At six feet, five inches in height and weighing 255 pounds, San Francisco Bay Area rapper Paris is an imposing figure. His music is imposing too. It is the stuff West Coast gangster rap dreams are made of – heavy, pulsating rhythms along with sometimes sinister, sometimes smooth melodies that create an unmistakable musical ambience.
But Paris is no gangster rapper. In fact, he’s quite the antithesis to almost all of what exists in the Hip Hop genre today. Although his beats and melodies are often in the West Coast, G-funk tradition, his words and their messages are in the tradition of other politically charged Hip Hop acts such as Public Enemy, KRS-One, Common, Dead Prez and others.
He has been known to rail against police brutality, misogyny in Hip Hop music, economic inequality, materialism in the Black community and maybe his favorite target of criticism, the United States government and its policies.
In 1992 Paris caused quite a stir with his song “Bush Killa”, a graphic, self-described “revenge fantasy” in which then president George Bush, Sr. is assassinated. The government was none too pleased and mainstream media criticism was harsh and unrelenting. So Paris is no stranger to controversy.
Controversy, however, is something with which Paris willingly flirts; and he can expect more of it when his new album, Sonic Jihad, is released early this year. As if the title was not demonstrative enough in its message, the cover art, which features a jet airliner superimposed to look as if it is headed for a collision with the White House, puts to rest any illusions that this album is filled with trivialities.
“[I chose] the name because … as far as what my definition of what Jihad means to me, it is waging righteous warfare against all that I see to be wrong,” says Paris of the album cover.
“I think for people who take great offense to the album cover imagery or take great offense to … any other of the sentiments espoused on the [album], they need to take a look at themselves and ask themselves why they are so bothered by this and not necessarily bothered by the fact that their rights are being taken away, and not being bothered by the [United States] waging war for profit in several different countries.”
War is indeed a major theme on Sonic Jihad and one of the album’s feature tracks, “What Would You Do?” takes an unflinching look at the current War on Terror along with the policies adopted by the U.S. government post-9/11, of which Paris is openly critical.
“For those who have visited [my website],” says Paris, “they pretty much know my entire take on this war on terror and my belief that higher ups in the government conspired to self-induce terrorism on the United States so that they could go about achieving more government control; so that they could go about initiating a way by which to increase defense spending and to profit from the horrible events that took place [on September 11].”
Although he speaks of government conspiracies, Paris chafes at being called a conspiracy theorist. From his standpoint, he sees his positions as “alternative points of view” and he vehemently defends his stances.
“Read the war on terror essay on my website,” Paris challenges. “All the dots are connected for you. You can see who is directly responsible, who is benefiting from it.”
So just whom does Paris hold responsible and culpable in this War on Terror? Dick Cheney, for one. He sees the vice president’s former position as the CEO of oil services corporation Haliburton as a compromising factor in Cheney’s political life. Paris also has a running narrative with regard to the Bush family and what he sees as a conflict of interests that has developed as a result of the family’s history in the oil business and Bush, Sr.’s more recent involvement with the Carlyle Group. And for Paris, this conflict of interests directly relates to the current state of American military activity.
“When you tie in this manufactured climate of fear and consumerism to generate economic activity, [you see that] it is in this administration’s and in America’s best interest to keep this climate of fear going,” says Paris. “You keep the government in power, you keep green-lighting them for whatever they want to do. There are outrageous increases in defense spending, outrageous increases in personal spending as a result of being afraid of something.”
What about September 11? Did Bin Laden do it? For Paris, Bin Laden’s alleged involvement isn’t the issue.
“Even if it did go down the way they said it went down,” says Paris, “and that Osama Bin Laden was responsible in some kind of way and that Al-Qaeda was responsible for it. Even if this was the case, you don’t go bomb an entire country looking for somebody. That’s not infinite justice. That’s infinite injustice (referring to the original code name for the War on Terror).”
And what about Iraq? Does Paris see Saddam as a true threat to the United States? “Saddam is not an enemy,” he says. “Saddam is on the payroll.”
Although Paris directs significant criticism at U.S. government policies, politics is not the driving factor in his life. Rather, educating the public and shedding light on the truth is what motivates him. “This [album] is much more a labor of love and a commitment to wanting to have truth and alternative viewpoints heard than it is an economic undertaking,” says Paris. “And there is no greater burden than being conscious in an unconscious world.”
In his mission to provide a loud and public wake-up call, Paris does, however, realize that he will encounter obstacles, with his hard fought truth being revealed in a three-stage process. According to Paris truth is initially ridiculed, then violently opposed and then eventually accepted as being self-evident. By his estimation the current political climate suggests “we’re in a stage right now where we’re getting past the stage where people have been ridiculing this conspiracy notion. Now the battle lines are being drawn; and it’s either being violently opposed or [violence] is being considered seriously by some people.”
That violence (as opposed to law enforcement) has been the defining feature of the United States’ War on Terror is indeed self-evident; and on the receiving end of that violence have been Muslims, both in Afghanistan and elsewhere. And although there has not been violent repression of Muslims in the United States, there have been legislative and policy changes that have negatively impacted U.S. Muslims. These developments are not lost on Paris.
“Muslims right now are the new niggers in America,” says Paris, referring to the historic treatment of African Americans in the United States. “[Muslims] are the new set of demonized people. Any time America needs a new enemy it picks someone who’s foreign, who’s darker than us; someone who we can look at and say, ‘There’s the bad guy.’”
Paris’ feelings on the targeting of Muslims are enhanced by his own personal religious convictions. Because he does not attend mosque services he does not consider himself a practicing Muslim. However, of Islam he does say, “If I had to pick a religion, then I am definitely of the Islamic variety.”
And what about Muslims? Should they be concerned that Sonic Jihad could further damage and alienate a community already under intense pressure and scrutiny? Paris thinks not.
“Islam can’t be viewed right now in a more degrading way than it already is,” he says. “So there’s nothing that I’m going to do that’s going to further that perception in anybody’s mind. People who view Muslims as an enemy already have that made up in their minds. But there are plenty more people right now who see things the way that I see them and whose voices I echo and reflect.”
It is unclear whether Sonic Jihad will have the kind of echo Paris hopes for. As a controversial artist releasing an unambiguously controversial album, Paris knows that he is fighting an uphill battle. But at this point in his life, he feels that he has come too far to turn back now.
“It’s much more difficult for me to enjoy life now,” laments Paris, “knowing what I know and seeing the conditions that exist.”
“I’m definitely the underdog right now saying what I’m saying. Even fighting the good fight in music industry circles, I’m definitely the underdog. But this right here, what I’m saying [with my album and website] is what I live for. I’m passionate about it and I’m passionate about the pursuit of truth. I’m passionate about reaching out and trying to better not only conditions in the Black community but really everybody’s conditions. And there are a lot of people who are in the dark.”
