:: planetoïd ::

NEWS FROM THE RUSSIAN PERCUSSIAN TOUR.

dj Vadim, Yarah Bravo, dj First Rate and others people from the hip hop live act called the Russian Percussian Tour are currently doing a north american tour, where they do loads of gigs in many towns from US to canada. i think the tour will be finished soon, and i suppose it was cool as shit, as usual ; anyway.
Vadim and the crew send some kind of journal of their life through the US roads, every week or so, where they talk about the shows, the crowds, the artists they met, and, least but not last, their acts and their conversations with people they see/meet in each town. this 5th installment of their weekly diary talks about many things, but i post it there for one reason : Rachel Corrie.

"...Tue 18th March - Seattle
Before driving to Seattle we got some breakfast at Whole Foods, that's the best supermarket we have found out here. All organic, and the choice of food is great. Salads, sushi, lentil soups etc... I wish we had that in London where we live!
Gez wanted to visit the Adidas original store (as if he didn't have enough shoes already) cause there's only 2 like this one in the world, one in Nuremberg /Germany and one in Portland/US. But we got the the wrong directions and ended up at the Nike Outlet store, which we piss all over. And  unfortunately we did not have enough time to look for the real spot, so we got on the road to Seattle. And Gez shed a tear...
The Seattle show was probably the strangest and most emotional show we have ever done.  Before the show Dj Vital (the opening DJ) came backstage and he told us a  very touching and hurting story. He told us about his good friend Rachel Corrie. She was an American citizen who was murdered 2 days previously after being run over by an  bulldozer while she was trying to stop it from tearing down a building in Rafah, Palestine. The Bulldozer ignored her outcry and ran over her - twice. She was protesting against the occupation, the inhuman, insulting, humiliating and degrading conditions put on the Palestinians.
While Dj Vital was telling us this story he was crying, it was a very emotional moment and we started crying as well. He told us that Rachel Corrie was a big Ninja Tune fan, and a big fan of my music, and if she would've been there tonight she would've stood at the front dancing. This was very real!
At the back of the club all her friends  had made a shrine laid out to her with letters, flowers , photos.... And it almost felt like we were about to do a show for a funeral audience, since everyone in that room seemed to know her. We started the show with a minute of silence and Yarah said a few words. Later in the show Yarah invited Dj Vital on stage to share a few words with the audience. He spoke a painful heartfelt message and at the end of the show there was a lot of people very emotional and tearful. We dedicated the show and the rest of our tour to Rachel Corrie and all other Freedom Fighters who are no longer with us. And the show ended up being a celebration of her life and what she stood for. If you would like to read her story check out WWW.MICHAELMOORE.COM..."

dj Vadim isn't just one of the best hiphop producer/dj/label owner/etc... not only he's one of the best for these kind of shit (which always redefine the term of hip hop and help breaking its own boundaries), but far away from cliché of "classic" hip hop headz, the hairy dj got a real conscience. he got strong beliefs in many things that many people don't even care, and more vadims would help to live on this planet, i suppose. mmh... i wonder what the sweet Yarah Bravo (one of the finest lyricist this side of the universe - check out "cum shots", produced by this very Vadim and just released on Ninja Tune) thinks about that... :)