MC Bambu (formerly of Native Guns), has a new track called "When Will the Time Come?" about the violence in Gaza. You can listen to it here. It's pretty powerful. Sometimes it takes artists/musicians to bring the point home, and this song is a good example. It's actually a track Bambu wrote for a mixtape for Tad Nakamura's latest documentary, A Song For Ourselves, about the life of Chris Iijima. The late Iijima was an activist and musician, a member in the Asian American band, A Grain of Sand. The documentary premieres next month in Los Angeles.

Bambu's song "When Will the Time Come?" samples from A Grain of Sand's "Jonathan Jackson." Pretty cool. The song is produced by Will Bracey. DJ Phatrick is arranging Iijima's music along with Blue Scholars, Bambu, Kiwi, and Native Guns songs interwoven with sound bites from the movie.

Speaking of Bambu, here's his latest video, "Crooks and Rooks," which premiered on okayplayer.com last month. Zoneil Maharaj, our music editor, tells me that this is a pretty big deal. "Up until now, Bam received most love and press from the API community. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's moving from being 'a dope Asian American rapper' to just a dope emcee period without compromising who he is," according to Zoneil.