Check out My Music on Myspace

So after talking with a few friends I decided to post my music on myspace. I have found it to be worth while since people are actually downloading my music and I hope sharing it with others.

If interested follow the link to myspace and enjoy!


Peace,

Ro Soul Jah

FREESTYLE: The Art of Rhyme

To all my Emcee brothas and sistas just wanted to turn you on to this great DVD that I came across about a couple of weeks ago. The documentary highlights the origin of freestyle straight out the streets of the NYC and features dope Emcees like SuperNatural, Mos Def and many many others. If you check the additional scenes you'll even find Immortal Technique kickin some revolutionary rhymes straight off the street.

To my brothers at 180 Degrees, it would be a dream come true for us to establish our own Lyricist Lounge: We're well on our way. Last night's session was maaaaaaad illlllll, and every thurzday is an educational experience for me.

This is community revolution in progress!

Strength,

Ro soul Jah

Vibe of the Soul Jah

Yo here is the vibe of the soul jah

Ro be the one soul that that’ll school ya

The one who gave his life to the people cuz

That was the sole step that authentic wuz

The voice of the people needs to shout out

But we can’t be talkin ‘bout no sixties route

We need to learn what our histo--ries bout

It’s not just about taking the streets to shout

History reminds us to live in simplicity

So with the whole world we can be in solidarity

And learn to organize with subsidiarity

Yes this is the soul jah that’s breakin free

And I believe it is a real possibility

So remember the rhymes that Ro spit

The next time you take another weed hit

And proclaim to yourself that it’s the shit

That the world needs a whole new logic

So dream of new ways to live it

Come on people we talking about justice

Ask your friends if they really need a lexus

Recruitment Day

The struggle in me is to be truly free

To objectify my social reality

critically analyze, comprise

Evaluate and radicalize

I died and was reborn

With the oppressed and torn

To authentically form

Part of the revolutionary struggle

A puzzle that end at a gun muzzle

Things have changed we will become immortal

Our spirit will transcend the earth

And cross through the portal

To establish a new world order

Forget the border and any other limit

Strip it, clip it and then flip it

Learn to conceive of the new wine skin

Begin to dialogue with your next of kin

For this is where the pedagogy of hope lies

And the exploitation and oppression die

Where people discover the tools for their liberation

And together they seek their emancipation

From the dehumanizing effects of nihilism

The life taking system that is capitalism

So now you’re forced to make a choice

To speak in a passive or an active voice

And put your faith where your mouth is

Don’t think that this is a pop quiz

The answer you provide

will determine your way

So get an attitude like N.W.A.

And say everything that you got to say

Cuz this is your recruitment day

Think about it, what would you do without it

If they took your freedom would you struggle everyday

Or would you lie down and let them have their way

Decay in a hole of your self loathing pity

So get real G It’s time to roll with the best

So put you fist to your chest

and stop being a guest

in the house of the revolution

Become part of the solution

Give up your own life you’ll preserve it

Conserve it and the life of all of humanity

Your local and global community

The time has come for you to reconsider

And not to give in to the highest bidder

But instead to critically analyze

the world around you

And begin to challenge you world view

Break the paradigm and the whole foundation

Castration of the whole white male domination

So now you’re forced to make a choice

To speak in a passive or an active voice

And put your faith where your mouth is

Don’t think that this is a pop quiz

The answer you provide will determine your way

So get an attitude like N.W.A.

And say everything that you got to say

Cause this is your recruitment day

So now we are at the beginning

But also in the last inning

As the Maya conceived, life works in cycles

Demons convince and Lucifer kills

So be careful with whom you tread

Cuz history repeats if left to fly over your head

Read or be the living dead

That consumes without a mind in their head

It’s your turn now to die and lay to rest

Only to be reborn with the dispossessed

And to struggle at their side

and resist arrest

when the popo come with their direct request

For you to squeal on your comrades and brothas

So they can lock em up one after another

Say fuck that it’ll never happen

The only thing they’ll ever hear

is the sound of one hand clappin’

And when they reach that level of consciousness

They’ll convert to the cause and their sins confess.

So now you’re forced to make a choice

To speak in a passive or an active voice

And put your faith where your mouth is

Don’t think that this is a pop quiz

The answer you provide

will determine your way

So get an attitude like N.W.A.

And say everything that you got to say

Cuz this is your recruitment day

Some Dayz

Some dayz when I wake up

I think this is all for what

Shut up and shut out

Of the rest of the world

Tired of trying to make a difference

I ask if it all make sense

But that’s the devil perusing me

Enticing me with material dreams

Dammit some dayz I just wanna get paid

Annoyed cuz it’s been so long

Since I’ve been meaningfully employed

But what can I expect out of a system

Where rejection has no correction

So I continue writing rhymes

Not cuz I believe in getting signed

Cuz my mind can’t be confined

I gotta create or I’ll die

Then I’m reminded of the struggle

And that all of us need to be free

My brothaz say don’t forget that you got me

Those dayz when you wake up to your clock

And you feel like pickin up a glock

Cuz you think your done

Remember you still got some

Sanity left in you

We’re gonna make it through

This oppressive occupation

Don’t give in to your frustration

Cuz we need to be healthy

To confront the system

working out everyday

going to play soccer on Saturdayz

reading about Latin American History

so our minds aren’t clouded in mystery

when it comes to knowing where we from

cuz being latino ain’t just about salsa and drinking rum

Allende said, "La Historia es nuestra y la hacen los pueblos"

I say, "victory is ours as long as we grow"

Never letting the enemy control our mind

No hay pero ciego then those that want to be blind

I have a compañera that holds me down

She make me feel like I be wearin a crown

Not cuz I’m machista but she’s my queen

I have a son who’s the cutest you’ve ever seen

I’d give my life for both them

Cuz they both gems

I always include them in my prayers before I say Amen

Family is the reason we struggle

And we think twice before getting caught up in the hustle

But every month the bills need to be juggled

And that’s why I get tired

Thinking every year that things will change

But it don’t it really is strange

Things get harder and harder

And that’s when I think about givin my life like a matyr

But I ain’t going out like that cuz I’m smarter

Cuz I’m going to fight for my loved ones everyday

Cuz the love they give me I could never betray

So I’m calling all you people that feel the same

If we organize we can destroy the capitalist game

Make people realize the truth and put them to shame

And then our children’s children will tell the story

of how their ancestors overcame

a system that wasn’t really democratic

controlled by fanatics of an antiquated ideology

that had us all believing in their fallacies

dehumanized livin on our knees

consumed by their disease

so I ask you people are you ready to make history

Training Has Commenced

Training has commenced

Ro Soul Jah to go against

Any infidel with or without common sense

A G.U.E.Throwin it down

like a real revolutionary

Climbing mountains like Guevara

Attacking like Fidel at the Moncada

Yellin victory on horseback into SantaClara

AK to the sky as I cross la frontera

La Pachamama es mi Tierra

What I’m talkin’ bout is not a dream

Idealistic babble or blowin’ off steam

It’s the reality that flows through my blood

Since the creator fashioned my people from mud

Yeah from Chavin de Huantar

To revolutionary Red Star

tattoo of a Tumi on my arm

cuz I’m ready to pick up arms

if it’s necessary

yo the creator bless me

that’s the best G

cuz I am free

The tumi is a symbol of sacrifice

Reminds me to be precise

when I give young brothas advice

to start livin like men instead of mice

stop livin your life with a price

over your head hangin from threadz

like Pinocchio wake up yo

cuz we be organized

like KRS One we visualize

not just idealize

cuz like I said it’s more than a dream

this is the supreme extreme

don’t let them fuck with your self-esteem

confidence be the main theme

of this rhyme

cuz we ain’t got the time

to second guess or obsess

listen to the words that I profess

ask yourself how you measure success

never digress from the themes that we express

that’s how we grow out of being oppressed

I ask you hommie are we making progress?

When was the last time you had a conversation

about your own formation and dedication

To building a new world with a new foundation

We be the generation that got the combination

To get rid of them life taking corporations

Yo hommie it’s your obligation

to resist without hesitation

so get used to the situation and

stop livin in isolation

cuz we fighting the occupation

of a capitalist regime

that destroys and makes children scream

cuz they feel hunger every day

while the rest of us sittin at the buffet

ask yourself if that’s okay

or is it a sign of our society in decay

come on I’m not asking you to right an essay

on the topic use logic it’s not cryptic or magic

or mythical like Poseidon or Hades

remember we revolutionaries

Stop living like you the only individual

All that rhetoric that you learned in school

Has made you a fool that follows their rules

While they enjoy the profits of our labour

That’s how they’ve controlled since the time of Cain and Abel

And since then people can’t get it together

Women and men fighting about gender

Each race wants the splendor

Nobody wanting to surrender

but when it don’t happen

Like raging bull “I coulda been a contender”

How did it all spin out of control

How did you end up with that dead soul

Well it’s time for you to check your role

Fuck the public opinion poll

And start getting your life together

Stop talking to people about the weather

and have real conversations

cuz it’s about our common formation

the shift in our collective mentalty

and the ability to think critically

OPEN MIC AT 180

I just wanted people to know about the Hip Hop Open Mic that happens every Thursday at 10:30pm at 180 Degrees Restaurant and Bar (107 Ave & 107 Street). I had the opportunity to go out last Thursday and I had a great time bustin rhymes with some local EmCees that had real mad flow. A shout out to the crew that put it together. I don't know of many places in Edmonton that provide a space for EmCees to do their thing so I was happy to come accross this one.

SEE YA THURZ DAYZ

RO SOUL JAH

Alone or Illusion

Alone or is it just an allusion

A vision to forward the confusion

Alienated by the people that surround me

I chase demons away hoping to be free

Like St. Michael I’m ready for battle

To kick it on the mic and be ill

To bomb shit like I be atomic

I’m chronic give me another gin and tonic

Better make it a double I’m trouble

I was born ready to rumble

So don’t fumble cause I’ll touch down

I’ll create a ground zero, I don’t clown

There is no need to watch your back

cuz I’m full frontal with my explosive attack

I’m like cancer in remission

I’ll fuck you up like the Spanish Inquisition

I’ll skin you alive just to get the truth

I’ll raid your safe just to get the proof

Yo go up against my pistola

I’ll make you bleed like you got Ebola

I’m the third world breakin down your door

Not here for charity but to through you to the floor

And say fuck na my people are dying

We trying to be peaceful but you people a lying

You don’t wanna make this world a better place

Cause you to caught up in your mothafuckin rat race

And all the while you destroying the earth

the great mother that gave us our birth

so that each of us could be free

so that’s why I Emcee right in your face

to make you realize you’re a disgrace

Ask me why I’m so fuckin angry

Let me share the reality within me

I was born in the midst of shit

A life taking fascist dictatorship

My family was forced to flee

From death squads and military

Now I live in a foreign culture

I feel like I’m dyin surrounded by vultures

I’m attacked daily by the Eurocentric elite

By every status quo motha fucka I meet

And believe me it’s not subliminal

Or minimal and don’t blame it on the animal

that lives within us ‘cause even animals cooperate

so let us imagine another world that we can create.

Cuz it’s not to late to change our fate

so lets you and me contemplate

I’m here to shake you, wake you

I’m not here to break you

Words are metaphors to open doors

To climb on to shores and strike chords

With harmonic undertones

to keep from living like drones

while others sit on thrones of bones

of children that drowned due to injustice

That’s why the rhymes are colder than ice

To make you realize the role of the dice

Plays with lives that strive to be free

That shout: YA BASTA,

GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME

So excuse me as I snatch the mic

and relate the plight of those without rights

Free yourself from the privileged life

The Great Power Ready For Battle

Here I am, I’m the great power

Ready to bring down the tower of Babylon

I invoke ancestral spirits

From the earth’s inner core

Through to heavens door

It’s like I died and resurrected

Killed the main frame and ejected

Like you I was confined

Every time I made it to the end

Some motha fucka would push rewind

My freedom began when I parted

From the materialistic code

When the signal hit the node

And I started thinking why am I sinking

Deeper and deeper into an endless cycle

of psychological manipulation

So I caught the signal and built a station

Started listening to guerilla radio

Down with the revolution for sure

Looking for a cure to the pain

Of those shut out due to greed and gain

But then I realized I am the enemy

And like Jesus at Gethsemane I began to pray

Asking God for an answer.

“Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it,

Whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

So here I am and I’m ready for battle

Like I always say ready for the rumble

This shit is bigger than you and me

It’s about good and evil understand and see

Sign up and become a revolutionary

Carry the message on to the masses

The time has come for organized clashes

And I’m not talkin’ about idealism

Anarchism or any other fuckin’ ism

I’m talkin’ ‘bout people and self determination

Education, the life giving water spoke of in revelation

Ya bro it’s the last days

When Judas motha fucka’s will betray

the revolution for a couple of duckets

then realize it and say fuck it

and take their life for denying the truth

So salem aleikum brother

Ya sister, peace be upon you

Face the reality of our collective destiny

Be free, float like a butterfly

And sting like a bee

I be spittin’ this shit with an AK-47

Blessed with a spirit originally from heaven

Reborn a soldier of light

Blessed by the lord and now I stand on his right.

“Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it,

Whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

Any Means Necessary

Yo I spit rhymes of poetic eloquence

Leaving all you brothers and sista’s in suspense

Hanging on my every word

Before I slam dunk it like Larry Byrd

I spit so tight that it’s really absurd

Those that feel my rhymes are cured

Word, I never stumble and never slur

Cause this shit is pure

Never deferred, hearing what you heard

Are you lured into my rhyme

It’s more than Garfunkle’s

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Don’t get left behind

And get caught up in a bind

Living your life in rewind

Cause poetic pauses perpetuate absurdity

This shit is not new to me

I’m revolutionarily sowing ideas culturally

Cause I’ve read Freire n’ Gramci

And I understand the need to be

Creating dialogue about our reality

The exchange of words is the modality

To free ourselves from the formality

of commonality

of the system that destroys our creativity

and perpetuates our idiosyncrasies

yo I smoked their ideology

but it wasn’t the shit

before I swallowed it I hawked and spit

I didn’t buy it cause it wasn’t legit

It wasn’t bout people the least bit

losely knit logic about the market

reverse stock splits and hits

If you don’t believe me have a go at it.

Yo this beat is chrome flowin

Created to enter your dome

to show you what you already known

so put down your phone and scone

and enter my zone and stop acting like a drone

that’s cloned to moan and ask for a loan

the time has come to hold your own

cause this government needs to be overthrown

and we got more than sticks and stones

to crush the bones of "la corporacion"

community savings and loans

could be our Rosetta stone

to economic sovereignty

I kick that back to all you Emcees

go home and ease

and think about how you’ll respond to me

remember that I came to this country as a refugee

so regurgitating speeches from the sixties

won’t put me in a frenzy

Spittin rhymes should communicate ideas

Of how to get rid of our overseers

Tell me do you hears what I’m saying

I’m not playing or swaying

Listen to the reality that I’m portraying

Yo I know this is a democracy

But if you’re lazy and servile you ain’t free

Even without violent coercion you’re a slave

Residing in plato’s cave

Hidden from the real world beyond

People we’ve all been conned

Our lives are being pawned

So I ask you how you gonna respond

cuz it don’t all change with a wave of the wand

You can’t beg for your freedom you need to seize it

By any means necessary you need to keep it

The Whole World's Lookin

Ro Soul Jah comin’ at ya like flavor flave

hittin you mind with a super sonic shock wave

destroyin the paradigm

that’s keepin you culturally oppressed

and has your whole life in a backwards mess

bringin you the truth is my duty in this world

sharin my experience

like Steinbeck in his novel “The Pearl”

So pay close attention as I start to speak

Cause I’m unique like an antique

Found on a mountain peak

in the middle of Mozambique

and I be droppin’ bombs every day of the week

I’m the brotha with incredible flow

Willing to go toe-to-toe

with any racist Jim Crow Joe Blow

He be wishin he would a laid low

But now he’s dead in an alley like a John Doe

So don’t fuck around with the fuck around

Cause I’ll leave you six-feet underground

Cause my verse is worse than a curse

My enemies end up on their backs in a hearse

The Whole World’s Lookin

So don’t make me pop you

Put down the money and guns

And we’ll let you through

And people please don’t make the mistake

Of thinkin’ I’m a brotha that’s full of hate

I’m just tryin to stay awake

From the mind numbing state

Of our current corporate reality

Contributing to the mass poverty

I’m a modern day Che Guevara

Sent by my people to raise "la barra"

To make wannabe revolutionaries contemplate

Are you ready to battle the fascist state

Are you really awake

Are you gonna live through the earthquake

And to all the status quo brothers

Competing with one another

I’m gonna make you know me

and you can either like me or blow me

cause I don’t give a shit what your opinion is

The Whole World’s Lookin

So don’t make me pop you

Put down the money and guns

And we’ll let you through

Like the saying goes people talk the talk

But true revolutionaries walk the walk

and I be composing rhymes

that keep you in shock

with beats like I be Johann Sebastian bach

that tell the story of how I organize

to help my brotha’s and sister’s realize

that we need to stop supporting

the corporate economy

we need to drill holes in the capitalist ideology

I don’t give a shit if you G Unit or G-U-not

And your dream is to sip champagne

on your Uncle Tom yacht

Or to make your millions

with your 3 point jump shot

In the back your mind you need to remember

That in all of us exist a divine ember

that glows brighter each time we expand our mind

to keep us from being confined

The Whole World’s Lookin

So don’t make me pop you

Put down the money and guns

And we’ll let you through

My Brother. My Hommie and Me

I roll with a homie who’s last name is U

Ridin in his bronco down whyte Avenue

We be ballin looking for adventure

Smokin the chiba and feelin the cure

Worked hard all week now it’s time to play

Bumpin them tracks, boy that’s the way

Just wantin to have fun and play all day

Hittin the club dancin the night away

End of the night we’d have some sessions

Talk bout shit sharing life’s lessons

We’d met Mr. Giggles many times

Sat around and laughed at all his rhymes

One night Giggles to us to the homeland

Like passin the glass into wonderland

Giggles said I know this Capo that want’s to see ya

And that was the night we met Don Guiguilia

Chua Loco that shit was tight

Let me tell you boy that herb was outta sight

For the first time I got my fill

I felt like the fourth spic part Cypress Hill

That night a bond was created

We weren’t three brotha’s that had been sedated

But instead we were settin fires

3 comrades down like four flat tires

Ready to hold it down for one another

Ready to lay down our lives for each other.

My brother my hommie and me

In the end it’s all about the three

Forged to be tight like the trinity

Never makin’ a move unless we’d all agree X2

We ain’t bad motha fucka’s

We just playin those status quo sucka’s

Who thought they down cause of a Che T-shirt

But weren’t willin to put their hands in the dirt

But some nights we’d hold down for the hood

Representin for all the brotha’s from Mill Woods

One night at a hall party in September

Shit went down and I’ll always remember

I swear that gringo was six foot four

But I had to introduce his head to his truck door

That cracker threatened my hommies Pop

That shit ain’t right so he had to drop

My hommie fucked up his face pop, pop, pop

He was in a rage I didn’t know if he’d stop

Then that cracker jumped into his truck

And all the hommies said what the fuck

Shit was flyin’ each and every way

Before those crackers managed to get away

That night went down in our hoods history

You can’t mess with us we won’t let you be

Cause we comrades not afraid of the fight

Or to stand up for what we know is right

Whether it’s one battle or the whole fuckin war

We’re prepared to fight our way to the shore

And storm that bullet filled beach

Like soldiers at Normandy within hells reach

My brother my hommie and me

In the end it’s all about the three

Forged to be tight like the trinity

Never makin’ a move unless we’d all agree X2

This last verse is dedicated to my bro

Who fights at my side and helps my soul grow

Since we were young he’s looked up to me

But then he became a man and he made me see

I’m not the only old school G

To throw it down

Explicitly defining the common noun

Building a culture of true resistance

With impeccable persistence

Willing to go the distance

With or without my assistance

An attack on my brotha is an attack on me

So don’t wonder when we leave you in the debris

of a fallin tower of a super power whose time has come

that others begin to shy away from

because they know that the revolution is here

lookin to the future like a aeronautical engineer

designin them stealth bombas that go under the radar

pouncing on a victim like they a jaguar

so when shit starts to go down

you know who you’ll see

My brother, my hommie and me.

Self Defense Ain't No Violence

We are the working class

Not waiting for the time to pass

We’ve crashed through the looking glass

Put it in gear and hit the gas

and now we thuggin for the change

Measured the gauge, its time to rearrange

But it starts with what I’m spittin in your ear

the time for you to hear is near

don’t fear and help me put it in second gear

The seer has come, some call me the prophet

Like Isaiah, I’ve come to speak the truth

Infiltrating your mind thru this recording booth

Don’t get me wrong, tooth for a tooth

An eye for an eye only if they make

my children cry out in pain

by their sinister plots to gain

the whole world around them and then some

So brotha question your logic and philosophy

If you don’t want to come to blows, I’ll let you be

But don’t expect me to go out

Without fighting in a bout

For my family and my peeps

Because I am down, it all for keeps

I’m not saying your approach ain’t down

But it ain’t the only noun or sound

In the phonetic exchange of lyrical rounds

Spoken for people to expand their world view

And don’t get me wrong cuz it’s nothing new

It’s about working class poor tryin to get what’s due

I’m talkin bout a few hundred years

Of organizing, blood sweat and tears

And just when they thought they were near

In comes the elite and sets in the fear

Through their menacing ideologies

counter revolutionary theories

Making leaders disappear off the streets

Then they’re found in heaps

and then their families weep

Cause they believed in a better world for all

So you know when I hear that call

You can bet I’ll be packin’ and backin’ y’all.

Tell me do you think they’ll just give it up

Hand over the money so we can live it up

Fuck no so prepare to take it

Put it all on the line and risk it

cuz future generation will come to the line

If your too much of a pussy to even listen to this rhyme

So the time has come to grow some balls

realize that all empires fall

the question is just when

let me tell you it all depends

sista are you ready to work for it

if you are then the time has come to floor it

This shit is in fifth gear and we ain’t stoppin

Bandanas on our face and we poppin

Like AK’s in a Colombian jungle

So step up with the brotha born ready to rumble

Lets get free from all this misery

And start living the life we supposed to be

Children born free of the almighty dollar

If your down girl let me hear you holla

Cause we need to know if you’re with us

You know numbers factor into the success

Of the struggle and the movement

The time has come for improvement

And don’t be afraid cuz I got your back

Let’s start training for the day we be forced to attack

Father

The man that gave me life is down

A revolutionary then and now

Even though he’s passed on

His life lives on like Jesus

In the Gospel according to John

Not only through me, my brothers and my son

But the coming generation

This is the situation of his reality

Every day he gave his life for his family

Bringing home what was needed

And sometimes what we wanted

Passing on the values

and revolutionary rules

With messages taken straight to the heart

Sometimes with arguments that would tear us apart

He was just one grain now a strong root

Of the tallest tree and the life giving fruit

All praises to mother earth the fertile land

All power to the people

so I raise my hand

Now I take his message

The message of the people

To the ones who don’t listen and can’t perceive

Those who will be sent away

At the last judgment cause they don’t believe

In helping the poor and the oppressed

And treat them like an unwelcome quest

Cause they are obsessed

with their material wealth

which will lead to ill health

I don’t doubt that Zion will come

cuz he taught me to pray the kingdom come

But he also taught me not to follow

a dogmatic institution cause that would be shallow

but to question my faith everyday

so that I would grow in a spiritual way

so that I could be a better warrior

to fight the devils and the creators of war

I’m not ashamed to say it so I will

I love you father and I always will

Every day I’ll fight for the revolution

Speaking my mind giving my contribution

I can’t wait for resurrection day

So you can give me a hug and say it’ll all be okay

And that we have achieved victory

This is our history

You see it’s already been written

To walk into Zion with our heads held high

And cry in the arms of all those with whom we see eye to eye

And gave their lives so that we could be free

To the highest degree

It’s all clear to me now

And I know that’s real

Cause I hear the whispers

Of my father speakin with zeal

From the other side

Sayin crush the economic apartheid

That’s keeping our people poor

Get militant and break down the door

Of injustice and greed

Soon it’ll be your turn to be the seed

And bare fruit to a thousand doves

That will fly through the world spreadin the love

So until that day keep spreadin’ the message

And keep steppin wisely along the narrow passage

And don’t shed a tear my loving son

Cuz soon you will live and we will all be one.