Session 2: The underground NJ-based emcee Hasan Salaam interprets the music of Baloberos Crew, who will appear via live video feed from the West African nation of Guinea Bissau.

BALOBEROS CREW are a group of hip hop artists who have faced intimidation by the military police because their lyrics are critical of the government (here an interview with members below). In a climate of corruption, drug trafficking, political assassination, and poverty, hip hop music in GB acts as a social conscience.

To read more about their story, download the press release below.

Big Up GB mixtape (Nomadic Wax and Cobiana Records) featuring Baloberos Crew (and others)

HASAN SALAAM has been distinguishing himself from prevailing hip hop culture since the release of his debut album, Paradise Lost, which earned the New Jersey emcee Song of the Year at the 2005 Underground Music Awards for “Blaxploitation." Hasan has performed all over the East Coast and on NBC's "Showtime at the Apollo", FUSE TV's "Digital Downloads", C-SPAN, and elsewhere, and has opened for Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaata, Curtis Blow, Wyclef, Naughty by Nature, Busta Rhymes, Black Moon, Floetry, Common, and dead prez. Other releases include Tales of the Lost Tribe (2006) and Children of God (2008).

Through teaching and community activism at P.S. 41 in Jersey City, Essex County Youth House, and Eastern New Correctional Facility, Hasan has engaged youth and adults in creative writing, music composition, and music production.

The Impossible Music Sessions are sponsored by Freemuse: The World Forum on Music and Censorship, Center for Inquiry-New York City, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Littlefield.

$5 cover. Special guests to be announced.