Zearle
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Zearle is a pioneering and visible representative of political hip hop music. He is an underground musician, spoken word poet, community activist, and writer. He is most well known for producing, supporting, and distributing political hip hop from 1990 through to the present, promoting a socialist ideology.
Zearle announced himself on the scene with a short mix tape in the early 1990s, as a member of the group known as Red Dagger, which was one of the first Marxist hip hop groups. However, this group was shortlived and lasted less then a year. In interviews, Zearle has stated that ideological differences were behind the group's demise.
Zearle continued as a solo artist, and his single "Destiny's Child" was a seven-minute manifesto for a self defined 'revolutionary youth movement'. The single mixed the slang of the period with heavy socialist discourse and rhetoric. Zearle had several other underground hits in the mid 1990s, each formed around a particular concept. "ManChild" tells the tale of black activists George Jackson and Jonathan Jackson, while "Dust to Dust" debated the existence of God and other religious issues.
The song "Hackers and Crackers" in particular became a cult phenomenon. It was written in the style of a dedication, using popular computer user slang as well as verbally thanking many of the warez groups for "freeing the software" for the poor who could not afford to purchase the software. Radium was one such group. Zearle rapped that the act of sharing a program with poor people could produce better art, music, video, and most importantly better "hacks". The song uses a sampled beat used by both Dr. Dre and Erykah Badu.
"Hackers and Crackers" became the theme for many hacker radio programs and websites. Starting in 2003, the Digital DawgPound (The DDP) has used the "Hackers and Crackers" song as a trademark for their radio show, Binary Revolution Radio. Several movie ripper groups such as "movienight" would begin movierips with this song. Many websites presently use this song as a theme. The genre known as nerdcore has possibly been influenced by Zearle. This song has received over a hundred thousand downloads over the last decade.
In the late 1990s, Zearle released an album titled "Class War" in response to political issues and events. This album drew from movie quotes, political leaders and poets. Fight Club, "Devil's Advocate," Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Zack De La Rocha, and dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson were featured. During this period, Zearle was heavily involved with anti-war and anti-draft campaigns, vegetarianism, and first appeared in 1998 as a spoken word artist in a Youth Speaks fund raising event.
Zearle has produced two further albums, one in 2002 and a second in 2004. He is based in the Bay Area and cites school as the reason for his two year disappearance from a vibrant hip hop scene, which includes many new artists such as Immortal Technique.
Related Links: Official website
Lyrics [1]
