Bambu – Slow Down ft Prometheus Brown (Sabzi Remix)

Written by Janaki. Published: Tuesday, May 11, 2010.

Listen: Bambu – Slow Down ft Prometheus Brown (Sabzi Remix)

I know I should say something, but the Sabzi commentaries that come with BlueScholars.com downloads are always so amusing…

I think it was something like 2003 when I first heard of a Filipino rapper outta LA that called himself Bambu. #post-napster_era

He was on this intelligent-West Coast-socially relevant-Pinoy gangbanger-rap tip.  When I first saw his press photos, I remember thinking “hey this guy looks really friendly.” #ironic

I guess I was right.  Several months later, Geo and I went to LA for some shows and to participate in a rally for Filipino WWII Veterans in Echo Park.  We stayed with Bam briefly at his home in Watts.  He was very kind and cordial and gave us a short tour of the alleys on his block where kids successfully hide from police.  Later on, he would tell me that there have always been Iranians that have played significant roles in his life.  Maybe this was why we ended up getting along with each other so well.  #bromance

Memories like these are why I chuckle when I hear random people criticize Bambu’s music for being too negative.  #sefeedpoost

Like those two girls who were bartending at a show we did a while ago in San Francisco and complained that Bam shouldn’t be rapping about how brown women shouldn’t feel forced to compare their physical beauty to the white skin standards that dominate most media.  They said it was really offensive.  #hmmm

Cont…

Download: Bambu – Slow Down (Sabzi Remix)

Cont…

When settling with the venue after the show, I needed to get some tax questions answered for Bam so he could get paid, but he kept me waiting so that he could have a dialogue with these two bartenders about his music.  He was explaining to them that he made music for his community; that nothing he puts out should really be considered “anti-white,” or really anti-anything. #exceptpolice

Bam’s music should be seen as pro-people-who-don’t-have-enough-good-things-said-about-them.

There are so many who get up each day and deal with 16 straight hours of the world telling them that they ain’t shit.  Bambu songs are for those in school, work, jail, or just on the block that simply want to hear something different.

The most amusing memories I have of this dood usually revolve around the moments we’re in LA and I tell him I want to walk to the corner store.  It usually goes:

“Hey Bam, I’m goin to the store.”

“Nah man, wait.  Lemme drive you.”

“Dood, it’s across the street.”

“Nah man, it’s far.  Lemme drive you.”

“Bro, it’s RIGHT THERE.  I can walk there faster than you can get your car turned on.  Look, it’s so close I can see the brand of the store owner’s shirt.  It’s a Patagonia.”

“Sabz, nobody walks in LA.  You walk around here alone you’re likely gonna get fucked with by some of the neighborhood knuckleheads.”

“We’re in Hollywood.”

*shakes head* “You just don’t get it, Saba.”

I would later be reminded that an Iranian kid was beaten to death in LA after some doods thought he was MS13 or something.  #Iranic

When Bam isn’t organizing with the youth in Echo Park, taking care of his gorgeous son Kahlil, or filling my head with fear about the War that is Los Angeles, he’s writing raps.  Sometimes he raps with our friend Prometheus Brown.

Yavash is a Farsi word that can mean “slow” or “careful.”  It seemed like an appropriate name for this remix riddim.

- SABZI

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