Conflict has been tearing up the lives of non-combatants everywhere forever. It didn’t stop on Armistice Day, or when the troops came home in 1945, or when everyone realized Viet Nam was a big fiasco, or when headlines from Afghanistan and Iraq stopped being bigger than headlines from Hollywood bedrooms again.

And it didn’t start with those conflicts, either, and what you should never forget – if you are going to be never forgetting something – is that the world is always at war with itself. Massacres don’t stop. The thing that determines whether you feel like there’s a war going on or not is how much it affects white people near where you live. I’m sorry, but it’s true.

The song I’m posting today can only show you a sliver of the global condition, but what ginzu did was focus on the inevitable bystanders, the collateral damage, the human cost of violent conflict. Wherever people are killing, some contingent of the killed never asked to play.

The song is called “Civilian,” and in my humble opinion, it’s the best political song to ever come out of the Halifax hip-hop scene. For years it’s been kicking around in my headphones, haunting me. I’m privileged to be able to let you hear it now.

Stay okay, okay?

Okay.

We’re all so proud of More or Les! He and Fresh Kils are dropping their new EP, the aptly titled Les-Kils EP (where did they come up with that?) at the end of the month. The EP features scratches by DJs Uncle Fester and Killa Jewel, plus guest raps on the first single, “Pop N Chips,” by Timbuktu and Ghettosocks! The EP will be officially released on July 24th in Toronto at Rancho Relaxo, as part of the kick-off show of this summer’s Eastern Canadian World Tour – BACKBURNER AWESOME SHOWS, GREAT TOUR!

Watch this space for further details on the record and the tour, as well as a behind-the-scenes account of the “Pop N Chips” video shoot in Toronto!

So in honour of Les and his many achievements, this week’s Showtime In ’09 heater is another of his unreleased remixes, a little number called “Comedy Two.” It features Miss Butter and was remixed by Dorc!

You love it.

A joint by ginzu3 reflecting on depression and alcoholism… maybe not the jam to get the party started, but solid nonetheless. Includes the intro beat and extended outro instrumental for hungry MCs who want microphone therapy.

You could be forgiven for thinking we forgot about our promise to lace you up with hot raps every week of 2009… considering that the year is nearly half over and we’ve only given you three tracks instead of the twenty-something such a vouchsafe would suggest.

It’s a fair cop. No-one would criticize you for saying so.

But here behind the scenes at the Backburner Laboratories, we’re still clawing our way through archives to find mystical hidden gems to present you with, and here’s one I know you’re going to be ecstatic about.

In 2004-ish, Fresh Kils produced a track featuring back-and-forth raps between Timbuktu and Thesis Sahib, and although I think it might have been bootlegged a little for gas money during one of our patented Eastern Canadian World Tours, it has pretty much never seen the light of day.

UNTIL NOW.

Click the track’s name to download it: Thesis Sahib & Timbuktu – Popular Nightmare or click the Quicktime player (ugh) below to stream it on this page.

In extensive interviews with the track’s vocal participants, I’ve gleaned that neither of them ever really liked the song very much and thought it didn’t come out right. I think they both are maniacs, because in my opinion if this song were any better it would be uncomfortable for lesser talents such as myself* to endure it.

One last thing – I’m sorry it’s in M4A format. Thesis is a Mac user, that’s my only excuse. I guess the upside is that you can play it behind slide shows on your Wii?

Okay you’re welcome! Keep it locked for more raps and podcasts!

*false modesty

If you’ve been to a Jesse Dangerously live show in the last three years, odds are good that you’ve heard a version of this song featuring only his guest verse over ginzu’s beat. The secret truth though is that ginzu originally made “Have Nots” as a solo joint for one of the many albums that have, over the years, fallen prey to his rampaging perfectionism.

Switching out of the third person (this is Jesse), every so often I persuade ginzu to furnish me with a whack of his active and/or abandoned works in progress just so that my ears can cry and beg me to try harder to be that good. One such a whack included the embryonic and long-abandoned skeleton of “Have Not” (you know it’s ginzu when there are embryonic skeletons afoot; literal or figurative) and I was so taken by the clever conceit of the lyric and the searing menace of the beat, I wrote about sixty-four thousand bars on the spot and phoned up ginzu to inform him that I’d be coming over shortly so he could record me on the track.

To my surprise and relief, he acquiesced without protest. Then the track sat on shelves and mouldered for ages… like a fine cheese. I don’t know if it will ever come out in a “real” format, but in any event I can’t stand to see you looking so sad without a powerful rap all over your face so please just take this one and start grimacing hard at suckers.

Left click the title to listen, right click to download:
ginzuintriplicate – Have Not featuring Jesse Dangerously

Supplementary: if any giant nerds or self-styled “otaku” are reading this blog, please be made aware that ginzu lives in Osaka, Japan in an apartment overlooking Capcom world headquarters. Jealous? Yes, you are.

For this week’s (okay, last week’s – this is the internet) offering, I have for you an unreleased gem from Toolshed. It’s called Cult Classic Hits (left-click the song name to listen, right-click to download) and it’s produced by Timbuktu, who also rhymes on it along with Choke. Psybo’s voice is absent from this number, which means that a few years ago we would have said it was by Sequestrians (which is what Timbuktu and Choke temporarily went by during his previous absence), but don’t worry – he’ll be turning up soon, and with a vengeance.

For now, check this smooth and slamming paean to underground origins.

On another note… this Saturday night, I had the pleasure of seeing Timbuktu, Ghettosocks and Fresh Kils share the stage with one of your all-time true school legends, El Da Sensei (late of New Jersey’s The Artifacts). Despite a few running time issues and a competing show by The Clipse across town, the show went off like a dream. Watching my friends tear a stage up under the approving stewardship of one of the architects of the way we do things to this day? It’s my biggest vicarious thrill of 2009… so far.

And although I wasn’t a performer that night, did I get a chance at the end of the night to elicit props from the god with my secret light speed flows? Let’s just say the answer isn’t “no.”

This is the part where I make a promise to you: from now on, for at least the duration of 2009 or 52 weeks (whichever is more) and maybe longer, we at Backburner are going to be giving you a free, unreleased MP3 from some member of our crew every Friday. There’s going to be a lot more other good, free stuff available from this site at various times throughout the year such as free mixtapes, podcasts, contests and what-have-you, but through it all will be a regular current of single songs that are completely free for you to download.

They may be solo tracks, posse cuts, unusual collaborations, remixes, who knows what else? I’ll tell you one thing for damn sure though: they’re for YOU.

So starting you off, here’s the AM remix of More or Les’ “Shooting People and Disrespecting Women,” bringing new life to the original as heard on his 2006 album, The Truth About Rap. (left-click the song name to listen, right-click to download)