Created by Isiah Medina
This is a video in support of #jan25 in Egypt, connecting the lyrics of Kanye West’s “Power (Remix)” featuring Jay-Z, with sounds from the actual site, images, flickers, openings of the interval, the opening of history as such. I just think it’s important that Western youth really get enthused by it, especially hip hop culture, and Kanye’s fashions and lyrics especially in this remix: “power to the people” I seen people abuse power, “use power, misuse and then lose power, power to the people at last, it’s a new hour” “the world in our lap”. So I take those particular snippets. “but you could at least grab a camera shoot a viral.”
So I made this video particularly for that reason, since this is a historic event that I feel not only validates the fact that history is never over, which is valuable for hood youth for sure, but it also validates hip hop in another sense, and finally I just hope to see more talk about this event in hip hop culture as a whole. – isiah
I wish there was real Egyptians left….BLACKFACES
but this is cool….
GHETTOBLASTER said this on February 9th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
ALLAH HU AKBAR! Free Palestin, Free Egypt, free all the Muslim countries from oppressive dictators who side with the americans and zionists.
ajamal said this on February 9th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Not to defeat isiah’s work here – props – but yeah, Western Culture is more worried about consumer goods, dickriding rappers, sports teams, athletes, and scheming. They don’t care about Egypt, the uprising, or anything that really matters in life. And using Kanye, the spoiled batty boy vanity slave as the background soundtrack = FAIL.
MC Gusto said this on February 9th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
this mother fucker ajamal a fucken fool. Israel run that middle east shit, fuck all them other sand countries. fuck yeah!!! let’s make a video to a “black” rebellion!!! cuz the muslim brotherhood is gonna be a MUCH better look for Egypt. Meka is an ignorant piece of shit and anyone siding with this baboonery is a fucking idiot.
P'cola said this on February 9th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
@Pcola: The Muslim brotherhood will be a better look for the Egyptian people. I know the word Muslim scares you, but it’ll be okay, you’re safe lol. It’s obvious by your use of the word baboonery you’re the type of guy who turns down the radio and roles up the windows when you see some black guys.
@MCGusto: Batty boy? Take that homophobic shit somewhere else.
When the hell did 2dopeboyz turn into stormfront?
Nathan said this on February 9th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
@MC Gusto
I think there is more to it than that. Greek culture is not reducible to a slave society and Megara, it also produced Plato, mathematics, et al, Soviet Union is not reducible to gulags, it is also the deathknell of Nazism, the first sputnik, etc.
Western Culture includes but is not reducible to “consumer goods, dickriding rappers, sports teams, athletes, and scheming”. The West as such is still an open concept, especially in the face of the contingencies of history.
To put it another way: you may think using Kanye West defeats the purpose of the whole thing, but say, in quantum physics, the presence of an observer may affect the effectuation of a physical law, but in fact this is a property of the law itself, that does not presuppose the existence of the observer. That is, by connecting Kanye to these images, it changes the very way we can look at Kanye qua phenomenon as a ‘spoiled batty boy vanity slave’, the inclusion of something changes the laws themselves. There are other elements there too, and in a dialectical situation with an event as open as this, the event itself can retroactively determine and change the parts that are included in it. By including Kanye and hip hop as such into such an event, the very mode of appearance of these things, Kanye, hip hop, the West, can change in appearance. In fact, you may have noticed I only used lines pertaining to the situation rather than the ‘vanity’ lines or whatever. The title even includes “break with the West”, that is the West as it is, Kanye West, and breaking with the West to discover a new one and its virtually unearthed properties. Triple entendre, don’t even ask me how.
If anything, Egypt shows that history, no matter what anyone tells you, is never closed, so why should ‘Western Culture’ be?
isiah said this on February 9th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
When I saw this post, I thought for sure Kanye recorded the vocals for the Power verse he performed on SNL over clips from Egypt. That would’ve been so perfect.
MBDTFOE said this on February 9th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Promote violence to Western Culture??? Very responsible…
PeaceMaker said this on February 9th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
@peacemaker
‘A break from the West’ isn’t promoting violence to the West its simply showing us that history isnt over and closed as we all thought there is still a reason for us to get up in the morning, you should be excited!
peacekeeper said this on February 9th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
props to isiah!
l3lackstar said this on February 10th, 2011 at 12:15 am
@peacekeeper
Ideologically speaking that is correct, however the example used from Egypt should not be one of aspiration. Looting and violence are not a part of the solution to any revolution.
PeaceMaker said this on February 10th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Well I thought that the video started with more violent images but ended with a march and music then finally a sit in, followed by “we living in that 31st century”, promoting the gap between this new style of revolution from its 20th century brethren. The peaceful gatherings that we end with is potentially more violent than any violence in the sense that a structural change may occur that is not reducible to impotent outburst, but rather an affirmation of a new possibility of an Egyptian future.
isiah said this on February 11th, 2011 at 1:19 am
Mubarak left!
Seif said this on February 13th, 2011 at 12:12 pm