"And can we please have a moment of truth?For soldiers and troops away with helmets and boots
And families back home who pray they make it home safe
Hopin' that they don't get hit with a stray or missiles"
Could the anti-War movement benefit for Hip Hop's global media swagger?
19 comments:
Hip hop can't stop the war, but it can act as a courageous voice against it.
Now that the actual war aim of this war has been achieved - the break-up of Iraq and the inducement of civil war into the Arab world, the true Hollywood bosses of "Nigga" Hip Hop are going to let their black boys speak out against it and, in fact, encourage that.
LOL. Brother Mike. The optimist.
The Spook Who Sat By The Door.
You really are married to the Massa Plantation mythology aren't you Mike? It's almost like you are uncomfortable with the notion that there are black men autonomous enough to think for themselves and to speak their minds and souls.
Who dey dink dey is? Dem niggas slaves jus like we!
Mike, if white boys created rappers, they wouldn't have so much game.
If corporations control Hip Hop it wouldn't have so much soul.
The war aint about Iraq Mike. It aint about oil. And it's far from over.
Don't get in the way of the revolution man.
Intellectual Insurgent said...
Hip hop can't stop the war, but it can act as a courageous voice against it.
Sista Dina,
Name another “courageous voice”?
If not Hip Hop, what?
Whether there is an alternative courageous voice is beside the point. Hip hop isn't going to stop the war unless, as Walsh argued 2 days ago on Counterpunch, it takes on AIPAC (perhaps Walsh is the other "courageous voice"). And I'm not optimistic that's going to happen.
What hip hop can do is hopefully convince some 17-year-old Black and Latino kids why enlisting in the military of the empire isn't a wise career choice.
"Perhaps Walsh is the other "courageous voice"). And I'm not optimistic that's going to happen."
Int Ins
Who? Walsh? Who's that? Counter what?
Don't nobody know Walsh or Counter Punch Dina. Which is my point.
Hip Hop has global media muscle. The Anti-War movement can barely get on TV.
"What hip hop can do is hopefully convince some 17-year-old Black and Latino kids"
... and WHITE KIDS and ARAB KIDS and EUROPEAN KIDS and AFRICAN KIDS and CUBAN KIDS and COLUMBIAN KIDS ... to ask if this war is in their interests. Hip Hop transcends national, political and racial boundaries.
I ask again, if not Hip Hop, what?
I thought you would come up with some better possible alternatives.
The Democrats? Obama? Intellectuals? Young professionals? Moderate Christians? Harold Ford and his crew?
Hip Hop would give the anti-War Movement much needed swagger.
Apr 19, 2007 2:00:00 PM
I feel like I am looking at HipHop's version of a RNC political talking points. HipHop will solve our countries Health care, Budget deficit, Social Security and the levees in New Orleans ... With the newest release of 50 Cents new Album... Dropping next month.
Listen last I checked the the United States has higher per capita rates of incarceration than many countries in the world. This number has increased steadily since the 80's with African-America men disproportionately ahead of the pack as a percentage. Wow you mean HipHop could not help save black men after 20+ years but it will stop a war? Cause maybe it help them decide to cut kilos, sling rocks and gang bang. Not talking about Will Smith's Summer Time... thats my joint!
Regards,
Anon
I don't deny that hip hop has power. But the power to end the war is the power to end the system and I am not convinced that hip hop or anything else has the power to do it absent some sort of violent revolution. You know who is going to end the war? Iran, China and Russia.
Hip Hop would give the anti-War Movement much needed swagger.
The anti-war movement doesn't need swagger. It needs intelligence. Many people who are anti-war accept the fundamental assumptions put forth by the neo-fascists that they lose the argument before they finish it. To oppose the war and stop sending kids to die, the masses need to be educated and interested in learning, but they're not. They are too caught up in Don Imus and Sanjaya on American Idol to give a shit. I know people who listen to Rage Against the Machine and are oblivious to their lyrics. There are other bloggers who listened the The Game Theory album by the Roots and are impervious to the activism that the album represents.
"The anti-war movement doesn't need swagger. It needs intelligence. Many"
Au contraire mon frere.
Intelligence is overrated. Every intelligent person knows the war is a fraud. They just can't do anything about it other than exchange articles proving it to each other.
The anti-War movement needs to be galvanized. It needs an anthem. It needs metaphor. It needs definition. It needs soul.
Hip Hop can do all of that. But instead of a synthesis between "intelligent" people and Hip Hop - what we have is a bunch of pseudo-educated haters foaming at the mouth to blame Hip Hop for social ills mostly caused by an antiquated civil rights movement and bullshit liberal public policy.
Black men are in prison?
No shit Anon, where were you square ass negros when they passed the 3 Strike Laws?
Where were black attorneys, Mike Fisher, when the "war on drugs" became a "war on people"?
Oh ... I see. That's Hip Hop's fault too.
-
Even if hip hop creates an anti-war anthem, then what? Yay, we have a song we can all hold hands and sing together. Then what?
DV Said...
No shit Anon, where were you square ass negros when they passed the 3 Strike Laws?
Anon Said...
Well if you must know. I was in jail with two strikes.
Your right DV... Puffy the 4 Star General of HipHop did lead the "Vote or Die" campaign... And did not attend.
;)
Regards,
Anon
Of course Hip Hop can stop the war. But Gangsta can't.
Let me get back to PE. We used PE to influence entire nations. We got together with Brazilian Africans to politicise the favelas, We did shows there in gigantic sports stadiums aimed at getting the message to the favelas. That left a legacy still felt today and which the Brazilian brothers and sisters have since built on.
We did stuff in Africa and Southern Africa that in earlier times could only be dreamed off.
We sent PE into Croatia in the middle of the Civil War and had white kids from Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, AND Serbia come out of this campaigning to stop that dumb s**t over there.
Yeah, THAT Hip Hop could've possibly started a mass movement among folks world-wide and would've had a good chance to stop that war if handled right.
This stuff today? Negro, please.
DV Said...
No shit Anon, where were you square ass negros when they passed the 3 Strike Laws?
Anon Said...
Well if you must know. I was in jail with two strikes.
Your right DV... Puffy the 4 Star General of HipHop did lead the "Vote or Die" campaign... And did not attend.
;)
Puffy pulled some punk shit didn't he Anon?
But peep game. Them HONKEYS knew how to use Hip Hop when the time was right didn't they? They picked up the phone and called Puff real quick when dull ass (anti-Hip Hop) John Kerry got in trouble. Um Hm. Democratic Party had no problem leveraging the pull of Hip Hop. They waited too long.
Too bad the handkerchief heads can't get more creative.
Michael Fisher said...
Of course Hip Hop can stop the war. But Gangsta can't.
Let me get back to PE. We used PE to influence entire nations. We got together with Brazilian Africans to politicise the favelas, We did shows there in gigantic sports stadiums aimed at getting the message to the favelas. That left a legacy still felt today and which the Brazilian brothers and sisters have since built on.
We did stuff in Africa and Southern Africa that in earlier times could only be dreamed off.
We sent PE into Croatia in the middle of the Civil War and had white kids from Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, AND Serbia come out of this campaigning to stop that dumb s**t over there.
Yeah, THAT Hip Hop could've possibly started a mass movement among folks world-wide and would've had a good chance to stop that war if handled right.
This stuff today? Negro, please.
Damn Mike.
You are an interesting cat:
“We used PE to influence entire nations. “
“We got together with Brazilian Africans”
“We did shows there in gigantic sports stadiums”
“We did stuff in Africa and Southern Africa”
“We sent PE into Croatia”
One might get the impression Ol’ Michael Fisher was on stage right there with Chuck D. Were you one of those brothas in the background dancing with the black berets?
Mike Chuck and PE had their time. The world has changed. The kids in the Farvelas of Brazil are on cell phones now. They sell cocaine to Corporate Negros buying pussy in Copacabana.
Fiddy and Young Buck speak to their reality, not the wannabe reality of marginalized middle class blacks.
LOL. DV, you're hopeless...
"Were you one of those brothas in the background dancing with the black berets?"
No, but don't underestimate the S1Ws. Besides. They weren't dancing. They were doing FOI routines.
Everything PE did on stage was meticulously planned out and had a propaganda purpose. Much of it was planned out by them.
The S1Ws were the soul of PE.
That image, that one up there on the top right, the reality behind that image could put and end to war.
Jasai,
You been here before. A couple times.
Echoing Jasai, I saw that image yesterday. AWESOME!
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