Bay Area rapper Paris will soon release his fifth hip-hop album, titled Sonic Jihad. But due to his unapologetic crticism of the Bush administration, the CD will never enjoy wide corporate distribution or radio play. The album?s controversial cover depicts a September 11 scene with a fourth plane just seconds away from crashing into the White House. Paris wants people to be upset by the cover, but ?for the right reasons.? He calls on people to wake up to the so-called war on terrorism that we?re being fed by the Bush Administration. ?People are too quick to surrender their rights,? he writes on his web site. ?This war means a severe reduction in many of our rights, via enactment of the Patriot Act, which means citizens have no protection against illegal search and seizure, indefinite incarceration, cruel and unusual punishment, and no right to a fair and speedy trial.? An investment banker-turned-rapper, Paris has a good idea about how the financial system works and how U.S. government policy is motivated by profit. ?Afghanistan occupies a strategic position between the Caspian and the [oil] markets of the Indian subcontinent and east Asia,? he says. ?It?s prime territory for building pipelines.? As for who profits from the ?war on terror? being waged on the home front, he says the United States is left with a subservient, docile population good for nothing but consumerism.
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