DJ Phatrick

Hours away from the verdict of the historic Oscar Grant trial, rappers Kiwi and Bambu (along with DJ Phatrick) have reunited as Native Guns to release their latest song, “Handcuffs” (produced by Six Fingers).

“With so much emotion and uncertainty around the outcome of this case, we felt a sense of urgency to come back together and do this track” states Kiwi, a former Oakland resident. Bambu adds, “We both experienced the L.A riots in 1992 firsthand, and we wanted to remind people of the lessons learned from back then, so we can keep them in mind as we move forward with this current situation.”

Kiwi breaks the song down further: “The message is threefold: to validate the community’s anger around the blatant murder of this young man, to spark a discussion and deeper analysis of what police are there to do beyond just enforcing the law, and to get folks to think strategically about how they want to react to this verdict, whatever it ends up being.”

This is the group’s first song together in nearly 4 years. Their critically-acclaimed debut album, “Barrel Men” (2005), followed by the “Stray Bullets Vol 2″ Mixtape (2006) received rave reviews and built them a loyal following that carries over to this day. Their material continues to be used in both college classrooms and community youth workshops alike.