counterreact (I'm sayin.. man.. them fools ain't nothin but a teaspoon of milk in the world color majority) So they created a system to force blacks into an unnatural position That re-enforces the position of natural inferiority In addition, created guns and developed the ethnocentric view that God justifies every fuckin thing they do Condition people to perceive whites' culture as civilized and every other culture considered primitive - not true! Racism is the system of racial subjugation against nonwhites in every areas of human relation Entertainment, education, labor, politics Law, religion, sex, war and economics See blacks were 3/5ths of a man with tax purposes intended You think you're Afro-American? You're a 14th amendment and a good nigga Jews don't salute the fuckin swastika but niggaz pledge allegiance to the flag that accosted ya They never teach about the break of islands like Jamaica But before slaves came here whites would take a pregnant women, hang her from a tree by her toes Slice her stomach with a knife and let the unborn baby fall to the flo' And stop an unborn child in front of all the slaves to inbreed fear, so they'd be scared and behave and not rebel more Understand all whites must be perceived as potential predators I paraphrase historian Ishakamusa Barashango "Understand that regardless of the lofty ideas ingraved on paper in such documents as the Constitution or Declaration the basic nature.. of the European American white man remains virtually unchanged".. so check This is the nature of the threat
**
CANIBUS: CHANNEL ZERO
Approximately fifty years ago under the direction of President Harry Truman and in the interest of 'national security' A group of twelve top military scientific personnel were established This group's primary objective was to desensitize us to the truth And to suppress the material evidence that our planet is being visited by a group of extraterrestrial biological entities called the grays
Tune in to channel zero (8X)
Yo, sometimes the road to the truth is, so elusive it's confusin And reality becomes illusion If I showed the masses where we was at or where we was goin I'd shatter the social balance of the world as we know it I'm talkin 'bout the grand deception, of 1947 When our souls were sold to the heavens for technologically advanced weapons Crystal enhanced, brain implants, and mind control methods MJ-12 is not majestic And the focal point of our problems on this planet are not domestic You can accept it or be stupid and be a skeptic and fail to recognize the secret society's deathwish Ninety-seven percent of our Presidents were Masons Responsible for laundering trillions of dollars from the nation for the construction of underground military installations Abductions and cattle mutilations Experiments on human patients can take place in several subterranean bases A hundred and fifty stories below a basement With knowledge of genetic information, you need to fear science, not Satan Cause through the manipulation of certain biological agents they create strange creations Top secret special operations Low frequency sounds and lasers, people like Carl Sagan that didn't believe in the Drake equation were tryin to keep Western civilization on the need-to-know basis Well you need to know that this is a game and we're bein betrayed and played in the worst way
Tune in to channel zero (8X)
Yo, the holy script from Genesis 1-26 says, "Let us make man in our image under our likeness" First of all who's THEY? You see if God was truly a single entity that's not what he would say We as the Elohim, Gods and Goddesses posess a marvelously monstrous subconscious Lifeforms that speak, in very high pitched sounds and squeaks Short staccato clicks and beeps A highly advanced form of speech Even though to us it seems like they only chatterin they teeth They used to swim deep in the oceans beneath Til they fins transformed into limbs and they started to creep Then they evolved into mammals with feet And walked right from the shorelines onto the beach They used gravity, cause it's actually the only force around that could slow time and the speed of light down The energy grid network, opened the gateway from Earth to any point in the universe Living organisms and various, geomagnetic gravitational, anomaly areas Space expedition teams in the lunar regions reported seeing decapyramids and tetrahedrons Liquid filled shoes, is what they used to walk across the moon without leavin a clue of where they been for the past twenty-three billion years Before life on the surface even appeared I hope you become aware what I'm spittin in your ear was intended to stimulate your left-brain's hemisphere I know it sounds weird, all these motherfuckin answers and questions to the grand deception
Tune in to channel zero (16X)
**
LUPE FIASCO: STATE-RUN RADIO
You must be a radio station And who are we, we must be A number one song spinnin all day long
And over again, and over again, and over again, and over again, and over again We know when when we call in And nothing's free, sounds to me like State run radio
We interrupt this broadcast To bring you the special message 'bout the forecast The future's cloudy and it's raining on the poor class Road to peace is closed, heavy traffic on the war paths Love is ballin on a budget The military says its gon need more cash To keep fightin for your gas Keep us in our hoods and hope we never explore pass Stay inside of your half, believe the lies you learned in your class That there's no treasure in your trash, And the ceiling has the same feeling that the floor has And that's where you should stay This is what they play
Chorus Over again, and over again, and over again, and over again, and over again And we know when, when we call in And nothing's free, sounds to me like State run radio
You're now tuned into the weakest Frequency of fear keep you locked right here And hope you never leave this, never be a leader Think inside the box and follow all procedures Never ever believe that you will never need this Hit up all your friends and tell them to repeat this
Hi, your'e on the air. now what you wanna hear? Well, we ain't got the truth, but how about a remix? Different is never good, good is only what we pick You ain't got a hit unless it sounds like these did Not too smart, you will be a superstar And if you dumb or something maybe you could be number one
So, beware what's on the airwaves And be more aware of what's not gettin air played Independent spirit, you can barely hear what theyre sayin' Youth aint gettin on like shampoo on an airplane Propagandas everywhere, constantly on replay All the hits all the time back to back on relay We're really where it lives, make 'em hear the records we play Build your own station, become your own DJ
You must be a radio station And who are we, we must be A number one song spinnin' all day long, And you put me in daily rotation You're on the air, we know your scared But we don't care, well play this here
**
WADE WATERS: A POST-RACIAL AMERICA (PART 1)
It's the same thing, I saw yesterday, we need a better way Cause ain't a thing changed
Police are violent but they tell me be a pacifist I'm black and love this country, I'm a masochist Post racial, can't be the agitate, this here inadequate ...makes me wanna blast it in The border still looks a Nazi camp They still murder blacks, ask Oscar Grant Left wing politicians … a bunch of cowards they all afraid of … False information leads to information of this cancer Been untrue views is few through the camera They blame Mexicans for trafficking intoxicants In Arizona they gonna ask for your documents Since Africans were carried to the Occident They're trying to convince the world that … was an … And how can I be confident, when the end … is incompetent Beat out Obama leave them on high like on marijuana Now we see is son attracts nothing but drama We were real silly thinking that he might save us My life chance still going in my white neighbors No education, black juveniles fight cases Can't they apologize so I call them racists And I got a basis, covered all my bases This goes out to Sarah … and Ronald Reagan I got questions, I need answers, Still trying to figure out what's the matter with Kansas
Kids got the same rights different chances He who in heaven said advantage advances He postrace you like an airport scan is I got cabbies wanting me where the clan is Shutter when they … double standards Eating away if the discourse like cancer Far from post racial, so hateful Hates peaces, give a man a job on cable ...boxes, lost toxic, why watch it, I fix through their eye sockets my optic The president is black so he's an ex factor We on the next chapter, they trying to step backwards Class war created, more deport hated Success rate and skin color still correlated You now even don't wanna talk about the N word I wanna know why ideas your sister Wave word is, down for the card is I'm about to say fuck it, run for artist
It's the same thing, I saw yesterday, we need a better way Cause ain't a thing changed We have comfort we're not there yet We're on the stair steps it's not fair yet It's the same thing, I saw yesterday, we need a better way Cause ain't a thing changed And we still struggle, we ain't reclaiming Gotta keep working, let's keep climbing.
BILL HICKS: LIFE IS LIKE AN AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE ROUTINE
The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun ... for a while.
Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride..."
And we ... kill those people!
We always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus - murdered; Martin Luther King - murdered; Malcolm X - murdered; Gandhi - murdered; John Lennon - murdered; Reagan... wounded.
But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.
The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.
This much-forgotten crew straddled the line between backpacker/ student and New York underground hip-hop. DJ Spinna handled the spaced-out production, with Mr. Complex, Ben the Coal Churnin' Masta, Shabaam Sahdeeq and Tiye Phoenix sharing the mic with hot female MC Apani B Fly on their first album, 1999's 'Rhyme Related.'
The two standout cuts there were 'Big Phat Boom', and this absorbing gem. The group re-united for 2007's 'Break Glass' album with Phoenix replacing Apani, but with a lesser impact. '99 was clearly their time to shine.
Soul/ disco singer Loleatta Holloway has died at the age of 64, her management has announced. Her death followed a brief illness.
The singer was best known for her 1980 track 'Love Sensation', which was famously sampled for Italian dance act Black Box's 1989 number one hit 'Ride On Time'. This sparked controversy when Holloway publicly revealed that she had received no credit or financial recompense for the use of her vocal.
Holloway recorded extensively between 1973 and 1980, producing six studio albums.
Her death led to an extensive flurry of Twitter posts from fellow music-makers.
Former Fugees frontman and previous presidential hopeful Wyclef Jean has been shot in his native homeland of Haiti, just hours before voting was due to begin in the country's presidential elections. Initial reports say he was shot in the hand on the morning of 20th March. He has been since discharged from a local hospital in the city of Delmas.
"We have spoken to Wyclef, he is ok," a representative said in a statement. "Thank you for your thoughts and prayers."
Wyclef was in Haiti alongside fellow Fugee Pras Michel to support Presidential candidate Michel Martelly, a pop singer who is running against Mirlande Manigat, a law professor who is also the former first lady of Haiti. Wyclef's own bid at the presidency was quashed last year.
On Thursday, music industry executive Jimmy Rosemond, Wyclef and Pras hosted a concert at Haiti's Champs De Mars featuring Busta Rhymes and estranged Fugees group member, Lauryn Hill.
A handful of artists have rushed to record and release tribute tracks to G-funk singer Nate Dogg, who died on 15th March. Among them are Game, who has put out 'All Doggs Go To Heaven'. The song details The Game’s friendship and admiration for Nate and features a sample from Dr. Dre’s 2000 single ‘The Next Episode’, on which Nate Dogg performed.
Game also Tweeted a tribute to Nate Dogg the day after his death, writing: “R.I.P. Nate Dogg. I’ve lost a friend.”
Snoop Dogg and Eminem are among the other artists to have publicly paid tribute to Nate, along with British artist Plan B, who has said that hearing his vocal n Warren G's 1994 track 'Regulate' was what made him want to get into music.
Here's the Facebook page to follow if like me, you feel there are unanswered questions about the circumstances surrounding reggae artist Smiley Culture's death by stabbing while in police custody this week. http://www.facebook.com/justiceforsmiley
Further acts have been added to the bill of this May's Southport weekender, taking place for the first time at the Butlins holiday resort in Minehead, Somerset. Although tickets for the event, from 6th to 8th May, sold out weeks ago, the organisers have announced that a further 1,500 have now been put on sale.
Following several previous appearances, Sounds Of Blackness return to head up the live acts with a full concert. They're joined by Ben Westbeech, Ndambi, Raphael Saadiq, Dexter Wansell, Al Johnson and Naughty By Nature. The DJ line-up, meanwhile, is headlined by Roger Sanchez, delivering a Classic US House set. Other US kingpins include Derrick Carter, Kerri Chandler, DJ Spen and hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash.
The Southport team made the announcement of their move from the venue that gave the event its name, Pontins in Southport, last month. The increased capacity of the new venue has brought scope for even more acts, they say. The live acts and DJs will perform across the usual four rooms of music - The Powerhouse, The Funkbase, The Beat Bar and Connoisseurs Corner - with styles encompassing deep and soulful house, rare groove, funk, jazz, R&B, hip-hop and Afrobeat.
ROGER SANCHEZ CLASSIC US HOUSE SET DERRICK CARTER KERRI CHANDLER CARL CRAIG DJ SPEN KARIZMA GRANDMASTER FLASH THEO PARRISH TREVOR NELSON DIXON KENNY DOPE GILLES PETERSON JELLYBEAN BENITEZ DAVID RODIGAN DJ SPINNA MOTOR CITY DRUM ENSEMBLE THE UNABOMBERS JOY ORBISON BENJI B RUB N TUG TODD TERJE NORMAN JAY RONNIE HEREL SHORTEE BLITZ DJ SWERVE STUART PATTERSON PHIL ASHER DJ BIGGER KEV BEADLE SNOWBOY GARY DENNIS TERRY JONES STEVE WREN ANDY DAVIES BOB JEFFRIES SEAN MCCABE CRAIG SMITH PAUL =8CTROUBLE=B9 ANDERSON STEVE BUTLER=20 DJ SPOONY DJ EZ TIMMY REGISFORD DJ MEME (BRAZIL) ABI CLARKE DJ RAHEEM SARAH FAVOURITIZM JP BROWN SUGA MIKE STEPHENS RAHAAN COLIN CURTIS GAVIN KENDRICK CRAIG BARTLETT PAUL STUART LITTLE STEVIE
LIVE ACTS
THE SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS - LIVE IN CONCERT BEN WESTBEECH LIVE IN CONCERT N'DAMBI LIVE IN CONCERT DEXTER WANSEL LIVE PA AL JOHNSON LIVE PA MARILYN ASHFORD BROWN LIVE PA MARC DE CLIVE-LOWE : LIVE + MC MOTET RAPHAEL SAADIQ LIVE IN CONCERT ALICE RUSSELL LIVE IN CONCERT RASMUS FABER & THE RAFA ORCHESTRA LIVE IN CONCERT AVERY SUNSHINE LIVE IN CONCERT NAUGHTY BY NATURE LIVE
For all vintage audio junkies, here's another set of 90s hip hop radio gems. The Funkmaster Flex Rap Xchange is particularly slamming. I'd forgotten just how on top of his game this dude was in 1995. Download, enjoy and reminisce on days when the radio was actually worth listening to! Props to Andrew Kay for these links.
Secondly, British reggae artist Smiley Culture, aka David Victor Emmanuel, was killed on 15th March. There's a twisted irony in his biggest hit being 1984's 'Police Officer', a satirical take on police bigotry and harrassment, and the fact that he died after being stabbed during a police raid on his home. It's claimed he was involved in cocaine distribution. He was 48. "Police Officer' remains an iconic part of the UK's reggae output of the 80s.
The music world lost two great artists this week. First off, Nate Dogg, aka Nathaniel Dwayne Hale, the singer on Warren G's 'Regulate' and a thousand other hip-hop tracks, long before T-Pain and Akon did it. He'd suffered two strokes, and seemingly died from complications arising from the second one. He was 41. A sad loss to the game.
The new album by Boston MC Reks (Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme) is start-to-finish consistently strong, with production from the likes of Statik Selektah, Pete Rock and DJ Premier, and subject matter including the vacuous nature of celebrity, the media's obsession with outward appearance, the death factor of cigarette smoking and bullshit mainstream music. How few artists of his ilk there are! Highly recommended for all fans of REAL hip-hop. The attached, produced by Nottz, gives a great flavour.
It's a shame about the appalling backpacker beat and nagging Skylar Grey vocal hook on this. That aside though, the lyrics on this are tight and absolutely spot-on! Props to Lupe Fiasco for dropping some meaningful content. For those who know. (The full lyrics are attached for reference.)
LUPE FIASCO: WORDS I NEVER SAID
It’s so loud Inside my head With words that I should have said! As I drown in my regrets I can’t take back the words I never said I can’t take back the words I never said
I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets How much money does it take to really make a full clip? 9/11 building 7, did they really pull it? Uhh, And a bunch of other cover-ups Your childs future was the first to go with budget cuts If you think that hurts then wait, here comes the uppercut The school was garbage in the first place, thats on the up and up Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the uppercrust You get it then they move you, so you never keeping up enough If you turn on TV all you see’s a bunch of “what the f-cks” Dude is dating so and so, blabbering 'bout such and such And that aint Jersey Shore, homie, that's the news! And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say shit Thats why I aint vote for him, next one neither I’m a part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful And I believe in the people.
Now you can say it aint our fault if we never heard it But if we know better, then we probably deserve it Jihad is not a holy war, where's that in the worship? Murdering is not Islam! And you are not observant And you are not a muslim Israel don’t take my side 'cause look how far you’ve pushed them Walk with me into the ghetto, this where all the kush went Complain about the liquor store but what you drinking liquor for? Complain about the gloom but when’d you pick a broom up? Just listening to 'Pac aint gone make it stop A rebel in your thoughts, ain't gon' make it halt If you don’t become an actor you’ll never be a factor Pills with a million side effects Take 'em when the pain's felt Wash them down with Diet soda Killin off your brain cells Crooked banks around the World Would gladly give a loan today So if you ever miss a payment They can take your home away
I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence Fear is such a weak emotion, tha'ts why I despise it We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth So scared of what you think of me, I’m scared of even telling you Sometimes I’m like the only person I feel safe to tell it to I’m locked inside a cell in me, I know that there’s a jail in you Consider this, you're bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through
When the lights come on and the crowd goes home, you stop DJing, right? Hell no. Not Atlanta's DJ D-Cas and DJ Azul. The party continues in the booth at Sportsters, Edinburgh.
'Cos the Greatest Rapper of All Time died on March 9th'. 14 years since Biggie's demise today (and still no murder charge!) Here's the tribute mix section I ran on The Swing Shift back in March 1997 when the news broke.
All fans of real 90s hip-hop are gonna love this, so had to share it. This was Funkmaster Flex's all-90s mix show which went out on the 4th July Weekend of 2007 on Hot 97, New York. A stunning, fast-moving selection of boom-bap bangers and underground anthems. Flex sounds in his element, and there's a definite hint in some of his links that he resents having to play contemporary trash just to stay in the game. Absolutely stunning, and highly recommended.
All fans of real 90s hip-hop are gonna love this, so had to share it. This was Funkmaster Flex's all-90s mix show which went out on the 4th July Weekend of 2007 on Hot 97, New York. A stunning, fast-moving selection of boom-bap bangers and underground anthems. Flex sounds in his element, and there's a definite hint in some of his links that he resents having to play contemporary trash just to stay in the game. Absolutely stunning, and highly recommended.
The dawn of 2011 was a time of mixed fortunes in the Devlin household. On the one hand, January was the usual month of drudge and routine, not helped by the freezing weather and nasty vomiting bug which struck the family. But on the other, it was a time of great blessing as our second daughter Akilah was born on Wednesday 12th. Re-adjusting to new parenthood with an energetic two-year-old already to look after was a bit of a shock to the system. By the time February dawned I was more than ready to make my first overseas escape.
On Thursday 3rd I set off for Germany, the most cost-effective way of getting to Estonia the following day. I flew to what Ryanair laughingly refer to as 'Dusseldorf Weeze', which in reality is sheer mileage from the city of Dusseldorf. In truth, it's no more outrageous than referring to Stansted Airport as 'London Stansted,' while the latest scam involves the (largely cargo/ freight) airport at Kidlington, close to where I live, being referred to as 'London Oxford' when it's a clear 60 miles from the capital. I overnighted at the Weeze Airport Hostel, (roach,) before re-boarding in the morning en route to the Estonian capital Tallinn.
The gig was in the country's second city, Tartu, out towards the border with Russia. After heading into town, I embarked on the two-and-a-half hour drive with DJ MK, (that's the Estonia version, by the way, not the dude from Kiss FM London.) The country was the latest to have adopted the Euro on 1st January, and the shops were full of native Estonians looking just as confused at the pile of Euro coins in their hands as I was. Our accommodation was in the cosy German-themed Hansa Hotel, while the club, Illusion, occupied what looked to be a former church in a very quiet part of town. Despite this, the crowds turned out in their hordes, and the place was jumping by midnight. I alternated with MK, spinning from up on the stage, and getting to drop a very full and varied set. It was enlightening to hear a couple of Estonian reggae fusion tracks in MK's set.
Far too little sleep, as I was up to catch the coach back to Tallinn Airport at 8am - an all-too-familiar scenario. The random assortment of flights involved me flying into Luton, from where I then had to get another coach around the M25 to retrieve my car from Stansted. Finally, Saturday night saw me spinning one of my regular eclectic sets at The Living Room, Oxford.
The following weekend I headed to the Cherrywood Lounge, on the grounds of Farnborough Football Club. My good friend DJ Mr Jay has just started doing the Friday nights there, and has dubbed them 'Soundsational,' with the intention of dropping quality soulful grooves old and new. To be fair it wasn't particularly busy, but we resisted the easy option of dropping mainstream floorfillers, instead sticking to the soulful gems. It was great to get to play such tunes, and equally, to indulge in some good banter in between.
I posted a massive batch of vintage radio tape rips to my sites this month, and judging by the volume of positive messages, they've gone down very well. Among the selection are Robbie Vincent's Killer Cuts shows on Radio 1 from 1984 onward, Mike Allen's year-end electro hip hop shows on Capital Radio, Pete Tong's first show on Radio 1 from 20 years ago, and some fascinating early Capital Rap Shows from Westwood in the days before he shouted a lot and played pop music. You'll find the whole collection right here:
On Tuesday 15th, I embarked on a quick overnight excursion to Marseille, France. I used the experience to test out how much of my rusty French I'd retained. The problem's always the same - while I'm proud that I manage to ask questions fluently, I can never understand the answer, and 'parlez vous Anglais?' inevitably follows.
In January, I had Soul City Ibiza resident Mister Ice guesting at my spot at Mirage in Aylesbury. Having another DJ along is always a good experience, as you tend to inspire each other to try that much harder than you would have done alone. On Friday 18th, I headed to Ice's regular spot, Tramps in Worcester. Ice himself wasn't there on the night, so I took over the reins from his partner DJ Unknown. Ice heads back to Ibiza in May, where you can catch him spinning every night through the Summer at Soul City in San Antonio's West End. It's the island's original urban music party spot and comes highly recommended. I'm looking forward to getting back out there myself in July.
Following routine gigs in Aylesbury and Milton Keynes at the end of the month, Parveen and myself headed off on a quick (and, I might venture to suggest, much-deserved) break to our favourite spa hotel, Alexander House in West Sussex. It's always the same; while the good food and exercise feels good at the time, a couple of hours later, you feel absolutely bloody exhausted! Then it's back to reality.
