Pound: What is Revolutionary Culture?

DJ Child: M1 & dead prez are at the forefront of the RBG movement. Konshens and Jahdan Blakkamoore would both be classified as roots & culture artists, so we combined the two genres and came up with Revolutionary Culture. Not only do I feel that it's a fitting title for these two projects, I feel it’s a proper definition of Project Groundation Massive (PGM) in general. I put out cultural music with a revolutionary message. "These are not just mixtapes, this is a movement" has been said by many about my projects. There is no separation between me as a person and PGM, so what inspires me in life is what inspires me musically. REALNESS!!!

Pound: Why did you want to be involved in this project?

M1: I wanted to be involved in this project because of my musical experience with DJ Child as a producer, arranger, musician, DJ, and visionary. He does what I like the most: make revolutionary culture. Since gaining political education I have always regarded what I do in this way, which is why I felt this title so befitting. We have worked together on numerous projects and this one should be a great addition to the arsenal. Boom!

Jahdan: I want to support anything my brother DJ Cchild is doing to elevate the music. When he told me what this project was going to be about and who was going to be involved in it I was automatically interested, I know it´s an effective way to reach the people.

Pound: What does it mean to be a revolutionary artist?

M1: To be a revolutionary artist you have to do more than write political raps, use samples from revolutionaries or use red, black and green paint. You have to be a part of a revolutionary process. You have to be a servant of the people. You have to become a part of the force of change and then act as a vessel to communicate it clearly to the people around you so that we all can recognize the need for a change.

Jahdan: In my opinion being a revolutionary artist means not only pushing the boundaries of the music itself further along but also using the music as a tool to inspire change in the lives of the masses, to awaken people to what's really going on in our world.

DJ Child: I don't classify myself as any brand of artist, but my mission in music and life is to create audio documentaries so people in the future can see what was REALLY goin' on in these times. I strive to make classic material that will be as relevant in 33 years as it is today. That's one of the reason's why I work with so much throwback music from the 1970's–it's timeless. Too many artists are solely concerned about bein' the hottest ish in the moment–I'm the opposite. I'm looking back so that I can move forward. FORWARD EVER!

Pound: As an artist, what is the driving force behind making revolutionary music, and not more mainstream music?

M1: Well, in reality until we make revolutionary music mainstream, the revolution will not be victorious (not to be confused with having revolutionary music played on a clear channel station). Mainstream, to me, means that the broad masses of working class folks find this music relevant, hip and will accept nothing less in their musical space. This has been my goal since the beginning. Not to be regarded as underground, or appreciated by a select few. And this does not mean that sound has to be slack or weak. On the converse, our music is powerful! Which is the reason why there must be a "white-out" by the ruling class media.

DJ Child: I completely agree with M1. I think too often people have a negative connotation of the word "mainstream" due to what it has come to represent as a globalized bureaucratic monopoly of soulless, meaningless music with a message of dumbing down, brainwashing mentality. It is up to us as a peoples–artists, labels, DJ's, radio programmers, fans, EVERYONE to create the change that's needed to move forward and re-define the meaning of mainstream. Imagine if albums like dead prez’s Let's Get Free were considered mainstream. We would be living in a completely different collective consciousness. This is possible, but it's up to us to take back what is ours in the first place–our way of thinking.

                                                 "M-1 ain't take no shit! He kept a blunt on his lip and a gun on his hip."

Pound: Isn’t it just easier to make meaningless music?

M1: No, not if one desires freedom in this lifetime. Meaningless music hurts my brain. It is true that meaningless music is easy to make but it only serves the efforts of our oppressor. Seen?

Jahdan: Revolutionary music is truth. The need to see change in the world. I’m a thinking person, a responsible person, I can never be satisfied with making meaningless music, for me music is the weapon of the thinking person. Art in general is the weapon of the thinking man and woman. It is to be used correctly.

DJ Child: I wouldn't know cause I've never made meaningless music.

Pound: How do we mend the gap between the club and the revolution?

M1: We don't. The club is intended to be a diversion and I don't want to be a part of it (most of the time). When I am demoralized and I find myself in these spaces, I am quickly reminded why our revolutionary spaces are wherever we make them. Think of the traditional Jamaican sound systems or Fela Kuti [at The Shrine] in Nigeria. There is no other higher vibration than these!

DJ Child: I don't think there's any correlation between the club and the revolution. The club is a place to party, which has its time and place in my opinion. But I do agree with M1 that the clubs have become a diversion like television to numb the masses through indoctrination. I also agree that we need to re-think what a "club" could be. We need more community spaces that are created to not only have a good time and release the stresses of life, but to also educate people and create a positive atmosphere not based around purely getting f'ed up.

Jahdan: By awakening the minds of the club goers to what is actually going on in their environment. A properly informed club goer is a potential revolutionary.

Pound: How do we truly reach the masses?

M1: In my opinion, we have to speak the language of the masses and not be afraid to take on issues head on and not bow down. Instead of agreeing to sell the crack, we gotta talk about it in a real, and therapeutic way. If you are a rapper, you shouldn't be allowed to touch the mic until you have studied the speeches of Chairman Fred Hampton Sr., Malcolm X or Kwame Toure. Period.

DJ Child: WORD---SOUND---POWER. Live what you talk and talk what you live. I feel the reason why the messages of people like Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Huey P. Newton etc. Have reached such a large number of people all across the world is because they spoke in a language that everyone could understand. They broke down complex ideologies and concepts in terms that you didn't have to have a university degree to understand. I think too often so called "intellectuals” get caught up using big words and concepts to the point that the average person has no idea what they're even trying to convey, then it becomes a hierarchy of knowledge, which in my opinion is BS.

Jahdan: We reach the people by relating to their struggle. By addressing the issues most important to them. As a musician our job is to be the voice of the masses. We are the voice of the people that don´t have a platform to speak from–the people who won´t ever get heard.

                                                  Blakkamoore to the world!

Pound: Was there a turning point in your life that changed the way you see the world and how you fit into it?

Jahdan: Yes, for me that turning point was when I first got arrested. I was scarred for the rest of my life by the way I was treated by the NYPD. My eyes were then opened to how I was viewed by law enforcement, hence how me and all of my peers were viewed by this country.

M1: One major turning point was when my mother was jailed for conspiracy to distribute crack. I realized who was the real criminal and began to seek out a way to put this government on trial.

DJ Child: By the time I was 19 I had been arrested too many times to count. Never for nothing' big, just dumb ish like sellin' weed, skateboarding, graffiti, trespassing etc… But it made me realize that once you get caught up in the system it becames a cycle. I had to go deeper into the streets and f*@#in’ up before I realized I needed to focus all my energy on music. Call me a slow learner, but now that I'm here, I'm here to stay. And as funny as it might sound to others, I truly believe the Most High created me to make mixtapes. I've done martial arts for a large part of my life and the "flow" they try to teach you about in studying these practices just comes naturally to me in music. Whether it be mixtapes, beats, writing, producing, there is no doubt in my mind that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be, and that's a true gift that a lot of people will never be given the opportunity to experience. I definitely Give Thanks on a daily basis for this.

Pound: Is it enough to be a revolutionary artist? Or must we also be out in the community doing work? Because making good music is a full-time job and the power of music is great enough to inspire another to take revolutionary actions, but some would say that unless you’re out doing mass work, you’re not a revolutionary….

Jahdan: it's very noble to be a revolutionary artist but it doesn´t stop there. In my opinion being a revolutionary minded person goes far beyond your artistic expression–it exists in all other aspects of ones life. For instance it is visible in the choices one makes in ones everyday life as well. There are many ways to make revolutionary changes, such as the type of education you want your child to have. It doesn’t have much to do with music but making the correct choice in regards to your child's education is a very revolutionary move.

M1: We have to be the change we wanna see. Might sound cliché but fuck it. It is true that everybody has a role and some roles are larger than others, but let's put all hands on deck until we can get more hands. Music is a great tool to recruit but only if you have an organization to catch the ones who have been motivated.

DJ Child: At the root of all revolutions are the basic necessities of life---food, clothes and shelter. I feel that growing my own food is just as important as making revolutionary music with a message. Whether you are leading massive amounts of people or just living by your own code, like M said, we have to be the change we wanna see.

Pound: Why should people listen to these mixtapes?

M1: People should listen to these albums because they are better than Kanye's, Wayne’s, big boss Rick Ross’, and Jay-z’s, put together! Real talk. If you are tired of empty and irresponsible leadership and if you are tired of lies and bad raps, take responsibility for our culture and make it a revolutionary one!

DJ Child: I'll let the music speak for itself. You can download both projects for free and if you feel what you hear, go to my website. I got over 100 other projects.

And Give Thanks for another platform for us to spread our message to the peoples. Love & Blessings.

PGM Volumes 32 & 33: Revolutionary Culture are available for free download at http://projectgroundation.com. Don’t sleep! The revolution waits on no one. 

                                   DJ Child on the 1s and 2s.