For the podcast I decided to focus on either Promise and Pills by SOJA (Amid the Noise and Haste album) or No More Weapons by Steel Pulse (African Holocaust album). I want to focus on the reggae genre because it is known for raising social justice issues starting with Bob Marley, the father of reggae music. Reggae music is known for being rebel music which inherently is protest music because they are rebelling against the status quo, the government or the issue the artist is putting forth. This genre is one that has always intrigued me and one that I do not know much about so I will definitely be doing deep research on.

      Focusing on Promises and Pills by SOJA, I want to learn more about the subject around mental health issues post war and the reintegration of veterans into society after a war. This song protests against how the system prepares you to fight in war for the freedom of the land, but there is no help given after your work is done. Soldiers come back home with half their friends dead, images of towns being blown up and suicide in their heads because of all they had to live and see. And all the government offers is “promises and pills”.  Like I stated before, I’m intrigued in studying reggae and how artists have put forth social justice issues through this genre. This song will lead to explore more in detail suicide rates after the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and what the government did or could have done better regarding veterans.  Alfred The MC is also featured in the song rapping so I will be looking into rap and other artists within this genre that speak about mental health issues that veterans suffer from.

     Focusing on No Weapons by Steel Pulse, I’m interested in learning about America post 9/11, the Bush presidency, both the Iraq and Afghanistan war, and the sentiment of the American people towards these wars. This song advocates for peace and for the end of war. The world has had enough with war, death and politicians that go into war because of “ego trips”.  With this song, I would like to educate myself better about the topics stated before, as well as conspiracy theories behind the reason for the US going into the Middle East.

     Both of these songs sparked an interest in me. I do not have much knowledge on either of these wars and as an American these are crucial events in history that I should be better informed on. The first song, Promises and Pills by SOJA, is a good song to learn the general history of the wars and life of a veteran. With the second song, I will be able to learn in depth about these wars, conspiracies, the US in the early 2000’s and sentiments of the American people. Again, these are all topics I want to be more informed on because as an American my knowledge of them is lacking. In terms of the project, one of my concerns is not being able to record a podcast that actually sounds like a podcast, without any background noise, good sound quality, and mixing my voice with certain parts of the song. My other concern is not being able to give my 100% to the project because of other classes like Business Policy and the full time job search that is taking a lot of time during my weeks.

 

No More Weapons, Steel Pulse, African Holocaust

Promises and Pills, SOJA, Amid the Noise and Haste