blood: diamonds & hip-hop

[jah_yout]

arjen post something pon it nuh...

anyone caught this on vh1?
excellent program where raekwon (from wu-tang clan), paul wall, tego calderon & some other peoples went to sierra leonne to check out the diamond mines...
it was deep

[Hopyoneson]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body">arjen post something pon it nuh...

anyone caught this on vh1?
excellent program where raekwon (from wu-tang clan), paul wall, tego calderon &amp; some other peoples went to sierra leonne to check out the diamond mines...
it was deep </div></div>

Thats a damn sad statement of hip hop if its representatives are Paul Wall and Tego. I still like raekwn, only built for cuban links is a classic I still have the purple tape somwhere, but what was the last current project he did, dude selling weed on the island man I seen him. poooh hip hop, the demise is near.

[tsophra]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

here ya go [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70365-flirt.gif[/img]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Music channel VH1's rather enlightening series of programming called “Rock Docs” is premiering its latest episode tomorrow, Thursday, February 22 titled “Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds, and Hip Hop.”

The film takes a look at the illegal diamond trade in Sierra Leone, West Africa and its connection with the hip hop culture, particularly how “bling” played a role in the nation’s 11-year civil war.


The film follows rappers Paul Wall, Raekwon, and reggaetonian Tego Caldron as they visit the war-torn country and mining communities, meeting with musicians, refugees, amputees and former child soldiers.


The documentary also includes interviews with other prominent rap stars who give their take on the evolution of diamonds in hip-hop, including Jadakiss, Big Daddy Kane, and Kanye West – whose track "Diamonds From Sierra Leone” helped spark Paul Wall’s work on the film.


“It was amazing that I never even knew about what was going on in Sierra Leone and other parts of Western Africa. I had never even heard of Sierra Leone until Kanye West mentioned it in a song,” Paul Wall confessed.”


Paul Wall has a double stake in the diamond trade. Not only is he a rapper that drips in the precious jewel, he also is co-owner of one of the largest grill [diamond encrusted teeth caps] companies in the U.S. As a diamond businessman himself, the artist found it important for him to see the diamond conflict aftermath and the diamond process firsthand.


“It’s like when someone tells you a story, but until you go there and experience it first hand you have no idea. It was nothing like what anyone could have ever told me. It literally changed my life.”


Like the award-nominated film “Blood Diamond,” the VH1 production hopes to bring those harsh realities that Paul Wall describes to light, ultimately educating consumers into becoming conscious and responsible global citizens by demanding "clean" diamonds.


Due to what is called the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, a UN mandated process designed to certify the origin of diamonds from sources which are free of conflict, the World Diamond Council claims that today over 99% of all diamonds are conflict free. But while this percentage is extremely promising, Paul Wall and the film’s director, Raquel Cepeda, share that there is more to be done than just cleaning the diamonds.


“In the countries where the diamonds come from and there is no longer conflict then they are not considered conflict diamonds anymore,” Paul Wall clarified. “But the conflict that went on in Sierra Leone that lasted 10 years, the same living conditions are just as visible as they were then. There are people who are still enslaved. Are they conflict free? Yes, because there is no conflict, but at the same time it’s still not right.”


Furthermore, Cepeda suggested: “All the money that the council and DeBeers put into these anti-blood diamond publicity, they could have used to help (a lot of) people in Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast and Liberia. There’s so much more you can do with that money.”


Interestingly, though blood diamonds are a hot topic this year, Cepeda has been working on the project since early 2002, the same year the war in Sierra Leone finally ended.


“I was working as editor-in-chief of the now defunct ‘One World’ magazine and we all know what happened in September 2001 and I thought, ‘What can I do to make us more of a global community?’ I came across Sierra Leone because we did a lot of international hip-hop stories there. When I saw all the parallels between Sierra Leone’s history and our history and our obsession with bling, I put pen to paper. Now, I hope we do more of these,” she urged.


Publicizing the issue has been Cepeda’s goal, and in the meantime rappers and diamond sellers’ – and rappers who are diamond sellers' – are to be accountable for the history of their product.


“We have to responsible,” Paul Wall said, “myself as a jeweler and as a customer. We have to make sure we get our diamonds as non-illicit as possible. You can’t be 100% sure, but we follow the chain as closely as we can, and we’re trying.”


“We’re not trying to boycott diamonds,” Cepeda added. “Who are we to tell people what to wear? We want to make social consciousness ‘sexy’. If you started boycotting diamonds, you would cripple the economy in Sierra Leone. Let this film be a point of departure in order for us to motivate ourselves to become conscious consumers and get involved in other things that are happening in the world that we can help with.”


"Bling'd: Blood, Diamonds, and Hip Hop" premieres on VH1, Thursday, February 22. For more info, check the network’s website at http://www.vh1.com under shows, Rock Docs.

</div></div>

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur31615.cfm

[jah_yout]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kingston20</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body">arjen post something pon it nuh...

anyone caught this on vh1?
excellent program where raekwon (from wu-tang clan), paul wall, tego calderon &amp; some other peoples went to sierra leonne to check out the diamond mines...
it was deep </div></div>

Thats a damn sad statement of hip hop if its representatives are Paul Wall and Tego. I still like raekwn, only built for cuban links is a classic I still have the purple tape somwhere, but what was the last current project he did, dude selling weed on the island man I seen him. poooh hip hop, the demise is near. </div></div>


yea 'only built for cuban links' is one of my top 5 all time hip-hop albums...
but i think the experience may have changed him...the crowd went into a 'wu-tang' chant after he performed...
and the people dress inna dem jiggy wear yu frighten fi know seh a africa dem deh

[Hopyoneson]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

What was your favourite tune of the album, I loved "can it all be so simple" and "rainy dayz", but my all time fav is ice cream with method cappadona and ghostface....the video alone was butters...I know you remember this line when cappachino spit that fire

Ice Cream you got me fallin out
like a cripple, I love you like I love my **** size
ooh baby I miss you, your sweet tender touches
take pulls off the dutches,

I ws using that line as a sophmore in college when the song just came on this antiguan girl , damn I was a fool [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

when hip hop was still fun the memories.

[Hopyoneson]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

Jah Youth I just caught the last 1 hour of this, it was powerful, I am starting to see why they chose those three, I thought Paul Wall would have been there with grillz but it was not like that. The last part was intense when dude flipped on the stairs saying sleep and work is the same in Africa I thought he was about to go postal on Paul Wall. Tego was on the bus like I told you yt bwoy we should a left from the get go [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img], they need to take these kids in the hoods crying about the system to that garbage dump with people living in it.... let them know what hardlife is really like, I dont think those three will be the same after this. Now Tego in Jamaica I never seen this video before.

[Lynntt]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

I didn't plan to tune in, was just channel surfing and saw this tonite. WOW - I think it was an eye opener for certain. I had never heard Paul Wall's explanation concerning the emergence of those "grills", but it makes sense. And the footage from the village where the residents were amputees ... just powerful. I'm glad I watched.

[jah_yout]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kingston20</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What was your favourite tune of the album, I loved "can it all be so simple" and "rainy dayz", but my all time fav is ice cream with method cappadona and ghostface....the video alone was butters...I know you remember this line when cappachino spit that fire

Ice Cream you got me fallin out
like a cripple, I love you like I love my **** size
ooh baby I miss you, your sweet tender touches
take pulls off the dutches,

I ws using that line as a sophmore in college when the song just came on this antiguan girl , damn I was a fool [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

when hip hop was still fun the memories. </div></div>


what!
ice-cream is a classic for real
'french vanilla butter pecan chocolate deluxe';
also loved the song 'verbal intercourse'...nas was kicking some rhaatid lyrics on that one....
and the outtro 'north star (jewelz)...that album was deep...
the song 'knowledge god' i used to have in heavy rotation too;

[jah_yout]

Re: blood: diamonds & hip-hop

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Kingston20</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Jah Youth I just caught the last 1 hour of this, it was powerful, I am starting to see why they chose those three, I thought Paul Wall would have been there with grillz but it was not like that. The last part was intense when dude flipped on the stairs saying sleep and work is the same in Africa I thought he was about to go postal on Paul Wall. Tego was on the bus like I told you yt bwoy we should a left from the get go [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img], they need to take these kids in the hoods crying about the system to that garbage dump with people living in it.... let them know what hardlife is really like, I dont think those three will be the same after this. Now Tego in Jamaica I never seen this video before. </div></div>


for real...
like exchange programs...maybe some black leader will step up in the future cause things like that are a better teacher than any book...
someone besides oprah maybe?