7 Comments

Hi!

Thanks for a very interesting read! I have been pondering on the same questions as long as i've been listening to hip-hop (approx. 20+ years or so).

I quoted you in one of my blog posts on my movie blog:

https://donteventhinkitslater.blogspot.com/2020/11/wolves-2014.html

Greetings

Mr. A

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I was wrestling with my thoughts with a while about this, this is a great read, thank u.

A few questions tho:

1 - are we going to bring in gay, trans and non binary rappers into the political arena of rap, or just keep ignoring them? There’s a pretty large group of those artists and I think u could make a really good unpacking of those works.

2 - is implicit political music more popular than explicit political music because it’s more respectful of its audience?

3 - did the high profile prosecutions of Ice T, NWA and Tupac put a kibosh in explicit political rap in the mainstream, or was that a wave that created and fell naturally?

4 - Where is the love for Rasheeda? Rasheeda had joints.

5 - you listened to the new Kur EP, Young 79?

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I guess my question is if every rap song has political value then how is it possible to put any value judgment on it? Is "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" worthy of praise or criticism irrespective of its proximity to whiteness? Or "Snow on tha Bluff" for that matter? If Kendrick and Lil Baby deserve the same kind of praise then is that praise meaningful in any way?

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