The Urgent Political Grime Punk of BOB VYLAN



Let’s talk about the UK musical duo Bob Vylan and why I love their unapologetically militant album The Price of Life. Sometimes, politics is a matter of life and death, with all the unsubtlety that implies.

Link to the album: https://bobvylan.bandcamp.com/album/bob-vylan-presents-the-price-of-life

#BobVylan #grime #punk #fascism

Recommended Channels/Videos:
“United we stand?”: “BAME”, Class and a Deep Dive of our Dynamics” by Hyphenated_ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPWwB-atoLY&ab_channel=Hyphenated_

“Walter Rodney and the Guerrilla Intellectual” by The Ministry of Africa Propaganda – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46QJ6dU0q-o&ab_channel=MinistryofAfricanPropaganda

Works Cited:
The Price of Life and
We Live Here by Bob Vylan
Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Title Music: City of Vylans by me

Franz Fanon tarot card from this deck – https://repeaterbooks.com/product/the-philosophers-tarot/

City Sounds by: SageTyrtle & Keng Wai Cheng
City Footage by: George Morina

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32 thoughts on “The Urgent Political Grime Punk of BOB VYLAN”

  1. lol, lmao even: somehow in editing, I clipped out a bit of my sentence at the 11:14 mark. You can probably figure it out from context but my original sentence is preserved in the closed caption. I've been making videos for years now, you'd think I'd stop making silly mistakes

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  2. As a Brit it's been pretty depressing spending 12 years watching the social murder of hundreds of thousands of people around me, but hey we got our own Rage, every cloud, or something?

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  3. Well, now I have more music to check out.
    Seriously, the unsubtlety is important and difficult, when we are living in a situation where right wingers can escalate without repercussions and we can't even poke them back without getting hell rained upon us, it is important that we don't lose sight of the full range of tactics which have been heavily involved in every successful change of system in history.

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  4. You touched on a sentiment I don't think I realized has affected my thoughts on some media. I'm tired of too much subtlety given the state of the world right now. Definitely will check out, thanks for this!

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  5. pauses video, listens to album
    "It's good, and it's super short, so it didn't take my whole morning to listen to. I think people forget the virtue of short. Albums that clock like 45 mins tops and are more like 20 can be a godsend cause you can get through them and sit with them while making breakfast.

    Also, that bar about Churchill in the river, banger.

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  6. The British are always a step ahead with the punk sounds, I think we'll see this kind of sound blow up everywhere and hopefully originators like Bob Vylan will get the respect they deserve. Grime Punk is a great combination.

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  7. I am way behind on content from my faves on YouTube, so I will get to this eventually, but I think it's great you're doing a piece on them.

    Had a great time seeing them open up Amyl And The Sniffers a month ago. Their left leaning ideals come through in their music and their personality on stage, really awesome stuff.

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  8. It's a surreal experience watching someone explain the meaning behind lyrics that are so inescapably obvious to anyone who understands the first thing about what's going on in the world. Not because it's a pointless thing to do, but precisely because most people actually do need it explained to understand it.
    The fundaments of leftism are so simple as to be obvious when you think about nearly any issue, but most people have been conditioned out of understanding them with thought terminating cliches like the ones TDD often describes from his time as a cop. The same ones I heard and believed for much of my life, lest anyone get the impression I think I'm above it.

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  9. Wake me up when one of these Xtreme (TM) rap, punk, or rock acts begin sharing a political opinion NOT held by the DNC (Democrat Party in the USA). It's a cliche, but how Punk are you if your beliefs align totally with Joe Biden's? How much are you RAGING against the machine when you now believe everything the CIA/FBI is saying…..and agreeing with the censorship of "undesirables" you see as beneath you? Asking for a friend, you basic bitches. NOTHING more basic than ripping a PE line from the fucking 80s and having some bearded soyboy call it "fresh". We're done here.

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  10. I really think this was a very good and different look at Bob vylan and the price of life album and there is way to much for me to unpack about what I like about this video and how it does an incredible job of highlighting the lyrics and the meaning of the album. I was lucky enough to see Bobby on the street on my way to the venue that they would play and he was kind enough to allow me to say hello and was really very nice and after they played one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to bobby and Bobbie gave people the opportunity to quickly say hi and get a photo or just ask a few things this is what makes these guys special. They have everything you could want. Good music created by talented musicians, powerful, punchy and witty lyrics, mixed with an incredible stage show which exudes charisma. To anyone who reads this if you get a chance to see bob vylan live expect an incredible show with incredible energy that you won’t forget in a hurry it was worth every single penny to see live. So thanks to them and thanks to that dang dad for the video. 1 thumbs up from me.

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  11. I think maybe every video I've seen from you probably had at least a passing mention of something regarding mental health or some other issue regarding disability rights. I don't know if I can say the same about any other abled Leftist YouTuber. You just might be the most anti-ableist abled (or at least, abled-presenting) Leftist on YouTube. I really appreciate that you use your privileged voice to amplify more marginalized voices like that. Please keep up the good work!

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