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Tuesday, January 8

Mandeep’s da man

I’m feelin’ Mandeep Sethi’s conscious, jazz-inspired hip-hop beats. Listen here: every track kills, but especially the gorgeous, downtempo ‘Blissful State of Anarchy’; ‘Jazzy Fresh’; and ‘Maybe Then.’ As a turbaned man, he’s got serious beef after 9/11. From ‘Place Where I Live’:

Yo, I feel the flava, I don’t think it feels me back
It’s kind of hard being Indian, trying to make it in rap…

The country where I’m reared, it’s trendy to be scared
It’s trendy to put me in a stereotype instead

I hope I’m lookin’ fly when I’m catching all your eyes
The turban is a part of my culture, not a disguise

Recognize where you live, a country of immigrants
The ones who claim they only stole it ’cause they’re sick

But I’m sick of dealing with things fom Christian ministry shit
Telling me to convert ’cause they’re a racist-ass bitch

I shouldn’t get angry, in fact I think I should laugh
That’s what they do when they see this turbanhead start to rap

I have heard the names, I have felt the shame
I have been beaten down ’cause of the fact that I don’t look the same

And it’s strange, bewildered by your ignorant ways
But no matter how much they harass me, I refuse to change…

I don’t give a shit if my looks prevent me from getting fame…

Money might be nice, but I really want justice…

And you, you can’t give that to me
‘Cause it was jacked upon birth by this goddamn country

Osama, terrorist, towelhead, I’m sick of this
Don’t be blind, racism alive and it’s ridiculous…

They tap my phone, and they invade my home
Saying I can’t work here ’cause I don’t look like one of their own

It’s a matter of time, but it’ll only get worse
After mine, there’ll be a different race of people to hurt…

I wish I had a happy ending but I don’t, it’s up to you

The rapper from SF State calls out rivals, which is as much a de rigueur pose as a serious argument:

There is no such thing as Desi Hip-Hop. So stop trying to make up your own category just because your music is not real enough to be categorized as hip-hop. Go learn about the roots of hip-hop, how it began, and under what social circumstances it survived. Then analyze its corporate takeover, and re-asses your position as a “rapper”, and stop faking. [Link]

Here he is performing at SF State:

Is that a keffiyeh he’s wearing?

Get the tracks here.

manish vij on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008, 9:47 pm in Issues, Music, Religion, Sikhs, Video clips › Email this Email this › Facebook this › Reddit this › Link › Reader links

Hoarding

12 comments

  1. 1Bobby on January 8th, 2008, 10:25 pm › Link

    Love it. Cool dude. Love the Jazzy Fresh track.

  2. 2Dari on January 9th, 2008, 11:59 am › Link

    Nee mai marjawa…

  3. 3jhoombarber on January 9th, 2008, 3:35 pm › Link

    i dig it. his flow def has some of that annoying Eyedea / Atmosphere nasal tone to it, though, which i find irritating, but a lot of people like.

  4. 4shlok on January 9th, 2008, 10:36 pm › Link

    just listened to couple of his recorded material on his myspace page. it actually sounds really good. his instrumentals can’t possibly be original though. “wish i knew” sounds an awful like Jay-Z’s “this can’t be life.” manish, any clue who makes his beat?

  5. 5Sundari on January 10th, 2008, 12:32 am › Link

    And he does it all for a cause….

    A broadcasting and electronic communication arts major, Sethi uses hip-hop not only to express himself, but also to raise money for charity and to educate and entertain elementary school children during after-school programs.

  6. 6manish on January 10th, 2008, 3:12 am › Link

    Shlok, he says: deacon LF, Dj Descry, and midpoint beats. they’re all on my top. He’s on Facebook.

    Sundari, thanks for the link.

  7. 7mandeep on January 10th, 2008, 1:54 pm › Link

    yo shlok…yeh most of the stuff is sampled…and jay z did sample the same one we used..its harold melvin and the bluenotes ” i miss you”, look up the original on youtube its fuckin DOPE

  8. 8Bhanu on January 10th, 2008, 2:08 pm › Link

    He is a great kid. I know him personally and used to teach him Bhangra at one of the weekend after school programs. Good to seem him doing well.

  9. 9mandeep on January 10th, 2008, 2:14 pm › Link

    haha what the f…BHANU! WUDDUP brotha…damn i miss you.shoot me your number.. blindprophets@gmail.com, id love to catch up with you. and thanks for the support. you prob still never listened to that first wack ass album i did that i gave to you…hahha

  10. 10shlok on January 10th, 2008, 8:01 pm › Link

    how you doing pimpstar. yeah just checked it out. i didn’t realize. sorry.

    anyways though, all your beats are insane. not to take away from your skills. but those are some well done instrumentals.

  11. 11mandeep on January 10th, 2008, 10:11 pm › Link

    word up. maybe the beats reflect my taste in music. haha i stay on the grind, hopefully you see improvement with each new joint. should be an album done and out by february. aint no pimpstarrin round here. just humble hustlin

  12. 12E-sizzle on February 1st, 2008, 1:00 am › Link

    sounds great kid, you really got yourself going in a direction that can only pay off. like your lyrics, grasped what you were saying. like that you represent the past, present and future. ~Elise ;*


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