Outraged art on the Internet

From the NY Times by John Leland:

IN the 18th century, songwriters responded to current events by writing new lyrics to existing melodies. "Benjamin Franklin used to write broadside ballads every time a disaster struck," said Elijah Wald, a music historian, and sell the printed lyrics in the street that afternoon.

This tradition of responding culturally to terrible events had almost been forgotten, Mr. Wald said, but in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it may be making a comeback, with the obvious difference that, where Franklin would have sold a few song sheets to his fellow Philadelphians, the Internet allows artists today to reach the whole world.

For example, an unlicensed rap song describing the frustration of African-American evacuees has been made available free on the Internet. The song, "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People," by the Houston duo called the Legendary K.O., vividly recounts the plight of those who endured the hurricane, occasionally using crude language in the process. It has already been downloaded by as many as a half-million people. The videos have been seen by thousands.

"A. J. Liebling famously commented that freedom of the press belongs to those who own one," said Mike Godwin, legal director of Public Knowledge, a First Amendment group. "Well, we all own one now."

"George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" takes its title from remarks made by the hip-hop star Kanye West at a televised benefit for storm victims on Sept. 2. It took shape in Houston, where two friends were helping evacuees at the Astrodome and convention center the Sept. 3 weekend.

"When they got to Houston, people were just seeing for the first time how they were portrayed in the media," said Damien Randle, 31, a financial adviser and one half of the Legendary K.O. "It was so upsetting for them to be up on a roof for two days, with their kids in soiled diapers, and then see themselves portrayed as looters."

In response, Mr. Randle and his partner, Micah Nickerson, wrote a rap based on the stories of the people they were helping. On Sept. 6, Mr. Nickerson sent Mr. Randle an instant message containing a music file and one verse, recorded on his home computer. Mr. Randle recorded an additional verse and sent it back, and 15 minutes later it was up on their Web site: www.k-otix.com.

"Within the first 24 hours, it was downloaded 10,000 times," Mr. Randle said. "It crashed our server." Since then at least five sites have posted the song, with downloads of 100,000 each, he said.

In New Brunswick, N.J., Marquise Lee, a freelance video producer, heard the song and thought it called for a video. He downloaded scenes of African-Americans in New Orleans, intercutting them with images of President Bush and unrelated scenes from a Kanye West video. "It was a first-person account of the struggle - 'Come down and help me,' " said Mr. Lee, 25.

Mr. Lee posted the video on his site, www.theblacklantern.com, on Sept. 14. In 48 hours, he said, thousands of people had downloaded the video, even as other sites also made it available. Franklin Lopez, a filmmaker, created another video to the song, available at submediatv.com.

"It's very hip-hop, baby," said the rap personality Fab 5 Freddy, who said he sent the Lee video to dozens of his friends. "It's taking something that's out there and turning it into something new - getting your thing out by any means necessary."