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"Interview with Hip Hop Artist "Tha Truth"

December 17, 2007

An anthem for the poor & dispossessed

By Larry Hales

Tha Truth has been rapping for nine years. Like many underground rap
artists, he honed his skills by battle rapping. At the time his rhymes
were filled with braggadocio and laced with what he saw and heard in
everyday life. But he was approached by another artist who influenced
him and impressed upon him to use his talent to question the things
happening around him and to espouse the positive.

Tha Truth set upon a sojourn and from this journey came his moniker
and the realization that he affirms in the song "Universal
Healthcare," which is really an anthem for the poor and dispossessed.
In the song the artist states, "It's time for revolution/ we know the
real terrorists/ war, greed, no healthcare and air pollution/ there is
a solution =85 "

The entire CD, titled "Tha Civil Rights Movement Part II," is a
composition=97written, produced and performed to inform and educate. The
CD is quite a revelation. It is rare that an artist is able to display
a full political vision and entertain.  [...]

Tha Truth begins with a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "The time
has come for America to hear the truth."

Tha Truth highlights the case of the Camden 28, Catholic anti-war
activists who attempted to destroy draft cards at the Camden, N.J.,
draft board in 1971. The group had been set up by Bob Hardy, who was
working with the FBI, which watched and raided the brave attempt by
the activists to resist the draft and the imperialist war against the
Vietnamese people.

In the CD the listener will find purely political music, dealing with
corporate media, anti-LGBTQ hatred and global warming.

WWP: How did you start getting involved in the political struggle?

Tha Truth: My partner sparked political change in me. She was always
protesting and being in the streets. I met her in 2003 as the war was
starting in Iraq. I had kind of given up on trying to see change in
the system and I was really jaded=85.  Then I was working as a security
guard at a hotel, aiming to protect people individually=85. My fianc=E9e
kept encouraging me to get more involved politically because she liked
my ideas and general principles I had shared with her from our
conversations=85. From there I started to get a lot more involved in the
struggle and that influenced my music to get to the point of being as
political as it is now. I left the security job and started teaching
in a middle school for some time but felt limited by the curriculum,
of course. I felt like I could combine my passion for wanting to teach
about what's really important with my passion for music and that led
me toward my first album. I started watching documentaries. I began
reading Workers World a year ago.