Music
Poor Peoples Planet: A New CD from Hip-Hop Artist Mandeep Singh Sethi
by CHANNEL APA
In a follow-up album to last year's The World's Gone Mad, Los Angeles born and Bay-area based Sikh-American hip hop artist Mandeep Singh Sethi comes out strong with a gypsy influenced concept album "Poor Peoples Planet".
Produced by X9 of Xitanos Matematikos, Poor Peoples Planet samples heavily on quotes and concepts of the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurthi whose words can be heard weaved throughout the album.
The Poor Peoples Planet official album release party is on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at the Rockit Room in San Francisco (California, U.S.A.). The party, officially named "A Night of Conscious Hiphop," is co-hosted by Ras Ceylon and will have live performances by Mandeep, Ras Ceylon, Unity and Sinista-Z.
At only 22 years old, Mandeep has already developed a strong base of followers having appeared on stage with artists such as Ziggy Marley, Murs, Dead Prez and RZA of the WuTang Clan. A member of Afrika Bambataa's Zulu Nation as well as a member of the hip hop crew Xitanos Matematikos (Mathematical Gyspies), for Mandeep the microphone represents a catalyst of change rhyming with lyrics of social consciousness and cultural awareness.
He has taken hip hop to his Sikh and Indian roots, collaborating with local artists like Delhi Sultanate of BASSFoundation (Delhi) and Reggae Rajahs (Delhi) as well as co-founding alongside BBoy Heera, the India based B-boy/creative collective Slumgods.
Poor Peoples Planet was inspired by the gypsy hip hop teachings of Xitanos Matematikos (Mathematical Gypsies) and the idea of worldwide wandering gypsies originating from Punjab in the 11th century. Imagined as a concept album, Poor Peoples Planet musically links the relationship between gypsy music, Punjabi music, and hip hop culture. These influences can be heard in every song on the album, from the haunting "I'm free" mantra laced song Cagebird to the head nodding Krishnamurthi sampled tribute to Punjab on Ragamvirtuoso.
"We are a people that have been forced out of our land, forced away from our culture, and forced away from our language," says Mandeep. "By nature we are gypsies wandering these plains trying to reconnect with our culture and reclaim what was once ours."
"If by the end of the album you are inspired to join the movement to take the resources, cultures, and people back from appropriation," says Mandeep, "Then our mission is complete."
To hear the single "Moving Swiftly: Guerilla Tactics" off of Poor Peoples Planet, and to view a trailer for the new album, please CLICK here.