DC the MIDI Alien: Avengers Airwaves (Brick Records, 2/15/11)

DC the MIDI Alien: "National Threat"

During his 10 years of deejaying, DC the MIDI Alien has racked up an impressive résumé. He’s worked with Immortal Technique, AZ, and Wordsworth as well as remixed Nas and others. In 2008, he formed the group East Coast Avengers with MCs Esoteric and trademarc, and their gritty, politically charged debut Prison Planet garnered them national media attention with its lead single, “Kill Bill O’Reilly.” DC returns this February with a semi-solo LP, Avengers Airwaves, which further cements him as a force to be reckoned with in the hip-hop world.

DC produces the record and brings in a gaggle of rappers to provide the rhymes — from his East Coast Avengers bandmates to Jedi Mind Tricks’ Vinnie Paz and DJ Premier acolyte Termanology. DC’s production style is decidedly old-school: the songs are built on steady, mid-tempo drum beats with only a few looped samples. Standout track “Man Made Ways” exemplifies DC’s old-school skill — an echoing, droning organ loop creates an atmosphere of paranoia and foreboding, punctuated by bursts of loud, crunching guitar. The production doesn’t falter throughout, recalling early RZA with DC's ability to create maximum effect with minimalist beats. Although DC doesn’t speak a word on the record aside from skits, the album has every right to bear his name on the cover.

The album’s concept is that DC and company have hijacked the radio station of a Rush Limbaugh-type in a mission to wake up the minds of the people. In essence, this gives a framing device for unashamedly political lyrics, and this album delivers them in bulk. The first non-skit track’s reference to Public Enemy makes it clear that DC and the Avengers want to take up that group’s mantle of hip hop’s foremost political agitators, and, for the most part, they succeed.

It was easy to think that left-wing commentators would miss having such an easy target as George W. Bush after he left office, but fortunately (or unfortunately), there’s still much to complain about. Check the line “It’s over, America voted for Obama, but the change hasn’t hit my hood yet, 'cause I’ve still got drama,” from “Riot Gear” to see the album’s pervasive theme of dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the man that many hoped would lead America back to prominence.

Trademarc gives one of the album’s best verses on “Another Hundred Days In,” which offers surprisingly specific criticisms of Obama and the media, while also delivering impressive internal rhymes and imaginative wordplay: "Hope’s just a four-letter word / it’s a verb that some hippie turned upside down and back around to a proper noun / it’s absurd, blurred by Wikipedia, slurred by wicked media clowns while news revised and rewritten / surprised when we listen, news anchors so smitten when the president talks of new anchors hitting bottom off Middle Eastern borders in neutral waters."

Some verses are relative duds, offering generalized anti-authority statements, like Blaq Poet’s “You can’t trust the government / what happened to the weapons of mass destruction? / We bombed Saddam for nothing, they tried to blame him for 9/11 / thousands of souls sent to heaven,” from “Pawns and Rooks.” Moments like these could be much improved with the addition of specific insight beyond restatement of historical events, but fortunately, verses like this are scarce on Avengers Airwaves.

Strangely, for all of the album’s political themes, there is little offered in the way of a solution. The lyrics paint vivid pictures of the problems facing America, and expose the un-trustworthiness of the government, but say nothing about what the listener should do about it, rather than “wake up.” It’s not necessarily the responsibility of art to tell people how to live, but the overtly didactic and topical lyrics on Avengers Airwaves show that DC and his coterie aren’t afraid to proselytize. Had the lyrics gone one step further and given some real shape to the so-called “revolution” that DC wants to invoke, the album’s message would be that much stronger. But really, with an album full of beats and rhymes this solid, a complaint like that is easily forgotten.

The outspoken trio gained national notoriety a few months back upon the release of its first single, "Kill Bill O'Reilly," which landed it a spot on the "Worst Person in the World" segment of Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

The group's debut album, Prison Planet (Brick Records), is buoyed by the tight rhymes and informed sociopolitical lyrics of Trademarc and Esoteric, but it is built around DC's outstanding production — symphonic samples, stirring Romantic violin melodies, portentous soundtrack clips, and head-nodding beats.

Online editor Scott Morrow caught up with ECA just before this week's historic election, asking its three members their thoughts on the current political landscape.

East Coast Avengers: "Kill Bill O'Reilly"
East Coast Avengers: \"Kill Bill O\'Reilly\"

How difficult is it to get a political message out through music these days when entities like Clear Channel and News Corp control so much? Do you need a song title as provocative as "Kill Bill O'Reilly" to get noticed in mainstream press?

Esoteric: Yes, you do. We have all covered political topics in the past; we have all taken shots at Fox News and the religious right. With the exception of our core hip-hop fan base and some tuned-in people on the left, these songs/attacks/educations have been all but ignored.

The word "kill" scares the shit out of those who can't think critically and causes uproar; the uproar then captures attention. We want to help expose Fox, and in order to reach and cure their zombies, these are the tactics that you have to employ.

We need to raise awareness among the sleepwalkers, those who don't see past the hearsay and propaganda. It is very tough to reach a massive audience, but "Kill Bill O'Reilly" spread before the Internet outlets that News Corp owns were able to shut it down.

The September 11th tragedy helped Bush's approval rating so much that many intelligent, questioning people suspect that it was the classic "Problem Reaction Solution" tactic from the US government.

Given the success of the right wing's war on education (and deregulation of media ownership), do you have hope that a left-leaning administration and legislative branch would change the landscape of an apathetic and uninformed citizenry?

Trademarc: I don't really buy into the whole right-wing/left-wing battle as much as everyone else. I believe that the second that people separate themselves and categorize themselves, they in turn grow intolerant of any ideas or goals of the other side, no matter how relevant or positive those ideas and goals may be.

I have family members and friends that refuse to listen to me because I don't fall into either category, so I'm seen as a "waffler" or an anarchist. The whole point of a party system is to divide individuals and strip the public of their power. The government uses this partisanship to divide and conquer.

Now in relation to the question of an informed and apathetic citizenry: why would the government want its people informed? In the words of the great journalist I.F. Stone, "governments lie." It's what they do. I just hope that people get fed up in time and instead of growing helpless and apathetic, decide to fight back by informing themselves and take their power back.

I want to hand out a copy of Naomi Wolf's book Give Me Liberty: A Handbook For American Revolutionaries to everybody that I possibly can, and challenge contemporary artists and citizens alike to start making a move toward raising awareness. For the record, I'm writing in Ron Paul for president on my ballot.

How deep do you think that this country's obsession with war and silencing dissent runs? Do you feel that our culture of war and covert operations will continue no matter who is in charge?

DC: This country's obsession with war runs very deep. George W. Bush's victory in the 2004 election was dependent on war and the fearful reaction of the American people. The "War on Terror" and "Axis of Evil" are just two of the many government-created terms that Americans have since made household phrases.

In fact, the September 11th tragedy helped Bush's approval rating so much that many intelligent, questioning people suspect that it was the classic "Problem Reaction Solution" tactic from the US government.

For those who don't know what that is, it's a three-step method in which the government manufactures a crisis and blames it on someone who they want to demonize, intentionally invoking a reaction of fear from the public that usually consists of asking the government for help and forfeiting their rights.

This sets up the government to offer their "solution," which was the goal before the initial crisis occurred. Getting the American people to give up their rights so easily with the PATRIOT Act and getting them to support a war based on lies was their goal from day one. Unfortunately, they succeeded, and the joke's on us.

The "Mission Accomplished" announcement came and went. Four thousand American casualties and 30,000 more wounded later, and we're still over there, and we're still being betrayed by this administration.

That's why whenever I see a "these colors don't run" or "support our troops" bumper sticker, I just pity that person so much. I even saw one the other day that read "proud infidel" right next to a "Bush/Cheney '04" sticker. Poor chump. He probably thinks that those guys actually give a shit about him and his family. Maybe one day Bush, [Dick] Cheney, and [Donald] Rumsfield will be tried for war crimes, but until then, the joke's on us.