It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop: Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) Force-Fed in Support of Gitmo Prisoners Posted by Nathan S. on 07/08/13 | Filed under Opinion, Mos Def, Yasiin Bey

"As Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay continue their protest. More than 40 of them are being force-fed. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. In this four-minute film made by Human Rights organisation Reprieve and Bafta award-winning director Asif Kapadia, US actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), experiences the procedure." - Guardian UK

I won't lie, considering I think he's one of the greatest emcees of all-time, and a seminal reason I fell in love with hip-hop, it's been frustrating to not get more music from Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) over the years. But as least Bey is doing more than dressing like a Viking for a Gillette commercial (like some other reclusive rappers I could name). Instead, like Christopher Hitchens did with waterboarding, Bey elected to undergo the same force-feeding procedure done to hunger-striking detainees prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

This is the internet so I know people will get caught up in debating the details - Is the feeding tube metal or plastic? Is he exaggerating? - but the details are the means, not the end. The purpose here is to take something that's purposefully hidden and bring it to light, to force you to grapple with something that's being done everyday by your government, in your name, using your tax dollars. If you watch this and decide you're comfortable with the government keeping Gitmo open, and force feeding prisoners, I can't agree with you, but at least you've made a decision. The real danger here is passivity and ignorance, a country that doesn't know what its government does, and doesn't want to know.

So there, now you can't claim you didn't know. Much respect to Bey for laying down his body in support of his words, now that's real. It's bigger than hip-hop...

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