B. Dolan is an American rapper and activist based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Though he has since distanced himself from and frequently criticized Slam Poetry, B. Dolan's first performances took place at New York City's Nuyorican Poets Cafe, where he gained respect as part of HBO's Def Poetry in 2002 and won numerous slam titles. In 2011, he told the Boston Phoenix:
Doing spoken word was the first time I ever tried to present my writing on a stage, and that's what it was good for. It taught me some basic stage tricks that I still use — like how to change my voice and talk to a crowd. But once you've picked up those chops, you need to get the hell out before you become some asshole who wins the poetry slam for the 10th year in a row.
After performing at a Def Jam industry party at the Rush Arts Gallery, B. Dolan realized he wouldn't be able to work within the major label structure. Within months, he dropped out of college, bought a drum machine, and began recording the first album The Failure. During this time, he slept on "park benches and subway trains" while working as a doorman at a building in close proximity to the Twin Towers. It was at this time that the September 11 attacks happened, leaving B. Dolan in a "paranoid mental state" which caused him to move back to Rhode Island.
Paul "Sage" Francis (born November 18, 1976) is a hip hop artist from Providence, Rhode Island. He is a founder of Strange Famous Records.
Born Paul Francis in Miami, Florida, Sage Francis is a rapper, writer and performer from Providence, Rhode Island. He is a founder and CEO of the independent hip hop record label Strange Famous Records. The label first began as a way for him to release his previously unreleased songs in the late 1990s. It has since evolved into an official enterprise with an expanding roster of like-minded artists. He released several Sick Of mixtapes available only on his tours and website.
Sage Francis won the Scribble Jam emcee battle in 2000. In 2001, the song "Makeshift Patriot," recorded on October 11, 2001, became an Internet hit for its critique of American media during, and immediately following, the September 11 attacks. He released the critically acclaimed first solo album Personal Journals in 2002. He signed to Epitaph Records, making himself the first hip hop artist to sign with the punk rock label. He subsequently released three albums with Epitaph Records; A Healthy Distrust, Human the Death Dance and Li(f)e.
Mac Lethal (born David McCleary Sheldon) is a rapper from Kansas City, Missouri, of Irish descent.
Mac Lethal was born David McCleary Sheldon on July 25, 1981.[citation needed]
In 1998, he won several rap battles against local emcees from rival Kansas City high schools, and began to generate a buzz amongst the very small, tightly knit Kansas City underground hip-hop community. Mac entered the emcee battle at Scribble Jam hip-hop festival in August 2001 and took second place in the finals. He returned in 2002 and won the competition, and took second place in 2004. Sage Francis would later take Mac on the F*ck Clear Channel Tour in 2004.[citation needed]
In 2006, Sheldon founded Black Clover Records with longtime friend Jeremy Willis.[citation needed] Mac Lethal hosts Black Clover Radio Hour on the Kansas City alternative station 96.5 The Buzz. It has aired every Sunday night since 2006.[citation needed]
In December 2011, Sheldon released a video on YouTube of him rapping over the beat to "Look At Me Now" while he prepares a dish of pancakes in his kitchen. The video became a viral hit and got millions of views in a matter of days and led to interviews on websites like CNN and the Washington Post.
6:05, Brooklyn Bridge:
failed and tongue-tied
body aching
hands shaking
bloody inside
still alive.
Sunrise like a pillar of fire,
still running like the static on a blank channel
sunken to the bottom of the barrel of a gun.
braced against the railing
looking straight into the sun
like I was waiting for someone
to burn a picture in my mind...
like i could recite scripture off the lids of my eyes...
fishing in the East River for a reason to die
voices whispered in my mind,
I believe they were mine.
another pilgrim come to find
that the Bridge is a lie, and
there's nothing on the other side...
I was told to pick my battles.
This isn't my war.
My fight is with myself.
I'm leaving New York
(x2)
Leaving my prayer rug in the apartment off Van Cortlandt
caught in constant paranoia coughing someone's jagged hallelujah
buildings like a burning cross,
withdrawal,
the drive north,
all five burroughs fall,
lizards listen through the walls,
born into this funeral,
news of war from city hall.
subway station, FDR,
tanks and guards, riot squad
movement of the violent mob
I dissolve
fall apart
dusted in the dark,
watching the war start...
They're gonna send us to the deserts of Mars,
where we'll die or go crazy with our legs blown off
don't want to suffocate in space
while God and the State face off
flags waving in the grey dawn,
better to break north.
I was told to pick my battles.
This isn't my war.
My fight is with myself.
I'm leaving New York
(x2)
I never found solid ground
but slept in a burning bed
there's a couple landlords
with a bounty on my head
never learned to bend my neck
or to worship the dead.
metro card expired; hop a turnstile and then jet!
was I a coward to abandon,
the broken down mechanics
that crowned Biggie Smalls as the King of Atlantis?
"Like trees to branches, cliffs to avalanches"
the sea in which she vanished...
Lost Kingdom of Jay-Z and Def Jam Cannibals
beating a dead break on the decks of the Titanic
I am it but I can't fit.
so when the sky fell
I felt like one of the guilty
with the populace in lockstep,
ready to come and kill me.
Did Providence demolish the buildings
that rust and rot beneath the Hudson?
all of it came to nothing
and the devil's still running...
and the devil's still running...
I was told to pick my battles.
This isn't my war.
My fight is with myself.
The camera's eye dilates, focus escapes
A sweeping brush coats the face
Petroleum based cover up
Concealer and blush
to make the cheeks look flush
At least real enough
Every night I watch the filter bend the light
Through the tube, in the vacuum
Broadcast into detached rooms
The suicide cure; the miracle fix.
In my guts I know it's them or us
I've tried to resist
Sinister drugs from the Ministers of Love
Subtle quickness in their motion,
Flash of a split tongue when the mask slips up
Subliminal images; quick cuts
Cobra commander and other covert propaganda
Listerine and lipstick, people completely miss it
Label me a misfit, settle for the spectacle
Surrender the Vendetta but remember,
remember,
remember:
The reptilian agenda.
When the sun climbs the pyramid and opens its eye
to shine a cold light down on the capital steps
the enemy slithers by in slick business attire
Grand Imperial Lizards
take regimented steps down
streets paved with bone
from a bed of cement
I heard the steady drone build into a deafening tone;
RFID chip, fingerprint, cellular phone
Satellites light up the globe
Your positions are known
What was written in stone will be built into silicone
Total synthesis, centralized control
Secret Oaths; Bohemian Grove
The ritual
The code
The pyramid
The pinnacle
The priviledged few
use these symbols to communicate
beware and be careful who you choose to illuminate
you never know who's the snakeuntil its too late to
take shelter (remember)
take shelter (remember)
The reptilian agenda.
By the time they find this song I'll already be gone
They have corrupted me
They have hunted me down
Closing in now...
Links in a chain of unexplained encounters
The evidence of a presence, trace of the shapeshifter
Wait and the remain vigiliant.
6012, year of light revealed in the sky
As oxygen turns to carbon and the sea-levels rise
The earth will become a desert as the temperature climbs
The only creatures left alive will be the cold blooded kind
Almost like reptiles were in control the whole time
Know your history; know the signs:
Chinese dynasties descended from Dragon Kings
They flooded New Orleans from a castle in Beijing
Remember Eve's deceiver from the book of Genesis
the snake in a double helix the Greek symbol for medicine
Great deceivers and ancient leaders illuminate:
Bodies like snakes, heads like humans
Depicted in Indian scriptures and hieroglyphics written in Aztec ruins.
Past Present and Future
the master class of mutant rulers are the true predators.
Keep the shades down
and a blade around brother
and remember,
remember,
remember:
Sitting up in bed when the sun sets
The room is such a mess
Keep it darker than the crypt
Rumble in my stomach
Wreak of garlic and incense
Stumble from the bed
I dreamed of monsters again
Sharpen my instruments
as part of my dilligence
Polishing springs and pins
Hardens the killer instinct
Darkness slips in.
I stalk them in the mist.
And walk the empty city
looking for my nemesis
I'm a vampire hunter. A bounty killer
I know my way around and I'm bound to deliver
I've lived among the parasites for more than half my life
Studied their evil patterns, habits and appetites
I'm a Hunter.
Land in the city with a caravan of gypsies
Who hand me crucifixes and whisper their superstition
I keep it moving in tune with the moon's position
Setup with a smooth precision,
Every night's a new mission.
I lift the lids of these stale boxes of dirt
because I put stake in heart
and faith in hard work
Now watch their snake eyes
Awake in surprise as they die
Cut out the heart and burn it at the graveside
Say goodbye.
I'm saving lives and the pay is fine, besides
The truth is I get a thrill
When it comes to the killing time
I'm a vampire hunter. A bounty killer
I know my way around and I'm bound to deliver
I've lived among the parasites for more than half my life
Studied their evil patterns, habits and appetites
I'm a Hunter.
They're not human
Not the people you remember
They are the cannibal, The beast, The undead, The predator
They are disease, They feed off death
But there's a sacred mutilation
that will lay them to rest
You need a vampire hunter, a bounty killer
who knows his way around and is bound to deliver
who's lived among the parasites for more than half his life
studied their evil habits, patterns and appetites.
"I wear my sunglasses at night,"
I don't know why
I'm just sensitive to the light
When I was young I had
such a strong sense of wrong and right
Them days are gone
Life is long, not forever
right? (right.)
These silver bullets pack a helluva bite
But I ain't never been the sucka type
(still i get bloody like)
The incident that happened down in Exeter town
Where the daughter of George Brown
wouldn't rest in the ground.
We had a posse of men,
Even the Providence Press
dug up the body
and cut out the black heart from her chest.
Less than a month later
her older brother was dead
and I was wanted by the court
to explain what I did.
I ran away and hid in the next city
but something of the strange events must've stayed with me
Made me face the mirror for a moment to question
Imagine my surprise when I saw
Joan of Arc had a dildo named Jesus
made of wood from the cross of its namesake
she considered the splinters atonement
and when she came it would fill her with light!
her body was an ocean full of wreckage
her flesh was a map of hell
that spilled out the sides of her dresses
the flabby arms of modern surrender
a smothering mother's body
body like a black hole
pulling calories and emotion and her many children to her
she was childless
she was alone
she found comfort in the bible
a gravity like her own
promising always to pull her down before she floated into space
(and space was the place she feared most)
staring out her window,
distant planets were cold
until a voice came to her in the night
she was sitting in her kitchen it was flooded with light
and she wandered out into her backyard
wearing nothing but her house dress
and there,
behind the racist lawn status and the picket fence
she saw her hedges in flames!
speak to me lord she said
and the world would never be the same
speak to me lord she said
i killed a queer for christ and didn't even get a thank you letter
i let Jesus take the wheel and woke up in this hospital
and though i know
he only did that shit to test my faith i'm saying
nothing
i'm praying
about it
i'm asking god to keep the lights on and shrink my tumors
and keep em from privatizing my job and to REACH those in power!
those who forsake this nation by not crushing the wicked &
them who will not burn the world out of their body.
those who refuse to kneel,
them who choose the wheel
those demons walking the earth
building evil empires
threatening from outside
i know that satan,
the stranger,
the foreign,
the invader
is the creator of mexican immigrants and al-qaeda
and lord i'll understand if you want the earth to be flooded again
in fact my faith could
melt an iceberg
if you ever need a hand
just deliver me and mine to the promised,
land (x2)
Joan of Arc had a dildo named Jesus,
made of wood from the cross of it's namesake
and her orgasms were all omens
when she came it would fill her with right!
and when the light had finally left her
she lay ruined across her sheets
her mouth unhinged,
her shape like a victim
murdered, in a sleep without dreams
Joan of Arc was a warrior poet.
and she baptized the world in flame.
and she never stopped to wonder, for even a moment
why Jesus
Feed 'em all their meds til they forget what the drugs cost
People never question what you're selling them guns for
Beat em in the head with the message, with the blunt force
Lead em to the edge, tell 'em this is the JUMP OFF
The run off you dump off in skulls that are soft
Let em suck on your exhaust til the fuckin sun's gone.
Make em bleed from it while they dream of it
Make em yearn to get it while they're burning in it.
Treat the side effects with side effects
Supply the next disorder
Poison the well, bottle the water
When all else fails, start a war up
Sell him what he needs to knock it down and build it up
Feed her junk she eats it up
Pumped full of refined additives
Sell em tummy tucks and a plus sized caskets
If it ain't dead,
How do you know it's empty?
Bleed your customer get yourself free.
Bleed your customer get yourself free. (x4)
You sell Brand-X seatbelts
Planned obscolescence
Clinical trial cover-ups, Never crash tested
Offshore accounts for when you bounce with a pension
Keep a gun in their mouth; treat em for bouts of depression
Tell him to buy a pet, Help him to buy a house
Chain him to a fence and get your pound of flesh out
Sell nicotine, caffeine, energy drinks
They'll work til they forget to breathe dream or think
Or worship celebrity selling the ego trip
Or buy up a bunch of product from the Jesus pimps
You carry pills and prayer beads,
Razor blades and used condoms
Rap cds, magazines
and novelty items.
Cause if it ain't dead,
How do you know it's empty?
Bleed your customer get yourself free. (x2)
I get bloody. (x4)
Believe the hype!
There's a killing to be made in the mind
You'll either be a slave to the grind or a blade in the backside
Days don't rewind; it's a matter of time
I suggest you view death as a ladder to climb
I'm getting mine until it's gone then I'm coming for yours
Strip mine the resevoir because I'm hungry for more
Privatize resource by the pen or the sword
Respect the jungle law, terrorism or war
Make sure you've got a seat when the ships lift off
Stop me if you heard this one before
Gotta pimp this--
Handle the pack animals, conditioned and taught
Hunt gather and hoarde
Get the deeds to the seeds
And security force
Get a seat on the board, and keep the keys to the vault
if the kids got a problem they can put up a peace sign
let em call you anything but late for a mealtime
Viruses multiply; rust never sleeps
You're either getting eaten or you eat
Stay on your feet
Gotta bleed your customer to get yourself free;
Bleed your customer get yourself free.
I'm a..I'm a bloodsucker,
You a... You a customer.
This is my account of my account.
I've become withdrawn,
I've borrowed a large amount.
I'm hanging in the balance,
feeling like a toxic asset.
Everything I make I give to God and Taxes.
Bail me out.
My fingers strain
to make the symbols of my name
as they were trained
on dotted lines and touch screens
I relate to worthless real estate
Jamming up the circuit
Break the back of plastic currency
Digits slip from my fingertips and
Go on a murdering spree...
I can't afford to be sick.
I'm cashing checks against the national debt
I can't afford to live,
Fraudulent slips of paper whisper tales about the missing reserves
Smug assurances circulate
Smudging ink on my shirt...
It's all on my hands
Something must be coming off on me
It feels like a brand
I'm not solvent
Deep sea diving for the sunken dollar
Out of options, Out of air
Get your hands out of my pocket
I'm heart-sick with the Fear
Locked into the deal with little interest
Paying down the principle
Ripping lottery tickets.
So bail me out. (We've sprung a leak baby, we've sprung a leak!)
Bail me out. (We're going down sucka, we're going down!)
When the profit margin drops to the factory floor
the Employees of the Year
won't work no more.
The gold standard's abandoned,
They circulate disease
My father used to ask me if I thought it grew on trees.
On top of the world with a worm in my gut,
and a blow out sale on inflated objects
Everything I do is done to make a profit
Everyone I love is a potential hostage
Owed to the factory
Sold to the market
Full set of teeth and a workhorse body
No money down, Own it for less
Run like a dream, Run in the red
Bulging vein in a straining neck;
The second you're dead everyone gets a cut
Keep treading that water
Hold your head up but
Living conditions deteriorate daily
It could be worse in defense of slavery
Take it from me, rates increase
We went from late feeds to 'fuck you, pay me'
Say what they mean when you're upside down
But a brick through the window of your house like
"Bail me out!"
So bail me out. (We've sprung a leak baby, we've sprung a leak!)
The earthmovers:
Building cities in the desert. Cities in Antarctica Cities on the moon.
Bulldozer. Back-jim jarmusche flick. Hard-hat. Harvester.
Rough gets smoothed, everything can move.
They got just the tool, everything can move.
Got a foreman and a crew, everything can move
Got a union too, everything can move.
The earthmovers:
They rule.
Development.
Settlement.
Sharp eyes
Dissect space and time
With a measurement of lines
Divide lots and plats
Plot the map plant the flag
Drop the marker like that.
Got plenty
Property
Proper
Documents
Safety
Goggles
Priviledge
Hard hats
Thick skin
Dig in
We are the architects
Few view the blueprints
Never stop to rest.
Never mind the mess, we're going to mars next
Father of the projects
God complex
"Let there be light"
How large is your obelisk?
It's a contest.
Watch this:
Mountain from a molehill mountaintop removal
Terra-form irrigate excavate level grade
Dam (it's hydro-electric)
It's your boy Pipelaya
Bobsledding through the desert
Fuckin up the sandbox since I was seven
Tonka toy permanent permit for demolition
Flatten every surface, de-stroy difference
Grease the commission just to keep the wheels spinnin but
Listen:
We were born with permission.
They see the vision in our clear blue eyes
Air conditioning the ice cubes, chillin poolside
Come to Jamaica,
Come to Dubai
Got a new mayor
Cleaning up the crime
Got a snow machine
You can ski anytime
Not a cloud to be seen
In the dome of the sky
Reshape Harlem into North Manhattan
Wake up on the reservation like
"What happened?"
Sleep to the sound of a chainsaw massacre
Wake to the sound of a dumptruck backing up
(Back that thing up.)
The earthmovers:
Building cities in the desert. Cities in Antarctica Cities on the moon.
Bulldozer. Back-jim jarmusche flick. Hard-hat. Harvester.
Rough gets smoothed, everything can move.
They got just the tool, everything can move.
Got a foreman and a crew, everything can move
Got a union too, everything can move.
The earthmovers: