emcee lynx profile picture

emcee lynx

no gods, no masters, no bullshit, no compromise.

About Me

1 - The Basics: If you hadn't already guessed, I'm an anarchist and independent hip hop artist / MC / bard / storyteller. I was born in a small town in norcal, raised in the east bay area, and am currently living in Oakland, California.

I am the son of a Vietnam Vet, the grandson of a WWII/Korean War vet, the Great-grandson of a WWI vet, and so on all the way back to the american revolution. I hate war. I hate everything about war. And I'd like to see the people responsible for the bloodbath in iraq charged with crimes against humanity and executed. If you can't handle that you're probably not going to like my music.

I wrote and performed my first rap song when I was 12, the year was 1992. It sucked. I've been writing and performing free-form poetry and hip hop ever since and like to think I've gotten a bit better in that time. at the point where it stops being fun and starts being "work" I'll put it down, until then i'm just tryna express myself the best way i know how. I've self-released 5 solo albums and 1 album with my band since 2001.

You can get my 3 most recent solo albums and my band's first album FREE on my website, emceelynx.com .

Here's what the critics have to say:

"a veteran rapper whose beats and words effortlessly float over the music with clockwork precision... Immensely listenable and always thought provoking, Weapon of The Future is highly recommended."
- Free Albums Galore, reviewing Beltaine's Fire's first album "The Weapon of the Future". Jan 2008

"One of my favorite albums of all time" Takepowerback.net on "Living in the Shadow", November 2006.

"Emcee Lynx is without a doubt one of the hottest rappers in the underground hip-hop scene today." - Donegal Press, September 2006

"[Emcee Lynx] has released an album every year -- and his lyrics have everything from hard-hitting political insight to songs...whose sound can inspire hope in even the most jaded music fans." - Golden Gate [X] Press, March 2006

"an anthem of resistance, solidarity and commitment to the revolutionary struggle for a future." - Green Left Weekly (Australia. June, 2004) on my song "A Bullet in the Chamber".

"Since the release of his first album (Soundtrack for Insurrection Volume I) in early 2001, Emcee Lynx has gained international recognition in Hip-Hop's Conscious underground as one of the most articulate and innovative of a rising tide of politically active artists - winning him grassroots distribution and a loyal fanbase from California to the Czech Republic. " - imesh.com, August 2002


Last, here's a quote from 1984 that I think perfectly describes the mindset of the people running the global capitalist empire today. It's not an "american" empire or a "british" empire or a "russian" empire because the people in charge don't give a shit about any of those countries - or any other country. It's a global empire, a global system, that manipulates the governments of the world like puppets for it's own ends. and the only end that it seeks is Power.

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

- George Orwell, 1984

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/25/2005
Band Website: emceelynx.com
Band Members: me on vox, beats from a wide range of cats including myself, dj phoney, kdubbs, thx, dub cee, and occassionaly other folks too. Also check out my band, Beltaine's Fire bringin that celtic flava, and the whole international anarchist hip hop movement .
Influences: Political Influences
Writers: Peter Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Pierre J. Proudhon, Ward Churchill, Noam Chomsky, Arundati Roy, Howard Zinn
Revolutionaries: James Connolly, Jack White, William Wallace, Mikhail Baukunin, John Brown, Subcomandante Marcos, Nester Makhno, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (after he left the Nation of Islam), Siting Bull, Huey Newton, David Hilliard, and many others.
along with all of the thousands of folks I've met, talked too, and worked with in all of the campaigns i've been involved in over the years
and most of all my own mind and willingness to ask obvious questions and then search for real answers when the official response is bullshit.

Musical Influences:
lots of people, more then i could list. in reviews of my music i've been compared to everyone from Del to Chuck D, KRS to Everlast. Personally, I don't think i sound like any of them. I get compared to Everlast cuz I'm vocal about being a Celt and being proud of my history and heritage, chuck and krs because I make political music, and and Del cuz .... well I don't know really. but I like Del so I'll take it as a compliment.
My style is definitely focused more on story telling then on abstract verbage and i was definitely influenced a lot as a kid by Tupac, Slick Rick, Masta Ace, and a lot of oldschool cats from Whodini to RunDMC. Later i picked up a lot of influences from folks i was kicking it with in the local music scene (big ups to hip hop congress!), and from all the beautiful music i've discovered since i stopped listening to the radio.
mostly though I think I just sound like myself.
Sounds Like:

Record Label: not really shopping, but open to offers
Type of Label: None

My Blog

moved everything to my real blog/website: emceelynx.com

yeah, i know i said it before, but i mean it this time.  I've just finished moving all the old posts and comments from here to my real blog on my website.  double-posting everything was a wa...
Posted by emcee lynx on Tue, 27 May 2008 01:38:00 PST

Beltaine’s Fire, live @ anti-war protest in Richmond

check it out - brand new video of Beltaine’s Fire playing live at an anti-war/anti-global warming/anti-chevron rally in Richmond CA yesterday. The song is called "Liberty" and is off our upcomi...
Posted by emcee lynx on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:46:00 PST