Editor's note: KRS-One will be in Toronto for a lecture and peformance sponsored by HipHopCanada.com (March 8th -- click here for full event details). As a sponsor of the KRS-One concert, HipHopCanada has been given an exclusive promotion for it's viewers -- $40.00 for tickets to both of Just Entertainment's Canadian Music Week concerts which is M.O.P. (March 7th) and KRS-One (March 8th). The offer is limited to the first 50 people who send their name and e-mail address to krsmopconcert@rogers.com.

The Bronx, NY - 1:45 Sunday March 2nd, we’re setting up at the SFA office downtown Toronto, Canada to record a phone interview with KRS-One that was confirmed on Friday February 29th stating the interview will be held at 2PM. 2:04PM we get a call from his manager saying that they are about to head into a lunch meeting and would have to call back approximately two hours later. 2 hours later KRS’s manager sent a text message informing us that they were running a little late and would call when done. Another two hours pass, we were getting a little impatient so we give the manager a call and she let us know that the legendary artist was getting in the car right and she would have him call us immediately to get things underway. 5 minutes later we get the call.

[The phone rings and Stolen From Africa picks up the phone]

HipHopCanada: Yes, yes man. How are you doing?
I'm chilling man, calling in for this interview.

HipHopCanada: Seen, no doubt. Definitely big respect for your time man, we definitely appreciate this. We’re doing this ‘cause Stolen From Africa, our organization down here, we’re trying to build a movement just like yours, you know what I mean?
Wow.

HipHopCanada: Because it’s the same thing, but there’s a lot of conflict. I’m going to use this word blatantly, there’s a lot of hip-hop masons out there that are trying to get in the way of this real revitalization of our culture, you what I mean, so…
No doubt.

HipHopCanada: So, much respect for your time, we’re going to start with the questions if that’s good with you and just letting you know we’re also recording this audio.
Okay.

HipHopCanada: Ok, cool. How did the original Stop The Violence movement come about and what was some of the resistance that you faced?
Well you know that’s two questions right there. The last one is quick; the resistance we faced was with black radio, in 1989. Surprisingly enough, we made the record and gave it to black radio. There used to be a term called black radio… now urban or hip-hop and R&B and all of that, But back in the days, it was black radio. We gave it to black radio and they rejected it. Some of the excuses were that it was too long; other excuses were that it was too controversial. Some of the issues we were dealing with, they felt were not proper for day time radio. [Thinking] So the Stop The Violence movement never really, or should I say the record “Self Destruction”, never really played on the radio. The DJs played it on Friday, Saturday, Sunday mix shows played it but the day time rotation never really got that. When the record was really promoted was on television ‘Yo MTV Raps’.

HipHopCanada: Right, right.
A gentlemen by the name of Ted Demme, rest his soul, Scott, but Ted Demme bon bon freddy, they’re the ones that premiered the record and played it everyday… sometimes even twice within the show… pushing the message forward. Now the first part of your question, how did it start?

HipHopCanada: Right.
Stop The Violence movement started when I wrote a song in 1988 called call “Stop The Violence”.

HipHopCanada: That’s right.
It was a song on the “By All Means Necessary” album, released by Jive Records in ’88… the head of A&R for Jive Records was a woman named Anne Carley.She came to me and said, “I like to create an entire movement behind your record Stop The Violence,” I said, “Wow, that’s great man! What do you have in mind?” She said, “Well there’s a guy named… a gentlemen named Justin that got stabbed for a gold chain at one of our concerts and everybody was sort of pissed off like… “ANOTHER ONE?”

HipHopCanada: Right, right.
So we said, you know, let’s start the Stop The Violence movement. So Anne Carley was the original one who started the movement… she then went and got Nelson George, famous writer that used to work for Billboard Magazine back then doing the R&B column and we wrote the book on Stop The Violence. He is now an Executive Producer, you’ll know him… He Executive Produced the American Gangster series on television. He produces the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors… he’s a producer now, a television producer but him, Anne Carley and myself initiated the movement all together and I basically opened my phonebook and called up everybody. And everybody came through and we did that and got that message out. We raised money; the money was $600,000 [and] we gave that to the National Urban League.

HipHopCanada: That’s big.
‘Cause they had a literacy program and we knew that the more you read, the less aggressive you likely would be.

HipHopCanada: That’s amazing.
The more words you have, the bigger vocabulary you have, the more options you have to settle your conflicts non-violently. So, we gave it to the literacy program, now, 20 years later… it’s 19… it’s 1989, 2009, I was starting to look at the Stop The Violence movement 20th Anniversary… 2009 I was going to wait…

HipHopCanada: Hmm…
…until 2009 to really get it started, but what happened was in every other month in 2007, there was another school shooting here in the states. They’re hanging nooses form trees, swastikas are going up on Synagogue doors, churches are being burned… I was like wait a minute, what’s going on? So, hip-hop, I felt, needed to make an explicit statement that, you know, like right now it’s blurred… it’s blurry. Does 50 Cent care that guns are in schools?

HipHopCanada: That’s right.
Does Busta Rhymes… [Thinking] Does he still pass the Courvoisier? Or, is he interested in a safe drinking campaign? It’s blurred, it’s not clear. So I went to these guys and I said, “Yo! Make an explicit statement about peace, about self-construction!” Which, by the way, is the name of the new record, self construction …we’re talking about building, ways to build, things that we shouldn’t be doing to stunt our growth but things we should be doing to help us grow, that’s it.

HipHopCanada: I definitely agree with you man… like it’s crazy, ‘cause even right now were facing similar situations in Toronto. I mean there are school shootings… I mean a lot of our youth, black youth in particular, are being targeted streamed out of schools and what have you, so up here, north of the border, we’ve even started our own campaign “Banning guns wont stop gun violence, changing mindsets will” and the funny thing is, we’ve been pushing this for about two years and I remember us seeing you on a popular Award show mentioning it, basically presenting a call out.
Yup.

HipHopCanada: …to revive the whole Stop The Violence movement, and just thought it was really interesting to see how the forces are working (in unity) to do just that. ‘Cause that’s pretty much what we’re doing: we have our whole campaign here where we go to schools and we use, you know, hip-hop culture to educate and motivate youth and just empower them ‘cause that’s what’s lacking in our community today, so it’s interesting.
And well you know, and movements like that need to be financed. You know we all scream revolution, but who buys the guns? At the end of the day?

HipHopCanada: That’s right.
And what you’re saying right there in Canada, this is one of the reasons why im coming up there, where you guys located? Is it Toronto?

HipHopCanada: We’re in Toronto man, so you know we’ll be all over Canadian Music week.
No doubt, No doubt, no doubt, okay good. One of the main things, one of the main reasons why I was looking forward to coming to Canada, the country, Toronto in particular, you know what it is…

HipHopCanada: That’s right.
But Canada in particular [pause] there’s a lot of activism going on in Canada ‘cause I know about it… I get the e-mails, people requesting me to come here, or speak there, or lend support there… and this is also what the Stop The Violence movement is all about… it is about this money right now, it is about finances. It’s not about money to put in your pockets.

HipHopCanada: That’s right.
To go buy a Bentley or go buy them blood diamonds.

HipHopCanada: Of course.
That’s not what it’s about but it is about… there is too many activists, too many organizations that are struggling with funding with some damn good ideas!

HipHopCanada: Because we don’t support each other.
You know what I’m saying… not just about violence, all kinds of organizations are short of the money to push their ideas forward and I would hope that the Stop The Violence movement can become a resource for organizations to not only get money from but also lend support… like, I have a campaign I’d like to introduce to you and tell me what you think about this.

HipHopCanada: Go ahead man.
It’s that every artist that has three or more albums should produce one album… their fourth album should be free to the public…

HipHopCanada: Hmm, oh?
And they should allow the people, their fans or whomever to sell their record! Right now, I’m quite sure that the unemployment is high in Canada, it’s high everywhere. And so those people who don’t have jobs or the college students that are struggling for books or the mixtape DJ who soops-up a little CD to hustle a 100 dollars, hustle a 150 dollars… that person should be able to get the “Stop The Violence” record, this record were putting together right now that features KRS, Nelly, Styles P, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, The Game, Dilated Peoples, David Banner, Poor Righteous Teachers...

HipHopCanada: Okay!
This record we’re getting ready to release, that should go into the hands of the people, not the record companies. It goes into the hands of the people, and so people, when you get the record you can download it for free or you can go, you know, deliver it to places where you can buy it.

HipHopCanada: Right, right.
Like iTunes, Amazon, or wherever you can buy but after you purchase the record or after you get the record, somehow you can sell it for yourself so we’re hoping that the Stop The Violence movement… one way in which you curve violence is you attack poverty and if we can attack poverty in the inner cities with a free record… this is the biggest record of the year based on the artists on it and you can sell it! If you get on your grind and really get it started you might pay your mortgage with this.

HipHopCanada: Real talk.
Who knows, but at the end of the day, I’m advocating that every artist do this… every artist releases a song that the people can sell… Eminem, release that free song, 50, release that free song, Snoop, release that free song… Christina Aguilera, Metalica, Foo Fighters, Buju Banton…

HipHopCanada: Yeah, yeah.
Cece Winans, everybody! Kardinal Offishall! [Laughing] Kardinal Offishall, release that fourth record for Canada! And say that this record is free! [Say] to Canada, I’m producing it, I’m putting it out and it’s free to Canada… Now the truth is, everybody ain’t going to sell a record ‘cause not everyone has the means to sell it, but if everyone has the opportunity to sell it…

HipHopCanada: Seen.
What you created in the community is hope, you’ve created hope, you’ve created a vision that they didn’t have before… you’ve created an opportunity that if they wanted to get on their grind, they can do it, if they don’t, they know they have the opportunity to. What do you think about that?

HipHopCanada: We agree 100%. Honestly, can I say something? Right now, I have shivers in my spine… this is moving (in unity) this is exactly what is supposed to happen right now. I even want to bring up something quickly, Stolen From Africa actually had a mixtape out and we tried to do the same thing too… got artists all around Toronto, basically from different hoods that supposedly don’t get along with each other, and we have them on the CD which is called “Banning Guns Won’t Stop Violence, Changing Mindsets Will” right?
Yeah!

HipHopCanada: And when we gave the CD away it was for free and in our high school tours we give it to the young people and we know…
Wow.

HipHopCanada: That the young people, when they hear someone they look up too say these things, they listen, so if they listen to us we just want them to hear you say the exact same thing to them, ‘cause that’s when they’ll listen and follow it with action.
Well let me get on that mixtape! Yo, I’ve got 16 for you!

HipHopCanada: Eh, like I said, we’re in Toronto so we’re definitely going to be connecting, we want to connect with you during Canadian Music Week and give you a few stolen from Africa tee shirts. Real quick, I just want to ask you, what are the first things that come to mind when you hear the words Stolen From Africa?
Well, there are several things, of course, you’re speaking to a philosopher as well so, we can take that all the way out, obviously the immediate is, when you say AFRICA, most people think of a geological location that which Africa is but Africa is a mindstate, it is a consciousness like hip-hop, it is a culture, and the continent of Africa is a culture unto itself, there is a whole bunch of little cultures and languages in them. So, when you say Stolen From Africa, yes, on the surface we understand exactly what that means, that points to the slave trade, that also points to the fact that wherever I am I bear witness to my ancestors grief, of being stolen from their paradise, and brought into this… and I recognize that and I stand by that and I look towards the re-establishment of a unified Africa-out of the hands of Europe, and the banking, the IMF, all of that. I stand for that. That’s called pan-Africanism.

No doubt, but there’s even a deeper side to that… the deeper side is, WHO is NOT African? And if all of humanity walked out of Africa, then who is not African, and when we stay Stolen From Africa, there’s a deeper… a deeper implication that means you’re humanity has been stolen. If all of humanity walked out of Africa and you wear a shirt that says…

[He breaks out of the answer and asks us "what does the shirt say? Let me get the words right" we say "it says Stolen From Africa, that’s what the shirt says" he continues with his answer]

Right, right. Stolen From Africa means, stolen from my humanity, or stolen from humanity itself, I will point that towards a people who make their whole life their job, or people who say I can’t function unless I’ve got ice on my neck and my wrist… I don’t feel valued; I don’t feel like I have value unless I’m pushing a Benz. Well, your humanity has been stolen then… and let us go one more step deeper...

Stolen From Africa, that implies that somebody is a thief, and needs to return the stolen goods. [Laughing] So, somebody, not implicating anybody, but somebody took stuff they wasn’t supposed to take and the shirt implies that there was theft going on and there is need for justice. My point is justice. When you wear a shirt like that, “Stolen From Africa”, make sure that you as the wearer of the shirt are thee exemplification of what Africa should stand for. Because, let me get really real with you right now, Africa is the most gangsta place to be on the earth, next to Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran. Africa right now… rappers can’t even do shows in Africa right now because there is so much going on. They pay the act, and then they rob the act… crazy. The rape issue in Africa is ridiculous; the aids issue… ridiculous. What’s going on with Darfur and with all these warlords that rise up and they start killing people or massacring people… is that Africa or African? So when we say “Stolen From Africa”, what are we really saying about our Africa? Well, I would suggest that we be the Africa we would like to see whether you are white, whether you are black, whether you are Asian, Native American or Native Canadian. You know, indigenous cultures all around, whatever your nationality. If you wear the shirt, represent what Africa should represent. There are white people who are Africans, born and raised in Africa, with generations of family in Africa. They are Africans… they don’t know any other life. They don’t know any other culture but the culture they grew with in Africa. If they wear that shirt, Stolen From Africa, ‘cause a lot of white people were Stolen From Africa too… so when you say Stolen From Africa, white people as well should stand as the African should be standing, stand as what you believe, [and] what Africa should be about. It shouldn’t be about rape, it shouldn’t be about mass disease, it shouldn’t be about ethnic cleansing, it shouldn’t be about blood diamonds, it shouldn’t be about this oil.

HipHopCanada: Yo, I can tell right now we are one in the same spirit and we knew as soon as we spoke to you about real issues, you would vibe with us on a real tip… and we knew it!
For sure.

HipHopCanada: Okay, so this is what it is man, much love king. We’ll link and we’ll make this happen.
No doubt, I’ll see ya’ll, and call me if you guys need anything else.

HipHopCanada: Respect King, peace.
Peace to the Gods.

Editor's note: KRS-One will be in Toronto for a lecture and peformance sponsored by HipHopCanada.com (March 8th -- click here for full event details). As a sponsor of the KRS-One concert, HipHopCanada has been given an exclusive promotion for it's viewers -- $40.00 for tickets to both of Just Entertainment's Canadian Music Week concerts which is M.O.P. (March 7th) and KRS-One (March 8th). The offer is limited to the first 50 people who send their name and e-mail address to krsmopconcert@rogers.com.

For more information on KRS-One and the STOP THE VIOLENCE movement, check out http://www.myspace.com/templeofhiphop and http://www.templeofhiphop.org.

  

Stolen From Africa "Stolen from Africa Media" Founded by Logikal Ethix in 2006, is one of the four components that make up the S.F.A Movement (Fashion, Music Production, Media, Community Outreach) which was founded by Logikal Ethix & Unknown Mizery in 2005. S.F.A media was created as a outlet to generate alternative perspectives on hip-hop culture as well as community issues that are under-represented within mainstream media. Highlighted interviews/coverage include: Krs-One, Dead Prez, Pretty Ricky, Public Enemy, Killah Priest, Raekwon, Maestro Fresh Wes, Drake, Baby Cham, Mavado, Mayhem Morearty, Sean Kingston, Gnarles Barkley, Classified and K'naan to name a few. Recently, SFA Media was featured on MTV during Black History Month to promote their new documentary sponsored by Canadian Heritage on Africville, a historic black settlement in Halifax Nova Scotia that was later destroyed by the government in the late 60's. for more information visit http://www.StolenFromAfrica.tv & http://www.StolenFromAfrica.com.