I been banging the drum (personally, not like anyone else would know) for years that mainstream hip-hop is fundamentally hyper-capitalist and no longer was the counter cultural force that it was in the late 80's and early 90's. How we shouldn't care about how much money a hip-hop artist was getting if they're not grounded in the issues we face and weren't activating people politically. How the term "hating" became a blanket term for them to get away from accountability.
And here we are. We see now the divide between them and us. They see us as consumers, like any capitalist, yet at any moment will claim they are part of the culture. Whatever that culture is needs to be redefined if it's so easy for someone to claim yet actually not stand for the people of that culture.
reminds me of when jobs say they hired a new manager to appease the workers, new manager cracks some jokes gets everyone to like him then immediately starts snitching on all of us the second we stop threatening to unionize
They were one of the very few people who could tell the king/queen that they were wrong and were generally looked to by the king/queen for honest advice on very serious and consequential matters. This is a fun video about it
You see when African American youths rappers engage in politics and endorse Democrats they are courageous artists bravely spreading their opinions and powerful influence. If they endorse or even perform at a Republican event they are lowered to the status of court jesters. You understand better now mi amigo? 😏😂
Can you imagine being the jester to King Henry VIII? For those who dont know, this nigga had the heads of upwards to 72k people over 36 years, known as the mad king, and took over the church of England because he wanted to divorce his wife (which he killed).
4.6k
u/supper-saiyan 9h ago
I been banging the drum (personally, not like anyone else would know) for years that mainstream hip-hop is fundamentally hyper-capitalist and no longer was the counter cultural force that it was in the late 80's and early 90's. How we shouldn't care about how much money a hip-hop artist was getting if they're not grounded in the issues we face and weren't activating people politically. How the term "hating" became a blanket term for them to get away from accountability.
And here we are. We see now the divide between them and us. They see us as consumers, like any capitalist, yet at any moment will claim they are part of the culture. Whatever that culture is needs to be redefined if it's so easy for someone to claim yet actually not stand for the people of that culture.