11 Hometown Hip-Hop Theme Songs for #OccupyBoston

Published Sep 29 2011, 11:36 PM by Chris Faraone

More Occupy Boston Pics Here

Every revolution needs fresh theme music. Especially one organized by contemporary counter-culture warriors, who tend to have eclectic tastes. I'm not sure what they've been rocking down at Occupy Wall Street - just that the activists there got a boost from Immortal Technique the other day - but the shit I've seen online leads me to believe it ain't Bruno Mars.

While you'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger Technique fan than me, I'm a firm believer that Boston's occupation - while inspired by the Liberty Square action - needs to power its own movement with Hub-based hip-hop artists. These are by no means official (or even unofficial) Occupy Boston anthems, but rather local bangers by MCs who speak the language I've been hearing at the lead-up meetings.

Mr. Lif - "I Heard It Today"

Key Rhyme: "The hood grows out to the 'burbs too many words to describe what we got and what we didn't deserve / The nerve of these leaders to cheat us..."

Special Teamz - "Race Riot"

Key Rhyme: "Put your fist in the air if you down with us / Put your fist in the air and surround the bus / 'Cause look around this must have been what he seen / When Martin Luther King had a dream"

Foundation Movement - "Fruits of Babylon"

Key Rhyme: "'When Nike, McDonald's and Starbucks don't make a profit / Til there's no more domestic violence fatalities / And pigs do jail time for police brutality."

Reks - "21st Century Rap"

Key Rhyme: "Now Obama tellin' us have hope / It's gettin' pale now in comparison / I look at how we treat Iraq it's embarassin'"

Uno the Prophet - "Officer Down"

Key Rhyme: "Officer down / Why you always fuck with the black and the brown / You don't look so tough when your peeps ain't around"

Elemental Zazen - "Handcuffs"

Key Rhyme: "Throw your motherfucking hands up / If you want to see the president in handcuffs / If you think television has no answers / If you'll never be a slave to the cancer"

Catch Wreck - "Fight Back"

Key Rhyme: "I can't explain why we do all the things that we do / But I know what they tellin' us is just not true / Claiming it's our fault how we got the guns and the drugs / You got rich we got a stomach full of slugs"

Key Rhyme: "Skip Gates now you know what it feels like / 'Cause you the same dude on TV actin' real white / We go through this all the time this is real life / I think you might have needed just a taste of what jail's like"

Slaine - "Problemz"

Key Rhyme: "They say I act like the blackest residents / Because I pack heaters and I stack amphetamines / This is your world / This shit is full of crack Americans / It ain't a black thing / Or a white thing / Or a rap thing / It's just a fight thing"