'Friendly fire' is a strange term, like 'civil war' ... Nightvision shot of a Humvee with US soldiers. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty
To The Fallen Records is a label founded by Sean Gilfillan and Sidney DeMello and is, as far as I know, the first ever military-only record label - in other words, all of the artists signed has been or is in the US military. I should say that the label has nothing to do with the Pentagon, George Bush or the Republican party and indeed prides itself on its independence.
Their first release is Combat Zone by the hip-hop act Dirty Boi Vets and offers a bloody account of life in Iraq. Rapper, and former Marine Sgt. Sugarray Henry, describes a night when, as he reached for a pack of cigarettes on the dash of his Humvee, his platoon came under sudden and furious fire. A driver up ahead was killed and Sugarray lost control of his vehicle. These soldiers were not the victims of insurgents but rather of what is laughably known as friendly fire.
Combat Zone forms the centre piece of a 14 track hip-hop compilation, To the Fallen - Volume 1, and arguably constitutes this war's angriest and most sustained protest record. You can listen to Dirty Boi Vets here.
