Are Rappers Still Political in a Conscious Way?

What Should We Think of Rappers Supporting Trump Pre the 2020 Election?

From the very early beginnings of hip hop and rap, the genre was generated to be a voice “for the people, by the people”. A genre where Black people and their agenda’s could be heard, over time hip hop has made the space for Black people to educate the mainstream on the Black experience in a major way, from culture, to fashion, to history, and even politics too.

That being said, we are far far away from the days of Grand Master Flash’s The Message (a song which highlighted the struggles of urban Black life in the 1980s) or even the days of politicized “gangster rap” such as NWA and Public Enemy, whose songs like F*ck The Police and Fight The Power respectively are to this day political hip hop anthems. Within the time leading up to the 2020 election and even in the past several weeks, some of our favorite rappers, both old school and new school have come out in support of President Trump or as pro-Trump sympathizers.

Recently, rapper Lil Wayne was dragged on the internet for endorsing President Trump via a post he made on his Twitter account. Also, former NWA rapper and actor Ice Cube, who “worked with the Trump campaign on their supposed "Platinum Plan," disappointed and confused fans as well. Kanye West has been known to tweet about Trump for years now, and even met with Trump back in 2018. These are just some of the few, but Black people and hip hop fans alike are still asking why?

Many would argue hip hop and politics became more entangled than ever when President Obama was elected into the presidency. Obama, who represented the pinnacle of the “American Dream” for many black people, mentioned rappers in his speeches, listened to rap music, and invited more rappers to the White House than any other previously standing president. In the aftermath of his presidency, many rappers and rap adjacent musicians continued to do the work, educate the masses on social justice topics, and make songs in solidarity for the masses. 

While the efforts can be considered hip hop’s attempts to continue being conscious and encouraging of political engagement, many of our favorite rappers are no longer conscious of the everyday lives the genre represents. Instead, they are only conscious of their bank accounts. Being blinded by the (empty) promises of tax cuts for the rich and being removed from the realities of everyday life most listeners of the genre face, much of rap and its artists have frankly become disconnected to the power political consciousness can have, rather focusing on maintaining the money in their pockets. This is the dilemma the genre poses, and the one that hip hop listeners grapple with especially now.

Relying on ourselves has always been the Black experience and will continue to be, but relying on rappers to educate us on political matters and being “conscious” can no longer be enough. Celebrity culture as a whole is a dying phenomenon, as there is no more room for putting celebrities on a pedestal when so many of them end up #cancelled or caught up in problematic scandals. Instead, everyone on an individual level doing their part to stay informed, keep up with local and national politics, and finding ways to support their communities might serve us better as a whole.

Why I Don’t Have “Black Outrage” and Haven't For a Long Time

A RESPONSE TO MY PAST, TODAY’S PRESENT, AND TOMORROW’S NEXT CULTURAL CONTROVERSY

Like everyone else right now, between binge watching everything in the depths of my Netflix queue, working from home, and staying sane, I’ve been trying to keep busy during these uncertain times. As of now, I’ve been quarantined for what feels like anywhere between one month and five years. While there's no end in sight quite yet, I wonder when, if ever, things will be back to “normal.”

One of my most frequented pastimes these days is watching Youtube videos in a way I never have before, binging if not embarrassingly so. Recently, YouTube recommended a video titled “let’s talk about “black outrage” …” posted by youtuber Amandabb. While I had never come across her channel before, clearly Youtube knows me well because I had to bite. The content creator defines the black outrage through examples, most recently a controversial video and series for tweets from the influencer Nikita Dragun, but also by one of the movement’s most obvious and blatant offenders, Kim Kardashian. When discussing the latter, Amanda noted that “as we become more self aware of this cycle that she constantly does, because it’s like clockwork, we’ve started to ignore her. Since we’ve started to ignore her, Kim’s had to resort to much more desperate cues than just appropriating a black hairstyle [which she discusses earlier in the video] and that’s where we get the Diana Ross cover,” referring to the 7HOLLYWOOD magazine cover the Kardashian did in late 2019 when critics called her out for in their opinion, being in blackface.  

In the realm of internet hierarchies, black outrage can be thought of as a manifestation of cancel culture. Outrage marketing itself has been going on for decades, being formerly known as “shock advertising”. Black outrage marketing specifically refers to the targeting of black people as an audience for a problematic product and/or brand that will most likely be received as offensive, and the response that follows it’s launch and/or release. Often, this response is most prominent online and through social media. Note, that while black people might be the audience of this form of marketing, they don’t have to necessarily be the marketer’s target consumer of the brand and/or product. Is it genuinely possible that at this point brands and influencers truly feel that “Any press is good press?”

Amanda’s video got me thinking about the concept of “black rage” and my stance. In late 2018, I had written an article titled “I Have Black Female Rage, What Does That Mean?”. In essence, the piece was a self-reckoning as I wondered how to deal with my cultural schizophrenia as a young, angry, black, woman. Thinking back, I remember feeling sheepish about pursuing getting it published, for fear that not many would take the time to ponder over the reflections of a young “angry black woman” in earnest. 

While I realized a long time ago that excessive “black outrage” doesn’t seem to be doing anyone or anything any good (beside a good laugh and meme here and there), it’s still clearly a conversation worth having as companies and influencers alike who shape our culture haven’t seemed to stop pursuing this exploitive and harmful marketing strategy. Haven’t we already learned that those who are most privileged usually aren’t affected by cancel culture regardless…? Haven’t they learned that real people of color everyday are impacted by the damaging content and products they produce…? 

As I think about how we are being exploited and capitalized on by brands who genuinely could care less through this method, it encourages me more to pursue thoughtful activism in different ways. While anger and outrage are both valid, understandable, and have their places in social discourse, maybe it would be a good thing if things didn’t go back to “normal”. At least for me and at least when it comes to the topic of “black outrage”. Do you think black outrage has its place in societal discourse that boosts positive change? To hear more from Amanda, follow her on Twitter @amandadoee_ .