TheBattleDrums.com

Some new music from ya boy. Hopefully I’ll be releasing a lot more music in the coming weeks/months. I hope yall will keep supporting.

Also, we’ll be Live and Direct in Vancouver, Canada THIS saturday Night (12/18/2010) at the Taj Banquet Hall for the United Sikhs 3rd Annual Global Sikh Conference. Come out for the entire weekend for the conference! We’ll be performing Saturday night!

Peace

I think what just happened is pretty interesting. President Obama had planned on visiting the Harmandir Sahib/Darbar Sahib aka The Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab while he was in India next month. But apparently it seems like he is going to opt out of visiting Punjab.

See, Harmandir Sahib is to the Sikhs what is The Kabba (Mecca) to the Muslims, except we’re not required to make pilgrimages to it at least once in our lifetime. But Harmandir Sahib, like any other Gurudwara around the world, requires that when you step inside the Guru’s court that you have your head covered and your shoes off. Now you can question why this mandate is in place, why exceptions can’t be made (especially for the leader of the free world), or why can’t baseball caps aren’t considered head coverings, but the fact of the matter is, these mandates were put in places hundreds of years ago and no president/ prime minister/ king or queen is going to be the exception to the rule. (Things don’t always work the way they do in the West).

But whats even more interesting is that the issue has become that of the “head covering”. Is that really the issue at hand? Or is there perhaps a much larger issue in cahoots? Like, I don’t know….maybe the fact that Amritsar is only a 30 min drive to the Pakistan border. Or maybe that if the President was to visit the Harimandir Sahib, even his security team would be required to be bare feet with their heads covered. (I’m not sure about this, but I don’t think firearms are allowed INSIDE the Harimandir Sahib). Who knows.

BUT, I think him NOT going to the Harimandir Sahib due to a “head covering” controversy will definitely create a lot more publicity (good or bad) for the Sikhs than it would have if he would have gone.

Mixtape coming 2011!

So guess who I met this weekend?

nope. your wrong.

I met the Great Grandson of General Hari Singh Nalwa. If you’re punjabi and don’t know who that is, then thats a shame, because this dude definitely doesn’t get enough recognition. Not like our history gets much recognition anyway, but this guy definitely deserves his props.

General Hari Singh Nalwa was an exceptional man in Sikh History. You can look him up on google and do your own research, but if you don’t know him, then lets just say that the Sikh Kingdom, to this DAY, is the ONLY kingdom to EVER rule over Afghanistan and the army to command this conquest was lead by this man, General Hari Singh Nalwa.

Russia, Pakistan, Great Britain and the United States have ALL tried to do the same thing, but have failed and/or are still failing.

This all took place under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and General Hari Singh Nalwa was pretty much his right hand man. I found this link to be somewhat useful in finding more information about him, but again make sure to do your own research and discover your own history.

http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-personalities/25507-hari-singh-nalwa-1791-1837-a.html

Peace!

“The top U.S. general and NATO commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned plans by an American church to burn copies of the Qur’an on Sept. 11.”

That sounded good to me when I first read it too. But if you further read this article: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/09/07/afghanistan-general-petraeus-quaran-burning.html#socialcomments

General Petraeus says that “Images of the burning of a Qur’an would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence..”

Really? OF COURSE they will. But how about condemning the act because its morally WRONG and disgustingly INHUMANE?

Sach: “yo man you gotta pick a side”

Me: “what the hell are you talking about”

Sach: “im talking about your weight”….”you need to pick a side with that sh*t. You either drop some weight before your next mixtape drops or you get really reallyyy BIG. like Biggie smalls BIG”

Me: “fmylife”

A lot of times, we HAVE to pick sides, like the situation above. BUTT, sometimes you don’t have to pick a specific side. Sometimes what you really need is a perfect balance of the two.. For example, my favorite fruits in the whole wide world are Mangoes and Watermelons.

But heres what I’m trying to get at…here’s your word of advice for the day. For my brothers and sisters in the diaspora, I think sometimes we’re really quick to pick sides. You either gotta be completely attached to your original culture, or you gotta be a complete westerner and pretend like you have nothing to do with your people. I think that’s ridiculous. And like I said this is only SOMETIMES the case, but obviously I’ve seen a lot of it, so I thought I’d say something.

I’ve seen a lot of people compromise not just their identity and their faith, but also their friends and social circles  just for the sake of fitting in better with the rest of their peers. I seen a lot of kids draw barriers between themselves and the rest of their community. And a lot of kids that are completely clueless about their roots and the origins of their people (for which I blame the parents, sorry folks).

I mean how come a person can’t have the best of both worlds? How come you can’t be a leader in your community and in the mainstream? How come your either a FOB or an ABCD? How come you can’t speak both English and Punjabi fluently? How come you can’t be a rapper and still be a Gursikh?

In today’s world, kids are taught to multi-task and do a thousand things at once from a very early age. And you’re telling me you can’t spend some extra time discovering your roots? You’re telling me you don’t care much about carrying the torch for your people for generations to come? I think you do care, and I think you DO have extra time to spend more wisely, it’s just a matter of putting in that effort.

Always remember, you can love both MANGOES AND WATERMELONS. Too much mango will make you poop and too much watermelon will make you pee alot. Try to keep the balance.

PEacE !

Waddup world!

Just a quick update to let yall know G.N.E. will be LIVE in the building on Friday June 25th 6pm onwards at WHEN LIONS ROAR II hosted by the Sikh Activist Network in Toronto, Canada. Last year was a DOPEE show, and we brought down the house like we always do. This year is going to be bigger and badder than you’ve ever seen. So if you’re in the GTA area, come through and support your Sikh Artists. Its a night of Hip Hop, poetry, spoken word, Gatka, and soo much more. Let’s remember 1984 in a way its never been remembered before.

Shoutouts to Mandeep Sethi, Humble P, Sikh Knowledge, Young Fateh, MC Noyz, Sikh Activist, and all the other brothas and sistas that I’m looking forward to seeing this weekend.

Check out the videos below for more details. See yall soon!

Heres the link for the fbook event as well: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133735253310334

- see you on the other side of the border

Whats REALLY good my people? I know yall are loving this beautiful weather as much as I am. Though, the only time I get to enjoy it is when I’m coming to work or going home from work. It’s all kosher tho, we all gotta pay our dues. So one thing I love about my friends is that, every now and then, they’ll holler at me and be like, “yo have you heard this track before? its dopee! you should remix it”. And a lot times I really do end up writing something to, if I can find the instrumental for it. So go ahead and add me on facebook (facebook.com/saintsoulja) and if you have some tracks that you love or would love to hear me on, send it over, and if all goes well, I MIGHT end up doing a remix. (no promises, but I will definitely give it a shot).

Here’s a list of the tracks I’ve already written, youtube them if you’ve never heard of them.

- Just Begun -- Reflection Eternal

- I’m Beamin -- Lupe Fiasco

- Sunshine -- Mos Def

- Respiration -- Mos Def

- You Don’t Know -- Jay Z

- Internally Bleeding -- Immortal Technique

- Sky’s the Limit -- Notorious B.I.G.

- Not Afraid -- Eminem (more on this later, might be Souljas Story part II)

- Top of the world -- Ace Hood

- Wack MCs -- Slaughterhouse

- Window Seat -- Erykah Badu (Accompanied with a video)

- Dreams  -The Game

- All Falls Down -- Kanye West

- Politrikks -- Dead Prez

Thats like 14 brand new tracks right there. I might throw a few more on there. Lets see how things pan out. For the most part, I’m taking my sweet time with this, mainly because I don’t have much time to write and record anyway. But I don’t want to rush this project. Sorry to keep you guys waiting, but i guarantee you it’ll be worth the wait. =)

Also, I think I might be in Toronto this month. But more on that later.

- Peace to the Gulf of Mexico

If you don’t already know this, I’ll come out and say it… i LOVE talking. Whether its conversating with friends, strangers, foolin around, or just talkin on stage, I love being vocal. And I think i genetically inherited this trait too. The beautiful ladies on my mom’s side of the family talk up storms that are big enough to make Zee TV dramas go out of business. (I’m hoping their not into reading blogs)

Even as a kid, I loved the attention by cracking jokes or break dancing or actin a fool like i do now. But one of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years is the concept of “Less is More”.

As I continuously mature and become a wiser man, I’ve began to listen more and talk less. I tell my younger folks this all the time too: the less often you speak the more carefully people will listen. For example, if your blabbing on about this, that and other 24/7 , people around you will probably only take in an ounce of what you said. EVEN if you had something worthy to say, it’ll be lost in translation because you surrounded it with all the other jabber jibber. BUT if you only speak ever so often, people will pay very close attention to what you have to say. (trust me). Not sayin you should go emo on everyone and just stop completely talking and look all depressed, just be wiser about what you say, take into consideration who’s listening and speak in moderation.

I think this is most effective and applicable for older youth. Young adults who are in the position to be role models for the next generation. Try to apply this model to your life and see if it works. You might not see it work overnight, but give it a couple of months and you can see the difference for yourself.

- Saint

p.s. if you wanna see me talk unnecessarily and blab on about useless things all the time follow me on twitter @SaintSoulja  or add me on facebook  =)

www.facebook.com/saintsoulja

happy thursday!

Many times people have asked me what type of music I make. And a lot of times people have tried to label me as a specific type of artist. Some will say SaintSoulja is more of a political and social issue driven rapper, he mainly talks about those things. Some will say, SaintSoulja is a conscious rapper, while others will say he’s a horrible rapper. All of them are correct in their own interpretation. Because when I read a book or watch a movie I have my own opinion on it. I might think that Alicia Keys’ new album “Element of Freedom” has A LOT of  political undertones but others might not think anything of it. So I’m ok with your interpretations, because at the end of the day, its only your interpretation and not everyone elses.

The way I see my music is as “Me-Music”. I make music for myself, music that I enjoy listening to, and music that I feel will have some sort of impact on the listener. A lot of times I will say things that can be considered controversial, and a lot of times I will say things that very personal. Regardless, music is just a way for me to channel my thoughts, my feelings, and my personal opinions. Theres a lot of musicians and artists out there that will make “socially conscious” music, but if you were to sit em in a room and try to ask them about something like “hey man, in this song, you said this one thing, can you explain what you meant?” and they would have no clue or they would make something up.

I spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Rapper Immortal Technique over the years as we got to know him better, and I think one of the most unique things I’ve appreciated about him is that after every show/concert he would end up engaging in discussions with random people from the audience. And I think that is phenomenal. Because truly THEN music becomes the medium for education. Discussions are healthy for the brain, and I think most important ingredient is to have an open mind for someone else’s opinions and thoughts. So if you ever come across something that I say and wonder what I mean, just ask. I’ll be more than happy to talk to you about it. I’m not saying I know everything about everything, because I most definitely don’t. A lot of music is made from pure emotion, so if I can’t tell you the reasoning for what I said, I will most definitely be able to tell you what my feeling behind it was.

Alas, I leave you with some bars from my upcoming remix of “I’m Beamin” by Lupe Fiaso.

Peace be with you.

“This is for the non-believers, now I’m cleavin through the hatred/ to make my image clearer I will go and re-paint it/ carefully plated, they servin up your food/ you can put me in a box but I will turn it to a booth” – ss

The concept for the “Window Seat” remix is simple: Its about being Misunderstood. You ever get the feeling that people just judge you based on how you look, what you wear, how you speak and your general behavior? And without having known much about you, they automatically make assumptions about your personality. Like for example, the other day one of my newly made friends at work asked “hey, you drink don’t you?” and I said “no.” She said “oh, I thought you did”. And with a little bit of a laugh I said “why?” She said “I don’t know I guess it just looks like you do”. (the conversation went on after that, I didn’t really think of it as offensive or anything). But later I thought of it to be very interesting.

I know many of times I’ve used references to Islam or muslims or muslim things in my music, and people have misunderstood that as me being Muslim. Or people that know I am a follower of the Sikh faith, have questioned why I feel the need to make such references. What they don’t understand is that I was raised in a small country next to Iraq called Kuwait, and that in America, Muslims face just as much discrimination as the Sikhs,  and Islamophobia not only affects Muslims but also affects us as Sikhs. So in many ways, I feel a sense of Solidarity with my Muslim brothers and sisters and I stand alongside them in our struggles.

So in the “Window Seat” I say things like

“I AM, Misunderstood man, they ask no questions/often, get salaams like Im Muslim/ which is Peace and I know we could use some/ but the race is human so why should I choose one?”

And what I found exceptionally beautiful at the end of this whole ordeal, specially at the end of writing of this song was put into my last two lines

“….but yo, Imperfections got a beauty of their own/man my God walks with me so I never die alone.”

Anyway, I can’t wait for this video to be finished so everyone can see how the music and the video all compliment the concept of being Misunderstood.

I think its also important to mention that the core concept for this song and video came from the last few lines from Erykah Badu’s Window Seat:

“they who play it safe are quick to assassinate what they do not understand. they move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. they feel more comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow. they are us. this is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual. A single person within their circumstance can move one to change; to love oneself; to evolve.” – Erykah Badu from “Window Seat”