MICROPHONE MISDEMEANOR
Microphone Misdemeanor is Jam No Peanut's debut EP that blends augmented reality and virtual reality applications, trap music, radical politics, and chinese rap. This is the first EP from the Fulbright Scholar turned artist and activist, whose work includes Ahmed Mohamed, an augmented reality experience and music video that tells the story of a 14 year old muslim student arrested for bringing a clock to school, and Hands Up, a virtual reality music video that puts you at the frontlines of protest against Trump. Tune into this eight track EP from Jam No Peanut, as he switches from english to mandarin over hard-hitting beats produced by Keeys and ClockWorkDJ.
“Microphone Misdemeanor is an interactive experience that use augmented reality and virtual reality to immerse you in interrogation rooms, nightmarish trap houses and through favelas and at taking the streets at frontlines of protest in a post apocalyptic Amerikkka. When you experience the project, I want you to think, feel, and be compelled to get into the streets and act to drive out this fascist regime.”
QI LAI 起来
Qi Lai, which means “to rise up” in mandarin, is a global call to action against fascism from Jam No Peanut. Also known as MC Tingbudong, Jam No Peanut is researched the hip hop scene in China in 2008, and returned as an artist with the Found Sound China music program in 2018. The video features fellow Found Sound China artists in residence, narrated by Jam No Peanut’s distinctive bilingual flow as they ride through the scenic of Yunnan from the back of a tuk-tuk. The video first premiered on VICE platform, Noisey China, who called it "award winning" whose simple and sharp lyrics, political sensibilities and a sense of conflict over a chill trap beat, should earn a scholarship from China."
“起来” 是一种全球呼吁采取行动。这首歌来自Jam No Peanut 《MC 听不懂》， 一个艺术家在2008年收到了一个富布莱特奖学金为了研究北京的嘻哈文化， 然后在2018年被选择参加Found Sound China 《中国声态》， 一个国际音乐家驻地项目，为了回来中国当说唱歌手和制作人。该视频的特色是MC 听不懂与中国声态音乐制作人在云南笃笃的背后骑行玩中文说唱。视频原来在Vice/Noisey China被首映了。
Hands Up is a virtual reality rap music video that takes viewers from the second lines of Treme to the frontlines of resistance against Trump on Capitol Hill. Shot in NYC, DC, and New Orleans in the days of protest during the inauguration –it puts viewers in the shoes of a modern-day revolutionary, fighting against fascism in a post-apocalyptic America-- and dares you to take to the streets and drive this regime from power. Swipe to control the camera on desktop, or view on the Youtube app on a mobile device.
HANDS UP
On the day of election of President Trump, rapper, multimedia artist and organizer, Jam No Peanut released ‘Trappin'’ - a music video that rejects the presidential election as illegitimate and calls on others to seek radical change outside the voting process - on VEVO. The project is the artist’s second video installment from the upcoming multimedia EP, Microphone Misdemeanor, and the first rap video of its kind to be created through Snapchat's face swap feature.
In Trappin, Jam No Peanut uses Snapchat’s facial recognition feature to swap faces with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and places them in a magical-surrealist trap house simulation, counting money and cooking up ballots - dressed in the gold chains and Gucci shirts of ‘thugs’ more prevalent in images on mainstream media.
Jam No Peanut also released a companion op-ed article titled: I Did Not Vote & I Do Not Regret it: We Have To Overthrow This System - Refuse A Fascist America!
TRAPPIN'
AHMED MOHAMED
Ahmed Mohamed is a trap transmedia project that brings together rap, interactive art, and the fight to end police terror. A multimedia project about the 14 year old Muslim student in Texas arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school, the project has several parts: a ‘Final Exam’ about victims of police brutality, virtual reality experiences that put viewers in the shoes of victims of police terror, and an original trap song and music video - accessible by scanning album artwork with a mobile device.
The music, produced by international party-starter and NYC nightlife mainstay, KEEYS, ‘Ahmed Mohamed’ exemplifies ratchet-revolutionary’: political satire mixed with trap, baile funk, and all the bravado of swag rap. The interactive installation makes use of the LAYAR augmented reality application and Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets, immerses listeners in school buildings and interrogation rooms, and tests their knowledge about police brutality with a ‘Fight the Power Final Exam, before a music video screening and a live performance.
Since the premiere of the video on VEVO, the project has been written up on Colorlines Magazine, and featured on the Friday Night Social on FUBAR Radio, the UK's largest independent Radio Station, and has even reached the subject of the project itself, Ahmed Mohamed, who had this to say about it:
“I’ve seen the video, it was great and I liked it alot...i liked the message and I agree with you. It makes me really sad that police injustice, racism, and the hate some peole have for other human beings (for stupid reasons). At the end of the day everyone has feelings and emotions and its a shame some people think others dont deserve to at least be who they are”
Experience it yourself by downloading the LAYAR app, and scanning the cover art.