Election 2008: Hip-Hop Has Moved Forward
Since its inception, rap music has been intrinsically linked with young people. As its very foundation, hip-hop has always been about youth: it was they who invented it, promoted it, consumed it and improved upon it. In particular, while hip-hop has always prided itself on being a universal voice, rap has always been the voice of urban youth at its core.
Since Grandmaster Flash dropped “The Message”, hip-hop has chronicled the struggle of people in America and around the world who live a daily reality of violence, poverty, drugs, gangs, broken homes and broken dreams. This is partly what gave rap its strength: creating something from virtually nothing.
At the same time, rap has inherently been political. It gave a voice to those who were far outside the political system, but who were directly impacted by some of the most pressing issues facing the country: crime, housing, jobs, police brutality, welfare, economic development, the family structure. As Chuck D of Public Enemy famously stated, rap music is truly the “Black CNN.” Rap brought many of issues facing the less fortunate in America to the mainstream.
But over the course of rap’s existence, rappers and hip-hop artists for the most part have always acted like the outsiders they were. For every Paris, KRS-One or Immortal Technique, there were 5 Jadakisses or Rick Rosses. Rappers from every part of the country have vividly chronicled the urban condition. Yet that is where their participation ended. As Jay-Z stated in “Get By (Remix)”: “So pardon my disposition/Why listen to system that never listened to me?” Rappers, like many fans, felt that politics and government was for the privileged; that maybe their concerns became important every four years, but after the ballots were cast, everyone moved on.
Add that view to rap’s proud antidisestablishmentarialism (word to Ice-T) and tradition of not conformity, and you get a music and a culture that is aware, but uncoupled from the political and decision-making process.
A perfect illustration of this outlook was the 2004 election cycle. Besides Diddy’s noble Vote Or Die campaign and Def Jam head and rap godfather Russell Simmons urging young people to vote, there was very little participation by hip-hop as a whole. If anything, rap in 2004 was firmly about giving a big middle finger to President Bush. In that year, the single biggest contribution was an innovative and angry song from one of rap’s least political artists, Eminem:
At the time, “Mosh” was one of the first forays into politics from a mainstream artist. The song neatly summarizes rap’s worldview at the time: it criticized (and satirized) many important issues, but gave little suggestion as to how to change it, save a last minute pitch to vote. Marshall Mathers’ worthy shot at the system certainly embodied the view of the disenfranchised, but was largely passive.
Fast forward to the 2008 presidential election. As with many others, then-candidate Barack Obama had electrified those in the hip-hop community who were looking for change. Now, it is easy to say that rap artists and fans supported Obama simply because they identified with him, and that may very well be true. But rap supporting a Democratic candidate is nothing new. Its what they did with that support that is worth noting.
Unlike other years, the 2008 election is important because of the level of activism the hip-hop community demonstrated and advocated for. Early on, Barack Obama gained the support of conscious artists like Mos Def and Common (incidentally a fellow Chicago native). But the hip-hop community really took notice when Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am released his video “Yes We Can” online:
While not purely hip-hop, it set the tone for the campaign to come: it contributed to the political process in a positive, participatory way. In the history of rap, no rapper has every quoted a speech from a politician running for office.
Suddenly, everyone was lending their voice, not just as a commentator or critic, but as an advocate for something. Rappers went from PSAs about the importance of voting to hosting fundraisers and registering voters. Suddenly, you were not up on things if you hadn’t done a track or a freestyle about the election. As covered in this space , important artists like Nas dedicated virtually entire albums to discussing politics, race, climate change, media bias and voting. Almost every major album that came out over the summer and leading up to the election had a song about Barack Obama.
Superstars like Jay-Z, who had never been overtly political, were holding free concerts in support of Obama and were directly discussing the upcoming election at their concerts. Diddy went from telling people to vote to video blogging about the Vice Presidential candidates. Artists like T.I. proudly showed that they voted, in some cases for the first time.
And preliminary reports show that this new-found activism paid dividends. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), voters between the age of 18 and 29 increased by 2.2 million over 2004 – the second highest since 1972.
The results of the November 4th election were historic for many obvious reasons. But 2008 also marked the year that hip-hop, for the first time, went from passive observer to active participant. On an unprecedented scale, rappers and rap fans stepped into the political circle and personally worked to bring the change they so passionately advocated.
Rap has always been about innovation, progress and awareness. This week’s election marks an evolutionary leap for hip-hop music and culture. In 2008, hip-hop became what it has always strived to be: a powerful instrument of change.
Tags: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Diddy, Eminem, will-i-am
