Hip-hop has positively affected social movements by providing a platform for those people involved to be heard. It has historically attempted to bridge the conversations between politicians and citizens – particularly those who have been culturally disenfranchised – but it wasn’t until recently that hip-hop’s political value has been embraced as a beneficial thing.
Hip-hop’s long-standing relationship with politics is undeniable, but in the past was often the scapegoat of political rhetoric and bigoted fear mongering. Politicians claimed the music was destroying American culture and poisoning the youth with its explicit lyrics and “ethnic” origins. Lacking the national support surrounding the genre’s massive popularity boom in the early 21st century, ‘90’s hip-hop lacked the platform it needed to be taken seriously. Volume is vital to a social movement, and the way in which people consumed media back then made it easy to undercut various artists.
In 1992, after a police officer was shot and killed in Texas, Vice President Dan Quayle called for the repeal of soon-to-be-revolutionary debut album 2Pacalypse by hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur. Quayle said: “There is absolutely no reason for a record like this to be published by a responsible corporation” and “It has no place in our society,” citing the fact that the aforementioned shooter may have been listening to the album at the time of the attack as evidence of the music’s detrimental societal effect.
Suggesting 2Pac’s album be forcibly taken off the shelves is the same as taking away his freedom of speech. It suggests that his citizen’s rights are dependent on what he has to say. If those in charge do not see a need to enact change, and the people that need that change aren’t allowed to voice their concerns, then they are left powerless.
Luckily Interscope records, the label 2Pac was signed to, did not pull the album, allowing it to become the influential album that it did. On his next album, in the song “Me Against the World,” Tupac preached the idea that hip-hop can be used to facilitate change stating that “the power is in the people and politics we address.” But as hip-hop was increasingly ignored and labeled angry, violent, hedonistic music, the tension between government and frustrated citizens grew. James Baldwin, acclaimed novelist and social critic active in the mid 20th century, said that “to be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”
By 2005 the genre had grown to the point that it was actively being heard by a large portion of the population. In that same year there was an infamous incident between Kanye West and former-President George W. Bush. While on NBC’s “A Concert for Hurricane Relief,” a celebrity charity event to raise rescue money for Katrina victims, Mr. West went completely off-script and claimed President Bush did not care about black people stating “I hate the way they portray us in the media, If you see a black family, it says, ‘They’re looting.’ You see a white family, it says, ‘They’re looking for food.’ And you know that it’s been five days because most of the people are black.” His message, albeit angry, contained a lot of truth that later helped unify movements that put pressure on the Bush administration to change some of its tactics regarding rescue effort prioritisation. A few years later Kanye West would apologize to former President Bush for his remarks and their lack of nuance.
As media has become more liberal and citizens more eager for progress, we have seen a more collaborative effort between hip-hop artists and politicians – and this is something to be excited about. President Barack Obama was the first President to truly accept hip-hop into the White House and see not only its worth as a reflection of the people but also its potential.
At the beginning of his Presidency, during an interview about hip-hop, Obama stated that “hip-hop is not just a mirror of what is. It should also be a reflection of what can be. A lot of times folks say I wanna keep it real and I wanna be down. Then we are just trapped in what is….Art can’t just be a rear-view mirror, ya know, it should have a headlight out there pointing where we need to go.” President Obama believes that this music has the ability to shed light on important issue today but also on issues that may yet happen: a ‘social awareness security system’. Obama’s open intentions created ripples. A popular example of this was during the 2016 election campaign when rapper Killer Mike actively supported and campaigned with Senator Bernie Sanders. Mike spoke at Sanders’ rallies, took to social media, and even made a six-part video interview series to help Sanders get his point across to a wider audience. And in a true mark of progress, this new relationship is not limited to the typically more liberally biased political spheres. Just yesterday it was reported that the apparently ongoing friendship between Kanye and President Elect Trump is still very much a thing – Kanye was recently seen going into Trump Tower to meet with the President Elect a few weeks after giving an emphatic speech at a concert decrying racist media bias.
Although it would seem that with the intense political attention hip-hop has attracted there would be some kind of statistical evidence as to its effects. Has there been more social media attention on politicians? Do more people show up to rallies when a hip-hop artist is featured? Has the voter turnout changed? But the only studies on hip-hop and it’s social impact to be found are related to their apparent capacity to increase societal violence and misogyny. But hip-hop is changing politics, and those effects can be seen across the globe currently in Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, and China. This is an international, intercultural movement, and it is a powerful step in bringing people closer to their governments.
Additional Reading:
‘The Old Man is Dead’: Hip Hop and the Arts of Citizenship of Senegalese Youth.
Gender Politics of Hip-Hop and Hip-Life Music in New York and Ghana.
Avant-Garde Militarism and a Post-Hip-Hop President.
The Hip Hop Revolution in Kenya: Ukoo Flani Mau Mau, Youth Politics and Memory, 1990-2012.
‘The world is yours’: the globalization of hip-hop language.
XI HA (HIP HOP) ZONES WITHIN GLOBAL NOISES: Mapping the geographies and politics of Chinese hip-hop.