Press Reviews ProIntelPro Album Review [+ Show] Excliam Magazine 2005 By Sergio Elmir Never afraid to make targets of... By Sergio Elmir Never afraid to make targets of American presidents and Canadian prime ministers Dope Poet Society unleashes open warfare with beats that pop like cannon blasts and words that sting like poison arrows against anyone who stands for injustice and intolerance on ProIntelPro. On tracks such as "Bushit" and "9/11 World Trade," attacks are open and accusations fly against the real terrorists in the world. Check "All of Us," a multi-lingual track that champions unity as the greatest weapon against oppression or "Amazing" where Professor D unleashes a volley of criticism against MCs not saying anything. Taking influences from the granddaddies of militant hip-hop Public Enemy and KRS-One, Dope Poets Society lead the next charge against ignorance and greed. Combining positive lyrics based on positive social change with driving beats that scream revolution, ProIntelPro flows with militant chants and a touch of sly humour. With fists standing firmly in the air, Professor D, Belladonna and DJ Spinister have crafted a collection of stomping beats and spit-fire lyrics with a DIY ethic that is the soundtrack to your next political rally. Music Meant to Have a Message [+ Show] Toronto Star 2004 VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR For hip hop artists Th... VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR For hip hop artists The Dope Poet Society - from left, DJ Spinster, BellaDonna, D and Sage - music should challenge and inform. "It's journalism," says D. Music meant to have a message Injustice fuels the lyrics of Toronto hip hop group George Bush, 9/11, Mike Harris topics that inspire action MURRAY WHYTE ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER If the name — The Dope Poet Society — leaves you a little baffled, the lyrics should not. "It's not a war on terrorism/It's a war of terrorism/The old imperialism/You know money is the reason/America is killing for oil/Not for freedom." Now that they've made themselves perfectly clear, via their recently released single "War of Terrorism," here are the details: The Dope Poet Society, a Toronto hip hop crew producing a fiercely independent and doggedly political record label out of a ramshackle storefront in the Junction district of Dundas St. W., is a little different that most rap groups. "I wish I could just rhyme about parties and love, you know?" says D, the group's defacto leader and public mouthpiece, his long, unruly dreadlocks tumbling past his shoulders. "I like to have fun. I like to chill out. But that's not what's going on right now. Injustice gets to me, and I feel like I have to stop everything and stop this bullshit that's going on in the world." This, now, is the point: Since the mid-to-late 1990s, hip hop has blossomed into a $1.6 billion heavyweight that drives the music industry, largely on the popularity of artists flaunting their high life of parties, sex, fame and wealth. But for the DPS, it's a squandering of the music's visceral power. Since 1995, the group — these days comprised of lead vocalist D, DJ Spinister, BellaDonna and Sage — has been recording and releasing albums on their own label, Justus League Records, attacking anything from the former Tory premier ("F--- Mike Harris") to the emerging surveillance society that allows corporations to keep tabs on people through their buying habits. Writing, recording — and most importantly, releasing — songs quickly became urgent when the world descended into the swirl of chaos and destruction initiated by 9/11. The long lag time of album production suddenly seemed glacial. So on Sept. 11, brimming with adrenalin as the World Trade Centers fell, the DPS wrote and recorded "911: World Trade," an urgent, thudding condemnation of American imperialism, and put it on its Web site shortly thereafter. Other songs followed, most recently, "War on Terrorism," a damning admonition of the U.S.-led war on Iraq. "It's journalism," D says matter-of-factly, kicked back in the airless, black-walled bunker at the back of the Toronto Hip Hop Cultural Arts Centre, the name of the group's Dundas Street storefront. "An issue will come up and bang, we'll put a song out right after the event. That's something that in the past nobody has been able to do." It's in this tiny, windowless space that the group records all its songs, and packages them for Web release. Stapled to the wall are images of some of the group's heroes, the progenitors of the conscious hip hop movement, such as Public Enemy. ________________________________________ 'I think hip hop is one of the most powerful art forms that exists. It is the evolution of revolutionary music' Dope Poet Society frontman D ________________________________________ And indeed, the notion of rap's ability to act as documentary — a report — is deep in the form's roots. Chuck D of Public Enemy once called rap "the CNN of the streets." In the late '80s, The Dope Poet Society would not have stood out for their deep political convictions. Rappers such as KRS-One, Queen Latifah and Chuck D had raised the anger of street reporting — rap's genesis, enraged, true-to-life accounts of life in the inner city — to political comment. During the first Gulf War, Paris rapped about a Black Power killing of "Bush Killa," George W. Bush's father. "Iraq never called me 'nigger,'" he rapped. But as hip hop culture slowly morphed from one of cultural expression to mainstream commodity, the message changed. Artists for whom empowerment and injustice were rap's priorities were pushed to the fringes and labelled as 'conscious' rappers, replaced in the main by glamorizations of the thug life, with its sex, drugs, cars and fame. Consider a recent blockbuster hit, Nelly's "Hot in Here." An intoxicating, irresistibly compelling beat is the framework for Nelly's message: "It's getting hot in here/So take off all your clothes." Compare that to a small sample of the DPS's lyrics in "War on Terrorism," which will be released on its album ProIntelPro next month, and the schism crystallizes: "When they commenced, they never showed the horror they caused/Or the total of the lives that are lost/Hundreds of thousands of people dismembered and burned/But with these images the media is never concerned." The DPS is hardly alone in rejecting the commercialized turn that hip hop has taken. Chuck D of Public Enemy has retreated from the major labels to work independently. Talib Kweli, a rapper based in Brooklyn, offers this bleak observation on a recent single, "The Proud" written about 9/11: "People broken down from years of oppression/Become patriots when their way of life is threatened." Others, such as dead prez and the Coup, or even Hamilton's own Warsaw Pack, embrace the notion of rap's political potential. But they remain the minority. For the DPS, that's a huge departure from what the music should be. He offers, as an example, his perceived ethos of Def Jam, perhaps the biggest hip hop label, which counts among its stable Toronto rapper Saukrates. "Is Saukrates going to come out with some conscious thing denouncing the war? I don't think so. Why not? Not because he doesn't have the ability to make a compelling song. But he's signed to Def Jam, and what does Def Jam want him to put out? Not that shit. Keep the people wanting to buy more shit — stay drunk and high and feed into consumerism." There is an obvious frustration to D, at a potential that's lost, or at least dormant. But his passion is unwavering. "I think hip hop is one of the most powerful art forms that exists. It is the evolution of revolutionary music," D says. "When people say hip hop has changed, and hip hop is not what it used to be, well, that's not true. It's just that that shit ain't hip hop. You can pervert it as much as you want, but all you have is the perversion. The real thing is still there." CJLO Spotlight NXNE [+ Show] CJLO Magazine 2005 Thursday afternoon, after checking in and hanging ... Thursday afternoon, after checking in and hanging out in the stifling heat of downtown Toronto, I headed over to Jeff Healey's concert venue, Healey's, for a six o'clock interview with Professor D from the Dope Poets Society. This "conscious" rap group has been spreadin' their brand of political and pure hip-hop. I sat down with D and started discussing the state of Canadian hip-hop, and the plight of independent hip-hop artists in Canada. He touched upon subjects, from marketing to content, even citing Euphrates and Sans Pression as good models for artists. The interview will be played on CJLO in the near future, but let's just say that this cat is one of the most intelligent and eloquent artist that I have had the privilege of speaking with. At 9pm, I went back to Healey's with my boy Jo to check out the InDivine Style show, featuring Wordburglar and Introspec amongst others. I stayed for Wordburglar from Hal Town, who is a great witty emcee with a lot to say. His fresh takes on words were very cool, cool enough to make me forget about the heat, MY GOD THE HEAT! After him was Guelph's own, Introspec. He was performing for the first time, and he seemed a little shaky, but with his flow and lyrics, he will be someone to look for in the near future. From there it was over to B-Side to check out the Rhythmicru. These Toronto boys are no strangers to Montreal as they are featured on the ICM Facts of War compilation, contributing the title track. Their high-energy show was great, and even though they were breaking in a new DJ, the show flowed like one would expect from these hip-hop pros. After their set, it was again over to Healey's to catch the Dope Poets Society in performance mode.  Professor D let his words out and enraptured the  crowd enough to lead them in a chant of "George Bush is a terrorist!" and "Stephen Harper is a terrorist!". Along with special guest, female emcee La Bomba, they left their mark on the crowd. Like true vets, they killed it. - Tim Rodrigues aka Ruhk-One On the Rise [+ Show] Urbanology Magazine 2005 The phone rings off the hook at THC: The Toronto ... The phone rings off the hook at THC: The Toronto Hip Hop Cultural Arts Centre, four years in operation in Toronto's junction neighbourhood.  I'm hanging out with Professor D and DJ Spinister of The Dope Poet Society.  Spinister ascends from OnCybertron Productions studio downstairs and Professor D has just returned from a studio session with fellow mc, The Red Menace and Jacksoul's Haydain Neale.  Red walls are stocked with records, CD's & magazines.  Our conversation is punctuated by promoters calling to book The Dope Poet Society for concerts, schoolteachers calling to book them for Black History Month, and students looking for co-op work placements or just to hang out.  D & Spin met at C.W. Jeffrey's high school in Toronto's notorious Jane & Finch area.  Now in their 10th year as hip-hop professionals, they've come a long way with their sharp, knowledgeable lyrics & head-nodding beats.  They established Justus League Records, built the THC, toured parts of North & South America & the Caribbean, released numerous singles, albums, and music videos, and collaborated with Gill Scott-Heron, Jeru the Damaja, Public Enemy, Brand Nubian, Smiff'n'Weson & Wyclef Jean, to name a few. The group has always wrestled with the dilemma of signing to a major label.  In 1997 they were approached with a lucrative contract which required transformation into a rock-rap group, à la Ragadeath; no surprise, they turned it down.  I asked them what it's like having to handle booking & self-promoting 24/7.  The dreadlocked Professor D replies that what it comes down to is "whether you own your masters at the end of the day, and you usually don't if you work for a major label.  When we released 9/11 World Trade in 2001, distributors, retailers and even manufacturers were afraid to touch it due to the controversy.  But in 2005 the whole political climate is different.  We re-released updated versions of those tracks on the new album, ProIntelPro, and this time we had our choice of distributors." Their latest project ProIntelPro: Promote Intelligence Program comes with a warning label which reads "Oppressor Advisory – Revolutionary Lyrics".  The lyrics are indeed revolutionary, with introductions on the ProIntelPro title track sampled from Malcolm X and Huey Newton.  The album takes its name from a negation of the FBI's insidious CoIntelPro (Counter Intelligence Program) created to undermine The Black Panther Party, The American Indian Movement and other radical groups; this legacy continues today through the U.S. Patriot Act and the anti-terrorist hysteria used to denounce any progressive forms of activism in the United States.  Playing countless benefit concerts and community events, The Dope Poet Society is sometimes unfairly pigeon-holed as merely a "political" group.  However, the album is not just mere polemics, as the beats are addictive and well crafted, the lyrics are both first rate and raw, and the customary Dope Poet Society sense of humour is thrown in through cameo appearances by Jean Chretien and Paul Martin. The group turned down larger distributors and went with Ani DiFranco's Festival Distribution because they took interest in the radical politics of ProIntelPro and offered the album added attention by virtue of being their only urban artists.  The album is now in stores nationally, and the new video for their single "All of Us" will be on air shortly.  The Dope Poet Society's lyrical honesty contrasts with most of today's commercial hip-hop music.  Explaining this, DJ Spinister says that "you'll see some rappers who's whole image is gangster and their lyrics might suck, but in an interview they're the most articulate, well mannered person in the room.  Then you realize that it's all just a big image game." Aside from being one of Canada's leading independent hip-hop acts, members of The Dope Poet Society are active in the community in various capacities.  The group has conducted DJ & MC workshops at Community Centres, break dance classes at THC, talks & performances in schools; even improv comedy gigs at Second City.  Prof. D starred in War: The Musical, & more recently played Billy-Boy, main antagonist in the hip-hop production of A Clockwork Orange, featuring Spinister on the decks, with D performing rap narratives between the scenes of the play.  Recently, they have been working with Chilean-Canadian hip-hop artist Bomba (formerly of Woman Ah Run Tings), planning a Latin-American tour and putting together a track with P.O.W. of the Dead Prez family.  This month, they will perform at various events during World Against War Week, March 15-19, including the El Mocambo's Hip-Hop Artists Against War, & a multi-genre show at Tequila Lounge hosted by CBC's Jian Ghomeshi.  This summer they'll tour Canada & the US, with future plans to bring Dead Prez to Toronto, do an African tour with Ghanaian rapper Jad-X & reggae artist Kwesi Selassie, and a tour of Palestine & Israel.  For more on The Dope Poet Society's new album ProIntelPro, upcoming tour dates and THC, check out JustusLeagueRecords.com, and to book studio time see oncybertron.com. Canadian Hip Hop Heros [+ Show] Fo-Real Magazine 2005 Fo-Real Mag - What's it like being a part of the C... Fo-Real Mag - What's it like being a part of the Canadian hip-hop scene? DJ Spinster - The Canadian hip-hop scene has its advantages and challenges. The challenge of always being second to American hip-hop and everything else, but there are the advantages of Toronto being a world class city and stuff. It's like little things ya know. Actually, I find it a bit harder to be truthful, dealing with the very limited cities to tour and do shows. Professor D - I think it's the double edged sword that Spin is talking about. I think it's hard to find a Canadian that doesn't like Canada, that's defiantly a good thing about Canada. But as far as the Canadian hip-hop scene, we have allot of talented artists and allot of good people with allot of good potential. Being part of the hip-hop scene in Canada is great, but as far as the hip-hop industry in Canada, we hate it -it sucks because it really doesn't exist, relative to the states, but not even just the states, there's lots of other markets for hip-hop in the world that are allot bigger and that's why its frustrating as a Canadian artist. And any Canadian artist you know that's trying to take their career seriously, weather its in hip-hop or anything else they're facing the difficulty of trying to make a living off something when the marketing potential is limited largely due to the population, and not because Toronto is referred to as a screw-face capital – as in you know, people hate on the local artists, but I don't really think it's that bad, it's just that you don't have the population ratio that you have in other parts of the world. Of course we are one tenth the population of the US, so it's not surprising that you have to sell one tenths of the units to go gold or platinum, and even if you go gold and sell 50,000 units, you're not living large at that point. Fo-Real Mag - Did you find it hard to break out in other countries? You keep saying about the US, have you guys broken out into the US yet? Professor D - I wouldn't say we've broken out into the US yet. I'd say were most established in Canada as opposed to any other place in the world, but that's the exact step we are taking right now.  By breaking out into other countries we've definitely made steps into the US. We sold a bunch of units out there, but allot of people find it difficult to crack the US market, so they go else where to try to get into the US market. That's not really our approach. Our approach is to get a little piece of all these markets, so were actively going after the US market and at the same time as other parts of the world. DJ Spinster - Although the US market is not too difficult to break into considering the message of the group. Being political and not just Canadian, world wide politics. I find allot of the American artists and citizens agree with the message we try to portray in our songs and we have done colabos with American artists who as well believe in the same message. Fo-Real Mag - The groups name is Dope Poet Society. Why did you decide to choose that particular name? Any hidden meaning? Professor D - As you probably know the name's a play on Dead Poet Society. Allot of hip-hop groups, and allot of different types of groups will tell you that their name is not just one thing and they will come up with a bunch of different meanings. Dope Poet Society is a cool name because it can be interpreted in allot of different ways and used in allot of different ways. Let me make up a meaning right now, because I actually haven't thought about it in a long time and I used to have allot of them. Obviously dope. Allot of people get the impression that it's associated with drugs, but in hip-hop we use the term dope to refer to getting high off the music, so it doesn't have any drug connotation. Dope Poet Society is really like bringing the art, bringing the science, bringing dope art into the issues of society. We're addressing both the aesthetic components of artistry, as well as the substance that's important in artistry, while at the same time having that balance. That's what D.P.S. means. Fo-Real Mag - Wasn't the name before Dope Poets, Tres Dope? Who was in that group? Professor D - Yes it was. Spin wasn't in the group at the same time as MC Air was. He came in when Air left, but essentially it was me, Air and my cousin Paul at the time. What the deal with MC Air? What is he up to now? Professor D – I think He's now an animator. He went to collage and he did animation. He got into doing other types of DJing for a while. He was doing house DJing for some time and then he got out of doing music all together, which is too bad because he was a pretty good MC. He was an emcee as well as a DJ. As I mentioned he moved out of emceeing, got into house DJing and then he went into doing animation. Last time I heard he was designing a video game, so maybe he's going to design a really cool video game about me beating people up or some s*** [laughs]. Fo-Real Mag - I was searching through your discography and you guys have allot of stuff out there, some as early as 1991. You have Hardcore From the Heart, Piece of My Mind, 4-Track Project, Dangerous Days, Hipolitics, a couple of EP's, singles and now ProIntelPro. How do the projects differ from each other, or are they like chapters leading up to the next album? Professor D - I definitely like to think of them as chronological in a sense and as chapters leading up, some of those projects are literately basement projects we did as kids our first professionally record we put out was a single in 95 which was too many years so counting back from there, because I still think that stuff's sick but professionally it starts in 95 from too many years and then the first CD as dangerous days, and all of those definitely there is a story if you listen to them they do build on each other they do build on each other and they are all still relevant in their own ways, so with too many years and don't give a damn it was kind of a prophetic thing I was sort of talking about our past and our future and in too many years we're talking about the fact that we've been developing for so many years we've been held back from the lack of the industry and lack of support and so on and so forth and we're finally here.  And the message of don't give a damn, the flip side of that piece of vinyl, was just a warning that allot of people aren't going to like us cuz we're coming out saying some real serious shit, but we don't give a damn like nothing is going to stand in our way… that was the message of those songs… and then from there we went on to doing exactly that.  Our first album dangerous days we got a really good review in now magazine that said we were doing allot to bring the hip-hop scene in Toronto together, whereas at the time it was very fragmented and I suppose you could argue it still is, people just shouting out areas. I think its better now, people big up t.dot allot these days. So they have more Toronto pride when that didn't exist at the time and so now mag bigged us up for doing that. Form there on hipolotics I was taking about politics in Ontario and then from there on we started to get into International politics and now we're talking more about the US government. Fo-Real Mag - Allot of your early stuff looks like it's coming straight out of the basement. How many copies did you sell? Professor D - We sold like fifty copies, a hundred copies. Those were literally like when I was 15-16 years old producing demos. Like I said I still think they're cool. I like to listen to them every now and then and I think it's a good place to start for people producing their own music. Allot of times we were giving them out and seeing what people think. Allot of people think, "I'm going to do this and get signed." and don't try to put anything else out and get criticism from various people and I think that's a mistake. Always act like a professional, get your stuff out there, take criticism, find out what people like, find out what people don't like and move on from there. Fo-Real Mag - Would you ever re-release some of the older stuff? Professor D - Yeah! I think about that and it's funny that you say that, because I really do think about that allot. We plan to put out our first album again, Dangerous Days were going to re-release that and as far as the original songs probably some of them, Might Get Shot maybe, Spin and I talk about those songs often and were like yeah we want to do this or that with various songs so yeah that's defiantly an option that were considering. Its just that impediment is that there's so much to do in so little time like the time we were to spend re-recording those songs there's new songs and other things that we would want to work on that's in he way of that. So yeah that wouldn't be an idea of something we wouldn't want to do it it's just a question of having the time to do it. Fo-Real Mag - Hip-hop of today seems like its all about sex, money, thug life, cars, etc., rather than having a more creative, positive approach. Why do you think that is? DJ Spinster - Its defiantly true in terms of the main stream. Commercial hip-hop that's out there does promote allot of that, but there are still a lot of underground artists that do support the truth about everything and the reality of what's going on in the world. It's just sometimes harder to get, to find out about those underground artists and find out who they are and what there doing. There is the advantage of the internet, where you can go to an artist's web site and listen to MP3. Where before if no one knew about that artist, the only way you could know about him if someone just had happened to have the tape or if that artist would come up in concert. There's still the problem dealing with the mainstream radio. Where you have that one song just promoting your sex and rims and they'll keep playing that one song every half hour every day, and allot of the young kids they believe that that's hip-hop of today, along with the bad messages and images in the video. Allot of kids don't realize that hip-hop is not just about an emcee riding around in a car with a girl, there's also the b-boys, DJs and graffiti artists. None of that stuff is being portrayed in the new hip-hop. Fo-Real Mag - You tend to play allot of shows for protests. Why do you think most hip-hop artists choose not to do this? Professor D - Well for one thing, allot of them are probably not aware of the various issues that are involved, but also as an artist you want to get paid and allot of the times we cant get money or can't get allot of money for those shows. Its not that you want to get paid, it's just that if you're trying to do this as a career you have to make some money. That's different then trying to become rich off of everything that you do, but if you're trying to make a living its sometimes difficult when you do allot of free shows and allot of befits. That's one reason why I know some artists decline those kind of things and I find that understandable, but I think the other reason is that they're music may not be suitable for the reasons that we talked about, they may not address issues that are relevant, or they may just not understand the issues, so that's where a group like DPS or Public Enemy or Dead Prez comes in and makes people understand those issues. Fo-Real Mag - Have you ever got in trouble for saying things like, "Bush is a Terrorist" and "F Mike Harris!"? Professor D - We got a letter from Mike Harris actually [laughs], which was pretty funny. That was many years ago. He sent us this form letter that was signed by him basically saying, "We support local businesses, and its great that you guys are doing your thing, but we hope that you can be a little more positive with your message.", some stupid shit like that. It was pretty funny though, we had a good laugh because as you know, one of our most famous tracks certainly early on was "F*** Mike Harris" Fo-Real Mag - You've worked with artists like Public Enemy, Jeru Tha Damaja, Dead Prez, Grassroots, etc. What was it like working with some of the founders of conscious hip-hop? Professor D - I think its pretty dope! I think one of the high lights of our career, asides from meeting with Fidel Castro, which was pretty incredible was defiantly meeting up with Chuck D, being able to get his feed back, for him to continue being a mentor to us and keeping involved with the work that were doing and him maintaining an interest in what were doing. That's a big validation for us, because just like how he's your favourite he's defiantly our favourite as well. That's been a really cool thing. Jeru is a real funny guy. He's always cracking jokes all the time. Were also doing work with Dead Prez, so it's defiantly an exciting thing and its neat because it shows that whether or not the industry that Spin was talking about recognizes us as being at the forefront or being exceptional; professionals, the people who are really important in the field as far as were concerned recognize us as such. I'd rather be recognized by Chuck D than the leader of any corporation. Fo-Real Mag - Why is ProIntelPro an important album? DJ Spinster - It's an important album because it speaks the truth about everything that's going and what's going on currently in the world. It has a variety of songs that's not just political, it has a couple of songs on there that you could just call a regular hip-hop song. Over all it has many messages that everyone should sit down, listen to and try to understand what were saying and what's going on around them. Professor D - It also has a lot of good humour on it [laughs]. Fo-Real Mag - What does Pro Intelligence Program mean? Is there a hidden message behind the name? Professor D - Yes, ProIntelPro is the opposite of CoIntelPro. CoIntelPro was the government program in the late 60's early 70's that the FBI used in the destruction of all the progressive movements that were going on in the states at the time. This includes the American Indian movement, the program where they killed Malcolm X, Martin Luther king, destroyed the Black Panther Party and all that kind of stuff. That's what the name ProIntelPro is all about. We're sort of doing the opposite, because that was the counter intelligence program, so while they were countering intelligence and fighting against intelligence, which in other words, and as I say in a song, means that you're promoting stupidity, promoting ignorance. We do the opposite, we promote intelligence and that's the meaning of the name.    Fo-Real Mag - Why do you choose to talk about certain subjects, like terrorism and the government? Why do you think it's important to talk about the government's oppression and get that out to the mainstream? Professor D - Because it's a very serious issue that were facing. That fact that we have a government, where in the sates there's a regime that's so intent about lying to the people and not letting them know what's going on. That's a real serious situation that we have. I have a lot of songs, and people always ask me all the time, "How come there's so many political songs? Why don't you do some other stuff?" Its not like we don't have songs that aren't political, the problem is that as a concerned citizen aware of what's really going on, it would be irresponsible of me not to draw attention to these things. It's sort of like if you saw the rise of Hitler, you realized what was going on and you just stood by, in a sense you're culpable. That's the exact situation were dealing with. The fact that all our human and civil rights are being invaded by the US and parallel bills and parallel laws are being past here in Canada and to not stand up and say something about that when you know what's really going on is irresponsible. Fo-Real Mag - besides yourself and DJ Spinster, who was involved with the production? Professor D - We had a whole team of people. We had Jad X, who does allot of work for us. Spin you want to mention some people? DJ Spinster - Jad X and JustShine and myself were the core producers and they helped put the project together. Professor D - Also Kayess did two of the tracks on there. Then of course we have a bunch of guest stars on there, different people who rhyme on the album. We have LavaMan, a couple members of Montreal's Nomadic Massive, Patience is on there, and just a whole bunch of different artists from different places. Fo-Real Mag - Where can people pick up ProIntelPro? Professor D - You can get the album at any major retailer across Canada or order from DopePoets.com. Fo-Real Mag - What's THC all about? Professor D - Toronto Hip-hop Culture Arts Center is an organization that Spin and I put together for the expressed purpose of basically improving and building the hip-hop scene in Toronto and that's something that has been an important thing to us for a long time. We've always been interested in giving back to the community, building, and being part of the community, so that's just a step in that direction and what we have is a center, a store, an office and a studio and were planning to expand that. Our long term mission is to have completely independent facility that would include a gym, a library, so it could be a place where young people can come to get information, hang out, learn about things, as well as learn about the culture and develop in various ways. That's what the center is about. Fo-Real Mag - Why is there so much controversy with the local police and vandals @ THC? DJ Spinster - The controversy route is partly because we have our own urban business within the community. Also it's related with the message that we portray, whereas allot of people don't believe in that message and will support what ever government is suppressing the people and then when we call that out they'll turn against us. At the same time the police work within that suppressing government, so for us to be asking them for help gives them the opportunity to harass us on top of whatever the situation is already. Fo-Real Mag - What about the vandals? Because most people who do graffiti listen to hip-hop themselves. Do you think its not the kids who are doing it, but other people? DJ Spinster - We actually caught the guys who were doing it and it was an old bunch of white guys.  Were down with graffiti and the gaff community because we've actually had projects before with graffiti artists coming down and doing things for us.  The vandals were older guys who were not doing graffiti they were just vandalizing the center. Fo-Real Mag - What's the 48:14 Sound crew all about? DJ Spinster - It's a collective of DJ's. It's myself, DJ Kevindicator, Kid Dynamite, and Richter Scale, who are from different parts of the city and we all have different styles of spinning. Like myself I'm primarily old school hip-hop and R&B, while parts of the crew will do new school hip-hop and R&B. We also have disco and were also going to be getting some one for Reggae Tone and for Reggae as well. Fo-Real Mag - The Dope Poets will be getting together with Jeru The Damaja, what can we expect to see from that collaboration? Professor D - That was a really dope project that we did. That has a video that's going to be coming out as well, so look out for that. We're going to release that as our next major single that we put out. The track is called "In/Action". I think it's really cool for a number of reasons. I've always loved colabos with artists that I like obviously, but sometimes you find colabos disappointing in a sense, and especially when it's with a major artist and a lesser known artist. Sometimes you listen to the song and someone just threw any random verse on it and it really had nothing to do with the concept or the song. That's really not the impression that you get from this song when you listen to it. It's the way that Jeru and I rap back and fourth, you can really hear that we developed the concept together and it was something that we were both feeling and both put allot of our mind and energy into building. So, it's a really cool track, it's really interactive between us, it's very original and it's going to be something special when it comes out.  Fo-Real Mag - Who else would you want to get together and collaborate with? Professor D - I'm sure we have some different ideas. Public enemy is defiantly on the top of both our lists and were going to do something with Public Enemy soon. Asides from that there's Dead Prez, who we're going to do something with soon. Then the only other current artist, as far as hip-hop is concerned that I really want to do something with would probably be Mos Def. That's not to say that there's a million other artists out there that I wouldn't like to do colabos with, but as far as top of the list I'd put Mos Def there. DJ Spinster - I would have Talib on my list. Talib Kweli. Fo-Real Mag - What about more old school because you said you like to spin old school with 48:14? DJ Spinster - It would be tricky because allot of the old school artists aren't even doing stuff anymore. Although Brand Nubian would be one. Professor D - Yeah. Brand Nubian for sure. Lord Jamar, that'd be wicked! Fo-Real Mag - What other projects can we look forward to asides from Jeru? What about tour wise? Professor D - Right now we have a lot of crazy stuff going on. We're going to Venezuela for the hip-hop summit, which is going on there. We're going to Cuba to part take in the hip-hop festival that's happening there. From there we're going to come back and tour Canada, and hopefully we'll come out and meet up with you as well. From there we're going to tour Africa, so that's some pretty crazy stuff. That will probably take us into October, which is different than what we were initially thinking because we we're thinking of coming out with another album in September, but based on how hectic our tour schedule is, we're not going to be able to release it yet. So, we're not actually sure on when the next album will come out, but obviously were going to release it as soon as we can and then were looking at doing a world tour, so there's defiantly allot of exciting things for us to look forward to. Fo-Real Mag - Do you have a name for the new album that's coming out? Professor D - We actually have two of them (albums) that are ready, so were not sure on which one were going to put out. It's based on the political climate and based on how we're feeling at the same time. That's the unique thing of having your own independent label; you have a lot of say in what goes on. Of course on a major label you give your album to them and two years later it comes out and you really have no say. Styles could have changed in those two years and anything could have happened in that amount of time, but with us we have the flexibility of being able to create the album and in 3 years if we have a whole bunch of new songs we can switch up the album on the spur of the moment and put it out. That's why our group has been one of the most cutting edges in the world as far as issues happening and then the song coming out. If you want to look at "F*** Mike Harris" or the most extreme case would be "9.11 World Trade" or "Bushit", which came out on the internet and floated all over the world on MP3. In 2000 I was in Cuba and just wrote the song right away, criticizing the US election when Bush was elected, and we all know he wasn't elected and that song was available on the internet just a few weeks after that whole event happened. Then similarly "9.11 World Trade", when I was talking about the events of September 11 and that came out 2 weeks after September 11, so we were the first group in the world to address that issue. That gives us allot of flexibility, so as far as the new album, I cant really tell you what the title will be because its still so far off that it might end up changing. Fo-Real Mag - Speaking of the new millennium events like World Trade and the war on Terrorism. What about Tsunami, I really haven't really heard anything from you guys personally speaking about that? Professor D - You know what, I actually wrote a line about tsunami. I wish I could remember so that I could quote it to you right now.  I was doing it right around the time at shows and stuff and there another artist not a hip-hop artist, his names David Rovic, but if you check out davidrovex.com he's a folk singer and he does allot of political folk songs and he does a song about tsunami, which is the only song about it that I thinks any good. Basically our position is when that event happened, and I don't know if you know that I'm Indian as well, and it hits close to home. There's all the rock bands that say "Oh it's such a horrible thing, and Canada donated x amount of money to disaster relief." If a tornado like that hit in North America it's not going to do nearly as much damage. Why is that? Because these so called 3rd world countries are extremely poor and don't have the infrastructure to be able to protect them self. So allot of people say things like, "There's no one to blame, it's such a disaster and it's just like that" No! That's not true there are people to blame and it the same people that were always blaming. The fact that you have of the oppression of western powers and the northern countries, whatever term you want to use, basically continues to exploit these developing nations, third world nations, and that's why they don't have the infrastructure or the money and the ability to plan for those kinds of events. That's why these kinds of catastrophes are so huge. Yeah, no matter how much money or infrastructure you have your never going to be able to stop a tornado, but you'll be able to deal with it in much better way. So, I don't applaud Canada or the US or Britain for giving x amount of dollars. I'll applaud them when they cancel debts to all third world nations. Recently some debuts were so-called cancelled, but then again there's questions about the validity of that and is that really going to make that much of a difference, or are they just going to reduce the amount of aid that they give on a regular basis, therefore balancing the books. Until we live in a free and just society in the world, instead of these kind of gestures of like, "Oh yeah, let's give some money to the poor people, because they had a tornado." which is really a band aid solution and it's not really getting down to the real issues. That's really my position on the tsunami. Fo-Real Mag - There was such a rapid response financially. People went over there and helped and stuff, but I think it's kind of stupid that people just can't help people and countries just can't help countries all the time. Professor D - Exactly, that's the key point. Let's say children, millions of children died. Fine. Millions of children are dying every single day and not just in other countries. Tens of thousands of children are living in poverty in your own country in Canada. Kids are starving, kids are hungry, kids are not getting the right education right here in Canada. You need a tornado all of a sudden for you to care and then forget about it a couple of weeks later? That's some real short sided thinking and that's the kind of thing that's we like to point out. The hypocrisy of that and the fact that if you care about people and have compassion for people in other parts of the world, you should have that same compassion for people all over the world, here home included, and you should work on a daily basis on trying to improve those conditions. Not wait for some kind of disaster for you to come along and act like you care and then forget about it the next day. Fo-Real Mag - Would you guys ever come up with an organization or a fundraising system for Canada youth or under privileged youth? Professor D - Yes, absolutely we would and were involved in a couple of initiatives like that. Again it's not sufficient just for it to be a donation. Just to say the moneys going to go to the youth, what does that really mean? That could be corrupted in so many ways, but we're interested in and I think you mentioned it, is organizations. So, as far as THC it is one of the organizations that we're building on and that were trying to create. There's other people in all parts of the world, there's people in NY, people are doing similar types of community centers, independent learning center, and providing free services in the spirit of the Black Panther Party who had their breakfast program and their education program for kids, that was independent of the racist and biased education system that was going on then, and we have the same problems here. So, yes we're interested in getting involved with any of those things and we were recently approached by a group that was doing some work, I think its called Literacy through Hip-Hop or they may have a more catchy name, but they basically teach kids who are having problems with readings and kids who are just starting to read. They get them involved in reading using the art form of hip-hop, and we've done various things like that. Spin and I have gone around to various different community centers and done workshops on that nature, so yeah were very interested in doing those kinds of things. JUNCTION-STYLE JUSTICE [+ Show] Now Magazine 2004 Four acts of vandalism - so why isn't black centre getting cop support? Four acts of vandalism - so why isn't black centre getting cop support? By sigcino moyo For those plugged into the hip hop hoopla, the Toronto Hip Hop Cultural Arts Centre (THC) is a non-profit, volunteer-run community-centric organization known for its good works. The three-storey complex at Dundas and Keele (aka The Junction) offers computer access, homework assistance, general advice and job counselling in a community that certainly needs all the help it can get. The centre also houses a theatre company (New Harlem Productions), a recording studio (On Cybertron) and an indy record label (Justus League Records). Donna Michelle, New Harlem's creative director, even gives the locals challenging roles in plays – but only after they agree to "no getting high, no getting drunk and no doing violence" and enter into verbal contracts with her for at least the run of the production. So why is the centre being watched by police? And why have cops reacted to four separate instances of vandalism at the centre since its move here in January – including one in which flying metal did $1,000 worth of damage to the storefront window – with seeming indifference? There's no clear answer. The THC wears its radical politics proudly. So many different flyers and leaflets are on hand, you'd think this was the official printing house of all things black. Perhaps adding fuel to the fire is the fact that local rap outfit Dope Poet Society, the mainstay of THC's Justus League label, boasts a track called "Fuck Mike Harris!" among their poignant political observations. But the tale that has been unfolding around the THC is truly disconcerting for what it says about the level of mistrust between police and the black community. Vandals involved in the most recent attack on the THC, which involved paint balloons, rocks and, for good measure, "Fuck you niggers!" racial epithets, were chased down by THC staffer Michael Small on his bike. "When [the vandals] circled back for more during the last attack," says Michelle, "we were actually on the phone with the cops, but they wouldn't come," even though the cop shop is just a block away. Staff Sergeant Fred Ellarby of 11 Division blames manpower shortages. He says that while four attacks on the centre since January is "notable," some places in the area actually get hit more frequently. "I'm at a loss as to how to patrol stuff any more," Ellarby laments. "My numbers are just so low right now, it's taking hours to respond to ordinary calls." Michelle says the issues go deeper than Ellarby's that's-just-the-neighbourhood take. She says some police who did show up at the THC "were extremely hostile (and) wouldn't give their names or badge numbers." Officers who responded to one of the vandalism incidents didn't even bother getting out of their cruiser to investigate. Ellarby explains away the appearance of indifference by saying that "a rock through a window or paint splattered on a building you can see pretty much from the car, (and) going over to it isn't going to tell you an awful lot." Over the phone from 11 Division, a defensive PC Robert Licop, one of the investigating offices in question, seems insulted THC would have any quarrel with police's handling of their situation. "Basically, I want nothing to do with them any more because they're not very respectful of police, to tell you the truth," he say, before threatening NOW with a lawsuit if any part of this story is "false." Interestingly, the night of the last attack at THC was the first in recent memory when the police weren't camped out in front. "Ironically, it's that presence that makes it safe, but at the same time, why are they watching us all the time?" Michelle wonders. "Aren't they culturally aware enough to tell the difference between the THC and a blinging gang-banger headquarters?" A less charitable, though perhaps more accurate, word for that is profiling. Ever in search of that elusive meeting in the middle, she posits, "It's also my responsibility to understand what assumptions I greet the police with." But then she trails off, "but I don't think I can, based on experience. " As a case in point, she stuns me with the tale of cruising cops flashing cherries and wanting to know, "Who are you? When's the last time you were arrested?" while she was on her way to the coffee shop one afternoon. The officers offered her some classic cop logic later by way of apology: "I'm sure you can understand why we thought you were a prostitute – you have very large breasts," she quotes the cops as saying before they departed with some crack about the thong she was allegedly wearing. Staff Sergeant Ellarby is at a loss to explain that one, but he can't be held responsible for the conduct of all his charges. The main point in all this, Ellarby says, "is trying to make sure people realize that communications are open. It's inevitable that conflicts will arise, because people often don't necessarily like what the law allows us to do." A community forum, Focusing On Perceptions, Assumptions And Conflict Dissipation In Interactions Between Police And Civilians, is scheduled for July 8, 7 pm, at the THC (2482 Dundas West). Ellarby says he'll be there. Licop's attendance is doubtful. Music and Politics [+ Show] Catch Da Flava 1999 FEATURE Music and Politics: Dope Poet Society Rap... FEATURE Music and Politics: Dope Poet Society Raps about the Issues By Vinh Duong Artists express their messages through what they like to do whether it's drawing, singing, painting or rapping. These things have a big effect on people and Damon Sajnani recognised this when he was a kid. He wanted to become a rapper when he first heard the Beastie Boys. Over the years he's come a long way writing mostly songs relevant to current issues, global problems and subject affecting his life. Damon is currently in a group called "The Dope Poet Society," attending the University of Toronto, an active community member and already on his way to being a great role model. Because of all the work that he has done along with his youthful energy and talent, I just had to go interview this man and find out more about him. Catch: Were you as creative as you are now when you were a kid? D: I think as far as being an artist goes I've always been an artist. As a kid the first thing I learned to do was draw and it progressed from that. My first group was called "Très Dope." Catch: What do you talk about in your music? D: I believe all good artist talk about every relevant thing in their life so I talk about relationships, I talk about politics, social issues and global problems. I mean I have love songs, songs that are not love songs and all kinds of stuff. But basically I'm always saying something instead of nothing. Catch: How influential do you believe music is? D: You'll have some sceptics who'll say, "Oh music doesn't influence anything" but that's nonsense. A lot of times people criticise artists that produce negative music, saying to them that their music is making them feel this way or that way. The worst thing the artist can say, which they mostly always say, is "Music can't make you do anything!" And in the case of younger kids who are easily influenced by popular artists, they always say "It's really up to the parent." It's all on the parent. I think that's the stupidest thing they can say. The fact is that kids do listen and they take it seriously. S I think when you're in the spotlight like that you have to watch the things you say. But I'm not saying I disagree with the things negative artists say. People think swearing in songs is so bad but to me it depends. It depends on what context it's in. Are they hearing it in relevant issues about the black community, in a social context at large or are they hearing it as rhetoric? Catch: Let's move on to specifics. I was curious about one of your tracks about our current Premiere. Do you have anything against Mike Harris? D: I don't have anything against Harris as a person. I mean if I was to go bowling with him…he might have some fishing skills or something. But in terms of running a province he's got it in all the wrong ways. I think he's terrible for the city in so many measurable ways. You really have to listen to my "F**k Mike Harris" song. I address a lot of things in the song but there are still tons of things I couldn't include. Catch: What did you talk about and what did you leave out in the song "F**k Mike Harris"? D: I don't know how I forgot to mention workfare but I mean there's millions of things to address. So let's talk about workfare. Workfare is one of the worse things in the world. A lot of people say "What's wrong with workfare?" People on welfare aren't working so the idea is for them to get work so why not make them work for their welfare cheque. But here's the problem with that. We got something called minimum wage and the purpose of minimum wage is to make sure nobody is working for below subsistence level. The fact is welfare is below subsistence. The media is talking about welfare fraud. I couldn't care less if people fraud on welfare. In fact I encourage people to fraud on welfare. The reason is because you cannot live on welfare alone. Somebody brought that up to David Tsubouchi who was the Finance Minister I think before he made some stupid comments. He made some comment about tuna cans; "Well according to my budget you have $96 for food per month and that's more than what you need. You get a can of tuna, some spaghetti" and he actually had a list that he published. It was ridiculous because he had spaghetti on the list but no spaghetti sauce. Sure you can stay alive but subsistence is more than just staying alive. You don't need welfare to stay alive you can just kill people and take money. But that's not really the kind of lifestyle we want to have our neighbours living. Also the tuna, he puts in sixty-nine cents for the tuna but he says you can sometimes haggle them down to sixty-cents. Like who the hell do you know that is going to haggle for tuna? It was absurd! Goofy David Tsubouchi tellin' you 'ta haggle for tuna. A big looser, who got bad press that's trouble, so they had a little cabinet shuffle. Catch: What do you think Harris is doing to this country? D: Mike is turning Canada into an American clone! When this country was first formed, it was set on different principles. It wasn't set on rampant capitalism and free-market the same way the United States was. Particularly ever since the Depression in the early nineteen-hundreds in Canada when unions formed, there were a lot of fights for women's rights, for proper work hours, all kinds of things, welfare, the social safety net. All that was fought for and was a lot better in the seventies and eighties. Now the whole social net is torn and this country is turned into a clone of a lot of American states. The rationality that they use is that it cuts costs, this, that and the other. But the economy prospering doesn't mean anything to people on the lower level. People like me and the vast majority of other low-income earning people. You've heard on commercials that these tax cuts only benefit the top six percent of income-earning people. To them they are going to get a major proportion of tax cuts. To us we're going to get twenty dollars more a year and we're going to have to pay nine-hundred more dollars in service fees. A lot of people don't know this but they talked about library fees, park fees and this only affects the lower-income people because the percentage of money we get from the tax cuts does not cover all the user fees they are implementing. No taxes cut that benefit the rich only At the expense of the rest of us being Left with no money for basic necessities And aside from these, all small niceties: They wanna charge for parks: and fees to libraries These little things are not irrelevant 'cuz Harsh environments lead to ignorance And violence; and it's sad that in a Single term these wack asses could set backwards All the advances that took over twenty years: Women's rights, civil rights People fought for a lot more of all different types." Catch: How are these changes going to affect us? D: Sure if you were making twenty thousand a year you might get a thousand more but at what cost? At the cost of you having no library to go to, not enough food to eat, inadequate housing, you won't get to live downtown anymore because the rents are skyrocketing. Rent control has been removed so you are going to have to live who-knows-where. You might have to move to Scarborough or just somewhere far. You won't have bus fare and I can't sand it when I ask my friends let's go here or there and they say to me they can't because they have no bus fare. I mean how can you budget and still run out of bus fare? But the fact is a lot of people get in these situations now and it's not their fault. Prices hiking and they site this Economic crisis, propaganda devices like the deficit, makin' it Sound so stunning, but they scapegoat the people who can make no money So 'ya think the trouble's us but it's just a cover up The upper-class comin' with another upper cut throat cut back To the lower corporate tax. Catch: Is there anything else you would like to say? D: I'm not saying Mike is a problem as a person. He could get shot the next day and another head would pop up. It's the power they have and they're not capable or responsible enough to use it in a proper manner that will benefit everyone. Damon's (a.k.a. "D") recent album is called Hipolitics and can be picked up at any major music store like HMV or Sam Records. THE DOPE POET SOCIETY Hipolitics [+ Show] Now Magazine 1999 (Justus League) Rating: NNNN If Dalton McGuin... (Justus League) Rating: NNNN If Dalton McGuinty or Howard Hampton wanted to really make their point with the youth, they'd adopt the lead cut on this five-song EP as their campaign theme song. Just in time for today's (Thursday, June 3) election, conscious Toronto hiphop crew the Dope Poet Society take a swipe at el jefe with Fuck Mike Harris, a big-beat stomper that takes issue with deficit obsessions, social service cuts and trickle-down economics. The crew at times sacrifice smooth flow for a direct message, but this is crucial stuff nonetheless. B-sides round out the EP in style, but there's really only one track here, although the title of the radio-friendly mix, Down With Mike Harris, could cause confusion in certain camps. Poets' Hip Hop Mission  [+ Show] Now Magazine 1997 THE DOPE POET SOCIETY, at Hooch (813 Queen West), ... THE DOPE POET SOCIETY, at Hooch (813 Queen West), Thursday (June 12), midnight. $29/wristband. With Toronto's sprawling hiphop and R&B scenes still largely seen as insignificant pieces within the mainstream music puzzle, it comes as no surprise that the players themselves have banded together to form musical communities of their own. Every edge of the city -- from Scarborough to Rexdale to the downtown core -- has its own tight clique, but credit hiphop duo the Dope Poet Society for fostering a legitimate sense of community beyond simply shouting out the borough where they live. Putting the focus on the lyrical end of the rap music equation, the politically informed duo of super rhymer D and DJ Spinister intersperse the jams on their Dangerous Days debut with answering-machine testimonials from local hiphop notables like Phatt Al and Dan-e-o. More impressive, perhaps, the Dope Poet Society isn't afraid to name names of those who they think could afford to lend a hand to the cause. "There's no question that Toronto has a tight local scene," D concurs. "We have a song called Organized that is all about building the community. It deals with the way Canada's been held back in black music and talks about the problems with places like MuchMusic. "There's competition between local rappers, but friendly competition. It has the potential to go the other way. When money gets introduced into the scene it can fuck up that community, but so far no one's been paid."