Feeling that America is in a state of emergency
and needs new and innovative leadership, Chicago rapper Brother El is running
for President of the United States. Brother El’s campaign headquarters,
also known as his very own independent record label, has proclaimed five reasons
as to why he should be elected to office. They are:
1. El will deliver slavery reparations for over
$5 trillion owed to African Americans in unpaid labor from 1790 to 1860.
2. El will provide free healthcare and education
to the masses.
3. El will decrease taxes for high-middle to
lower income earning households, with even further tax brakes for those pursuing
higher education.
4. El will increase programs for the arts in
schools.
And finally:
5. El admits to smoking marijuana, but didn’t
inhale.
El credits music and his parents for steering
him toward his creativity with sound while his neighborhood was crumbling from
the aftermath of gangs, drugs, sex and poverty. His musical influences range
from Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente and Celia Cruz to his affinity
for dead prez, Black Star and Ultra Magnetics.
These voices of past and present filter through
as a presence but Brother El’s technique captures sighs of Chicago’s
elevated trains and pounds the pavement despite its cracks. On Brother El’s
debut album Through The Cracks Of Concrete, he takes the listener on a journey
to find balance in chaos. El’s own private “sessions with aliens”
has helped him develop an acute sense for relationships between tones and emotions
and has made him capable of seeing through what he feels is “today’s
senseless propaganda of pop culture.”
Brother El embraces sounds threaded through hip
hop verse and spoken word that he describes as an eclectic mix of electronica,
hip-hop and ambient styles laid upon an urban landscape. Through The Cracks
Of Concrete offers such innovative tunes as “Pay Close Attention,”
“Fade It,” and “Broken Dreams.” El has also shared the stage
with artists like Rakim, Xzibit, Kid Rock, Ice Cube, Alkaholiks and Kool Keith.
In an effort to understand more about Brother
El and his platform, he has scheduled a speaking engagement on Tuesday, November
5th at the Hot House, 31 E. Balbo (& Wabash) in Chicago at 10:00pm.
