Friday, May 5, 2017

Politically-influential Songs in Hip Hop

Hip Hop has historically been more politically active than other forms of music. In fact, modern hip hop is sometimes critiqued for not doing enough to tackle social issues. However, there have been several iconic songs created as a response to historical events.

One obvious example is the hit song "F*ck tha Police," which was a protest to police brutality and racial profiling. The song also obviously promotes violence towards the police, which is not a good solution by any means but reflects how just unjustly they felt they were being treated.

A more recent example would be Kendrick Lamar's single "HUMBLE." Even though the majority of the lyrics are meaningless, he still manages to slide in a verse about about how he feels that women are misrepresented and his desire to see more natural beauty. Although the song is less about politics and has a much less direct message than for example "F*ck tha Police," it is still a good example of how rap is still used to tackle social issues.

2 comments:

  1. I agree that Hip Hop can be politically active. An example I have is Fuck Donald Trump by YG. However, I don't think that Hip Hop is THAT politically influential because I believe that the people that listen to hip hop already have their left views, and would already vote for who they would vote for. You can see this because even though YG released a song dissing Trump, Trump won in the end.

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  2. I agree, hip hop has influence on many social issues, especially the oppression of minorities by the police. Songs in general have the ability to inspire, and songs with meaningful lyrics can be very powerful.

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