Reznet

Los Na's Revolution

By Jason Salter

Generally speaking, hip hop albums these days lack focus. Sure, there may be an outward appearance of a theme, but the result is usually a collection of unrelated songs. Minneapolis, Minn.-based Los Nativos bucks that trend with their second effort, “Red Star Fist.”

Los Nativos "Red Star Fist" Los Nativos' Web site Los Nativos' Myspace page Xilam Balam's MySpace page Felipe Cuauhtli's MySpace page

Unlike artists who keep thoughts about the government to themselves at the risk of having their albums crushed under a bulldozer and their name dragged through the mud, group members Xilam Balam and Felipe Cuauhtli speak boldly about corruption in the Americas – past and present.

“Black Flag Red Star” starts off the 8-song EP focused with the spirited line, “Zapata Vive! La lucha sigue!”

For those who don’t understand Spanish or aren’t familiar with Emiliano Zapata, the chorus saves the day in all its counterculture glory, “Revolucion! Bolt on the armor/ Time to get it on/ Invade the border/ Black flag, red star/ my son and my daughter/ Indigenous warrior, never be a soldier.”

The first verse takes the listener deeper into the rabbit hole, giving more insight into the meaning of the chorus.

Ishmael Ali Elias

“America saw the brown picture on the canvas/ commercials for the army/ playing them in Spanish/ I walk around the city like the war’s right here/ Military wants the Indian to cut his hair.”

Similar to the group’s first album, clever use of Aztec and Mayan imagery over banging beats brings Native issues and Indigenous pride to life. “Science Mayan” and the “Like the Indigenous” remix are representative of the album’s thought-provoking lyrics with lines such as: “English or Spanish, I’m really not caring which/ when it comes down to it, they’re both invader languages” and “Why you always question the **** that I’m on?/ The only thing you need to know – it bleeds the heart of Aztlan.”

While all the tracks aren’t politically charged (there’s one for all the low-riders in the house), the cohesiveness of the album’s theme remains.

EPs – known for being mini-albums that are around 15 to 30 minutes long – don’t have the luxury of filler tracks. So, it’s good that “Red Star Fist” is one that can be played all the way through.

Reznet rating: three out of four frybreads.

Jason wrote his first computer program in 6th grade, designed and built a computer before finishing high school, and then went to MIT to become... a molecular biologist. The move from computers to molecular biology makes sense when you think about DNA as "programming code" and recombinant DNA technology as the means to reprogram organisms.

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