Hip-Hop Impacts

Today could quite

possibly be the most important day in America’s history. With the upcoming

elections and the state of the world, it seems that Hip-Hop’s political consciousness,

long thought to be dormant, has been reawakened.

Between rapper’s

making bold statements in their lyrics, grassroots Hip-Hop movements were mobilized

throughout the country and the more mainstream efforts of Puff and Russell’s

voter registration drives have altered the course of the election without a

doubt.

We pulled together

some of the top minds in Hip-Hop and asked them exactly what November 2nd, 2004

means.

Nas

When it comes to voting, there is nobody there that is going to take care of

my people. I’m willing to vote for somebody from our community that really cares

for the people. I don’t hear anything human in the conversations from the candidates.

I care about people and childrens future and I’m a realist. So, if we are going

to vote, vote for somebody from our community and somebody that really cares

about our struggle."

Lil Kim

It’s a part of history to go out and vote in this election. A lot of the

issues are health benefits for us in the ‘hood. We’ve got so much

construction going on in New York, and we have so many minority people who have

been living in those areas for years. I just think that if there’s gonna

be a change, you got to figure out where to fit everybody comfortably. Health

benefits, insurance, liabilities, all that. You have to really pay attention

to that. Sometimes the presidents get so caught up in making their own money

and just making the world and the economy bigger for themselves.

Method

Man

F**k both them mother f**kers. I’ma play Soulcom2 online like everybody else.

F**k Bush and Kerry. Both them n***a’s is cowards.

Willie

D.

The election is rigged. It’s already been determined who’s gonna

win. (Who’s gonna win?) Bush. ‘Cause he stole the election one time,

he can do it again. We can vote, but it’s already written. It’s

bigger than us.

Benzino

Right now Kerry or Bush are not addressing the issues that are affecting me

or you directly, I’m not trying to represent neither one of them. I’m

not gonna be doing too much voting this year. Vote for Benzino. Vote for Zino.

Don’t get me wrong, city council and as far as all the lower government

spots, get out there. But as far as this presidency thing, I’m not feeling

neither one of them.

Wyclef

Really, the first thing you have to do is educate people on voting. I think

part of English, part of history class, like you have American History, they

should have a course to teach kids from when they was little, what Democrats

and Republicans are. What is a Socialist? What is a Communist? And if they don’t

want to be a part of any of that, they don’t have to be. I think it starts

off with the education from when they young.

Jermaine Dupri

Kerry, man. That’s who I got. I’m tired of all the rappers

trying to act political, and be politically correct.

Jackie

O

If you don’t vote, you can’t complain. Me, myself, I’m a convicted

felon, but I had my rights restored. It’s a very good thing for people

to do, for people who had their rights taken away, to be able to vote on Election

Day. It’s very important.

Young Buck

We going over there taking them people’s oil. If dude [George Bush] get

into office this year, we might not be here again to be all the way real with

the you.

Grafh

Vote for the lesser of two evils. Get Bush out of there. You gotta vote. You

gotta voice, you gotta speak. I think that right now it’s good that Hip-Hop

is definitely supporting what’s going on. And telling kids to go out there

and vote, because a lot of kids don’t know that their voice really does

count—sometimes. I believe the kids should go out there and vote, because

a decision is gonna get make whether you vote or not. So you might as well put

your hands in it.

DMC

I am voting for Kerry. We have to get Bush out. This is my slogan: V-O-T-E Vote

Out The Enemy!

Ice-T

"Hip-Hop is political. We got a power structure right here. Do not vote

for Bush. He’ll kill us all. The n***a is the anti-Christ. Get that mother f***ker

the f**k out of there. F**k him, for real.

J. Period

The way I look at it, November 2nd is the day of reckoning. This is the day

when all your frustrations with the state of this country come down to one question:

what are you gonna do about it? I’m getting up early for Hip-Hop, cuz this election

represents a real chance to show this country the power of our voice. I’m flying

out the crib on a mission, like this whole thing comes down to me… and I am

gonna vote.

Bumpy Johnson

I am voting for Kerry. You would have to be a damn fool not to.

Ms. Jade

I think whatever kids see celebrities do, they follow. So I think that was a

good way to get people involved in Hip-Hop. But I think they need to give them

a little more insight besides Vote or Die. Like, give them some information.

Dave Mays

I would say, that, while it’s a good first step to go out and get people

excited by registering to vote and voting, it’s a lot more complicated

than that if there gonna really change anything. Our [The Source] concern has

been that there’s a lot of hype about voting, but there’s no real

education. No understanding of how we can use the power to vote. We really want

something changed for ourselves, our community, our children, and our lives.

All the issues that we know we know are messed up in this country; we should

have a voice in. And that’s really what’s been missing out there.

Pitbull

"It’s simple. You don’t vote, you don’t get heard. In my ‘hood, we

say stop crying about it, be about it."

?love of

The Roots

The Democrats are just passive Republicans anyway and clearly Bush is the worse

of two evils."

Doug E.

Fresh

“At this time, the artist community has to learn the issues, put themselves

out there and get involved. Standing in the middle of the road is not good enough.

We all have to take a stand.

Beanie

Sigel

I don’t know, just don’t vote for Bush. That’s my thoughts.

F**k Bush!