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Sounds like: dj sabzi, sage francis, moka only

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What’s so good?
OK, so Sweatshop Union is a Canadian hip hop collective. I know that you’re thinking, “Canadian isn’t the Pacific Northwest and you’re an ignorant American.” Yes, I am an ignorant American, so please take solace with the fact that at least I can admit to it. All ignorance aside, I’m grouping these guys with the Pacific Northwest because I’m pretty sure they are primarily from British Columbia, and their style is very similar to the likes of the Blue Scholars and Common Market. Current members include Kyprios, Marmalade, Itchy Ron,Metty, Mos Eisley, Dusty Melo and Conscience.

The group’s latest album, Water Street, is awesomely refreshing. Listening to these guys gives you faith that (counter to what Talib might have reflected upon us in Reflection Eternal’s “Too Late”) hip hop is not dead. At least not in Canada. For evidence, soothe your ears with tracks like “Oh My” and “Goldrush,” two tracks heavily immersed in social commentary and conscious reflection. I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys were on OFAC’s “Specially Designated Nationals” list, because (*begin intense sarcasm*) that’s where innocent protestors and peaceful artists or organizations belong, on a “terrorist” list prevented from doing business in the United States…

Sorry for the tangent. Let’s get back to the music. “Goldrush” is a criticism of society’s fascination and obsession with material goods and a scary testament to how people (inadvertently) are perhaps raising their children these days. “Oh My” is a blue collared working man’s blues-rap anthem or a “return of the poor man’s rap.” Other great tracks based in complex nihilism include “Comes and Goes” and “Time Machine.”

In 2008, Hip Hop can no longer masquerade its global stature under the guise of socio-political empowerment or see itself as raw expression of unbridled urban creativity. Nevertheless, groups like Sweatshop Union that are turning emotionally inward and exploring the listlessness of modern suburban life might just be the next thing to keep the genre from falling into stagnation. Water Street, the Canadian crew’s latest LP, continues the exploration of the tortured psyche and with (mostly) good results and is a small step in the reinvention or, at the very least, a slight tangent from the brain-dead commercial aims that are threatening to turn our beloved art-form into nothing more than a three-ring circus – HipHopDX

I finish this Canadian pitstop with a nice little truth bomb from our friends at Sweatshop Union:

most they see the poor, what most MCs ignore,
while most these MCs were born and grew up poor,
we’ll be slaves in the old workforce,
to pay for a government that don’t work for us.
(Oh my) oh, just trying to get by, lord I’m
(So tired) fighting to get my, trying to get my,
(Low ride) though it ain’t for me lately, it don’t phase me,
(Alright) cause I make money, money don’t make me.
fortunately, I believe that we can all agree,
it is what it is, not what we thought it’d be,
and if what i live ain’t what I’m called to be,
I must have mistrained my psychology,
and it’s mystery, ain’t it, the kids exist among us miscreated,
history is just like a train without a destination,
we need food, clothes, and shelter,
so we hustle till we’re old and helpless,
and if you do only go for the gold and wealth,
you’re still alone cause you don’t know yourself,
at the end of the day, still gotta eat, still gotta feed your kids,
still gotta light and heat the crib,
I understand that, nobody planned that,
and single mother’s asking where the fuck their man at?
but like the man, we do it for love,
from student to dog, from the schools to the clubs, it goes.

elsewhere on the web:
myspace | myspace.com/sweatshopunion7

download:
sweatshop union – oh my.mp3