Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Y-Love's "This is Unity"

My last post was Y-Love's great political anthem "For My People!" And I haven't posted a thing since. I've been through a couple of grueling weeks of writing research grant proposals. Three of them. At the same time. yeesh. It's fitting then, that now as I sit down to get back to blogging I've got an email from Shemspeed with Y-Love's latest...This Is Unity, from his new EP "See Me."

"The “This is Unity” campaign highlights one of humanity’s most elusive concepts: Unity. As a result of extremisms and borders of class, race, religion and lifestyle, people have divided themselves into an ever-growing number of categories with which to separate from and label one another. In those categories themselves, we as humans often stereotype and stigmatize those who do not resemble the rest of the category.

“This is Unity” is an holistic, anti-bigotry campaign designed to highlight and celebrate diversity. From the music-video featuring Y-Love which highlights Jewish diversity, we hope to encourage a strengthening of Jewish unity and Jewish peoplehood worldwide. Through workshops and projects that bring together artists from different backgrounds to perform in front of varied and mixed audiences, Shemspeed makes its contribution to building bridges between peoples in the hope of encouraging shared experience, constructive dialogue and some impetus for the resolution of some of the world’s most pressing disputes.

Standing up for what is right in the face of what is wrong with the world — through love and unity. This is unity, and this is how we at Shemspeed, Be’Chol Lashon & Nu Campaign do it."
I dig the music and the message. The bounciness reminds me of Y-love's early Modular Mood tracks a lot more than his grittier Babylon tracks. I also dig the contrast between For the People, angry punk hip-hop fist-pumper of a protest song and This is Unity, a positive, inclusive jump-up. Great stuff, Yitz. Keep it coming.

By the way, for a way funnier take on Jewish racial and ethnic unity, check out Manishtah's classic vid "JOC Slapping."

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