Chuck
D
of Public Enemy,Ras Kass, Black Thought of the Roots and Dres are among the growing
list of rappers who will assemble at Sony Music Studios in New
York to record a cut for Unbound. The forthcoming CD which will
benefit the defense fund of death-row inmate, journalist and activist
Mumia Abu-Jamal. This collaborative track will be the first single
on the album, according to Frank Sosa, founder of Realized Records,
the label that will release Unbound.
Unbound
is a multi-artist anthology that also will include new tracks
from singer Zack de la Rocha of volatile funk-rockers Rage Against
The Machine; rappers Aceyalone, Poor Righteous Teachers, Dilated
Peoples, Medina Green, Abstract Rule and Talib Kweli; and poets
Saul Williams, Ursula Rucker, Jerry Quickley, Mike Ladd and the
Nuyorican Poets Cafe Slam Champions. Chuck D, Ras Kass, Black
Thought and Dres will be joined on the single by Tragedy, Professor
Griff of Public Enemy, Aceyalone and p.e.a.c.e. of the Freestyle
Fellowship; Slimkid Tre of the Pharcyde, Divine Styler, Channel
Live, Goldii Lox, Shabamm Sahdeeq, Dead Pres, and Afu Ra. The
cut is going to be produced by Diamond D.
If
you don’t know, Abu-Jamal, who was once a politcally active Black
Panther Party member, is currently on death row in Waynesburg,
Pa., following his conviction in the Dec. 9, 1981, shooting death
of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal claims
he was driving a cab through Philly when that night when he saw
his younger brother, William Cook, being beaten by Faulkner with
a flashlight. In Abu-Jamal’s court trials, police authorities
have acknowledged Faulkner was hitting Cook with a flashlight,
but say Cook struck the officer first, after Cook was stopped
for going the wrong way on a one-way street.
Prosecutors
contend Abu-Jamal shot Faulkner in the back, was wounded in the
midsection when the officer returned fire, and then stood over
the officer and shot him in the head. Many supporters of Abu-Jamal
say they believe Faulkner’s real killer escaped the night of the
shooting. They claim Abu-Jamal was set up because of his work
as a political commentator. It is almost uniamosly agreed the
he didn’t get a fair trial (the judge was a member of the Fraternal
Order Of Police), and that he at least deserves another trial.