I do believe each family has the right and responsibility to defend themselves from tyrannical corrupt police, politicians and lobbyists

trying to manipulate laws to protect their money while they criminalise you for feeding your family 

and when I say family I don’t necessarily mean mom and dad, you know, I mean your community, your neighbourhood

and that rifle is symbolic of that defence, but I really do mean a rifle

and I’ll prolly get in trouble for this shit 

but that’s funny cos studio gangstas rap about killing their own people and they get plats, I get homeland security letters and shit

but fuck y’all man, stop closing schools down and maybe I’ll put the rifle away

but until then, educate, organise, mobilise

one rifle per family 

- Bambu, ‘Self Defense (Interlude)’.

Track 10 from the album …one rifle per family - buy the album here 

This might be my favourite hip-hop album of all time. I’ve been listening to it pretty much non-stop since buying it the other day (there are 20 tracks so I can probably keep it on for ages without getting tired of it). Great sound throughout and really solid lyrics and storytelling mostly around community self-determination. 

There’s this fantastic family cycle in it which I enjoy cos I love songs addressed to one’s parents or children. Track 7 “Kid (Interlude)” features Bambu and Rocky’s son Khalil being adorable and Track 8 “Pops” reflects on his dad and being a dad. 

Track 9 “Moms” is one of my favourite tracks on the album. It tells his mother’s story with this really gorgeous flow, then there’s a bit addressed to his kid’s mom before moving into a faster section about oppression and exploitation of women more generally. He name drops Grace Lee Boggs and Bell Hooks and there are two amazing cameos from his mother. In the first one she says something in Tagalog I think, and then in English that the objective of cops is to accuse and abuse, not protect and serve. The second one is the end of the track and goes:

one time a police officer called up asking to support their fundraising

i almost said, hell no, no way

i wanted to say, sorry i have no money

i just bailed out my son