During the 2008 presidential election, many from the political left and right insisted a straight line be drawn from Barack Obama directly to the “hip-hop community.” These folks, regardless of their political affiliation, often pointed to Obama’s race, his age, his claim to have Jay-Z in his iPod and his infamous brushing the dirt of his shoulder in South Carolina as proof that Obama had the makings of the first “hip-hop president.”

In his race-baiting piece “Hip Hop President,” conservative critic, Craig Smith wrote, “I can see it now. Air Force Ones decked out with 22s and spinners. Maybe even a set of hydraulics.

Watching the hip-hop president in the Oval Office with his baseball cap on backward copping a gangsta lean in the big chair. Should be really pimp, don’t you think?” Smith ended his piece, “And every day he is on the campaign trail dissing America, more Americans will realize he is not the savior. He is merely Barack Obama…hip-hop senator from Illinois.”

In the rush to scare white Americans away from supporting Obama, Smith conveniently ignored Obama’s consistent critiques of hip-hop music culture.

WATCH: MUSIC CRITICS AND REPORTERS DISCUSS OBAMA & HIP-HOP:

At Vernon Park Church of God, way back in 2007, Obama said, “I don’t think that the hip-hop community is responsible for youth violence, but I think they haven’t fully stepped up to the responsibilities to change the attitudes among youth.”

While a populace that grew up rocking to hip-hop has overwhelmingly supported Obama, many have taken the question of what would it really mean for a sitting president of the United States to also be hip-hop’s president to task.

AllHipHop‘s able founder, Chuck Creekmur told theGrio, “I can’t say that Barack is the hip-hop president. If we had a president who was truly hip-hop then I think a lot would be different. Chuck D is president of hip-hop.”

Chuck D also encouraged a lot of us to fight the power and never believe the hype. Hence, I want to agree with Creekmur. But I can’t. Hip-hop is not a nation state; Like Al Qaeda, it has no borders. Like the Internet, its impact can not be quantified or regulated. And like nothing else on this planet, hip-hop is a paroled self-reflexive local music and culture that has taught folks around the globe how to talk, walk, rhyme, write, love, like, hate, hype, destroy, build and front.

In some ways, the question of “Is Obama hip-hop’s first president” foregrounds Obama while reducing hip-hop to a wholly digestible and synthetic community. A more provocative and revealing question than ‘is Obama hip-hop’s first president’ might be ‘is hip Hop more important than any American president?’

If so, how do we use hip-hop to transform ourselves, neighborhoods, cities, states and nations in just ways that might have little to do with American and global politics?

Cool vs. Hip (Hop)

There’s a definable difference between cool and hip. Has there ever been a political figure to embody and embrace coolness more than Barack Obama? Obama used his cool demeanor as both shield and sword on his way to the White House. Most members of the supposed “hip-hop community” saw this and we understood. But does his coolness translate into hip? And do we even want it to? Athena Jones, of NBC News, says no.

“Apart from his race, I’m not sure what it is specifically about Obama that would make people want to call him the first hip-hop president. Having covered since the Spring of 2008 up till now, my sense is that he’s more of a square guy,” said Jones

Kevin Powell, a magnificent, thoughtful young politician with the potential of really becoming a congressman who identifies with hip-hop culture, goes even further in distinguishing it from President Obama.

“Were there elements of hip-hop around Barack Obama’s campaign in ’08?” Powell rhetorically asked. “Absolutely. I love Barack Obama, let me make that very clear. In fact, it’s all those young people who grew up on pop culture and hip-hop who made that election happen in 2008…. Just because someone listens to hip-hop doesn’t mean they’re hip-hop, it doesn’t mean that at all.”

Powell is among a small, but growing number of young politicians invested in transforming local communities and Politics with and without Hip Hop culture. He and Athena Jones lead us to another question, however. Do you want the president of your country to be first president of a music and culture you love?

Uh … no, thanks. I’m good, bruh.For the rest of this analysis, click here.

From June 1994 to April 2002, Ms. Erica Ford ran Tupac’s Code Foundation even after the rapper had passed away. Erica, Tupac, and his stepfather Mutulu Shakur, established The Code in 1994. The mission was simply to keep young people out of jail and to decrease “Black on Black” crime. Ms. Ford tells her taled of setting up Code with Pac and Mutulu and also how the rapper’s activist legacy lives on today.

“I’m not saying I’m going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.”

-Tupac Shakur

Behind the chalk line it was just another crime but in the heart and soul of Hip-Hop, a GIANT was gone.  As we Celebrate what would have been Tupac Amaru Shakur’s 39th birthday, I look back on his body of work. It was more than beefs. It was the beginning of a trend to lull us to sleep and take away so many of our young right before our eyes. The idea that “The Good Die Young” is why Pac worked hard to make “The Code of Thug Life” a reality in street. As the quote predicted, I know his death sparked a fire in me that guarantees that I will never give up on making “The Code” a reality in our streets.

As we built a youth movement of Hip-Hop heads who were bold, audacious, committed and conscious of the need to believe in something other than themselves “The Code” became unwritten law.  It was watching Black Power and Hip-Hop come together strong and united.

Back home in Brooklyn, a new Hip-Hop beat was taking over the streets, Tupac had taking the world by storm and he was angry, dedicated and powerful. He too wanted to connect the love for Hip-Hop and the movement together. Our respected triple OG’s, Viola Plummer and Mutulu Shakur (Tupac’s stepfather) brought us together. It was time for “The Code” to the Thug Life to come out of the minds of prisoners to the heart and soul of young people on the streets.  From South Central Los Angeles to Atlanta, Georgia and New York City the Code of the streets was making peace real.

Tupac was committed to hood and in New York before our big kick off concert at Roy Wilkins Park, Queens in 1994 I brought the OG’s and Tupac  to chop it up in my living room on how we can really bring a Code to the Streets to stop the killings and put a law down that hustlers would follow.  We had to bring peace to the hoods so that people could live in peace again.  I pulled together Stretch (R.I.P.), Tupac, Supreme of Preme Team, Tropper from Farmers Crew, Chaz of Blackhand and couple others and we put a blueprint for order together.  The sad thing was that the cycle of destruction continued, and most of these men were either incarcerated or killed.

We’ve gone from the hood to the White House, and almost 14years later, Hip Hop has changed the world. Nevertheless, The Good Are Still Dying Too Young. 

“Enough is Enough It’s Time to Bury Da Beef”

BEEF what is it all for? Why do we keep promoting it and how many LIVES do we have to lose for us to STOP IT? Where did it all start? I don’t think the shooters or the victims really even know. 

In the spirit of Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Jam Master Jay, Freaky Tah, and the hundreds of thousands of young people killed who are almost nameless, lets come together, promote peace and LIFE.  Instead of foolish beefs and battles over nothing, lets battle over who can rep their Hood the Best, who can send the most kids to camp or college, who can open the flyest music, arts, athletic or education center in the hood.  Battle over who can give the best concerts or family events in the hood.

We are keeping  Tupac’s dream alive. This summer we have a goal to take as many kids off the streets and get them involved in different activities created by I Love My LIFE VIP (Violence, Intervention and Prevention) Team. In New York City, about 189 people have been murdered and 6,945 felony assaults have occurred. That is almost a murder per day.

Let’s not allow Our Loved Ones to Be KILLED today!! Do Something! Say Something! I Love My LIFE!!

Today we are doing a tribute to Tupac, to remember him for the great man that he was and to remind everybody that the spark he set off in the 90’s is a raging inferno in the hearts of us that remain inspired.

What: I Love My LIFE VIP Tribute to Tupac Amaru Shakur

When: Wednesday  June 16, 2010 @ 5pm-8pm Where: Occasions Banquet Hall 127-08 Merrick Blvd Springfield Gdns, NY 11413———-

 For more on Hip-Hop and Politics, go

to:https://allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2010/6.aspxor

http://www.thegrio.com/specials/hip-hop-politics-from-the-beat-to-the-ballot/

Gina Torres and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur contributed to this report. 

 WHAT HAPPENED?

An interesting thing happened to Styles P in 2005.

The rapper released “I’m Black,” a song that lit a fire in the heart and minds of hip-hop fans of all colors and cultures. Fans waited and waited – for a video and a formal single, which never materialized. “I’m Black,” featuring singer Marsha Ambrosius, was a ‘hood hit without question.

The song was true to the streets, had a catchy hook and was a true inspiration to a lot of different kinds of rap fans.

Styles never fully explained what happened, chalking it up to “politics and bulls**t” in an interview after his album Time Is Money dropped a year later.

Rap veteran Willie Dee of the Geto Boys agrees and explains there is a concerted effort to stop music like Styles P’s from getting to the masses.

“It’s still out there – they just aren’t playing it on the radio. Way back when, [radio] program directors didn’t hesitate to play the music if it was good,” Willie Dee said during the  recent Hip-Hop Honors in New York. “You could not deny Public Enemy’s sound.” Rapper Ice Cube, whose longevity in the game was cemented by smart personal and business transitions over the years, concurs with the Geto Boy’s reasoning.

“At some point, they didn’t want their kids to praise Chuck D (of Public Enemy). They didn’t want a poster of KRS-One or Ice-T or some of the more political rappers on their kids’ walls,” Cube says. “They didn’t want their kid’s to idolize these guys that were talking about equality when its all said and done. So they decided to push that kind of rap to the back, not letting us have those outlets. By 93-94, it was escapism rap…everything that was destructive…that became mainstream.”

Watch to Ice Cube’s full explanation of how rap with a message was dismantled. (click here for a youtube link.)

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At a time when hip-hop’s critics are lamenting over the lack of political substance in rap, some artists like Styles P find their commentary silenced by record labels or overshadowed by mainstream consumer demands.

“People are still making political rap – you’ve got people like Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common, and definitely people like Immoral Technique who are still trying to tell people what’s going on in the world,” says UGK’s Bun B, who is known for sharing his political views. “But, I think the fact is people just don’t want to hear it. People are scared of the truth – you’d be surprised,” he adds.

Few would argue that hip-hop is filled with gritty truth, with most rappers hailing from poor inner cities, where crime, drugs, and injustice have always provided content for songs. In the golden age of political hip-hop – mid-to-late 80’s, and the red-black-and-green days of the early 90’s – the protest on songs like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” was clearly a response to harsh economic times and political leaders who didn’t seem to care about the plight of the ghetto.

During the happier, materialistic Clinton years, some say the political content in rap disappeared. In the late 90s, bling became king, and many rappers took a more “me-centric,” competitive stance that was less focused on the stories of oppressed people. The new “ghetto fabulous” lifestyle was personified best in the Hot Boys song “Bling Bling,” where Manny Fresh bragged hat he was “tha n***a with tha Lex bubble/Candy coated helicopter/With tha leather cover.”

Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman defends the apolitical image the Hot Boys portrayed to youth, telling AllHipHop.com, “To me, I think music is an art and a culture. To me, a message and who it comes from are two different things. Guidance comes from your home – music can’t do that.”

“The music business is hard right now and to say that political rap is gonna make a comeback…I don’t think so.”-Juvenile

Kaine from Atlanta’s Ying Yang Twins argues that the political messages are still there, even in that type of contemporary rap: “Our songs all have messages – never mind if you agree with them or not. There’s two sides to every story. So who cares if they love or hate, as long as they tune in – that’s how the industry looks at it.” Adds Birdman, “All rap still has a message – the message is to try to make it, ‘cause it’s hard out in these streets.”

Along with the bling, the mid-to-late 1990’s was an unprecedented growth period for overtly “conscious” rap that played heavily on musicianship. It had a lighter, more acceptable sound, but the ‘hard in the streets’ message still played heavy. Within conscious rap, artists such as Black Star and Common painted lyrical pictures of the souls of ghetto people in their songs.

DJ Kid Capri notes that during that time, MCs with mainstream political marketability like Nas also emerged: “[Nas] makes records that make you think, and make you change and see things in different ways,” Kid Capri tells AllHipHop.com. “It’s that you have to get it across to the masses, and how you do that is to have the perfect beat and hook.”

As times changed, the voice of hip-hop changed. In today’s money-driven music industry, artists are less likely to channel their politics in songs. Former Hot Boys member Juvenile, in the midst of a recent comeback, admits his last political song was “Get Ya Hustle On” after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“The music business is hard right now,” says Juvenile, “and to say that political rap is gonna make a comeback…I don’t think so.”

WHO IS LEADING THE CHARGE NOW?

Nowadays, beyond the “militant-political” hip-hop dungeons where Dead Prez, Immortal Technique and others dwell, most rappers – while they often care—are less focused on a brazen political agenda within their music. Many have even become more cause-driven and reactionary to “breaking news” such as the murder of Sean Bell by the NYPD.

There’s a definite media angle to hip-hop politics now that didn’t exist in the past, and rappers and hip-hop influenced politicians such as Real World veteran Kevin Powell (D-NY) and Newark, NJ’s Ras Baraka (D-NJ and an affiliate of Lauryn Hill) have capitalized on the spotlight. Incidents such as Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, the Jena 6, and topics like AIDS awareness and healthcare, have provided platforms that hip-hop artists and activists can champion alongside their mainstream White counterparts.

As an example, Kanye West used his personal experiences with conflict diamonds as content for his popular 2005 track “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.” Around the same time, VH1 aired a documentary film entitled “Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds and Hip-Hop,” which took Raekwon, Paul Wall, and Tego Calderone across the ocean to learn up-close how the conflict diamond trade in Sierra Leone has destroyed an entire African community.

Just two months after releasing “Diamonds,” West used his appearance during the Red Cross’s Hurricane Katrina telethon to make an emotional attack on the younger President Bush for his poor rescue response in New Orleans. His words echoed across the airwaves, prompting many in urban America to agree with his sentiments.

And sometimes, hip-hop’s influence is helping rally urban communities around issues that seemingly don’t affect them directly. Rapper Drake is speaking out against offshore oil drilling – the menace behind our worst oil spill in history – and Kanye West, Pit Bull, and Cypress Hill are boycotting performances in Arizona over the state’s controversial immigration laws. Immortal Technique, touched by the ravages of war, is building orphanages in Afghanistan, and Jasiri X is rapping about everything from society’s ills to “minstrel” rap.

“The majors are owned by Wall Street, which is strictly numbers and no heart – the root of the problem.” -Willie Dee of The Geto Boys

Hip-hop icon Jay-Z has come to symbolize the political prowess that top rappers can possess today. He has donated concert proceeds, spearheaded a global clean water effort, and is creating ventures with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as Bloomberg Financial. Top hip-hop artists have also helped raise significant dollars when they align themselves with political causes. Diddy’s popular “Vote or Die” campaign was a merchandising bonanza for t-shirt sales, and Wyclef’s Haitian relief effort, though mired by mismanagement of funds, raised over $1 million using Twitter and other social media.

Meanwhile, the occassional political song is tucked among today’s typical guns and glamour rap content. Some examples include Eminem’s “Mosh,” Young Jeezy’s surprising election anthem “My President is Black,” and Lil’ Wayne’s “Georgia Bush,” a scathing commentary on Bush’s Hurricane Katrina response. The most political rappers are underground MCs like Dead Prez and Paris, whose content often denies them radio airplay, so they tour instead to survive. Still, Dead Prez is reportedly working on a Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama and have worked with DJ Green Lantern in the past to gain more notoriety.

The unquestionable reach and influence of hip-hop, along with the obvious concern held by artists, still leaves many to ponder why isn’t there more political commentary in today’s rap songs. Willie Dee sums it all up with the wisdom of an industry O.G.: “Everybody’s just playing the numbers game. The corporations have eaten up all of the independents. The independent movement was like the backbone of hip hop – with the independence, you didn’t have to answer to the majors.”

“The majors are owned by Wall Street, which is strictly numbers and no heart – the root of the problem,” Willie Dee adds. “See, once you go to the root and start playing with the numbers, and you say ‘hey, we want to hear this type of music,’ then that’s the kind of music that’s gonna be played.”

Voices like Talib Kweli and Jay Electronica rise from the political ashes. Kweli’s recent take on the controversial Arizona immigration policies, “Papers, Please” offers an education on the hot button issue over a triumphant track and reminds us that “a people united will never be defeated.”

And then there is the internet and the new freedom associated with it, essentially offering new hope for politically and civic-minded artists.

With that, enjoy “I’m Black” by Styles P and share it…virally.

  For more on Hip-Hop and Politics, go

to:https://allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2010/6.aspxor

http://www.thegrio.com/specials/hip-hop-politics-from-the-beat-to-the-ballot/