After making his name as the founding member of Homicide, Indonesia's version of Immortal Technique, Morgue Vanguard is out with a new single that attacks the current combative political climate and land conflicts between locals and corporations around Indonesia."Check Your People," is a collaboration between two top MCs in Indonesia, Morgue Vanguard and Doyz (Blakumuh). The single touches on the land reclamation battle in Bali, Indonesia's, at times, frenzied democracy, and a nod to one of Indonesia's thrash metal legends, Rotor.
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This isn't the first time Ucok A.K.A. Morgue Vanguard and Doyz worked together. Last year, they spit bars in tribute of old school hip hop culture in Testamen."Check Your People" sounds like a hit from the golden era of hip-hop in the 90s, but it wastes no time ferociously criticizing the escalating issue of land grabbing by big corporations.It's been a tradition for Ucok to distribute his work—even though it's just a single— with an accompanying political essay. As if it wasn't enough being the most political single in early 2017, "Check You People" was released by Grimloc Records right when the frenzy surrounding Indonesia's gubernatorial election reached its peak on February 8.Was this a deliberate attempt to disrupt the election madness? I reached out to Ucok to talk about this and the poppy sound of Morgue Vanguard's new music.What are your and Doyz's roles in the making songs? Who had the idea for this collaboration?
It was actually mine. In the process of writing Testamen we were supposed to do 7" but due to limited space we opted for 12". So we had to write more songs to fill the space. The 12" has six songs, and Check Your People is one of them."Check Your People" reminds me of downset., did they influence your music?
Downset.? Maybe, maybe not. The phrase [Check Your People] is a common phrase in hip-hop, just like power to the people. downset. was indeed one of the groups using this phrase but it's a common hip hop phrase.
It was actually mine. In the process of writing Testamen we were supposed to do 7" but due to limited space we opted for 12". So we had to write more songs to fill the space. The 12" has six songs, and Check Your People is one of them."Check Your People" reminds me of downset., did they influence your music?
Downset.? Maybe, maybe not. The phrase [Check Your People] is a common phrase in hip-hop, just like power to the people. downset. was indeed one of the groups using this phrase but it's a common hip hop phrase.
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Why did you choose land conflict as the backbone of "Check Your People?"
It's not actually just about land conflict. Perhaps land conflict is one of the existing grassroots issues right now. We're trying to bring attention back to grassroots issues because today grassroots problems are overshadowed by electoral politics. Kids today assume electoral politics is the only way to bring along change, but politics is really about working on issues happening at the grassroots level. Land conflict are brought up because they are part of grassroots issues. But the issues don't stop there, there's labor rights problems and the evictions of the poor in the cities.What's the significance of releasing a protest song like this in an era where people easily fall for fake news?
We deliberately released the digital single before the vinyl because there's political momentum now. People think electoral politics are a crucial issue even though they are actually part of the problem. One of the results of electoral politics is the spread of fake news, done with the interest of winning votes. The vinyl release is still two months away but we want to catch the public's attention. A message needs to be sent out to today's generation, that there's an alternative to relying on elections for change.
This is our contribution to disseminating information regarding grassroots politics. It's not only us, there's lots of other people who try to do the same. I just want more people involved in grassroots politics, that's all.
It's not actually just about land conflict. Perhaps land conflict is one of the existing grassroots issues right now. We're trying to bring attention back to grassroots issues because today grassroots problems are overshadowed by electoral politics. Kids today assume electoral politics is the only way to bring along change, but politics is really about working on issues happening at the grassroots level. Land conflict are brought up because they are part of grassroots issues. But the issues don't stop there, there's labor rights problems and the evictions of the poor in the cities.What's the significance of releasing a protest song like this in an era where people easily fall for fake news?
We deliberately released the digital single before the vinyl because there's political momentum now. People think electoral politics are a crucial issue even though they are actually part of the problem. One of the results of electoral politics is the spread of fake news, done with the interest of winning votes. The vinyl release is still two months away but we want to catch the public's attention. A message needs to be sent out to today's generation, that there's an alternative to relying on elections for change.
Did you release this song to disrupt the frenzy surrounding Jakarta's gubernatorial race?
This is our contribution to disseminating information regarding grassroots politics. It's not only us, there's lots of other people who try to do the same. I just want more people involved in grassroots politics, that's all.
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Your projects sound more poppy and feature more sampling. Is there a reason behind this, do you want to appeal to younger audience?
Since Homicide broke up, I experimented with music, especially in Bars of Death and my solo projects. I wanted to create songs similar to the hip hop that I used to listen to. Homicide was more experimental and intended to break boundaries within hip-hop, I think I achieved that already.If it sounds more poppy or whatever, perhaps it is. But I think hip-hop started that way, with its composition and roots of sampling. There's elements of old R'n'B, jazz, and progressive rock, that's how it's supposed to be.If you ask me what my intention is, it's to make more accessible music. Theme-wise, my message is pretty heavy and I've used 'difficult' music to deliver it. So now I want to try making more accessible music, especially since I'm collaborating with Doyz. I'm not compromising my music, since I don't feel like I am chasing trends, we still make music that we like.Do you think this single and the accompanying essay can raise awareness among listeners about Indonesia's land conflicts?
I believe it can. Just like music that I made in the past, everything is an attempt. Whether it's successful or not, I can't tell. For me, music has always been about trying things that I believe in. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But I believe that at least with today's technology, the single will be able to reach more people than my previous work. There was no internet back in the day, today it's easy to do things that weren't even possible in the 90's. We released singles all the time but it was hard to reach as many people as you can today. Forget printing out booklets, it would have been too costly. Now I can just make booklets as PDFs and people can download it, or at least I hope they will.The 12" Vinyl of Testamen is an upcoming release on Grimloc Records.
Since Homicide broke up, I experimented with music, especially in Bars of Death and my solo projects. I wanted to create songs similar to the hip hop that I used to listen to. Homicide was more experimental and intended to break boundaries within hip-hop, I think I achieved that already.If it sounds more poppy or whatever, perhaps it is. But I think hip-hop started that way, with its composition and roots of sampling. There's elements of old R'n'B, jazz, and progressive rock, that's how it's supposed to be.If you ask me what my intention is, it's to make more accessible music. Theme-wise, my message is pretty heavy and I've used 'difficult' music to deliver it. So now I want to try making more accessible music, especially since I'm collaborating with Doyz. I'm not compromising my music, since I don't feel like I am chasing trends, we still make music that we like.Do you think this single and the accompanying essay can raise awareness among listeners about Indonesia's land conflicts?
I believe it can. Just like music that I made in the past, everything is an attempt. Whether it's successful or not, I can't tell. For me, music has always been about trying things that I believe in. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But I believe that at least with today's technology, the single will be able to reach more people than my previous work. There was no internet back in the day, today it's easy to do things that weren't even possible in the 90's. We released singles all the time but it was hard to reach as many people as you can today. Forget printing out booklets, it would have been too costly. Now I can just make booklets as PDFs and people can download it, or at least I hope they will.The 12" Vinyl of Testamen is an upcoming release on Grimloc Records.