TyMeLyNe Politics

Political Entertainment News Caused By The Government. A blog through, a Dj's eyes. Brought to you by my life...a work in progress production.

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Gangster-Political Genome Unlocked

Gangster-Political Genome Unlocked: "The songs on a recent afternoon rap hip-hop FM radio show include P.I.M.P., 50 Cent's ode to players and promiscuity, and What's Happnin!, the gun-toting boasts of the Ying Yang Twins and Miami rapper Trick Daddy.
Out of nowhere, the bass begins thumping. A raspy-voiced man roars:

Why did Bush knock down the towers ...

Why did crack have to hit so hard ...

Why they let the Terminator win the election

Come on, pay attention ...

Why Halle have to let a white man pop her to get a Oscar

Why Denzel have to be crooked before he took it

'He doesn't offer solutions, but the questions are profound,' said Erik Parker, music editor at Vibe, a magazine that chronicles hip-hop culture. 'They have enough depth that they are implied that there needs to be some kind of wakeup call in this country.'

The rap, titled Why?, is not the kind you'd expect from Jadakiss, a hip-hop artist who has penned songs such as Ryde or Die, B--.

And it certainly isn't the kind you'd expect in heavy rotation on mainstream radio stations or at the club; it breaks practically every rule of hip-hop, at least the formula that has catapulted the music into a billion-dollar industry. Sex, bling bling and thuggery, all the things that brought the genre to the attention of the masses, are absent.

Weeks before what many are calling the most important presidential election of our time, machismo and excess aren't getting national attention as much as politics infused into hip-hop lyrics.

This isn't the first time hip-hop and politics have married.

'Before, you had artists that were political,' said Bakari Kitwana, former editor of the Source, the so-called bible of hip-hop culture. 'The po"