---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 15:02:24 -0700
From: radtimes <resist@best.com>
Subject: Riding with the Black Panther F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S.
Riding with the Black Panther F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S.
<http://www.sfbayview.com/101602/fugitives101602.shtml>
by JR
10/16/02
Late one night me and the Black Panther
F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S. hooked up to ride out to 88.5
KPOO FM, a Black owned and run radio station in
Frisco to do one of the many interviews that they
had scheduled for the week to promote their new
debut album "All of Us."
If you don't live in Oakland or go to the Town
frequently, then you may not have seen the billboards that span from North
to West to
East publicizing the new release. The effectiveness of this promotional
endeavor
reminded me of what my grandmother always says about how in the '60s and
early '70s
the Black Panther Party, the political organization, publicized their
10-Point Platform, their
Free Breakfast Program, police patrols, and other survival programs.
They had the people with them and they put
Oakland on the map, again, in a major way that is
still bearing fruit. The revolutionary spirit was high,
and because of that, the people seemed to be
more tuned into what was going on.
Recently it has felt like Oakland is returning to that
spirit. You can see it beginning to catch on more than it has since the
'80s and early '90s
when commercial "system" music began to fade a little and people like
Public Enemy,
2Pac, X Clan and Poor Righteous Teachers came to power.
Way before Marcus Garvey and later on Father Divine were doing work with
our people
in West Oakland, Oakland has always been a Black base for revolutionary
thoughts and
actions. It was the birthplace of the Black Panther Party, founded on Oct.
15, 1966, by
Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
Oakland is also home to the Coup, a revolutionary rap group that has been
putting it
down for a while, and A.E.M. s/c Askari X, another legendary political
rapper, so it was
no surprise that Oakland breeds the type of talent that I heard on the "All
of Us" album.
Knocking beats under lyrical jewels, spit in an Oakland way, you know that
them boys
created a masterpiece that will stand the test of time.
We got to the radio station a little early for their interview on Lover's
Lounge, which
comes on at midnight, Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to 3 a.m. with LBD
aka the
Lucrative Black Demographic aka The Love Back Doctor. This Bay View
interview is the
fruit of us using our time productively, taking pictures, doing the Bay
View newspaper
interview right before they stepped in front of the radio mics. This is the
type of planning
and organization that it takes to make big thangs happen. Ask any group of
Black
Panthers.
So for Black Panther History Month, we are going to continue to hit you
with historical
and current events that the Black Panther Party and their children have
left for us to use
to liberate ourselves. Now we out to the Black Panther F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S. ...
How did the F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S. form?
Jug: Me and Bones hooked up in '94. Since then we have been doing our thang.
Bones: We banged out a couple of singles and that's what led us to Mil
(Jamiel). We
went to his studio to record 'em.
Jug: Even though he wasn't really feeling us ^Å
Bones: He did like the creativity though, and that it was something from
Oakland that
didn't have that normal rugged sound to it. After that Mil took us under
his wing, and
that's how the F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S. was formed. And F.U.G.I.T.I.V.E.S. is an
acronym that
stands for everything our lyrics portray, The Future Under the Guidance of
True
Individuals Who Visualize Every Struggle. If you think of the
F.U.G.I.T.V.E.S., then you
think of a criminal running from the law. And the acronym provides us an
avenue to run
away from the expected norm for young Black Hip Hop artists who are known or
criticized for their negative portrayal of urban life.
Jamiel: Not only were we trying to run away from what everybody expected
from the
rap game, or Hip Hop artists in general, but we wanted to make it clear to
not only white
Amerikkka, but Black Amerikkka, that we represent a lost art of strong
Black men.
What does the album sound like?
Jug: The album is bangin'. It's not the norm, it's got its own original
flavor. It's got a little bit
of "All of Us" - that's the title of the album. We got three different
perspectives to go off
of. And the good thing about it, we were all already on a positive note, me
and Bones,
before we hooked up with Mil.
Jamiel: Piggybacking off of the fact that it's three different perspectives
from the three
different walks of life, instead of the gangsta, the pimp and the baller,
we offer the
freedom fighter, the demonstrator and the liberator.
Bones: My take on the whole album is that it is a collage of different
sounds from the
old-school to the new, because we got old school funk to the urban Hip Hop
sound, and
for those that can swallow it, a 1967 Motown classic Elaine Brown 2003
remix of "Seize
the Time." So it's got a little mixture of everything.
Why did you choose to identify yourself with the Black Panther Party?
Jug: A lot of people won't take the chance. A lot of people are going to
want something
up front.
Jamiel: I know in particular someone who was offered the opportunity to be
put on.
Jug: That's the good thing about having somebody like Mil in your corner.
He came at us
and let us know the rules and possibilities of succeeding and not
succeeding. It's a
chance. You gotta take a chance in everything that you do in life,
especially dealing with
a powerful name like the Black Panthers.
Bones: I think really how we affiliate the hardest is that the Panthers
stood for something
positive, and in our lyrics, we promote positivity. So it's only natural
that the Panthers
would want us to represent their label.
Jug: A lot of people don't want to affiliate themselves with positive stuff ^Å
Bones: ^Å for fear that it won't sell.
Jug: All the stuff that we are doing, we are doing for free.
How did you hook up with Black Panther Records?
Jamiel: David (Hilliard) always knew of myself and my father but didn't
know all of my
musical experience and talent. So after several meetings between Dorian,
David's son,
David and I, we decided to make my group the lead effort in a new business
based on
the Black Panther Party legacy and pipelined into this business that we
call rap.
------------
Email JR at fire@sfbayview.com.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Oct 21 2002 - 15:12:00 EDT