Iraqi-American Rapper Blasts Bush and Iraq War

The music industry has been too silent for too long about the Iraq war. With the exception of a few bands like State Radio and System of a Down, most artists (and record labels) have been either too detached or too afraid to address the most important issue of our time.

Hip-hop, the type of music that is arguably most influential among young people right now, has been especially silent.

Now that has finally changed. And it is about damn time. At its core, hip-hop has always been about educating people. Well, a new artist has finally stepped up with the talent and the guts to educate us all--and effectively tear into the Iraq war and President Bush. He loves the US and doesn't attack the troops, and instead focuses his lyrical crosshairs firmly on the President and his policies. He addresses stereotypes, talks about America's endangered global standing, delivers an important history lesson on the Middle East, and even addresses the President's new surge plan. The beat is hot, the lyrics are strong, and the message is honest.

Please allow me to introduce you to an Iraqi-American rapper from San Diego, California named TIMZ.

His powerful new music video for the track "Iraq" is about to make some serious waves. Check it out:

More from TIMZ website:

On his fiery and autobiographical debut CD, TIMZ--aka Tommy Hanna, an American born rapper of Chaldean and Iraqi descent--gets right up in our faces, mixing explosive, Middle Eastern tinged beats with incendiary rhymes in an effort to shatter those ugly stereotypes that have plagued people who look like him since 9/11 and the start of the Iraq war...

Propelled by gripping imagery and heavy grooves as his mouthpiece, TIMZ is on an intense mission to help Americans understand that Chaldeans, who are Catholic by faith, were the true native people of Iraq dating back to the ancient times of Mesopotamia and the flourishing times of Babylon. "The only remnants from that Iraq and the Iraq that we see now are the rivers. "That's it, everything else has changed," he says.

"They lump us into one big group of Bin Ladens and Saddam Husseins walking around. After 9/11, a few people came into my dad's liquor store and gave him a hard time. But we're hard working people who love our country. A lot of people hear my lyrics and hear the anti-Bush, antiwar sentiment and assume I'm a terrorist or I hate the U.S. But that's not the case. I was born here but my parents were born in Baghdad."

While TIMZ--a recent business administration graduate from the University of San Diego-- has been the pride of his hometown's 20,000 strong Chaldean community (San Diego boasts the second largest flock of them in America after Detroit) for years, the extraordinary reaction to "Iraq" across the country is giving him some well deserved cred as a national artist.

"Iraq" is destined to be a true rallying cry during these difficult political times. "Dear Mr. George Bush," TIMZ raps. "Why do you insist to make a fool of us? For over 200 years... we stood for what's good, now we despised by our peers; And what do you...but add fuel to the fire and send in more troops. Oh the troops God save the troops; it wasn't their war their lies their fault. America the beautiful what did they do to you, they used you its so indisputable!"

Powerful words in an important time. Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Eminem and everyone else in hip-hop (signed and unsigned), the gauntlet has been thrown down by TIMZ. The world is listening. It's time for the rest of you to step up.