WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show. Boston is not only the birthplace of the American Revolution the hub is also home to some of the world's best hip hop what the founding fathers did for democracy. The Big Daddies of rap like Ed O.G. and guru did from Boston's hip hop scene. Despite the world class talent that's come out of this town Boston has been dwarfed by hip hop heavyweights like New York and L.A. for city that's known for its ball park and Boston pubs. Our hip hop scene is seldom front and center. When we survey the cultural landscape. So this hour to wrap up our take on hip hop Appreciation Month we're going to introduce you to the hip hop greats who are Boston's own. But first we go to Haiti for an update on the presidential election and the devastating cholera outbreak that's debilitated the region. Up next from an island nation in crisis to Boston the unlikely hip hop nation. First the news from NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh censure is the recommended punishment

for Congressman Charles Rangle. Today the House Ethics Committee's chief counsel said the New York lawmakers should be given the most serious punishment short of expulsion for violating ethics rules. Today wrangle said he might have been sloppy but not corrupt. No matter what sanction you finally reach I will dedicate my life in trying to let younger members another members know that these rules and that they have to punish they're there to guide. The members to protect the character. And the integrity of this Congress wrangle was found guilty on 11 counts of ethics violations including fund raising misconduct. After today's meeting the House Ethics Committee will decide on the recommended punishment in a closed door session. Afghanistan will be near the top of President Obama's agenda in Lisbon over the next few days. NPR's Ari Shapiro will be traveling with the president to the NATO's summit in Portugal almost a third of the troops in

Afghanistan are not American. So the NATO's summit will be a moment for the countries involved in the Afghan war to regroup discuss lessons learned and plot a way forward. General Doug Lute is President Obama's special assistant for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He told reporters the goal is to begin withdrawing troops next July and finish the process by 2014. During this process to reassure the Afghans that as they stand up they will not have to stand alone. Joe is expected to endorse a enduring partnership with Afghanistan. Neda will also adopt a new strategic concept at this summit for the first time in more than a decade. That document redefined the organization's role to adapt to 21st century challenges such as terrorism and cyber security. Ari Shapiro NPR News. Trading of shares in the new General Motors is underway on the New York Stock Exchange stock began trading at $35. NPR's Sonari Glinton reports today's sale will cut the U.S. government's ownership in the company by about half.

The stock sale should raise upwards of 20 billion dollars. That money won't go directly to GM. It goes to the U.S. Treasury. The Canadian government and the trust that's responsible for the United Auto Workers retirees health care fund. Dan Akerson GM sed chief executive officer says there is a lot of confidence and optimism in GM these days. There's something else too. We know you're right here. We know what went wrong and I believe we've learned a lot from that depending on what calculation you use. The U.S. government's share of the company will fall from 61 percent to between 27 and 33 percent. Sonari Glinton NPR News. House Republicans say they will adopt a voluntary ban on earmarks or pet projects when they take control of the House in January. Senate Republicans took similar action two days ago. Dow's up 180. This is NPR. Scientists working at the world's largest physics lab located near Geneva are claiming a breakthrough.

NPR's Richard Harris says it has to do with the search for anti-matter as any Star Trek fan can tell you when you bring together matter and anti-matter they annihilate leaving only pure energy. That's because matter and anti-matter are especially opposites. Take hydrogen the simplest atom. It's made from a proton and electron anti-hydrogen is made from the anti-matter equivalent an anti-proton and a positron. Since our universe is filled almost entirely with matter it's hard to keep any anti-matter around long enough to study. It goes poof at the slightest provocation. Now scientists at the European accelerator lab CERN have figured out how to trap anti-matter atoms and isolate them from matter briefly in order to stay. Need Them. In nature they report trapping thirty eight into hydrogen atoms. They soon hope to collect enough to study the physical properties of this otherworldly material to find out whether anti-matter and matter are fundamentally the same. Richard Harris NPR News.

I want to says about 40 Rolls Royce engines used in the world's fleet of Airbus 380 aircraft may have to be replaced. That affects about half of all Rolls Royce engines in service. This as the airline uncovers more details about the engine blowout on one of its flights. Earlier this month. Meanwhile Vice President of the Australian and international Pilots Association says the number of system failures stemming from the November fourth engine blowout was unprecedented but the crippled plane returned safely to Singapore with more than 450 people onboard. This is NPR. Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and from the David Geffen foundation supporting the vital role of quality journalism in this nation's civic life. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show until mid-October there had never been a case of cholera in Haiti and some aid workers would add

miraculously. But today more than a thousand people have died from the disease. And this health crisis is erupting just as the island nation gets ready for the presidential election at the end of this month. Joining me to talk about how the cholera outbreak and the presidential election are intersecting is Manelli a charlatan editor and business manager of the Boston Haitian reporter. I'm also joined by Brian Concannon Jr. director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Thank you Kelly. I want to just get your response to the cholera outbreak and what we have heard are recent out protests. I don't I characterize it some have gone so far as to say this rioting others have just said there's protests about it from Haitians on the ground who are rightly concerned about people who have died and their bodies being left around. It's cholera a thousand people as we noted more than a thousand they estimate have already died from it. And what the concern is that it could go up to maybe

as many as 20000. But no you know the terms of the protest and demonstrations many of them are organized by families of victims of cholera. They're upset because they it's been reported that the source of the cholera has been a result of the U.N. troops the MINUSTAH as referred to in Haiti. And so the protests are to remove this peacekeeping mission that has in essence brought something that's now killing the Haitian people. So they feel like they're not really their peace is not really being defended they're actually being hurt as a result of this U.N. peacekeeping force being in Haiti. So that's the one thing about the demonstrations that we've seen and I think many Haitians. Our feeling that is very difficult to ask them to go vote when they not only still not have viable places to live but now they're being killed by a disease that they are don't have any real protection from. So the protests are stemming from from long thing

a long standing sense that they're being oppressed on many different levels. Brian. Yeah I think there's a there's a there's an important connection between the elections the and the and the caller first the protesters are making those connections themselves they're saying we're against these elections which are which are set up to be fraudulent and we're against the introduction of color. And I think that the cholera epidemic is obviously a health care crisis but it's also a crisis of confidence because as you know you mentioned many of the signs are pointing to it having been introduced by U.N. troops. But the U.N. keeps denying it first he said no it's impossible that we brought it in which it's impossible to say you didn't bring it in there's 9000 people they couldn't possibly trip tested them all in one day and then they said well it's not important that we look to see where the where the break came from we should only be treating people and of course as a public health matter you want to find the cause of an outbreak. And so one of the reasons why I think people are angry is

that they're being lied to and when you're scared and you're at risk and then people start lying to you especially the people that are running your country that gets you angry. And the same thing is happening with the elections. The elections are highly flawed. There are 15 15 political parties have been excluded from the legislative component of the elections. Another 15 presidential candidates were excluded. Some apparently for good reason some some We're not sure of. But in all of them the electoral council never gave a straight answer they never gave a comprehensive explanation of why people were or were or were excluded and there being the electoral councils being backed up by by by the U.N. and by the international community including the U.S. which is very generously supporting the elections even though they're so flawed. Well let's put a pause on the election right now because I just want to get back to the cholera and the actual you know scene of what's happening in Haiti. Now with the addition of the collar and just to remind people that the earthquake happened almost a year ago in January. So that's one contacts. The other thing in case people are wondering what

is cholera by the way. It is a an infection of the small intestine which causes diarrhea and vomiting and leads to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance which if not corrected can lead to death. So we've both we've discussed here that there is some suspicion that maybe it was brought in by the Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers. It can be passed it can be contagious and passed by human to human contact. But generally how people get it is that there is some bit of fecal matter that is consumed in food or water. And so just to remind people thousands of Haitians are living in tent camps you know where the people are not in their homes where they can have some control over these issues. And as I stated at the beginning a lot of the aid workers are surprised that actually cholera didn't become an issue before this Manola. Yes this is true. Human rights advocates had been advocating to the U.S. and Haitian governments to address the issue

of having a more effective aid relief. In the short term that will then build a long term solution. Things like building water filtration systems within or close to the camps things like training Haitians to and supporting Haitian a grassroots organization in terms of building their own water and their own relief systems. So it's been it's been a. To me this is a direct result of the failure of the international aid relief and the failure of the Haitian government to protect and provide services for its people especially given all the resources that were there are available. Have you. And let me pause there because I know a lot of people are listening saying I know how many people I read about going to Haiti to help. Why isn't that working why has the international group of folks going not serve the nations well. One key thing Haitian people are not the center of all these efforts. Many of the large NGOs that receive all the different donations in the funds

they sort of then implement smaller grants to local Haitian led organizations. Having said that the Haitian people are not in control of how these programs are implemented. They're not in control of how these projects are run. It's sort of like you know Red Cross or a UNICEF goes in and say OK I have grants I have small grants I can give out to this group people so whoever whoever fills that bill is the ones that get the money versus the other way around saying OK let's walk into a community and let's talk to civil society organizations from that community and see what the needs are the way some other international organizations have done in Haiti. And so that's the key thing the Haitian people are not at the center of the relief efforts you can't really go support and help people if they're not if they're not leading and letting you know what they actually need. And you were last there in April. I was last there in March and March and at that time did you see any difference. You know since at least some of the international organizations come in what was on the

ground that I'm Brian about to get to you I know you were there much more recently. But I'm just trying to get from Nelia from your vantage point in March so I have a very unique position in terms of when I was in Haiti so I was in Haiti two days before the earthquake so the Haiti that I saw two months later was very different and the one thing that that was noticeable and that still remains true is rubble everywhere obviously. And then you realize these so-called tent cities that you're hearing of they're not really tents they're people who are living under tarps with sticks holding them up and you have the tent camps have grown and you have you know large tent camps that are about 50000 people to which 200 people are sharing one bathroom or one arches they or one portable potty we wouldn't want to say that so that was very visible because two months after the earthquake you were a bit. I was a bit taken aback by the fact that these were not really tense. These are folks living under tarps and they had no sort of

private sanitation resources. And then there is the source Brian of where cholera could strike right in right there talking about the limits of sanitation. Exactly and it's not just sanitation one of the things we did that we did a study in in February we interviewed 93 families in six different camps and then we can conducted a follow up study in July and we found that almost none of the families we we spoke with at either time were given potable water. And I was down in the clinical Water think about water and I was down in the camps in a visit a few camps in July and then and some more in October. And I found them just on my observations the same thing that a lot of the camps actually had they had none. Drink up a water that you could use for bathing and possibly cooking although people complain that that made them sick as well. But you couldn't drink it and people were forced to buy water on the market and these are people who are already missing meals going days without eating including kids going days without eating and they have to use up some of their some of their resources to buy drinking water and some people didn't and that's how you get sick. And that

situation actually did not improve from March until July and I think is as mentally mentioned with a fairly uncoordinated aid effort where different people do different things. You have very uneven aid and if you go to for instance there's a camp that gets on the news a lot that Sean Penn is active in in managing. You get water there and you get nice tents and things are fairly good there. But most of the other camps you go there and they have nothing. Most of it most of the camps that I went to in October all of them they said that they would get non potable water and some of them had latrines but that was it they didn't get any food aid they didn't get any medical aid they didn't get any any potable water. No one I talked to had had any jobs. And so even though they had their water was for bathing was OK. They they were still didn't have have sanitation or drink water and that's exactly the recipe that's exactly what the cholera bacteria loves to see. And you were most recently there in October so you since that time seen the same thing. Yes and that's what our report that we put out in Iraq in September and it's and it's

unfortunate still true. The title is we've been forgotten because that's what over and over again we were told by Haitian people who hear on the radio that that Americans gave generously to Haiti which Americans did and. People giving money people going down really giving from the heart and with the best of intentions. But that has not reached the people on the ground who need it. Let me put that in context. Right at the moment of the earthquake the United States government sent some money down as did other governments and as did Americans individual Americans. But there was a large meeting several weeks after the earthquake in Canada with representatives of countries from around the world pledging massive amounts of of aid because they knew it was going to take a lot to to rebuild Haiti. The United States was very well represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said we're going to give this money but only if it meets certain conditions are met meaning that we want to make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of any corrupt folks because a lot of government people were killed and there was some corruption in Haiti and

in the government or so it is felt. So now finally all of these months later just so people understand what we're talking about. The United States is going to transfer one hundred twenty million dollars which represents about one tenth of the amount that has been pledged so that people understand why it's taking so long to get a water filtration filtration system to get tents to get all of these things. There's nothing you know they don't have the money. So here's where we are. And that was that he was not held up because of concerns over financial accountability. They wasn't saying oh we need the Haitian government to put this in place. That was all in the U.S. and just not passing through the different hoops that the money had to be had to pass through and it's been appropriated by Congress for months. But it's just you know very small just people getting their act together and signing the right papers and that's taken that's taken. And I should mention that Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma held it up to as well saying you know why are we giving out this money which we have other issues and concerns. But this is not just a U.S. government money issue. There are all those large

NGO like American Red Cross World Vision that received millions of dollars in relief. They are holding onto their money they're only using about 25 to 30 percent of the funds saying that they're leaving it for reconstruction. I mean so that you have larger you have larger non-governmental organizations sort of dictating what the intent was of a donor they gave money for relief. So they're sitting on this money so it's not just the governments that pledged the donors that pledged but you have the actual organizations who are doing the work on the ground holding onto their money saying we were going to hold on to this for a span of five or 10 years that we can help reconstruction which is which means that translates into services are not being given to Haitian people as a result of it. And we should also note that if people haven't been paying attention because as Brian you said you know many people have forgotten Haiti has also suffered aftershocks. A hurricane Hurricane Tomas and the rainy season so it's not like things remain static in terms of the

environment. While all this other stuff wasn't happening there's also that to contend with as well. Yeah and it's important to note that these are not that it's easy to see these as kind of isolated curses that God is inflicting on Haiti but they're really different symptoms of the same underlying program problem and that's poverty and that's the Haitian government's inability to provide basic services to its people. And some of the roots of that inability to extend back to our country. All right. We're talking about Haiti in the midst of a cholera outbreak and a presidential election. My guests are my Nollie a charlatan of the Boston Haitian reporter. And Brian Concannon Jr. of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. We'll be back after this break stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from New England nurseries. The annual

holiday open house event November 20th from noon to 3 will feature wine cheese and holiday food tastings and holiday decorating tips with ninety nine point five host RAY BROWN New England nurseries dot com. And from Boston Private Bank and Trust Company committed to helping successful individuals and businesses accumulate. Preserve and grow their wealth. You can learn more at Boston. Private Bank dot com. And from Newberry court a full service residential community in Concord Massachusetts supporting PR eyes international news show the world. Weekdays at 3 and 6 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. In 1936. George the sixth took the throne of England after his brother abdicated on the next FRESH AIR we talk with Tom Hooper director of the new film The King's Speech. Do you have this guy who has no expectation of being king. He has a terrible stammer and becomes king and he can't speak. The film tells the story of the king's relationship with his unconventional speech therapist.

Join us. This afternoon it to an eighty nine point seven WGBH WGBH radio and television reporter Jared Bowen on what he thinks qualifies as real news. I think that real news is things that make you think. See appreciate and perhaps most importantly be startled in your own existence. Do you agree. Tell WGBH what real news means to you by giving your opinion at real news WGBH dot org. I'm Michele Norris from NPR News and you're listening to eighty nine point seven. WGBH radio. Stay with us for the bigger picture behind the day's news on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Coming up at 4:00 here on Boston's NPR station for news and culture. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're talking about the state of Haiti as it deals with both a presidential election at the end of this month

and a debilitating cholera outbreak. My guests are my Nollie a charlatan of the Boston Haitian reporter and Brian Concannon Jr. of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. So much of what happens internationally that gets Americans attention has to do with America if there's a connection. So we are sitting in a town with the third largest Haitian-American population in the United States so there you know there's some impact that can come from this community in no small way. And as we look toward these presidential elections coming up at the end of the month I think a lot of people might say Brian why I think this point there's so many other things to deal with it seems bad timing or. I think it's a bad time to have elections but it's the worst time not to have good elections I think it's I think that the government currently in place and certainly the government that comes into the into place after after early February is going to have to make some extremely important decisions that will have a long lasting impact on the future. Whether you

spend reconstruction money in the cities where the damage happened or in the countryside in order to keep people out of the city so they're less vulnerable whether you put money into one industry or another and the government's also going to have to ask its people to make a lot of sacrifices for people in tent cities to leave for people to vacate their existing homes so they can be reconstruction people are going to have to miss out on educational opportunities health care opportunities. And it's I think it's going to be extremely difficult for a government to do that that does not have the trust of the people and the election. Elections are obviously the best way to to make sure that the government in place has popular support. Earlier Brian said earlier that there is some suspicion that this election process has been corrupted in some way. It's not really suspicion is actually I think there's been reports that GDH is done and other folks have done to show that it's actually is a flawed election system. You know you have basic things like voter registration lists incomplete Haitians need a national ID card to be able to vote as part of their part of their

electoral process. Those are not been complete like Brian mentioned before you have parties some of which are popular parties that last party excluded without any real any real reasoning any real any real explanation to a people. So all those systemic malfunctions are real and people know it and hence the reason why they're protesting and are against elections on some level. But I Brian said it's important for us to have an election for this democracy to continue and looking at the different candidates. You have a very. Well-known group of folks you know well known the political landscape in Haiti that are the top contenders now including Preval as sort of his successor you want to say that he's put in a bit. Yes. President Rene Preval is pushing with this unity you need unity platform as one of the top contenders and what

what's astonishing is the amount of money being put into this campaign. We've never seen this mount of money before in terms of. Now where does it come from if everybody struggling to get money where it's pretty much of the question a lot of the candidates are actually campaigning in Boston and Long Island in Florida places where where the Haitian diaspora community is. But if you if you look around Port au Prince the signs are probably two to one for government candidates and every other candidate. And there's I think 60 parties. And so there's a huge predominance of of money by the government candidates and most Haitians suspect that that money is coming from their tax dollars. OK just to add one piece of information and I think our listeners should know some of the reasons that people don't have their voter rolls are not up to date is that those people were killed in the earthquake. So now you're talking about potential fraud where you know people could use somebodies name who died to vote potentially and then because of the earthquake aside from all of that how are you going to keep up with that when all your process is in a lot

of your government institutions that might have been in place to oversee these process this bureaucratic process as were destroyed in the earthquake so you've got all of that going on in the background in addition. So we've talked about a lot of these candidates campaigning in the U.S. a couple of them came to Boston to campaign and raise money. The top contenders are four out of 19. One is a woman. Is that right. Yes the woman her name is Milan money guy. She is the president of she's the wife of the former president. She has. She teaches now at versity. So she's very well known in the political landscape in Haiti and she actually ran as a senator back in the 0 6 elections. So she's one of the top contenders you have also as I mentioned before as you said they stand from the Unity Party they have now. Also one one newcomer to the scene is also a musician very well known. His musical name Sweet Mickey but his name is Michel Martin. He has been campaigning in

Diaspora and of course in Haiti and he brings a different perspective because he's a musician. He hasn't been in the political landscape. So that's a there's a few other ones that are leading right now but those are sort of the the main one the main ones that are sort of getting most attention I feel the most the most press in terms of in terms of just the notability in Haiti right now does Washington want this because as you mentioned the United States and Haiti have a long tangled history. Is there any indication in Washington as a favorite in this race. Oh sure it's Elliston who's the candidate of the Unity Party the government guy government guy the it's interesting in the list of men all you mentioned not one of those people has ever to my knowledge ever been elected to anything in Haiti. And so there are people who are prominent and people like MS Money God certainly has had a long career of in education in public service. But none of these people have any demin demonstrated electoral success. And that's because the people who do have demonstrate electoral success are for the most part kept out because the government didn't want didn't want threats from people who had. Who could

win votes. And and that's why most of the good candidates were actually excluded from these elections. And that's your term. Good candidates. Yeah yeah yeah OK you can you know you can get on the phone but if I don't you need to have a demonstrated electoral success I have had to have been excluded and and the government the government did that because you know because they want to perpetuate their power it's very problematic and our government is supporting that we're paying for these elections I think it's about 15 million dollars which is close to half of the total cost of the elections coming from US tax dollars and I think it's going to do Haiti a great disservice. I'm very concerned that this is going to lead to that what we saw we've seen the last couple days of civil unrest and protest is the beginning of five years of civil unrest because of presidential terms of five years and it is a president who's in power who got through got to power without the popular support. I think the people are going to accept it and they're going to be taking the streets for five years which is going to imperil all the aid. I mean we haven't given sort of our aid but all that's going to be imperiled if the people. Want to stop the government from from operating because they don't

trust it. And we should note that even though there are protests about the color of race Mitt most of them have been peaceful so far so to your point. The level of frustration can rise to something other than peaceful. If there is a great amount of distrust. I know you well. While they have been peaceful three young men have been shot and killed by UN peacekeeping forces. It's been reported one in particular in the north. So although I already hear this frustration. Yes. So I mean. And of course these reports said that these young men have been kill shot and killed are not being dealt with so that just angers the people even more you know so if they're peacefully protesting and they have a peacekeeping mission shooting at them and then not getting any sort of results from an inquiry of the shooting or how that happened it just continues to flame the fire. I understand that written on many of the walls in the in the capital and elsewhere is the word new bouquet which means loosely translated anough we're just so

tired of all of this and we're angry. Yeah. New book it translated means we're tired but I think you can add a layer of that where we're sick and tired of being sick and tired. I think it's a better translation of that and given given where people are right now. All right well we'll have the results of the of the election coming up pretty soon at the end of this month and then we'll see what happens. Maybe if it's the candidate that Washington wants there's some hope for getting some movement on the ground. I don't know. We'll see what this conversation is going on we've been talking about Haiti for since the earthquake and will continue to do so. And we've been talking about Haiti today thank you very much Tim an olio charlatan editor and business manager of the Boston Haitian reporter. And Brian Concannon Jr. director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti thank you both. Up next we conclude our tribute to hip hop Appreciation Month with a look at Boston's enduring hip hop scene. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Boston private banking Trust

Company Boston private bank provides private and commercial banking and investment management and trust services to individuals and businesses. You can learn more by visiting Boston private bank dot com. And from the Massachusetts Freemasons. Who believe that a man's greatness can be measured and it's not by his wealth or fame. You can learn more at the Massachusetts Freemasons website. Ask a Freemason dot org. And from Subaru of New England offering the totally redesigned 2010 Subaru Outback with symmetrical all wheel drive. Dealer listing at New England Subaru dot com. For regular driving the next time on the world researchers follow called off the coast of Newfoundland. This part of the sea has been off limits to commercial card fishing for nearly 20 years. I think we're at a major turning point right now in the potential rebuilding of the northern cod stocks. The fish may be coming back but questions remain. Our story next time on the world. Coming up at 3 o'clock here at eighty nine point seven WGBH.

Hi I'm Kathy Spillar from WGBH is in. Classical stations 99 and if used loved traveling the world with NPR News and incredible music that I hope you'll join me next spring for the WGBH learning tours. Spanish melodies Ghana will explore Madrid Barcelona and the beautiful island of Majorca will enjoy lush accommodations and lots of local music including stars wailing and the course flamenco. Learn more at WGBH dot org slash learning tours. Brian O'Donovan. Come join me every Saturday at 3 for a good old fashioned session on a Celtic sojourn on a nine point seven WGBH. To. The South. This is a Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. We're listening to race riot a collaboration of several Boston rappers including one of my guests today. Today we

wrap up our take on hip hop Appreciation Month with a look at how Boston has made its mark on this cultural movement. I'm joined by Christopher own a reporter at The Boston Phoenix who's covered the Boston hip hop scene for seven years and also in the studio with me is the famous Ed O.G. a Boston based rap pioneer. Welcome to you both. Hello thanks. Thanks. All right I want to start this way. Where is Boston on the national and international hip hop scene. Who's going to say am I going to start again if you want to co-host I mean I could I could save up some accolades I think you know the one thing that's always important to remember is it's such a transient community. But with all the college students so fearful there are Boston hip hop fans everywhere and I'm sure eto will speak to this that you know he tours Europe twice a year. Usually there's a there's a kind of hip hop I hate to call it conscious or enlightened it's just kind of there's a feeling to it it's an east coast feeling the drums hit hard. There is not always a positive message but and I hate to use the word didactic in discussing hip hop it's so academic but there is a didactic flavor to it. So and

it's inspired a lot of people a lot of Boston is an underground hip hop hub of sorts a lot of tours start here or end here. Art is like a moral technique atmosphere might not be names that your audience is that familiar with but these are names that packed to three thousand people across the country and they know that there is a there's an audience here for that kind of music. What I think is so interesting A.J. is that Boston if you say Boston the people they say music they think rock. They don't think you know hip hop. Why is that. I mean I don't think we've had international success you know as a as a whole. I mean I've had some success there's a lot of the audience that has had you know sporadic success but nothing that's consistent. So I mean with that being said like Chris said US touring all around the world all the time putting out good music. I think the Boston scene is his followers and like he said a lot of people might not know it but you know underground there's people all over the world that I love what we're

doing but I have to say that even above ground because I'm going to play for our listeners one of your tracks I got to have it. This is from your 1991 album Life of a kid in the ghetto. Yeah and this track reached number one on the Billboard Music charts and put Boston on the hip hop man. You. Know people need to know which way you want I think my way of thinking that is the ticket. I like that. Hey you know what. We get. Why you. Get paid to have a go if I get in a place with. Just you. OK. Now A.J. you know I didn't know your name but I knew that song you heard that song when we were planes I said Oh I've heard that. So there may be a lot of people out there who are not aware that some of this music comes from here and I think what that song is a Spurs especially important I mean I was kind of I was like tell tell the anecdote a couple years ago I had interviewed most deaf and Teller quality they were coming to town and they saw my phone number and on the tour bus they called me on the way and they go hey you have a

phone number for us and then to bring an ad on stage when you know there's a there's a line in one of most def songs where he references that song and it all came out and you've never seen. It was Avalon which is now simply never seen a place go so insane and you know. Yeah yeah. Artists like common there would be all that oh inspired a lot of these guys you're talking about as you referred to before a socially conscious rapper as most def. Most people may know him as an actor now and Talib Kweli same thing and I want to give people another little taste of you with some of the social conscious rap that we know about this is again from from the 1900 album Life of the kid in the ghetto It's called Be a father to your child. When a brother makes a challenge guys if they get that money is there. Crisis is not the presence that your presence and the essence of the thing

that you like that you like. OK I got to say I've heard that one tilt a lot. And many places yeah. And actually speaking out at Song About two weeks ago I was just invited to go out and speak at a father's conference by the Urban League of Columbus Ohio and I actually started this guy named Glenn Harris who started a program based off of that song for fathers. And he gave me an award so that the the reaches of music in you know what what I've accomplished being from Boston. You know it stretches and is still still relevant today. There's a lot of tension between what you know when people think hip hop Unfortunately they often think gangsta rap but that's not the direction you went and why did you decide to go a different direction.

You know just growing up in my environment it wasn't that I was anti gangster anything I mean I grew up in and that environment. It's just I just want to see a change. So and I always tried to be my own person and be an individual and you know think outside the box look at your environment. My mom and I grew up on Humboldt Avenue right in Roxbury you know spent my whole life there. So I've seen pretty much everything you know. I know everything that goes on growing up as a as a youth you know and urban in the 80s. So I would just say trying to come out of it and better yourself and do something positive and that was always my mom always raised me that way so OK that's what I try to do Christopher. So in Boston turning out these great hip hop artists but not getting the attention that so or really recognition they got the attention but not the recognition because like I said I knew the songs. Did you know it came from here.

Yeah I think it was certain to and I'm sure of that. I think to a certain degree it's good that but you know Houston is an example of a city that's had over the years artists like Scarface for example who did things but then Houston about five years ago had this thing where it was it was all Houston all the time and then they fell off. And I think to a certain extent when people always ask me when's Boston going to have that big MTV hit and you know it maybe it'll maybe it'll happen one day you know right now there's an artist from Lawrence named terminology with a guy name MassPike miles and they have a song on MTV. But I'm talking about if I think if there ever was a huge just Boston banger I think that you could fall off after people kind of get sick of Boston so I think it's always been kind of a gradual thing. And sure it would be great if there was more recognition but as far as having that that giant you know the summer hit the booty shake Yeah. OK. One of the things that I've appreciated in listening to some of the tracks in preparation for this is that so many of the references the local Boston references from the people who are hip hop

artists here. And here's one I want our listeners to hear this is D.L. with the local hit masterpiece from his 2004 album can't get a break noticed all the Boston references. He's. Right. I mean who doesn't love hearing all about their community. Yeah well that's your song. Yeah yeah that's a that's a great way to do that. Another name that came up in a big way. Unfortunately after he died was a guru who was from Boston so the hip hop fans around the nation and and the world know that name. And if you're the godfather of a local hip hop music then guru was right up there as a name to remember yeah. Why was he so important to Boston. I mean just you know back in

85 you know that that's when I really met guru and you know we kind of came up and rap together and he made such a big impact on hip hop. Being from Boston and doing what he did worldwide you know people love gang starts they want to. The all time favorite hip hop duo for life. I mean for everyone across the board. So you know and seeing him take a chance to leave Boston because a lot of the thing. You know that keeps us here. He seems like a lot of people when they leave Boston and they become a little more successful and then Boston people want to accept you a little more when you come back home. You know Dan Rather just staying here and doing it from the ground up. But you know we had to respect them and love them for going out there and making it happen. OK I want to give people a chance to hear him. THIS IS WHO WROTE THIS IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH the title track off of guru's 1098 album. And again as you mentioned he

also performed under the name Gang Starr when you see it. Sometimes I want to be selfish jealous from the. Likes of shellfish you know because they just. Like you. But just what is coming to you. What are you going to do. You know so therefore I can't dispute that must be true. Sad reactions don't be quick to judge. You may not know the hardships people speak up. It's best to step back. And observe. When we meet on the road of truth that's very very good. You know it's I don't I'm sure you're aware I know you're aware that his father yeah whose father is the honorable Harry J I believe was the first African-American Municipal Court Judge Wright in Boston and he was an instrumental character in a lot of different issues prison reform and that clearly played out in a lot of a lot of goobers music. He went to Morehouse and also big show you're someone I should mention

Yeah who really came up with Guru and schooled him in a lot of ways and sugar is still very active rapping touring doing a lot of shows back to a rhythm fairly big artists well-known artists and the hip hop community. Berkeley as an influence. Still a local bus unhip up so many people go through that they teach courses on turn day bling and yeah you know what do you think that if you I mean I love it you know you get so many different people coming into the city and experience in the city and then going out and performing a lot of the Berkeley kids get out and they perform at different local venues and stuff so I think it's great you know that that's a hub for musicians and they take that all over the world. Is there any other place that has kind of an academic institution with this much interest in hip hop. Well you know it's funny in a huge part of the Boston hip hop scene forever has has been the college base here you know 88 9:00 at night which is Emerson on their their hip hop show is quite literally the best in the country and has been

for years and people now listen to it from all over the place. Yes the good news the bad news is that a lot of hip hop artists can get played can't get played on stations. Well they can't get played on the commercial right. That's what I do is show up at MIT. Over the years MIT electros Lama which was first big the first hip place to really play hip hop in Boston that happened at MIT and B.C. So you know of course there are a lot of Berkeley musicians right now there's a group called the gari crew. What kind of bread line on the commercial stations. Because they're all owned by two companies and they it's laziness to be. Yes I mean right. I'm actually on the radio as well on the Hot 97 boss and I do a show on Sunday nights from 11:00 to 1:00. And we do play local music so well that that's one of the times that you know cats can get their stuff heard you know to a broader audience. But at a time when you were talking about hip hop being the imbedded in American culture I mean as I said to one of my guests earlier this week when the Pillsbury Doughboy is rapping

come out yeah you know. So it's just amazing to me that you would think that local people would bother and it's only you know one of the only places where. Local artist hip hop artist had so I'll say that for sure. I don't get you know daytime airplay like every other city that's why we are the city that we've mentioned or that's been successful in hip hop is because they have the support of everyone in this city. It's a grand conspiracy Calley we talk and we speak about it often. Well I wonder you know there are other artists you know let's say dancers and painters who feel living in the shadow of New York doesn't necessarily help you if you're in Boston because people say well why do I listen or watch these people I just go to New York and you know that's definitely that's definitely part of it I know it has been historically and but but I think on the positive side is the connection between Boston and New York has always been very strong. D.J. premier who is the other half of gangster with Guru he's done songs with and oh with slaine who's one of the big artists here terminology. Rex and D.J. premier

carries he is pretty much the quintessential producer in hip hop and his connections to Boston in Massachusetts are extremely tight. And as well with a lot of other producers and artist in New York so there's a tight connection there. OK let's talk about slain. I want people to get a chance to listen to him he's a Boston rapper named slaine who's on this track race right we heard a little bit coming in and he's one third of the rap group special teams. In a. Good way. Well. We're getting. Anywhere. With the legacy of so many people would be going to Texas. Can it. Be. Next week. When it. Makes. Me. Want to. Get. Going. Oh quite regulated. Take. A minute to tell me what I was. So there's this Slane who also was featured in the movie The Town by the way. And oh you're part of that. That gets well thought out of the special teams. Now you know

slain as a white guy we don't usually. Yeah. Other than him and him who has I guess one of the top 10 hip hop albums ever. That's just not generally what we do who you see or are know is a different here in Boston. No I mean I know there's a lot of you know white MCs there's there's been a lot over the whole course of hip hop the while boss and I can say I've been there since pretty much the inception. So yeah there's been a lot of a lot of guys you know. Slaine is one of many he's way better than a lot. You know all the really good. Yeah. Or my girl yes. Pretty good I have to say a lot of good guys out there you know from all ethnicities in Boston doing it now. What's particularly interesting about him to me I had a chance to interview Dennis Lehane who's you know mystery writer and very much talks about his work coming out of the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury has a certain flavor and I was thinking about Slade I don't know what neighborhood he comes from Roslindale and yeah that's kind of interesting So here's my question Are there certain neighborhoods where

hip hop is more alive and vibrant than others in Boston and I have to think like well you know I think you know actually I think the correct answer to that would be every rapper I've ever interviewed from Boston say where you from a boss and they all say everywhere everybody's lived everywhere and you know I think we're talking about how a lot of positive or enlightened hip hop comes out of Boston. There is there all is some harder stuff over the years. I think you know we have to mention made men and Benzino almighty already so. But the thing is. Sure well there have been some divisions in the scene and it's known as kind of a crab bucket. On the other hand it is kind of a unified adult was a Unity Fest every year with what 25 different acts I mean. Yeah yeah I want to scale it down this year you know. OK I'm going to be like 10 this year but yeah so I think there was a lot of unity and we definitely were working on a Boston tour. Finally we have enough great artists to go out on the road and people really want to come and see us.

So yeah we're working on that. We're started in Europe. March 10th it's myself acrobatic and missed the lift and then we come back to the states We'll be hooking up with terminology statics alleged Rex slaying everybody so I think it's time it's time. You know this is by the way I want to thank you for having us on. With all due respect to like I'm a huge NPR fan and it's always there's always there's always hip hop segments I say you know a lot of it is with all due respect to the Harvard hip hop archive everything where he you know I was doing it you know in the clubs every night and I'm just glad you gave us the opportunity while in reality it's all a piece of one thing I did want to go back you know because well you know work with for peace we started this week talking with Cindy Diggs the mother of hip hop about for peace and so your unity tour your unity effort is that part and parcel of. Oh yeah oh the Unity Fest I actually started you know under a four piece umbrella. So yeah a four piece we're working on an actual whole kind of hip hop community center for kids. So we're working on that now which should

be up and running. Early next year is going to be in Jamaica Plain. OK. So what we're trying to just you know teach kids positive positive things through the arts basically so they can you know go out and spread their wings and do whatever they want to do in life but you know give them a solid foundation to start. And for people who were not listening I don't know who you are to my interview with Cindy Diggs earlier this week for pieces really of an effort to really pay attention to violence and get kids to think about that very carefully and exactly we don't I mean my partner Antonio and Saudi and Lino Delgado's in the green room. Yeah we just you know over the years over the last five years we just been doing a bunch of work and we have so much more work to do next year in the years to come and I'm just really excited about what's going to be happening before peace so just keep that name in the back of your head so I will but right now I want to give people a chance to listen to acrobatic because he's going to be on your unity tour and he's a Dorchester rapper rapper and

this is from REM mind. This is the track remind myself off of his 2003 album balance. You know the slaves have you some of the great Mike. People. Might. Feel the same it's no bravery useful to fight. To even let the kids with. Grandpa to behave. Next most morning it is free. Great. Great very powerful. Yeah I got to ask this question all of the people we've mentioned today. Oh man. Where are the women of rap. Yeah actually it's a luteal rock birthday I think so really. Yeah I saw that on Facebook. There is a of course D.J. nomadic. She has been doing work with all the good females throughout the region

and some of the great ones as well. Major ladies of Boston which was a group of four or five depending on oh yeah they can get along very well I think but they broke up they broke up people doing things individually but you know they had it it's really it's a tough game for women. Hip hop in general and when you're on when it's an underground thing you're not on a tour bus with a manager and everything sometimes you're cramming cars with guys and yeah it was a country it's it's pretty rugged but there definitely is female talent as well as spoken word are so stuffy yes no and. There's no shortage that's for sure. OK well I think I know the answer of how you two might answer this question but I got to ask it had a big hip saying Hip Hop is Dead is dead. I don't I don't think so. I mean Nas needs some better beats. OK send the e-mails no no no I don't think hip hop is dead I just think hip hop has evolved into you know the umbrella of hip hop is huge now I mean you have Black Eyed Peas they're a hip hop group.

People can say whatever they want to say about them. Maybe the music that they're making. You know I still consider it hip hop you know what I mean. That's where their roots are that's where they came from so I just think the umbrella it's open and now you know the Internet and downloads it killed you know the people buying CDs it definitely killed it. But at the same time it opened up another door for us to become entrepreneurs and do other things besides just music starting with the music the music has brought Nas in probably all of these other guys you know wealth and riches and able to do other things that they would normally have you know been able to do so I think we're evolving as hip hop and I'm all for it. OK. I think the excitement level and I say I go to tons of shows in Boston I'd say three a week and I travel a lot. Philly New York to see new talent and. Speak about locally. I've been actually amazing just their

enthusiasm is through the roof I mean slain in terminology who didn't always see eye to eye they did a combined record release party in the Middle East and Iraq that show yeah I mean you couldn't move. It was unbelievable table jammed outside and this has been going on static selector who is a Boston bred Lawrence born deejay producer he moved to New York and and he's been working in the I hate the word movement it's the most over Yeah no they said movement was there don't be right why do i kill them. Well I'm but but our hustle is the most overused word but but I mean really these shows I think it's been unbelievable to see how many people been coming out. I think static select is the hardest working man in hip hop possible and he works with everyone from the local Yes he has and I think you two are probably pretty average So thank you for helping us celebrate hip hop Appreciation Month. Rishi we've been talking about Boston's rich hip hop scene with Chris Brown of The Boston Phoenix and Boston based Godfather. Going out on the track race riot

which features at OT I some of and some of us a star ran first. You can keep on top of the Calla Crossley shell of WGBH dot org slash Kalak Rossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the calligraphic show on Facebook today show was engineer by James pick produced by Chelsea Merz and a white knuckle be an abbey Rizzi with help from in turn Rose sky. This is the Calla Crossley Show the production of WGBH radio Boston NPR station or news.