Junkyard Empire may be the hungriest new hip hop band in North America. Not hungry for fame or fortune or platinum records, though they probably would love all that. According to band founder Chris Cox and frontperson MC Brianhu (aka Brian Lozenski), who talked with us by phone recently to promote their new EP Rebellion Politik, Junkyard Empire is hungry for political and social change. Both unabashedly proclaim they want St. Paul, Minnesota-based Junkyard Empire to provide the soundtrack for a new era of political protest and social change. Far from shying away from politics, they embrace a radical world-view.

MC Brianhu, who grew up on hip hop and studied education at the University of Minnesota, says that music grabbed his interest most when artists and groups like Public Enemy, Digable Planets, Mos Def, Dead Prez really 'pushed the envelop' with great music and positive, political content that seems lacking today.

Opposition to George W. Bush and his policies fueled the political musical genre over the past eight years, and now that he's out of office, some industry experts worry political music may be on the wane. Not Junkyard Empire, however. 'We took it a step further,' Brianhu says. 'It's much bigger than presidential politics. There still needs to be some kind of a mass movement of people, and we can't just depend on the Obama administration to make change.'

Keyboardist and trombonist, Chris Cox is driven by a political philosophy he calls pragmatic optimism. Politics and art are inseparable. And music has a decisive role to play in social progress and revolution, according to his outlook. But musicians and artists have fallen down on the job. 'We tend to be a little bit insular,' Cox laughs. 'We tend, you know, to hide in the closet and write music and write these amazing lyrics and try to pawn it off as though we're not trying to change the world.'

'But the reality is that we really are trying to change the world,' Cox goes on seriously. 'And I think it's OK to admit that.' Our mission is to wake some people up and that's what's going to make Junkyard Empire succeed. The goal? Nothing short of fomenting what Cox describes an 'overdue revolution.' 'Our job as artists is to try an help bring the people together,' he boldly asserts.

Brianhu's ambitions are more subdued, but no less thoughtfully emblematic. 'Music is kind of like the seed to me,' he says. Growing up with important bands like Public Enemy, Brianhu explains, he often didn't understand everything Chuck D was rapping about. Still, he knew it was important and it always meant something profound. 'I knew that something needed to be changed.' Artists like Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Michael Franti were speaking to and out of a social movement for change. That fact gave meaning to their music and helped them to become powerful voices, Brianhu says. 'They ended up becoming a soundtrack for that type of change.'

'Bottom line,' Brianhu says, 'change still comes from the community and with people organizing. The music can go along with that.' Musicians can also be organizers and play a role in building the movements that will make change happen. 'Music for me is kind of like the icing on the cake,' he concludes.

The gap between what Chuck D rapped about and the young Brian Lozenski's understanding of those words seems to have fueled not only a thirst for knowledge about society but a desire to develop his own musical and poetic gifts. And if Rebellion Politik represents anything, it's that the seed planted by those great performers and voices of the past has sprouted into the quality artistry and theory that combined to create this important record. Above all, it signals that the future of politically and socially conscious music is in good hands.

Junkyard evolution

Rebellion Politik is Junkyard Empire's new release, coming out of Media Roots Music, and will be distributed digitally and at upcoming shows. Rebellion marks a turning point for the band explains Cox, because the band got serious about making serious music. For this record, the band became far more organized than in its past efforts and put together weeks of pre-production rehearsals where 'we fine-tuned the arrangements that we were gonna use on the record.'

Unlike during the making of the Rise of the Wretched, the band's last full length album, put out last summer, Cox says, 'everything (on this record) is very, very intentional, from the lyrics to the concept of the album to going into the studio and really methodically recording every song.'

'We were exceptionally well prepared this time,' Cox says. This is something new for the band. When Wretched was made, Cox admits, the band grabbed free studio time at a local college and approached the making of the album like a jam session. 'We played our asses off, but it was, you know, less planned.'

The difference is noticeable. Rebellion puts out a harder, edgier, more well-produced sound. The lyrics and arrangements are more careful and potent. The band has really gelled, MC Brianhu adds. 'We've finally got our personnel together. It's a constant thing, and we're comfortable with each other.'

Signing with MediaRoots Music also put the band on a new footing. Band manager Marc Nicolas, who founded Media Roots, describes it as a fan-driven record label for the web 2.0 era. Nicolas' friend, Brian Susko, discovered the band and produced Rebellion Politik. When Susko mastered Rebellion at Nicolas' studio in Santa Monica, California earlier this year, Nicolas got hooked immediately. 'I absolutely fell in love with (Rebellion). I mean every song, one after another, I was just totally blown away by it,' Nicolas says. 'I thought it was some of the most creative music I ever heard.'

After that experience, Nicolas felt compelled to get involved with Junkyard Empire. It also seemed like the right time to jump into managing the band and starting Media Roots, a lifelong dream. 'It felt right. The right time, the right place. It was a band I could get totally behind,' he says.

Nicolas believes Junkyard Empire has a real chance to do something special. 'We haven't really seen a nationally recognized political act since Rage Against the Machine, but with the political environment now, we need it,' he says. 'Junkyard Empire is the band to do that.' His immediate goal is to generate buzz around Junkyard Empire's new sound and songs in order to pique the interest of bigger labels. Brianhu, Cox and the others really have a chance to take it to 'the mainstream level,' Nicolas confidently insists.

From in your face left politics to party music, Junkyard Empire brings fresh jams that mix jazz, hip hop and hard rock. Listen to some of the band's latest songs on its MySpace and Facebook pages – definitely worth checking out.

Rebellion Politik, the full recording, will drop digitally September 4th and the band is planning a very special event later this summer to bring it out with a big splash. The band told this writer about some of their tentative plans, but insisted they be kept secret until they are finalized. But as Cox hinted in a recent post on Twitter (@ChrisRobinCox), some of us may not be ready for what they are about to do. Later this year, the band expects to begin a North American tour. So watch for more upcoming Junkyard Empire news here at PoliticalAffairs.net.