from Post-No Ills Magazine: A New American Review of...Reviews
Sucka-Free Democracy:
Hip-Hop's Potential Response to An Obama Presidency
(A Post No Ills E-Roundtable)
ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS:
Adam Bradley
R. Scott Heath
Natalie Hopkinson
Natalie Y. Moore
Mark Anthony Neal
With the first presidential debate of the 2008 election three days away, a night many predict will dictate the outcome of this historic election, Senator Barack Obama’s campaign, whether or not it will publically admit to it, banks on getting strong support from generations of Americans who either initiated, were influenced by, or were forged within hip-hop culture. Obama’s campaign wades through America’s past towards a possibility that many of the Civil Rights era thought they would never see, to the delight and chagrin of members of that generation. But an increasingly pressing question is what will the “hip-hop generation(s)”—a lyrically, visually, and aesthetically rebellious group—potentially have to say to a head of state their support, not antagonism, helped elect? We posed the following question to our panel of writers, scholars, and cultural critics:
Barack Obama’s rise in politics to become a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States could be considered part of a trend that has been playing out on municipal and state levels for some time now—that is, African Americans, increasingly of the post-Civil Rights generation, leading offices and institutions that many African Americans may view as historically disinterested in or opposed to their prosperity.
___Hip-hop music artists haven’t pulled many punches when it comes to criticizing, arguably without much nuance, and opposing the American political system and U.S. government—from Chuck D (“Neither party is mine / not the jackass or the elephant”), to Nas (“George Bush killer ‘till George Bush kills me”), to André 3000 (“Y’all telling me that I need to get out and vote / Why? Ain’t nobody black, nothing but crackers / So, why I got to register?”), to Dead Prez’s Stickman (“I’m down for running up on them crackers in they city hall”).
___What do you think hip-hop music and its generations of listeners’ relationship to the presidency and government will look like if Barack Obama is elected president? How will hip-hop employ its candor with a leader who is not “the man” but rather “a brother,” and do you see its critiques being forced to grow due to this potential change in dynamic?
Below you will find links of to each of panelists’ opening responses to the above question, and follow-up responses to each other’s statements. The sincerity and fervor of their exchange speaks to the importance of the work that needs to be done in order to process what political maturation in hip-hop culture means to hip-hop heads from age seventeen to fifty. And as you read, please add your own thoughts, via comment posts on this page, to the discussion so that this small roundtable can become a nation-wide cipher.
Read the Full E-Roundtable Here @
Sucka-Free Democracy:
Hip-Hop's Potential Response to An Obama Presidency
(A Post No Ills E-Roundtable)
ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS:
Adam Bradley
R. Scott Heath
Natalie Hopkinson
Natalie Y. Moore
Mark Anthony Neal
With the first presidential debate of the 2008 election three days away, a night many predict will dictate the outcome of this historic election, Senator Barack Obama’s campaign, whether or not it will publically admit to it, banks on getting strong support from generations of Americans who either initiated, were influenced by, or were forged within hip-hop culture. Obama’s campaign wades through America’s past towards a possibility that many of the Civil Rights era thought they would never see, to the delight and chagrin of members of that generation. But an increasingly pressing question is what will the “hip-hop generation(s)”—a lyrically, visually, and aesthetically rebellious group—potentially have to say to a head of state their support, not antagonism, helped elect? We posed the following question to our panel of writers, scholars, and cultural critics:
Barack Obama’s rise in politics to become a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States could be considered part of a trend that has been playing out on municipal and state levels for some time now—that is, African Americans, increasingly of the post-Civil Rights generation, leading offices and institutions that many African Americans may view as historically disinterested in or opposed to their prosperity.
___Hip-hop music artists haven’t pulled many punches when it comes to criticizing, arguably without much nuance, and opposing the American political system and U.S. government—from Chuck D (“Neither party is mine / not the jackass or the elephant”), to Nas (“George Bush killer ‘till George Bush kills me”), to André 3000 (“Y’all telling me that I need to get out and vote / Why? Ain’t nobody black, nothing but crackers / So, why I got to register?”), to Dead Prez’s Stickman (“I’m down for running up on them crackers in they city hall”).
___What do you think hip-hop music and its generations of listeners’ relationship to the presidency and government will look like if Barack Obama is elected president? How will hip-hop employ its candor with a leader who is not “the man” but rather “a brother,” and do you see its critiques being forced to grow due to this potential change in dynamic?
Below you will find links of to each of panelists’ opening responses to the above question, and follow-up responses to each other’s statements. The sincerity and fervor of their exchange speaks to the importance of the work that needs to be done in order to process what political maturation in hip-hop culture means to hip-hop heads from age seventeen to fifty. And as you read, please add your own thoughts, via comment posts on this page, to the discussion so that this small roundtable can become a nation-wide cipher.
Read the Full E-Roundtable Here @
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