Hip hop: Splattering patterns of political eloquence
Sasha Feoktistov
Staff Writer
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Hip hop music was born in the streets of New York City in the late 1970s and since then has moved on to dominate American popular culture. But there is more to hip hop music than the Lil' Johns, Snoop Doggs and Jay-Zs heard on commercial radio and played at frat parties. Hip hop is, has been and always will be a powerful outlet for political expression.
In order to create Hip hop, one doesn't need expensive instruments or professional training; only a beat and a rhyme, thus making it a very populist music form. It began with poverty-stricken kids scrounging together whatever equipment they could, from old turntables to discarded (sometimes "collected") speakers in order to create the beats that fueled the parties in New York's streets. Engineering and innovation were prized over smooth sounds. Today's producers use sophisticated equipment in order to create the most polished sounding music, but hip hop is not just restricted to the big recording studios; it is in every show at small venues, on every street corner where kids gather and spit a few rhymes, and in the notebooks of lyricists sitting bored at school.
Although the most visibility is granted to those willing to make music relying heavily on catchy beats and infectious hooks, a look just below the surface can lead the passionate music lover to a wealth of great music, addressing everything political from race to genocide.
Hip hop lends easily to a political message both in its style and the nature of the artists that create the music. It utilizes simple rhyme schemes, which are easily bent, and require little or no singing, making the act of communication that much simpler. When an artist can simply say what is on his mind without having to modify his speech to fit a certain standard language or singing style, the communicative powers are increased. And under-represented populations connect best with artists that share their style and language.
Hip hop bears such a powerful weight in political expression because of those who make the music. If the old adage "write what you know" rung true, hip hop would, for the most part, be a music of oppression, disenfranchisement, poverty and in the face of all this, hope for something better.
No artist is the same and all messages can be skillfully addressed. Styles can vary from artists such as Dead Prez, aggressive and confrontational, to the Beastie Boys, full of fun, infectious, catchy beats and still address important issues. The politics in hip hop can be the all consuming message of a song or entire album, or they can pop up in just a few lines.
Dead Prez's Let's Get Free is a powerful album that urges listeners to think critically of established society. Songs like "Police State" with lyrics like "I throw Molotov cocktails at the precinct, you know how we think … organize the state in a socialist economy, a way of life based of the common needs, and all my comrades is ready we just spreading the seeds" dominate the album. Dead Prez was strongly influenced by groups like Public Enemy and songs like "Fuck the Police" by NWA. The beats are creative and driving while embodying various styles. The lyrics are hard and aggressive, taking no prisoners.
Artists like Dilated Peoples don't devote as much time in their songs to purely political messages, but on their newest Neighborhood Watch there is definitely room for dissent. "Big Business" questions the morality of military actions of the United States abroad. "If more than half of the budget goes to military spending, less than half goes to what its defending" is a sharp lob at the imbalance in priorities in our government.
Talib Kweli's (who appeared at Rites of Spring last year) Beautiful Struggle is, like most of his albums, poignant and optimistic. His lyrics draw a fine line between apathy and "recoiling in disgust."
Of course, there is no way to characterize an entire genre of music in writing. My advice is to start with what you like and keep your eyes peeled. You never know when you can discover the right lyricist coupled with the right producer that catches your ear and makes your head nod—not just ‘cause the beat is hot, but because you are nodding along in agreement, with a huge smile on your face.