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Sign of the Times by L.O.Y.A.L.
Words by L.O.Y.A.L.
The year is 2003, over 500 years after the fall of the Aztecan Empire and the end of the tyrannical Spanish Conquest. The place is the City of Angeles, Aztlán. After the U.S. border crossed over onto the sacred lands of Aztlán our ancestor were introduced into a harsh and unforgiving world. A world where racist cops get away with 1st degree murder with help of scandalous politicians who favor the dollar over the people who elected them to office… a world that has been plagued and silenced by ruthless oppressors… a world that exploited our culture with stereo typical images mass produced by mainstream media. You know the ones, we either pick fruit, mow lawns, steel cars, go around begging with an exaggerated accent or walk around with Dickies pulled up way past the waist line hollerin' "Esé." Well, like an unstable fault, if pressure keeps building upon our people, something is going to snap and then energy with unimaginable magnitude will be released. However, before the earthquake strikes you have tremors… warnings of this movement; ironically these two movements originate from the underground. The Aztecs who occupied Nahualt had a word for 'movement'; this word is Ollin; a sign of change that posses a delicate balance of purification, unity and consciousness. The sign of Ollin is very symbolic to the underground Latino movement that is now taking part in Los Angeles. These artists are the voices of our streets, exhaling our struggles at the top of their lungs yet outside the streets this voice is either silenced or ignored.
One individual who has witnessed these revelations of the movement is executive producer Sal Rojas. Sal, an Aztlán native himself, began observing and documenting the movement back in 1997 and since then he has seen it grow, mature and develop an eternal fire the dwells in the hearts of the artists and the countless loyal followers of the movement as well. That fire has now transcended into an uncontrollable inferno and now four years later, Sal has manifested these visions of a ruthless reality on to wax and gives the movement a voice in the form of "The Ollin Project". This is the first album released from his multimedia company Digital Aztlán and is a 15-track compilation featuring the many voices that fuel the movement.
Sal blended the perfect combination of elite underground Latino artists to produce what the Hip-Hop industry has come to know as a Classic. As mentioned earlier Ollin beholds a delicate balance, this balance is precisely displayed on the album by the diversity in style, lyrics and concepts. Each of the artists bring their own distinct energy to the table creating a vision that blinds the close minded ones who hate because they can't relate. After listening to the album, you will be exposed to the struggles, racism and oppression that that inner-city Latinos endure everyday. All these negatives are in turn transformed into the voice of a culture that now flourishes. The culture, the movement, it forms unity amongst the people and as the conscious lyrics purify our souls the delicate balance of Ollin is created. The culture is on the up rise and if you pay attention, open your eyes widely and listen very closely you may just witness the sign of the times… Ollin... El movimiento de nuestra cultura.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE OLLIN PROJECT!
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