European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Richard Harrington the Washington Post. Nam Notan Assassin and Bush Killas Noi an assassination attempt Quot rapper Paris of Oakland calif., insists. Quot i am an artist and Bush Killa is a  Bush Killa in fact is a Cut from Paris new independently released album sleeping with the enemy on which he envisions stalking and slaying the president a whom he blames for policies  blocked civil rights gains encouraged racism and provoked genocidal neglect. In what stands As the most extreme example so far of a rapper s rage against the Powers that be the album s inner sleeve photo shows an armed Paris waiting to ambush Bush in front of the Capitol. The song ends with a Bush speech halted by gunfire. The White House has declined to comment on the song and a spokesman for the secret service which is charged with protecting the president said Quot we re aware of it and we re not  but Paris and the american civil liberties Union Don t expect others to be so circumspect a particularly those who think the record violates statutes that make threatening the life of the president a crime. In an extraordinary move the Acle issued a statement in conjunction with the release of the album in late november calling any moves to suppress or prosecute Paris Quot politically wrongheaded and constitutionally  Quot the secret service has no need to Contact us a says 25-year-old Paris whose real name is Oscar Jackson and who graduated from the University of California in 1990 with a degree in economics. He admits the song was designed to spark controversy but says Quot this is nothing but  Bush Killa the Acle says in a statement is just Quot the latest in a series of angry highly political songs by african american artists who dramatize scenes of racial injustice. It does not violate Laws prohibiting incitement or solicitation of unlawful acts nor does it contravene the Federal Law criminalizing threats against the president. As an artist and political Radical Paris has a first amendment right to express his rage towards the president and even to advocate armed revolution Quot As for whether Paris song might provoke others to not Paris admits his song Quot Bush Killa Quot was designed to spark controversy. Become assassins Acle spokesman Jon Cummings says incitement is Quot a Legal principle that applies Only to very direct advocacy of imminent illegal activity a for example a speaker standing before a group and saying Over there is the president Here Are some guns go shoot him the courts have interpreted it very narrowly to apply Only to very close discussions Between people. Words like inducement and advocacy do not have   arid Cummings adds Quot this song does not constitute real advocacy. Like rapper ice to s cop killer it s a first a person narrative describing one person s circumstances in which he s been led to the decision that he s going to do this thing. He s not telling people to do  a a a Quot we re taking an offensive stance Quot says Paris. Quot we re not going to be caught in the same position that Jet and time Warner were. Our position is that it s not illegal it s Art and nobody can shut it Down because we re independently owned and  Boycott threats against time Warner companies led ice to to withdraw the cop killer song from his album. Paris went Independent after Tommy boy a Label a owned by Warner Bros. Records paid him an undisclosed but Low six figure sum to compensate him for not releasing the album. The settlement allowed him to finance his already existing record Label scar face which is being distributed through an Independent network. After the settlement Paris contacted the Acle s arts censorship project. The Acle s Cummings Points out that Quot Paris personally wanted to launch a preemptive strike against those who would want to censor him and we were the natural people for him to come to to get a Legal opinion on whether or not his song violated the Federal , Paris himself does t expect Bush / a to receive any airplay Quot it s not a commercial release at All it s just an album track. It was intended so we could have Access to the  there will be no video. The first single and video Are for the Days of old which deals with Black on Black crime. Quot the main difference Between me As a political hip hop artist and others in the gangsta rap genre is that my. Anger is focused theirs is unfocused. So you see brutality and Black on Tlack crime and drugs and misogyny glorified in their music but in my music you see anger. Pointed directly at the people who need to be blamed for a lot of the things that go on in our  Paris incidentally voted for Bill Clinton on nov. 3, and says Quot i just Hope he never gives me reason to write Clinton  after the riots by Jon Pareles the new York times ice cube does some gloating on his new album the predator. Quot anything you wanted to know about the riot was in the records before the riot Quot he says in an interview style interlude. Quot All you had to do was go to the ice cube Library and pick a  he s right death certificate released on halloween in 1991, not Only articulated the rage surrounding the beating of Rodney g. King but showed exactly where the flashpoint would be in the april riots in los Angeles the album included Black Korea which revealed the deep resentment Between korean shopkeepers whom ice cube in one ignorant flourish described As. Quot chop suey latin Quot and Blacks who Felt they were being treated More like potential criminals than customers when the riots came korean businesses became targets. The album was vengeful and divisive airing deep seated prejudices and treating ethnic groups As if they were warring gangs that could never share turf. But it was also prophetic which May be one reason 7vie prec for shot to no. 1 on billboard s album Chart upon release at the end of november. In the Wake of the riot people had been waiting for rap s next bulletin from the front. Before South Central los Angeles went up in a billion dollars Worth of flames the Only voices from the area that most americans had heard were the swaggering storytellers of gangster rap. Taking violence for granted flaunting ugly attitudes toward women and homosexuals Savouring gory details gangster rappers weren t documentarian or responsible spokesmen they were pulp auteur exploiting America s appetite for violent entertainment while dropping enough local details or Quot reality to sound credible. When los Angeles burned the reality dwarfed gangster rap s tales of drive by shootings and Petty but deadly feuds. Yet amid the violence the rappers suddenly seemed like experts. And As the immediacy of the riots faded rappers Are again the voices most Likely to be heard outside the ghetto. They Are not diplomatic or conciliatory with the outside world they have Little to say about the riot victims or about rebuilding burned out areas. That s for politicians and Community leaders to take care of. Rappers talk about How they feel. Hip hop is by far the most topical zone of popular music so it was inevitable that the riots would make their Way into rap s fall releases. For the most part los Angeles rappers have preferred to stay with their usual postures and material with. Increasingly redundant tales of crime sex and battling machismo. Although explicit Post riot raps Are greatly outnumbered by More typical gangster material they have been emerging on new recordings Over the last month. They suggest that the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King has left enduring anger and that racial and ethnic polarization has Only increased. There Are no apologies just a few second thoughts. On recent releases gangster rappers like ice cube vent rage and vow retribution White noting with approval the Post riot truce Between the two most entrenched los Angeles gangs the crips and the bloods. More politically inclined rappers like Paris from Oakland Cali Ricochet Between fantasizing about terrorism and trying to draw broader lessons from the carnage the usually outspoken Public enemy from new  plays defense. In tie Coes to the runner on the new album greatest misses Chuck d says he s Quot not surprised at All about the riots Quot but his Only word about the situation is to insist that raps like Black Korea did t create the. Problems Quot this was predicted not self inflicted by the rap out of the Hood that kicked it Good Quot. Rage no apologies sound bites from news coverage of the riots also appear As signs of authenticity on efforts like what thee album by Redman a performer from Newark who starts the album by placing himself in a Quot psycho Quot Ward talking out his sociopathic fantasies. A the album includes news break in which a fictitious interviewer asks Redman about reaction to the riots Quot yeah they still mad Quot he says and threatens the interviewer. As with the rest of hip hop pluralism reigns. But the sentiment they share is that it took an All out insurrection to get the attention of a White Power Structure. Ice cube the Best known voice of South Central is involved not just on the predator but on a forthcoming album by a rapper called Kam due in february and on an All Star Post riot single called get the fist which Mercury records released but made Little Effort to promote. Sales of the single a sequence of snippets by ice cube Yoyo Cypress Hill Kam and others Benefit the brotherhood movement which was formed in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts riots and is currently working to rebuild sout Central. But it s obvious Why Mercury did t try to turn it into another we Are the world get the fist is probably the a most belligerent Charity single . 12 stripes Magazine january 7, 1993