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I did an interview earlier this week for Harvardwood, exploring some of the current trends in the campaign and some key issues facing the nation. It’s a 45min full-length, unedited, uncensored response to some live questioning and covers topics from the role the Media & the Arts in politics to the ongoing propagation of lies by the McCain/Palin ticket in this campaign. I’ll see if I can get the source vid from the interviewer and chop it into smaller pieces, but for now here’s the whole hog. Get informed, get involved and let’s go out there and WIN this thing!

D.N.A

O’BIDEN ‘08

I wrote this the night of The Speech. In the wake of McCain’s announcement yesterday I think it is ever more important to think about the global implications of the decision we are about to make.

Tonight with laptop before me, cell phone in hand, and the world at my fingertips I watched Senator Obama raise the bar in American politics to such a height as to put his opponent’s very relevance into question.

All year we have heard that Obama lacks the experience to lead the nation; that he’s peddling false hopes. For those who have taken the time to read his policy positions, to explore his story, to genuinely listen to what he has been saying in his speeches, it’s been clear for some time that this son of a single-mother, Harvard Law graduate, community organizer, teacher of Constitutional Law, State and then US senator is neither a Pollyanna, nor an ingénue; not an idealist, nor an innocent and certainly not an “elitist.”

All year we’ve watched the slings and arrows flying fast from the quarters of those whose commitment to the wealthiest among us is matched only by their poverty of ideas and the unmitigated gall with which they have striven to distract the American people from the defining issues of our day. In a world where regular people can no longer believe in the security of their jobs, homes or health the Republican Party has determined that the issue at hand is not the crumbling fabric of American life, but rather the popularity of the opposing candidate. In the absence of substantive solutions to the problems facing our nation Senator McCain has chosen to fight this political battle on the fringes of common sense. But we who have been paying any attention at all are well aware of at least one simple truth:

This election is about much more than Paris Hilton.

Tonight I saw Senator Obama stand and deliver what will go down as one of the great speeches in American public life. But what moved me most perhaps was the experience of watching it. With television, laptop and BlackBerry before me, I Tweeted, texted and Facebooked with young people on every continent as we watched History made before us. I was struck not so much by the esteem in which friends and strangers hold Senator Obama, but by the fact that we have all clearly heard the call that he is making.

The GOP has failed to understand what is the fundamental genius of Barack Obama’s candidacy. Senator Obama has never made this campaign about The One…he has made it about The Many. And from Kansas to Qatar, Paris to Pittsburgh a generation is heeding his call to responsibility for our collective future. Senator Obama tonight proved himself not only qualified to be Leader of the Free World, but as someone uniquely qualified to make it a freer one. In a world desperately in need of heroes, he has ignited the spirit of heroism in us all. And no distraction, no distortion, no demonization will quench the American spirit that breaths today in the hearts of the citizens of the world.

Alright so y’all know I don’t post a lot on pop culture these days, mostly because I’ve been trying to avoid the peculiar brand of brain-deadedness it induces these days. But I just stumbled on this video and it is hilarious! All y’all young artists out there, take this under advisement before you sign up with the super-producer du jour. For the rest of y’all just answer me one question:

WHERE IS CRAIG MACK?!!!

Peep game…

Last week I did an interview with a radio host named Keith Bryant for his online show “The Black Right.” Now I know what you’re thinking: “D, aren’t you some kind of raving lefty loony? Don’t you want to hug the wales and save the trees and have the govt send a Cinnabon to every child in Sudan???”

The answer is unequivocally NO. Yes, I do have a certain predilection for trees and grass, but that’s only because Prospect Park embedded such pastoral imagery in my mind early on. And it’s true I think that happy whales are good for business but that doesn’t mean y’all shouldn’t respect my GANGSTA! And my legal counsel has advised me not to speak about the Cinnabon thing until we’ve sorted that whole thing out so…

The truth is I am happy to kick it with people of all political persuasions, provided they are smart, respectful and can back up their ideas. And so, when I got my invite from the Black Right I thought “clearly these are bright & insightful people who have not held the whales thing against me. I would happily grant an interview.”

It was thus that I got on the horn with Keith Bryant and for 45 mins kicked it about music, meaning and the wackness that was the New Yorker cover. And yes I know I should have posted this sooner. But I’ve blogged like 3 times in the past 7 days! I’m overheating over here. Check out the interview here.

So I wake up this morning, ready to sit around eating cheetos and practicing handstands like I do every day. And lo-and-behold I find in my Inbox ANOTHER installation of this amazing interview from the future. I think I’ve definitely gotten taller by 2011. Check it out and see for yerself. D.N.A

Ok a couple of things. First of all I gotta’ give a big thank you to Jonathan & Kelley for completely ridiculing me this weekend for my lack of bloggage. I told them that I have been crazy busy. They replied that I am always on my computer, I should just do it. I told them I am swamped w/ emails and writing n’ such. They said just make short posts and then proceeded to laugh at the “treatises” that I allegedly write. I told them that was unfair and I am not the treatise type. They replied “who cares, we will beat you momentarily oh herbish one.”

Ok so some of that is paraphrased but you get the picture. The point is I’m supposed to write more because apparently I “always have something to say.” Ok, well they are right. As a matter of fact I’m a’ save some of those thoughts for another post so I don’t get clobbered by these ignan’t musicians over here. For today I’m going to say this: if you haven’t played a given sport in 15 years or more, I would not recommend “breaking” the ice with 3 hrs of running around a field. Today I played co-ed, two-hand touch football with the Young Black Hollywood crew and had an absolute BLAST! Cat’s were out in force and it was amazing to see so many brilliant, talented, beautiful, educated and inspired people out having a good old time just playing together. There was a DJ, beach towels on the ground and 60-70 people out there raring to run around, with a few looking too super fly to play, but definitely providing enough all round good-lookingness to make up for the rest of us running around sweatin’ up a storm.

All in all it was a great day. The only thing is…I’m not walking so well right now. And I get the funny feeling tomorrow my body is going to feel…interesting. So yeah, yay football, yay fitness, yay play on a Sunday. Boo lactic acid. D.N.A

My peoples my peoples we finally done DID IT!! After 2 years, 6 cities and 3 countries we have completed and released the latest Soulfège record “Take Back the Mic.” For a long time we’ve used the tag line “it’s more than music…it’s a movement.” Well if you listen to the record you’ll start to get an idea of what we mean. With contributions from a gang of musicians, producers and engineers representing expertise in everything from Rock to Dancehall we set out to create a soundtrack to the kind of world we want to live in.

And this is it.

Check out some of the preview trax on the newly redesigned Soulfège website and if you feel where we’re coming from buy the album right there or on iTunes. It’s worth every cedi!

And before I forget, the funniest thing happened this morning. Somebody sent me YouTube video from the future! And it’s about US!! I was totally trippin’ when I saw it, but it gave me a reeeaallly good feeling about what’s coming down the road. Check it out:

Hi you guys, I’ve been away for a minute living on an airplane in an effort to contribute as mightily as possible to the general deterioration of our environment (ahem…sorry). Now that rising fuel costs are causing the entire planet to think twice about the value of “going green” I too have been brought down to earth…literally.

In the midst of seeking a fair trade-in value for my gasaholic vehicle in exchange for a nice pair of roller-blades, I’ve managed to not only finish the upcoming Soulfège record (YAY!!), but Jahtoworks & I managed to whip up a bonus track in collaboration w/ the illustrious Elliot Mazer, to commemorate our general dissatisfaction with the current “powers that be” and those who would carry water for them for another four years. JG pulled down some telling words from el-presidente, I mixed some choice metaphors with an alternative flow and KJ laid a loverly, lilting lil’ hook, all of which dance on top of a hybrid reggae-style groove courtesy of Jahto.

Now upon listening to the track, some of you may ask “why make a song about Bush, he’s not running for office?” To all ye gentle readers who have not been paying enough attention to the near complete lack of distinction between the policies of GW and John Wayne McCain we simply say…there’s a reason Keith Olberman has taken such a liking to the term “McBush”…

You can download the tune for free at www.soulfege.com. Let us know whatcha’ think!

Peace,
D.N.A

Beating Around the Bush
by: Derrick N. Ashong & Sajato Jarrett

Good Morning America
I hope you had an excellent sleep
Been a while since we woke
In the Land of the Free
Last time I closed my eyes
We had Freedom of Speech
Guess it’s time to decide
If that’s something to keep…

See “we the people” picked a guy
We could “just have a drink with”
Over time we would find
He was not much for thinkin’
We gave the keys to the ride
To a man who’d been drinkin’
And then watched him deny
Just who’s ship he was sinkin’.

Stop beatin’ around the Bush.

Now here’s the thing about life,
It’s how you walk it
And some would trade your soul
For the hint of a profit
Wonder who’d trade their rights
Like some water for chocolate?
Might be best to ask that guy
With his hand in your pocket

I said stop It.

He said he would
But somehow they forgot it
In the midst of the war
Here’s a bomb, gwan’ and drop it
Place your heart in the clasp
Of a Porcelain Prophet
And let’s all kick some ass
‘Til we run out of rockets

Stop beatin’ around the Bush

No child left behind
Is how they sell it
And truth is it all looks fine
Until you smell it
A sniff test might suggest
You teach before you test it
But why try?
It’s hard to sell lies
To those who question

So keep ‘em dumb
We’ll march to that rhythmless drum
Tell the world that their blind
To the crime we’ve become
And in one line profess
That the war has been won
Pin a flag to your chest
As you offer your sons…

Stop beatin’ around the Bush.

Hi y’all. What a week. Don’t even know where to begin. In addition to all the things that many of you have heard about, there’s a gang of craziness going on behind the scenes that seems to get more and more interesting w/ every passing week. There is truly something special afoot in our country right now and I am praying that as a nation we will rise to the occasion.

Ok, ok enough vagueness. I’m going to hit you w/ a couple of awesome links from the week’s adventures in media and then w/ the latest installment of the Take Back the Mic competition. FIRST gotta’ give some love to the NYTimes for straight blessing us w/ a really awesome article! Then don’t you know the next day I got an inquiry from CNN.com asking if I had any thoughts on Obama’s historic speech on race. So I wrote this Op-Ed in response. Now I know many of you saw these two pieces. But what additionally blew my mind is that BOTH articles made the Top 10 on their respective sites! By the morning after it was posted the CNN Op-Ed had become the number one most emailed piece on the site. Yay! My parents were so excited and told my whole family back home in Ghana. I don’t get to go nearly as often as I’d like (it’s been 2 years since the last trip) so it’s always nice when they can see what I’m up to and feel proud. Definitely just the beginning as far as what I can contribute to life back there, but we are takin’ it one step at a time. “Fio, fio” as the old folks would say. (That means “lil’ by lil’ ” y’all)

Anyway, the week was great and we ALSO had a winner in the Take Back the Mic, Open Mic competition. Florentine Christian, an Obama supporter won and I gave $100 to the Obama campaign. The first week we tackle Health Care. This time, given all the ongoing drama we are tackling head on the issue of “Race in America.” Here’s the intro and my take on it. Note how we’ve upped our production values a wee bit. Still got some work to do on that front, but it’s all good! Would love to see response videos from y’all and show the world that we are far from sleep in 2008. Peep the info below and catch you all soon! Peace, D.N.A

Hi y’all. So the response to this YouTube thing has been really incredible. I’ve got to give a lot of love and appreciation to all the people who have sent positive and inspiring words my way. It’s been a whirlwind so my apologies to anyone who has reached out directly and not yet received a personal response. The sentiments are welcome and appreciated.

Now for those of you who know me personally, you know that I am really not into orthodoxy and I always like to push the envelope at least a “lil bit”. So I’ve gotten a lot of requests to speak more on some of these social issues and I definitely will. But I figured it would actually be way more interesting and WAAAY more powerful if “we” started speaking more on the issues. So, I and the rest of the Soulfège/TBTM fam have decided to raise a lil’ ruckus. We’re going to have a competition to see what the rest of our generation has to say on what’s going down in the world. There is no way I’m the only big mouth in town. Check out the video, peep the rules below and spread the word to friends and fam! Let’s see what we’re made of.

Rules for “Open Mic - Politics” Competition

Welcome to Week 1 of Open Mic. This week’s competition runs from Wednesday Feb 27 until 12:01am PST on Saturday March 8. Voting starts on YouTube and then the top five videos will be posted @ 12:01am PST on Friday March 7 right here on TakeBacktheMic.com for final voting by registered users.
The subject for Week 1 is Healthcare.

Here are the Ground Rules:

Post a video response to this video on YouTube. In your response you should:

A - Introduce yourself:</p><p>


    * Full Name</p><p>

    * Where you are from</p><p>

    * Shout out: "I'm here to Take Back the Mic"</p><p>

B - Speak to the issue of the week:</p><p>


    * On "issue X" (eg. Healthcare)</p><p>

    * State who you support and why</p><p>


    EXAMPLE: "Hi, I'm Derrick Ashong, in Los Angeles and I'm here to Take Back the Mic On Healthcare I support Senator Obama because: (knowledge, knowledge, witty comment, further knowledge, wrap it up)</p><p>

C - Stick to the time limit: 3mins max</p><p>

VOTE:

* First round of voting will be on YouTube.</p><p>

* You vote by adding a video you like to your "favorites"</p><p>

* The five videos with the most favorites will move to the next round of voting</p><p>

* By Fri midnight the 5 most popular clips will be posted to TBTM site in a poll</p><p>

* Registered TBTM members can vote on the final 5</p><p>

The Winner of the competition will have a $100 donation made to their candidate by DNA

* Other citizens can make pledges to contribute to the campaign of the winner's candidate. We are asking pledges to be non-partisan - our goal is to support talent, intellect and commitment to the democratic process. Whoever wins the competition, as a collective we pledge to honor that competitor's candidate and the principle of civic engagement with our contributions.</p><p>

* Email addresses of those who made pledges will be sent directly to the campaign supported by the winning competitor, for follow-up on contributions. No transactions will be made or accepted through Take Back the Mic.</p><p>

Extras:

* email politics@takebackthemic.com to make a pledge offer for the winner</p><p>

* email politics@takebackthemic.com with ideas about potential topics<br /></p>

So we got a ton of positive feedback about that YouTube Interview and it raised a bunch of questions as well. Some folks were pissed at the interviewer, some wanted to know if it was a “staged” encounter, others were wondering if the Obama campaign might have been behind it. All in all I’m crazy excited that people are THIS interested in our nation’s political life! So here’s my response explaining what went down in that original interview, who I am and why I am so amped about all this:

Please share this with anyone who had a chance to peep the first video, and to anyone on the fence who could use a lil’ nudge in the right direction. Let’s go get our guy elected!

OBAMA ‘08!!

D.N.A

So my boy Baratunde just posted this video on his blog. It’s from an interview outside the Clinton/Obama debate last week. The interviewer was a little rude at the beginning, but we made friends by the end. Check it out: