Yeah...apparently I couldn't wait to do this blog, but this band has been stuck in my head for the past few days and as far as I know, nobody I know has heard of them and THEY NEED TO!
Discovery: I'm watching VH1's top 20 (so I know what the kids are talking about) and this dude named Michael Franti (who will have a separate blog because I feel like an idiot for never having heard of him before) comes on. I enjoyed his song and later that day checked out his station on last.fm, which is where I heard "Mayday" by Flobots.

Prior to this song, I had VERY little love for rap. I thought it was all bitches, booze, and bling because my only experience with it had been MTV and VH1...which do a poor job of representing the genre. So I did some more research on Flobots, turns out I'd already heard their song "Handlebars", but I hadn't really listened to it. After "Mayday" I did, I listened to several of their songs and each one is amazing.

I couldn't have found this band at a better time either. Flobots specializes in political rap, a sub-genre which has given me a whole new respect for the rap genre. The messages in their lyrics are a perfect compliment to my Peoples of the World course...which has been utterly depressing until now. The class discusses topics like genocide in Guatemala, the Thai sex trade, homelessness, trafficking of drugs by stuffing them in hallowed out children whose organs are sold on the black market...yeah, I was VERY close to changing my major to avoid more classes about these dirty truths of humanity. But after listening to the passion in the lyrics of Flobots, I remembered why I chose anthropology as my major---because I want to do my part in uniting people so these crimes can be prevented.

And now, the feature presentation:

Last.fm: [link]
Album art: [link]

"Handlebars" [link]
dA connect: [link]

"Mayday" [link]
dA connect: [link]

"There Is A War Going On For Your Mind" [link]
dA connect: [link]

"Rise" [link]
dA connect: [link]

"Stand Up" [link]
dA connect: [link]

"Iraq" [link]
dA connect: [link]

"Anne Braden" [link]
dA connect: [link]