Rap Album: DEF with the REVOLUTION
by Lonnie Ray Atkinson
DEF with the REVOLUTOIN is a rap album by RU member Lonnie Ray Atkinson. Lonnie has recorded 27 tracks where he expresses the politics of Parecon through the poetry of rap.
Lonnie introduces his album as follows:
Within a generation, hip hop has attracted the masses and given birth to a new worldwide culture. Having become a voice for the people, hip hop has the potential to be a voice for revolution.
Ladies and gentleman, what you are about to hear is truly revolutionary. The first hip hop album, for that matter the first album of any kind, to spell out a truly alternative vision to our current economic system, a system that provides luxury to a few, comfort to a few more, and misery to many many more.
We believe that we can do better than this. But in order to achieve such, it will take more than just tweaking and reforming the current system. It will take replacing it with something different, something better. We believe that something better is a vision called Participatory Economics, or PARECON for short.
And that’s where you come in.
Because, for vision like this to be realized, it’s gonna take a mass movement of folks devoted to changing the structure of society. In other words, it’s gonna take a revolution.
And I say, if it’s gonna take a revolution, then what better vehicle to start a revolution than hip hop.
So sit back, turn the volume up, and check this shit out.
Listen to the full album here. And to whet the appetite, here's a sample of some of Lonnie's sweet tones - the lyrics are a masterclass in song writing: