![]() In 2015, Ferguson artist Tef Poe cancelled his world tour to participate in political protests, and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly produced ‘Alright’, the protest song of a generation. Cole sang for Black freedom on Letterman. The shift didn’t happen all at once, of course. Even if your favorite trap star didn’t reveal whether he was red or blue, this year felt like a departure from rap’s dominant mood of nihilism in favour of a clear-eyed, even joyful perspective on a potential Black future. Artists like T.I., Meek Mill, and YG contemplated their status as not simply gangsta rappers but political influencers, leading them to denounce aimless allusions to violencewithout proper context. But after 15 years of music that often read as materialistic, status-driven and aloof, it felt like rap finally came back home. ![]() ![]() Of course, old heads remember a time when young guns like Boogie Down Productions were verbally shitting on Reaganomics, or Reagan himself. 2016 saw mainstream rap finally, and legitimately, re-enter the political fray, just as election season reached fever pitch. Over the years, it’s been rare to see rap artists beef over where their peers fall on the political spectrum – but here we are. There isn’t time for fair-weather supporters of the movement. The conflicting evidence in Wayne’s music – from his post-Katrina vitriol on ‘Georgia Bush’ and Outkast’s ‘Hollywood Divorce’ to his recent appearance on Solange’s proudly Black A Seat at the Table – only frustrates and mystifies us further. No one seemed more ticked off by Wayne’s claim that Black Lives Matter “ain’t got nothin’ to do with me” than fellow Southern king T.I., who said he would place his friendship with Wayne on the line “in order to stand up for those who can’t do it for themselves”. As a generation’s purple drank saint, there’s not much Lil Wayne can do to draw ire from the youth, but denouncing the Black Lives Matter movement, as he did on the ABC News show in November, just happens to be one of those things that attracts a side eye from the skinfolk. You know hip-hop done gone and went political when rap beef springs out of a Nightline interview. Originally published in Fact Mag on December 1, 2016 ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |