Month: May 2004

Have you ever heard about Detroit Mc Lazarus?
If your answer is no, don’t worry. A few days ago, I didn’t know about him either.
Kamran Rasheed Khan aka Lazarus was born between Deaborn and Detroit on July the 17th 1982. He was born in America from Pakistanese parents.
He is a gifted rapper who brings in a new Detroit sound.
You gotta love this MC, because he’s a 100% authentic and skilled MC.
I have watched him in a freestyle battle and I felt like being brought back to the hot atmosphere of the 8 Mile battles.
Kamran Rasheed Khan’s nickname Lazarus is linked with resurrection and power. Lazarus’ voice will help to do away with many stereotypes that people have about Islamic people and religion. His album is another argument in favor of a multicultural society and a constant fight against racism. As he states it in his video ‘Lazarus, the birth of a Legend’, he came to break stereotypes. His words also target President Bush who seems to consider each man from the Middle East as a potential terrorist.
Lazarus will impress you with his lyrics, because you will feel a similar verbal explosion that you can feel while listening to Eminem. His rapid flow and the way he handles words and sentences is impressing.
You will learn more about him on his official website where you will be able to download some of his music:
http://www.lazarus-detroit.com/music.php
Remember this name: Lazarus. He’s the new revelation in hip hop.

You wanna hear a real and typical sound from Detroit?
Then listen to underground MC Dogmatic, because his sound and his lyrics are representative from the Detroit underground. His collaboration with MC Big Proof of D12 will give you a full Detroit flavor. Both Mc’s collaboration is called “Promatic”. The “Promatic” album, which was released in 2002 is all about weed , extasy, guns and real life problems. You will find topics Eminem talked about in songs like “Rock Bottom”. Life is exposed in its harshness.
Both Mc’s are representative of Detroit, as Promatic points it out:
“When you think of Detroit we should be two of the first MC’s outta everybody’s mouth. I think that me and Proof, we’re not like the average MC that just popped up over the past 2-3 years, we’ve been layin it out for Detroit long enough.”
Dogmatic used to live in the 313 for 10 years:
“I have my own history as an MC in the city, I’ve been rappin just as long as, if not longer than, Eminem and D12. If you’re from Detroit, or if you know your Detroit history, you know I’m one of those MC’s that’s been in the underground for 10 years.”
Formerly known as K- Stone, Dogmatic has released an album called “313” in 1994.
The lyrics of “Take No Shorts” from the “Promatic album” will give you a taste of Dogmatic’s collaboration with Proof:
Hook 1]
What you all about
(?) call out
Knock’em all out
Real niggaz pull your mouth out
Punch your grill in
How you feelin this is our house
Dumb nigga, what you thinkin ’bout
[Hook 2]
SICK NOTES TAKES NO SHORTS FROM NO-ONE
SICK NOTES TAKES NO SHORTS FROM NO-ONE
[Bakarak]
Niggaz don’t wanna get me pissed
Have you waving at your people without no wrist
Only Nigga you know won’t drink chrizz
For dumb niggaz I got 2 sticks and fists
It ain’t a crew out there that could fuck with this
I’m Devilsish, like demon
Quick to bust guns and a semem
Aint childish rapper with all that blingin
My style ain’t gonna switch from rap to singin
But I might rap a strangle
Any rap nigga I’m angle get buried
Give a fuck if he got kids and married
Shit trien to make my day, like my name was Dirty Harry
If the industry was a movie, I’ll make the game scary
First nigga to put the world in the bitchuary
I’m the type to beat you in the face with sticks like drums and it’ll
sound like (Uh Uh Uh!)
(Hook 1)
[Jus Bounce]
First off, my flows is crucial
And the brain sergeon sayed I had the nerves to shoot you
Catch you in the street and front you out
(????????) stomp you out
I’m crazy in the mouth like pac and juice
Catch you at the liquor store, cock and let loose
Make your face resemble a fruit loop
Have you (???????)
Trien’ to tempt me is risky, mighty gutsy
Ask Dstout about Puffy
So when I tell you this shit trust me
Its not in your best intrest
To be on my shitlist
Its really senceless
They get beat senceless
Change your name and relocate the menthous
The only way they know who you is, is by the dentist
(Hook 1)
(Hook 2)
[Dogmatic]
Fo’ real, I’m the first nigga to yell ‘313’
Since 19 mother fucking 93
Check my stats, I’m comin all over the track
Smack you in the back with some 8 Mile matic attack
Shit I killed K-Stone, as a matter a fact
We ain’t forgot, Sicknotes shit be hot
I’m wide open like a spot you must be smoke rocks to the bit in that you
can stop the matic from reachin top
Beat you with a sock, stuff the combination locks
If I ever saw trien to open my lock
Kevin’s all stock, nothin unofficial
You can never catch me without the clip in my pistol
[Proof]
Power and PAM publics position
Proof beside pioneers, poetic prison
Pin point periodic poison playin Picasso so
Perfect punk and perverted pust poe
Playin punished shit to peers, or any prick
Passively push pain, punks panic and run frantic
Don’t giva a fuck like minni small whores
Stick a mic in your paw like the dog wars
For the last B Boys skip here like astroids
Skip up on your crew, 1 by 1, blast you boys
Set the pool on fire (???????)
This year alot of bitch ass MC’s gonna die-a
(Hook 1)
(Hook 2)

About his encounter and collaboration with Proof, Dogmatic says:
“Detroit’s not that big, as far as rappin there’s only a couple of clubs, and Proof has always been an innovative MC, he’d network with so many rappers and different crews, that’s sorta how me and Proof got cool.”
You gotta like this stuff, because it is real and related to the Detroit ghetto life.

One Man Army is another underground MC from Lansing, Michigan. His real name is Raland Scruggs. Raland Scruggs influenced the hip hop scene in the early 90’s. In 1994, Raland Scruggs and his friend Ross Rowe aka Senim Silla influenced the hip hop scene in the early 90’s.
In 1994, Raland Scruggs and his friend went to jail for armed robberies. Both friends were released in 1997.
In the meantime, Raland converted to Islam and he wants his music to reflect a positive dimension of hip hop that is directly linked to his religious experience.
Back from jail, Raland and Ross decided to collaborate and they formed ‘Binary Star’. They wrote down their music and recorded it with some help of a few friends.
Both friends have also been working on recording projects with a group of MC’s from Subterraneous Records, a label One Man Army had founded.
More complete info can be found on the official Subterraneous Records website:
http://www.subterraneousrecords.com/
One Man Army is a gifted MC who is known for his word dexterity and he is considered as one of Michigan’s greatest lyricists. You can read his biography here:
http://www.subterraneousrecords.com/oma.html
What makes One Man Army particularly interesting is the fact that he clearly distinguishes his sty

Eminem may surprise fans on certain D12 dates.
http://www.netmusiccountdown.com/news/article.php?id=5552
DETROIT, MI Tuesday 5.25.2004 /netmusiccountdown.com/ — D12 will hit the road next month to support their latest release, “D12 World,” but someone will be missing.
MTV reports that The Dirty Dozen will tour without Eminem. However a D12 representative “left it open” that Eminem might surprise fans on certain dates.
The group is booked for eight US tour dates so far, but MTV states that a full schedule is still coming together. D12 plays their first summer show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 19.
Tour Itinerary per MTV:
6/19 – Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom
6/20 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
6/22 – Minneapolis, MN @ Quest Club
6/27 – San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
6/30 – San Diego, CA @ 4th & B
7/1 – Los Angeles, CA @ House of Blues (two shows)
7/4 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
7/15 – Atlanta, GA @ Earthlink Live More on D12

http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1916
A court in the Hague ruled in favour of Eminem in a case the popular 28-year-old American rap and hip-hop artist brought against Ramshorn BV, a Dutch online company.
Ramshorn, whose website offers cheap and ‘rare’ CDs by artists like Eminem, was charged with copyright and trademark violations.
Cases cited included the CDs Eminem is Back and All Stars Eminem – The Greatest Hits.
The first contains tracks that had been rejected for release. The other has a misleading title – considering that it only contains covers of Eminem’s songs. All of this was done without the artist’s approval, the court was told.
In addition to immediately ending the sale of the illegal Eminem CDs, Ramshorn was also ordered by the court to place a rectification notice on the company’s website.
Furthermore, the retailer was required to send, within seven days, a letter to all its clients who had purchased the CDs, stating the court’s decision and requesting that they return the CDs (for which clients would receive back the original price, plus postage).
Failure to comply could result in a daily fine of ‘25,000, and ‘7,500 for each breach of a series of restrictions stipulated by the court.
“We won on just about every point,” said the Dutch lawyer for Eminem.
Ramshorn is reviewing its options. “The company sells CDs through the internet, just like other record shops. However, we first need to further study the verdict,” said the lawyer for the defense.

After black people got their independance, they started to migrate from the Southern states to the Northern states of America for a brighter future.
But in fact, black folks had to face much more difficulties than they expected when in the North of America.
When they settled down in Detroit, for instance, they had to face poverty, racial discrimination and segregation.
Although Southern states like Arizona are well known for their racism, Detroit’s history is linked with racism.
Henry Ford wanted to massproduce cars in order to make them affordable to a huge amount of people. Massproduction meant, of course, to the lowest expense and to the lowest salaries.
In many people’s mind, black people were viewed as inferior and deserved to become lower salaries.
Black workers used to live in a neighborhood sarcastically called ‘ Paradise Valley ‘, because it was a dark place with no green and no trees. It could rather be described as a hellhole. ‘ Paradise Valley ‘ corresponded to the East Side of Detroit.
The 1943 race riots
Recruiters from the Northern factories went to the South in order to make some publicity, promising high wages to the future employees, trying to convince Blacks and Whites to work for the new war factories. As a consequence, the migrations to the North increased so much that detroit was facing some housing problems. Food was rationed. In fact, people were working very hard and couldn’t even enjoy the benefits from the money they earned, because they had less time (they used to work 48 hours a week) and very few places for leisure time.
At this time, Detroit’s sarcastical name was the ‘ Arsenal Of Democracy ‘. Segregation and racial discrimination ruled everywhere in Detroit.
Blacks were excluded from public housing programms except for the Brewster projects, they were treated unfairly by the police.
Whites also protested against Blacks working with them in the assembly line and during a strike, some people shouted out slogans like these :
‘ I’d rather see Hitler and Hirohito win than work beside a nigger on the assembly line. ‘
Black men were armed to protect their properties.
On June the 4th, the Detroit Housing Commission had approved two sites for defense housing projects : one for Whites and one for Blacks.
Racial tension began growing to an unbearable level. Some Blacks began a ‘ bumping campain ‘ against white people : they wanted to protest against unfair conditions.
On June the 20th, 1943, the situation exploded. There were almost 10 000 people brawling in the street. Incidents happened at Belle Isle. The police was chasing only cars driven by Blacks. Fightings started. Cars were set on fire. A white woman was raped and murdered. Six Detroit poilicemen were shot.
Two back men, Leo Tipton and Charle Lyons spread the rumor that Whites had thrown a black woman and her baby off the belle Isle Bridge. The angry crowd moved to Woodward, breaking windows and looting stores.
The police was only dealing with black rioters and was criticized for its refusal to follow ‘ shoot to kill orders ‘.
The police was praised by Detroit mayor Jeffries who made this statement that ‘ he was rapidly losing his patience with those Negro leaders who insist that their people do not and will not trust policemen ‘.
Thurgood Marshall is the first person to make things move for black people’s rights in Detroit. With the NAACP, he assaile the city’s handling of the riot and pointed out the police’s responsibilities during the riots. Many policemen were watching whites overturn cars and burn without getting involved.
1967 race riots
The police is the main responsible of the second race riot in Detroit. Police through the Northwest side of Detroit to vice squad officers executed a raid on a drinking club in a predomantly black neighborhood located at Twelfth street and Clairmont Avenue.
People were partyingthere and the police tried to arrest everyone. The ploice was waiting for ‘ a clean up crew ‘ to transport the arrestees when a crowd suddenly emerged in order to protest.
After the police had left, a little group of men who were offended to have been kicked out of the club started some trouble and broke the windows of a clothing store. As a consequence, vandalism spread from the Northwest side of Detroit to the East side.
The main causes of the 1967 race riots were due to police abuse, to the lack of affordable housing, black militancy and demographic changes.
4 men police units called ‘ Big Four ‘ and ‘ Tac squad ‘ were looking for prostitutes to arrest or bars to raid. They were degrading black people verbally and physically. In 1962, they shot down a black prostitute, Shirley Scott and beat severely another one, Barbara Jackson in 1964.
Housing problems were worsening the situation too: Blacks used to live in the poorest parts of the town. When middle classes Blacks attempted to integrate white neighborhoods, white inhabitants of detroit started building a large wall along 8 Mile Road.
The destruction of ‘Paradise Valley’ which was bulldozed, left a lot of bitterness and anger among black folks, because it used to be the heart of Detroit’s cultural and economical black community.
Racial tensions have been very strong through the years after the race riots till the early 90’s.
If you take time to look back at Detroit’s historical background, you will notice that racial segragation is part of its history.
Eminem’s story made me focus a real interest on Detroit City. You can hardly study Eminem’s life story without focusing an interest on black history in Detroit. Knowing the huge racial tensions the D-town has been through and Eminem’s will to be part of black people’s cultural landscape, anybody who calls the talented rapper a racist is an ignorant person.
I feel very concerned by black history as a white person, because my two kids are metis and I do also teach languages (German and English) in public schools. As a teacher, I think that my responsibility is also to inform white kids about black history, because most of the time, facts about Blacks and other ethnical minorities are often taught in demeaning terms.I had the occasion to teach about hip hop this year and to talk about black history to white kids who were really interested in the subject matter.

If you’re confused about voter eligibility and registration, you are not alone.
http://www.mtv.com/chooseorlose/headlines/news.jhtml?id=1487432&_requestid=932798
On Saturday Eminem gave the keynote address at the Detroit Hip-Hop Summit, with hopes of encouraging young people of the hip-hop generation to register to vote. In doing so, Eminem told the media and audience of 4,000 that he’d had his right to vote taken away, presumably referencing a felony conviction in 2001 in which he was given two years’ probation (see “Eminem Gets Two Years’ Probation In Weapons Case”).
However, the star should be eligible and need only to register.
In several states, convicted felons are denied the right to vote. But according to the longstanding election laws of Michigan, the state in which Eminem resides, a convicted felon has only a temporary suspension of the privilege to vote while they are incarcerated. Those under probation do not lose the privilege, according to a spokesperson for Michigan’s Bureau of Elections.
Eminem was not sentenced to any jail time and was only given probation in that case and another in 2001, concurrently, for an incident involving a person working with the Insane Clown Posse (see “Eminem Gets Probation For Pulling Gun At ICP Run-In”). Thus, Eminem, who previously had not been registered to vote, should never have had his right suspended or revoked.
A spokesperson for the rapper said Eminem and his camp had always been under the impression that convicted felons were denied the right to vote. The rep said Eminem’s attorneys were looking into the matter and that if it turns out the rapper is eligible, he probably will register.
The intricacies of Eminem’s voting status underscores the murkiness of voting laws for convicted felons in America, ironically a touchstone for Russell Simmons and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, organizers of the weekend’s Detroit Hip-Hop Summit.
For more on this issue, see “Should Convicted Felons Have A Vote? Most Don’t.”
‘Joseph Patel

No need for me to possess a Smith and Wesson, man, to teach you a lesson
Your work always undone in your sick run to be number one
Thinking your a G when you ain’t none
no need to be so full of yourself when you could be taught by each one
No need to have a crown to bring you down, man you’re a bad clown
Nearly as silly as ICP take a look at yourself really
Against you words will spread like a pistol to make you fall
Man you stole a bad role I’ma put you into a hellhole, traitor with no parole
You lost in the jungle with no address only emotional distress,
I’ma make you stumble go on mumble your unspoken word you fucking nerd
You talk like you were underage, let me expand my rage and put you in a cage, your story is an empty page, I’m doubting your mental age
Now you’re afraid, speaking like you’ve been betrayed on the ground you I’ve been layed
On you I’m dropping my grenade you renegade words to counter your masquerade a full tirade to destroy your serenade, to stab you like a knife blade
Words to disarm, words to harm with charm with a certain will to kill like a poison pill
Admit that you have to quit before your throat gets slit
Words crimes I commit and this is my latest hit.

How many whack and average artists have accused Eminem to have copied their style or rhymes? Well, if Eminem was actually inspired by some of you and took some of your whack or average work to make it look brilliant, that makes him appear much more than a genius in the public’s eyes.
Underground rapper Cage from New York belongs to those emcees who claim that Eminem copied their rhymes and their style.
Their beef goes back to the release of the Slim Shady EP in 1998. At this time, Cage accused Eminem to copy his rhymes and his style, which has been denied by Eminem. Cage gets dissed in the song ‘Role Model’ from the Slim Shady LP, where Eminem says: ‘Bought Cage’s tape, opened it and dubbed over it.’
Eminem also disses Cage in a freestyle called ‘Drastic Measures’:
‘Are you afraid of a blade made of a razor wit AIDS
Blood dripping from it
Ripping your stomach up from the waist up
You talk a lot of junk, but you was never ill though
I’m strong enough to beat you to death with a feather pillow
Tipped over some cows, just for a joke and a laugh
Jumped up choked a giraffe
Snapped its neck and broke it in half
Waging wars
Went on stage and sprayed Cage wit Agent Orange
And wiped my ass wit his page in Source
The demon is here, i’m steaming this year
I rip Mystikal’s voice box out, and scream in his ear
It’s not a gimmick trick, it’s an image I live it
Give a damn? I don’t know what a damn is to give it
Man I don’t think this guy is well, I’m high as hell
I beat you with a live cat while I’m swinging him by his tail
I’ll freakin’, I’ll freakin’
Lay your nuts on the dresser, just your nut sack by itself
And bang them stuffs wit a spiked bat
Cut your neck off, and glue your head right back, and leave you like that
You just triggered the prick who mixed liquor
Who’s itching to leave you disfigured
And stiffer than Chris “Stiffer” Reeves
I was teething with strep throat when your mother was breast feeding
And gave her the flesh eating disease
I’m iller than taking a hammer and beating your knees
And walking through South Central L.A. bleeding in jeans
Flash you back to being shot and repeating the scene
On how you just got smoked
And if you do live
You’ll be too scared to tell it, like a Biggie and Pac joke
Did my best to edit in the curses
In these verses
When it dispurses…’
Despite the fact both emcees despise each other, Eminem and Cage have something in common: both are abused children. The article ‘Rage In The Cage’ will give you further information about the underground emcee:
http://music.ign.com/articles/424/424016p1.html?fromint=1
Cage calls Eminem’s rhymes “Tired rhyme styles from Detroit, Michigan”.
Cage justifies his retaliation against Eminem this way: “It started because he is a bitch ass nigga! Right now it stands with me kicking in his fucking face, real horrorshow, I ain’t lettin’ all the shit he said slide.”
Here are some lines written by Cage that are directly aimed at Marshall and at his alter egos:
‘ I heard some blonde bitch walking through New York looking for Cage, I’ll stab you in the face, ten times in the same place. Lace your little infant ’til you thinking different, When in the same building on the street lift you off your feet. The illest four letter word in the world, supporter, Rhyme slaughter, the listener to death save the gun for the Blonde Ambition, fell off the Christian wagon. Your systems saggin biting my shit and I’m laughing, I can freak simple shit and sell records but I don’t. I write the illest shit that cause fans to enter bitin’ zones, Keep your guards by your guard you showing cards on the low. See a man gotta deal, now y’all look just like ‘Cro (Necro), all you schizophrenics need help with reality. Kill your two little personalities, shark getting snuck a salary, Observe gravity pullin ya in to earth gradually. You’ll see you need a style I create to try and battle me…’
Cage, who despises Slim Shady calls Eminem’s alter ego ‘Censored Lady’. He also created a Dr Dre diss called ‘Still Cage’ which is supposed to be a parody of ‘Still Dre’.
Since the beginning of his career, Eminem has caused a lot of envy and jealousy in the world of hip hop. Because he is incredibly gifted for rap and because he handles words like nobody, many emcees would like to be rap like him.
Why not try to improve your style and work a lot harder instead of picking on the best MC?

DETROIT (AP) ‘ The hip-hop generation needs to educate itself and then head to the polls in this fall’s election.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1085254465108330.xml
That was one of the messages from speakers at the Hip-Hop Summit, which drew artists and behind-the-scenes members of the music industry on Saturday.
Rap mogul Russell Simmons, whose Hip-Hop Summit Action Network puts on the traveling event, said young people need to empower themselves to make a difference in their communities and the world.
“Those of us who work in the hip-hop industry know this is the best generation in the world,” Simmons told a crowd of music fans at the Fox Theatre. “And come November, they are going to see that this is the most powerful generation that the world has seen.”
Simmons said the power of hip hop comes from its ability to unite people of different races and religions.
“It’s very important that we flex these muscles in November,” he said.
Two panel discussions were held as part of the event. The first centered on the empowerment of young people and the Hip-Hop Team Vote effort.
As part of the effort, organizers hold voter registration drives at summit cities. It recently registered 50,000 voters in Los Angeles and 80,000 in Philadelphia. Midway through Saturday’s event, the group said it had signed up at least 70,000 Michigan voters ‘ including 40,000 in Detroit.
Run-DMC’s Joseph “the Rev. Run” Simmons said that young people ‘ especially those who want to make it in the music business ‘ need to work as hard as they can, even if that means volunteering or interning for free.
“Everything is about service,” he told the crowd. “When you serve, you get. You can’t get a blessing, you have to be a blessing.”
A second panel discussion that touched on the business side of hip hop featured Detroit-area rap star Eminem and some other members of the group D12.
When asked by a member of the enthusiastic crowd about how to not lose sight of the music when faced with business pressures, Eminem said the secret is to hire a trustworthy business manager.
“On the business side, I’m not ignorant. But I know that without the music there is no business,” Eminem said, “and that keeps me creative.”