“Hip-hop is not just a mirror of what is, it should also be a reflection of what can be. A lot of times folks say, ‘I want to keep it real,’ and ‘I want to be down.’ Then we’re just trapped in what is. Imagine something different...”
The quote — thoughtful, progressive, sound in its critical judgment — comes not from a critic at The Source, nor is it culled from an academic treatise on Kanye West. Rather, it’s an excerpt from a TV interview several months back by a little-known advocate of hip-hop named Barack Obama. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?
What strikes me most about the quote is its empathy, in particular the use of “we’re” instead of “they’re.” This is hardly what you’d call boilerplate President-speak — not in a political climate where an ultra-right, wing nut publication like World Net Daily warns of a “hip-hop President” who will conduct foreign policy attired in a backward baseball cap, or where more “moderate” conservatives spread memes across the internet about the “impending Obama Thugocracy.”
Understandably, Obama has been hesitant to play up his hip-hop credentials as of late. As the potential inheritor of an economy in ruins, there’s no imperative for him to do so. Still, given his own recorded thoughts on the subject, and given the number of hip-hoppers who have endorsed his candidacy, it’s safe to conclude that, should an Obama Presidency become a reality, at some level a dialogue between the White House and hip-hop will take place.
In fact, endorsements from the hip-hop demographic have been setting YouTube ablaze for months now. Search “Obama hip-hop” and you’ll stumble upon dozens of them, from get-out-the-vote exhortations by agit-propagandists urging an end to the neo-con nightmare, to flash-in-the-pan prankstas with no higher purpose than to amuse their pals. I’m not talking about pious ”Kumbaya” schmaltz like will.i.am’s all-celebrities-on-board ensemble recording “Yes We Can” (a.k.a. “Pete Seeger Meets the Fugees”) or media-baiting Ludacris fare like “Politics (Obama is Here),” which incited a Fox News meltdown for its offside comments about John McCain and Hillary Clinton (Fox’s favourite pre-Sarah Palin feminist icon, don’t cha remember?).
As singluar pop moments, those two are OK. But in keeping with the netroots/bottom-up nature of Obama’s candidacy, the real tributes of interest are those bubbling beneath the surface of the officially and/or artistically sanctioned. Stuff like Digidoo and Lady-Fi’s exuberant party anthem, “Representin’ Obama” — bleacher-beat bubble-hop from a still-in-their-teens Montgomery, Alabama duo whose shout-along cheer of “O-B-A-M-A!” (Missy Elliott does “Mickey”?) — is the hook of the year. Or if you want to delve even further into the realm of abstract party noise, check out the sublimely dumbed-down Daft Punk groove of Ti$a’s “Vote Obama Way,” or DJ Stanun & the Ra-i’s crunk-house scorcher, “The Obama Shuffle,” with its delicious “Wade in the Water”–derived auto-tune chorus. Not novel enough for you? Perhaps what you need then is “Obama Rap” by Pizza (featuring everyone’s favourite bosomy politico, Obama Girl), whose pre–Joe Biden wannabe-your-Veep lyrics claim: “I’m a pizza / you’re a black man / Can we win this election? / Yes we can!” Jaw, meet floor.
Lest I give the impression that it’s one giant silly-fest out there, a few entries in the Obamathon do carry a more reflective tone, and the best of these is GhostWridah’s dreamy-sounding “Dying to Survive,” one of many tributes to “feature” Obama via samples of the man himself. In fact, it’s the words quoted at the top of this piece that Ghost toys with, emphasizing their (some would say lofty) idealism by teasing out his own variations (i.e. “Imagine if there wasn’t such a thing called ‘real’”). “Dying to Survive” is significantly set apart from the other songs mentioned here for one reason: it conveys the sound of hip-hop looking not just at Barack Obama, but at itself. In a way, it’s proof that words do indeed matter — that the thoughts behind words can’t be taken for granted.
As an added bonus beat, I’d be remiss not to mention what an enervating experience it can be to scan through some of the accompanying YouTube comments, to read Obamamaniacs clash over ideology with junior white supremacists, to read kids arguing over the candidates’ respective economic platforms or to read inspiring declarations like this one in the Digidoo and LadyFi posting: “Vote for whoever you want to cause i cant im only 14 lol and mixed but people should just focus on what these canddates are gunna do for our country not cause of there skin color wtf. [sic]”
WTF indeed! It’s almost like democracy in action. Who ’da thunk such a thing was still possible?
For YouTube videos and more hip-hop tributes to Obama, check out "Hip-hop 4 Obama".