Rebel Without A Pause

January 13, 2016 4:12 AM

Killer Mike and the return of the politically engaged rapper.
posted by ellieBOA (18 comments total)

Hell to the yes. About time.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:53 AM on January 13, 2016

Where "return" just means "white people decided to pay attention to them again", right? 'Cause I'm not that engaged with hip-hop, and even I know that politically engaged rappers never actually went away.
posted by tobascodagama at 4:57 AM on January 13, 2016 [31 favorites]

Are you suggesting that we don't call it a comeback, because they've been here for years?
posted by Parasite Unseen at 6:06 AM on January 13, 2016 [41 favorites]

"The New Republic and the Return of the Music Scene Thinkpiece"
posted by ardgedee at 6:16 AM on January 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Commercial music trends are never just about production. They're about a monetary cycle of production, consumption and promotion.

This article is indicating a new flow of money on the promotion side, possibly due to a real or anticipated uptick of demand on the consumer side. Possibly just due to promoter trends. Demand can be created.
posted by ead at 6:25 AM on January 13, 2016

Did you read it?
posted by aydeejones at 7:13 AM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm surprised they don't link Killer Mike's Reagan video in that article.
posted by Catblack at 8:17 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yes. It's a fluff piece about someone who hasn't changed tack in ages but is now becoming more popular. Which I'm pleased by! But the popularity isn't due to new material, it's due to a change in receptivity on the part of certain consumers and a commensurate response in promotion. For example, by articles of this sort.
posted by ead at 8:30 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

But the popularity isn't due to new material

I disagree. I love R.A.P. Music but... the first two run the jewels album are on another level entirely.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 9:25 AM on January 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

"the return of the politically engaged rapper"

What a strange framing for this article, rap and hip hop have always been politically engaged. I was prepared to give the article's thesis a bit of a pass, because maybe the author is talking about Killer Mike being directly politically active (e.g., meeting with candidates, talking explicitly about issues, etc.), but no, he means the music generally:

Politically conscious rap happened; it was meaningful, it was co-opted and commercialized; and then it vanished.

Say what? Off the very top of my head, all from the past decade:

Lupe Fiasco, Words I Never Said
Brother Ali, Uncle Sam Goddamn
Immortal Technique, Impeach the President
posted by LooseFilter at 11:18 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Looks like some folks forgot about Hamilton, the OG political free-styla…he could break dance, too...
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 11:38 AM on January 13, 2016

Even Nikki Minaj is deeply political, even if it's not a form of "politics" that a writer for the New Republic would recognise as legitimate.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:00 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

You know I hear a lot of this^ and its correct in some ways, but actually pretty ignorant in other ways. This isn't "a writer for the new republic", first of all, its Bijan Stephen, a really thoughtful writer with a ton of knowledge and history of writing about black politics, who doesn't exactly need a lecture on "personal = political".

Secondly, this doesn't have to be a diss on previous kinds of rap.
Rappers have had different ways of expressing political opinions, that's fine, but like the article points out, explicit political messages haven't been a part of platinum selling mainstream rap. PARTICULARLY critiques of capitalism. There is a difference of philosophy between the capitalism celebration (however subversive) of pre-Ferguson mainstream rap, and the nu-conscious rap now ascending in popularity.
Art can do different things. This art does something specific: incites revolution. That isn't any better than art that makes you feel other things. But it is a change, and one that, for purely political reasons, those who want political change can and should celebrate.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:12 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

tobascodagama: Where "return" just means "white people decided to pay attention to them again", right? 'Cause I'm not that engaged with hip-hop, and even I know that politically engaged rappers never actually went away.

lede is super buried, Stephen defines 'return' about halfway down:

Politically conscious rap happened; it was meaningful, it was co-opted and commercialized; and then it vanished. Or not really. Yes, there was a period of time during which mainstream rap contained little of what could be considered “political consciousness,” but it’s not like that sort of rap ever really died. You could find it easily enough—Dead Prez, X Clan, Mos Def—on underground and college radio, or mixtapes. Eventually, as circumstances around the country shifted, the political themes returned.

LooseFilter: I was prepared to give the article's thesis a bit of a pass, because maybe the author is talking about Killer Mike being directly politically active (e.g., meeting with candidates, talking explicitly about issues, etc.), but no, he means the music generally

he talks about this in his conclusion:

Systemic racism, he told me, will never end in this country until “the supposed progressives, or the passively liberal whites that I speak to at these universities, get angry enough to join forces with the people who are also fighting the same systems.”

Which means that Killer Mike has learned the same lesson as did his predecessors in Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions: His message, like theirs, has the most force when it is directed at white people. Black folks already get race. As a sentiment, this should seem obvious, but it rarely is. Befriending a person of another heritage is a first step: It is literally the easiest thing you can do. Killer Mike’s real project, then, isn’t to spout platitudes on racial harmony or to “solve racism.” It is to provoke empathy, so we have a common foundation—a common language—to build on. These are baby steps toward justice and equality.

the article is pretty reasonable and really thoughtful. the NR editor who decided to go for the clickbait shitstorm title is not doing themselves or their publication any favors
posted by runt at 3:47 PM on January 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

I love Words I Never Said btw.
posted by jeffburdges at 5:17 PM on January 13, 2016

the article is pretty reasonable and really thoughtful. the NR editor who decided to go for the clickbait shitstorm title is not doing themselves or their publication any favors

Fair enough, and I'll cop to not reading the article. Precisely because of the clickbait headline. That shit causes an allergic reaction in me, I swear.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:51 PM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Well "explicit political messages" *were* still part of older Kanye but sure, not exactly anti-capitalist.
posted by atoxyl at 10:40 PM on January 13, 2016

I don't know, the only old Kanye tracks I can think of where he gets political are "Crack Music" and "Diamonds From Sierra Leone", but even those aren't all that political.
posted by foobaz at 11:53 PM on January 13, 2016