November 18th, 2012 at 2:32AM

Rage Against the Machine - Testify (DJ Broken Record Remix)

I made this song for several reasons.

1.) The presidential election (yes I’ve been working on this song for a while now).

As with many things, most of my feelings about elections can be summed up by the South Park episode on the topic. In this clip from Season 8, Episode 8, entitled “Douche and Turd,” Stan is banished from South Park for refusing to vote for either a Giant Douche or a Turd Sandwich (parodies of John Kerry and George W. Bush) for school mascot. His family and classmates are disgusted by Stan’s refusal to vote, and, according to “county law,” the proper punishment for not thinking that voting is important is banishment by horse. This is one of my all-time favorite South Park scenes, where the citizens of South Park, with torches and all, participate in a ridiculous ritual to teach Stan the importance of voting.

I know that there are many people who argue that if Romney were to have been elected, it would have been objectively more dangerous for certain people, for example, people who are dependent on reproductive health services. They do not support Obama but would be voting to ensure that Romney was not elected. Their vote is none of my business, and I support them in doing whatever they think is right. Their argument is valid and I can accept it. However, because of the validity of the argument, voting for Obama is equally as dangerous, just for a different set of people, such as immigrants, Afgans, Somalis, Yemenis, anyone on Obama’s secret kill list, Pakistanis, whoever the hell Saudi Arabia is gonna kill with these weapons, anyone the administration doesn’t like, or people who defend themselves against Israel’s tyrannical, genocidal apartheid,

So, how do I think people should vote in presidential elections? The answer is that I don’t care. It’s none of my business and I won’t criticize anyone for voting for anyone, or for not voting. I do believe, however, that no person in such a huge position of power is ever going to allow regular people to vote their power away, and what matters is that we give the power itself to regular people… instead of worrying about which version of rich oppressors we hate less. The only way for regular people, people who aren’t billionaires, to have power is in numbers, because numbers is the only advantage we have over them. If enough people work towards something, it won’t matter who is in office, they will have no choice but to respond to it. And the only way to get numbers is to organize, starting with the person sitting next to you right now, your household, your neighborhood, your city. For every person you organize with, you’ve given regular people way more power than any one person can have at the ballot box.



2.) Rage Against the Machine

This song is also a tribute to Rage Against the Machine, which is my favorite band ever. I could have easily made this an instrumental original, and tried to sell it. I could’ve asked a vocalist to get on it, or I could’ve gotten an acapella from a remix contest and submitted it. But I feel like I owe it to my fans to tell them how RATM has inspired me. It would, in fact, be dishonest to not talk about it. Everything about RATM is meaningful to me: their extremely sophisticated, but attainable lyrics that are actually fun to listen and sing along to, the fact that they invented a genre of music that mashes up their political, cultural and musical backgrounds, and which, due to this unique combination, has never really been replicated, their uncompromising political convictions, despite the thousands of criticisms they’ve faced for “selling out,” their embrace of musical technology (Tom Morello) to create something new, breaking the rules of traditional instrumentation, and the fact that their music is just plain awesome.

I would not be the person I am now if I had never heard RATM, from my involvement in community organizing to my music (despite what you might think, it was RATM, not Munchi, who really inspired me to mash up genres and cultures in EDM). As far as them being sell-outs because they are on a major label: I define selling out as compromising your community for personal gain. If you think that making a living doing what you love is selling out, you probably have the privilege of not having to slave yourself away for the rest of your life in some horrible, morally questionable job. More power to anyone who finds a loop hole in the capitalist slave wage trap.

So here it is, my tribute to Rage Against the Machine, with lyrics that have been on my mind a lot since the election.

3.) MOOMBAHTON

This is also just another reminder to ya’ll that I, for one, have not given up on Moombahton. Here is just another example of how the genre can be taken to another level. If your excuse is that “it’s all been done, time to move on” then you’re not trying hard enough. 108 TILL I DIE.

THANK YOU TO RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, AND TO ALL MY LISTENERS! PLEASE SHARE THIS TRACK IF YOU LIKE IT!!!

  1. kimberwalts reblogged this from djbrokenrecord and added:
    Should have reblogged this the moment I first heard and read it. DJBR is an amazing artist, musician, and writer among...
  2. djbrokenrecord posted this
2 notes #rage against the machine#ratm#moombahton#remix#testify#election
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