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Chuck

D of Public Enemy,

Ras Kass, Black Thought of the Roots and Dres are among the growing

list of rappers who will assemble at Sony Music Studios in New

York to record a cut for Unbound. The forthcoming CD which will

benefit the defense fund of death-row inmate, journalist and activist

Mumia Abu-Jamal. This collaborative track will be the first single

on the album, according to Frank Sosa, founder of Realized Records,

the label that will release Unbound.

Unbound

is a multi-artist anthology that also will include new tracks

from singer Zack de la Rocha of volatile funk-rockers Rage Against

The Machine; rappers Aceyalone, Poor Righteous Teachers, Dilated

Peoples, Medina Green, Abstract Rule and Talib Kweli; and poets

Saul Williams, Ursula Rucker, Jerry Quickley, Mike Ladd and the

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Slam Champions. Chuck D, Ras Kass, Black

Thought and Dres will be joined on the single by Tragedy, Professor

Griff of Public Enemy, Aceyalone and p.e.a.c.e. of the Freestyle

Fellowship; Slimkid Tre of the Pharcyde, Divine Styler, Channel

Live, Goldii Lox, Shabamm Sahdeeq, Dead Pres, and Afu Ra. The

cut is going to be produced by Diamond D.

If

you don’t know, Abu-Jamal, who was once a politcally active Black

Panther Party member, is currently on death row in Waynesburg,

Pa., following his conviction in the Dec. 9, 1981, shooting death

of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal claims

he was driving a cab through Philly when that night when he saw

his younger brother, William Cook, being beaten by Faulkner with

a flashlight. In Abu-Jamal’s court trials, police authorities

have acknowledged Faulkner was hitting Cook with a flashlight,

but say Cook struck the officer first, after Cook was stopped

for going the wrong way on a one-way street.

Prosecutors

contend Abu-Jamal shot Faulkner in the back, was wounded in the

midsection when the officer returned fire, and then stood over

the officer and shot him in the head. Many supporters of Abu-Jamal

say they believe Faulkner’s real killer escaped the night of the

shooting. They claim Abu-Jamal was set up because of his work

as a political commentator. It is almost uniamosly agreed the

he didn’t get a fair trial (the judge was a member of the Fraternal

Order Of Police), and that he at least deserves another trial.