Benefit Album to Raise Funds for Abu-Jamal

Concerts are not the only music projects raising funds for Mumia Abu-Jamal. In April, Realized Records, a new Los Angeles-based label, will release “Unbound,” a benefit album featuring Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, Public Enemy’s Chuck D. and the Roots’ Black Thought, among other hip-hop and spoken-word artists.

Realized’s Frank Sosa, 26, believes the controversy surrounding Thursday’s New Jersey concert for Abu-Jamal could work to the album’s benefit.

“We’re not gun-shy at all mainly because everyone around the project, including myself, sees it as a medium to highlight the truth,” Sosa said. “I don’t want to say that ‘any press is good press,’ but with coverage by Howard Stern and ‘Hard Copy,’ I would hope that it would encourage people to find out more.”

Half of the profits from the CD, which is slated for an initial pressing of 75,000 copies, will go to the legal defense of Abu-Jamal. “Mumia 911,” a track from the album, will be sent to radio stations in around two weeks.

The album--which will be distributed by nu gruv alliance, which specializes in independent hip-hop releases--will feature songs that explore various aspects of the concept of “freedom” and the criminal justice system.

Sosa does not anticipate a lot of mainstream radio play. “We’re really counting on urban outlets, since they already have a lot of the artists in regular rotation,” he said.