B-Rock and the Bad Boys Tue Jan 29, 2008, 10:44 am by Leah in Intros
This week in the NYC mailer, our Music Editor, Andrew Phillips, examines the Obama-hip-hop connection.
When an old-school icon like Afrika Bambaataa is spitting to anything short of a stadium, one thing becomes crystal clear: progressive rap isn't dead, but it is in a state of underground internment. That's not to say that 'Bam's appearance this week at APT won't be an out- and-out stunner, but simply that his influence doesn't extend as far into the mainstream as, say, 50 Cent's. (As we here at Flavorpill learned with last weekend's One Step Beyond Party, up-and-coming acts like the Cool Kids and Kid Sister can certainly pack the house, but it takes a surprise appearance by Kanye West to make the masses go really crazy). Perhaps that's why presidential contender Barack Obama spends less time with out-and-out progressives and more energy breaking bread with hip-hop's bigger (often badder) boys.
The reasons for mainstream hip-hop's disproportionate appeal aren't so much about aesthetics as "suitable" subject matter. Music's function is most often as pure entertainment, and it's a lot more fun to bump and grind to a song about raunchy sex than, say, sexual liberation. So it is that progressives in any genre are often marginalized by more fun-loving subversives — nothing new, really.
What is original is Obama's decision to address hip-hop's lyrical inequities, and embrace the genre's popular artists rather than its self-described activists. Whereas other African-American leaders have maligned mainstream rappers outright, Obama (lovingly branded B-Rock for a Fall cover story in Vibe) has time and time again declared his unapologetic affection for Jay-Z and Kanye West (even going so far as to meet with them).
Of course, Obama's praise comes with some caveats. In a recent sit- down with BET, the candidate stopped shy of an all-inclusive endorsement, saying, "There are times, even on the artists I've named, the artists that I love, that there is a message that's sometimes degrading to women, uses the N-word a little too frequently." He went on to say that, "(they're) always talking about material things about how I can get something; more money, more cars."
Wait a second. Isn't that pretty much exactly what Oprah said to incur the industry's outrage a year ago? And didn't Bill Cosby get branded a "race traitor" for exploring the further cultural implications of just such a statement? Given his own reservations, how did Obama earn the embrace of industry insiders, and lyrical shout-outs in chart-topping tunes by Common and Ludacris?
A writer on the music blog Ear Sucker described this incongruity succinctly: "What I can't figure out is why [Obama would] want to have someone spread his message, if he doesn't believe in theirs?" Obama's own answer is telling, is obvious, and it speaks to the effectiveness of his overall approach. "The thing about hip-hop today is, it's smart, it's insightful, and the way that they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable," he says. What's implied is the Senator's respect for the form and the power of its performers, his recognition that, in many quarters, 50 Cent is infinitely more influential than any 50 senators. And the thing that distinguishes Obama from hip-hop's most adamant detractors is a desire to embrace, rather than attack: "I understand people want to be rooted in the community," Obama explained. "They want to be down."
It's this "understanding" that's kept Obama out of trouble. He's not calling for censorship or the ousting of edgy artists, but rather a greater self-awareness within the hip-hop hierarchy we're stuck with — and, more concretely, he's actually meeting with the hip-hop elite. It makes sense: after all, if a celebrity wields great power, isn't charging him on behalf of his country far more effective than mounting an attack?
Case in point: when Oprah took rap impresario Russell Simmons to task in a town hall-style rap summit, he defused her every criticism with a single parry. "The hip-hop community is a mirror," he said. "A reflection of the dirt we overlook — the violence, the misogyny, the sexism."
Obama's retort? "What I always say is that hip-hop is not just a mirror of what is. It should also be a reflection of what can be."
Try copping an attitude to that.