UPDATE: The video for “Voices Through Rubble” was just released and is available to watch on YouTube and below. All proceeds of video streams will be included in their ongoing fundraiser to help provide aid to Youth in Gaza.
The Halluci Nation lends its voice and sonics in solidarity with Palestine on their new single “Voices Through Rubble,” which also features powerful words from Saul Williams and rapper NARCY. At a loss over what more can be said in dissent toward the ongoing genocide, all three artists are responding with action via their art and their wallets.
Next month, Saul Williams will also take the stage at The Ford in Los Angeles on Friday, August 9th for a night of Afrofuturism in “The Motherboard Suite.” Subscribe to the Grimy Goods newsletter for the chance to win a pair of tickets!
“Voices Through Rubble” spotlights the shared oppression and violence endured by Indigenous populations, inflicted by colonizers, that’s ingrained in both our history and cultural mythology. “The premise of many horror films / Are haunted houses built over mass graves,” Williams elucidates against the volatile build-up of beats. “The science fiction ones imagined aliens coming to colonize and enslave the earth / Westerners championed settlers over the Indigenous / Projectionist’s archives of colonial exploits / As entertainment.” A rabid gallop of drums and industrial electronica screeching in affirmation.
NARCY’s Arabic bars and chants of “GAZA” ground the poetics of Williams in the merciless onslaught that’s destroying Palestinian bodies, families, and homes. The Halluci Nation’s unstoppable hyper-kinetics evoke both the concussive bombardment being endured and the fiercely indomitable spirit of the people who find themselves buried beneath decades of settler violence. Pleading with dire urgency, the voices that come through the rubble are impossible to turn away from.
“To sleep through bomb blasts / And awaken to Dust / Born of a concrete womb,” the track’s lyricism draws on the visceral, horrifying images of Palestinian people crushed or trapped in the ruinous aftermath of Israeli attacks. Yet the daunting bleakness of these realities is channeled into a torrential feeling—one that echoes the very reason The Halluci Nation sought to create the song—a reminder of the importance of community, empathy, and support amongst oppressed groups around the world.
The Halluci Nation shared via Instagram: “This song is for the people of Gaza, this song is for all the protesters, this song is our way of telling the world that we stand with the Palestinian people against this colonial genocide they are facing from the Israeli government. It’s impossible for us not to see the suffering of our own people in the faces of those who are suffering today. When a colonial force can’t break a people, the final move is to destroy the family because it’s our families and communities that keep us strong. Here on Turtle Island we know the lasting effects of this kind of attack on our families and its lasting effects on the survivors. So we send you all of our love along with this song. We know a song isn’t enough, but it’s the offering we have.”
“From Turtle Island, to Palestine, to Sudan, to the Congo, to Worldwide. Cultural Justice to all our People,” NARCY also echoed.
All three artists who helped create “Voices Through Rubble” know that as powerful a song might be, humanitarian aid is what the people of Palestine need desperately. That is why each has pledged to make their own donation—in addition to the track’s proceeds—to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund-Urgent Relief Campaign, which provides shelter, formula/food, emergency medical, and mental healthcare for infants and youth in Gaza.
ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
BEST NEW MUSIC
You can see The Halluci Nation live in Denver, CO at the Underground Music Showcase, and in Santa Fe, NM. Catch Saul Williams at The Ford in Los Angeles on Friday, August 9th. Be sure to sign up for the Grimy Goods newsletter for a chance at winning a pair of tickets to the show!
ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
BEST NEW MUSIC
Words: Steven Ward
Visit The Halluci Nation on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
This post may contain affiliate links. Ads and affiliate links are how independent blogs like Grimy Goods can operate. Thank you for supporting our work and being a part of our music community.
