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If it’s wrong to love Scientology hip-hop, we don’t want to be right

 
Peter Bonyai asked us if we’d seen a three-year-old video put out by Scientology which features one of our favorite performers, Scientology’s in-house hip hop giant, Chill EB. We told him we weren’t sure, but we really didn’t need much excuse to visit it again as long as the Chillmaster was in it.

Unfortunately, you have to sit through a lot of really boring scene-setting by the masters at Golden Era Productions in this video as it tries to build a mood and cast a spell over its intended audience — Scientologists who are likely sick and tired of forking out their hard-earned cash to the International Association of Scientologists (IAS). But once it gets going, not only are we treated to a few glimpses of Chill, but the hard rap line is laid down by none other than Rev. Alfreddie Johnson — yes! The Literacy King himself!

Alfreddie may be Scientology’s most visible African-American figure, and he’s been in the middle of a lot of Scientology history, including the strange merger of Scientology and the Nation of Islam. But perhaps his greatest exploit was somehow escaping criminal charges when just about everyone else around him at his former literacy center was caught up in a state insurance fraud prosecution. Alfreddie made himself somewhat scarce after that first went down, but we’ve noticed in recent months that he’s starting to make a comeback as a man on the scene. This video reminds us of just what a big deal he was considered at one time.

And maybe that’s the best reason for revisiting this video, to remember how things were just a few years ago, right when Alex Gibney’s Going Clear and Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath arrived and put some serious hurt on the church, which seems to be in a real tailspin. So let’s remember these Scientology quasi-celebrities giving it their all as the ship SS Miscavige began heading into stormy waters.

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There’s Chick Corea, of course, who has done OT 8 twice. People often ask us if bassist Stanley Clarke is still involved, and here’s your answer. Australia knows OT 8 singer Kate Ceberano, but she’s really not known in the States. David Campbell is the father that Beck so rejected from his life he took his mother’s last name, Hansen, instead. Jim Meskimen is the son of actress Marion Ross, and seems to work harder than ever on behalf of the church. The rest we’ll let you look up.

 

 
Alfreddie certainly got us worked up watching that inspiring message. But time and again, as we watched this video, we kept thinking, this is all to inspire Scientologists to fork over money to a slush fund, the IAS, that they then get no discernible benefit from. Debbie Cook testified that there was more than a billion dollars in the IAS fund when she left in 2012 — it’s likely much higher today.

You just have to give David Miscavige credit for continuing to put out emotional appeals like this intended to separate his followers from their cash — and purely for his own benefit. Now that takes some hubris.

 
Don’t forget these other recent gems of Scientology hip hop:

May 27: Praise Xenu, we have more Scientology hip hop, and even better it’s Aussie flavored
July 11: Hip hop continues to amaze us and we hope it transports you as well

 
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MEANWHILE, AT FACEBOOK…

 

 
Please join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

 
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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,198 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 1,801 days
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 344 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 232 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,407 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,181 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 2,955 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,301 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 10,867 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,535 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,795 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 1,835 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,547 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,073 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,162 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,302 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,622 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,478 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,597 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 953 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,255 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,361 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,764 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,636 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,218 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,723 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 1,967 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,076 days.

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3D-UnbreakablePosted by Tony Ortega on August 6, 2018 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news

 

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