Khaled M’s “Can’t Take Our Freedom” Returns

On March 8, Libyan-American rapper Khaled M released “Can’t Take Our Freedom”, a song featuring Iraqi-British rapper Lowkey protesting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s slaughter of his own people. Filled with exclusive and extremely graphic civilian footage from the Libyan frontlines, the accompanying video received 50,000 hits in its first week before Youtube mysteriously took it down, citing a violation of its Terms Of Service. An appeal promptly filed with Youtube was denied. Fans began reposting the video – some even posting their own versions – and started a petition site to have the official video reinstated. Now, months later, after extensive mediation between a party mutual to Khaled’s team and Youtube, the “Freedom” video has returned, although you must prove you are 18 or over to view. “I don’t know if it was someone trying to suppress the message,” says Khaled. “There’s a lot of other graphic stuff on Youtube, so maybe someone just didn’t like the message. I just know there was something fishy about it, something inconsistent.” Khaled was named “Lyricist Of The Year” at the Chicago Urban Music Awards, and LowKey was recently named one of the UK’s top ten artists by MTV. “Freedom” is the first single from Khaled’s upcoming fall release, the FreE.P. He’s headlining the official kickoff event for this year’s North Coast Music Festival featuring Wiz Khalifa, David Guetta and Common at Chicago’s House Of Blues on September 1, two days before he starts his Freedom Tour, which will visit college campuses nationwide.