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| Political Rap |
| Written by Bavu Blakes | |
| Monday, 09 August 2004 | |
 Remember "Vote or Die"? Is two cents to us like $2,000 to Sean Combs? Diddy did the whole "Vote or Die" campaign in 2004, when he also donated $2,000 to Al Sharpton's presidential campaign. $2,000?"Other rappers simply subscribe to the "Anybody but Bush" school of thought, evidenced by their use of the president's name in derogatory comparisons. Los Angeles' The Game recently dissed 50 Cent by saying that the G-Unit leader is "doing to hip-hop what George Bush is doing to America--killing it." Jay-Z slammed the president's handling of Hurricane Katrina in the song "Minority Report," rapping, "The commander-in-chief just flew by--did he stop? No ..." Eminem long ago announced plans to "ambush this Bush administration." And activist rapper Mos Def has hurled more than a few zingers at the president, most recently: "He got a policy for handling [black people] and trash," echoing Kanye West, who once commented that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." West filmed a series of public service announcements this summer for "ED in '08," an initiative of Strong American Schools, which is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The self-titled Louis Vuitton Don isn't supporting any specific candidates--perhaps he read the Pew Research Center's report on celebrity endorsements, published in September. That study found that, while 4% of respondents would be more likely to vote for a Kanye-supported candidate, 15% would be less likely. Still, rappers aren't necessarily the most caustic endorsers out there. Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly--a frequent basher of rappers and hip-hop music--tops Pew's list, turning off 21% of respondents." [did you catch the link? it's up top, and says $2,000? ] |
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