Hip Hop in Iraq – Soldiers are finding a new way to express themselves in times of war. With More than a dozen of soldiers have gotten together to create an album.
The Hip Hop CD, titled Voices from the Frontline , is the vision of Los Angeles music producer Jason Speilman. Spielman spent two years in Iraq seeking out soldiers to tell their stories after he got his inspiration from a documentary with parents reading the prose for their sons and daughters across seas.
The album also uses spoken word interludes from soldiers while on battlefields. Stories include tales of battle scars, their feelings on the war and their musings on home and family.
“This ain’t for a paycheck. This ain’t for us to be known. This is for somebody to understand a soldier’s life,” states Sgt. Chris Tomlinson of Delaware on the album
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While the album may not contain the most talented in the rap game, it may be some of the most inspiring things to come out of Iraq.
The record label producing the album; Crosscheck Records plans to donate 5 percent of sales to Operation AC, a non-profit started by Frankie Mayo(mother of Tomlinson) which sends troops useful and sometimes non replenished items like boots, gloves and socks.
“People think about rap music today and think it is all about thugs, but the young people who are doing this have been through war,” said Mayo. They are so far beyond the ‘chicks and rims’ things. It is real.”
