obama

OBAMA IS HIP HOP The billion dollar global industry that is Hip Hop was merely fleeting supposition in 1973, when DJ Kool Herc was rocking his first block party in the South Bronx. At that time no one could have imagined the command that this rough, unapologetic, and largely local, Hip Hop scene would someday wield over the entire music industry, and over the entire world as a whole. It was also at this time, in 1979, that a young Barak Obama was in his last year of high school (“Obama and Hip Hop”, Page 1, Kot), a true child of the new Hip Hop generation. When Obama went on to emerge less than thirty years later as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, there were those who also wrote him off as a novelty, an interesting but ultimately dismissible idea. Obama, like Hip Hop, however, would not and could not go away. Hip Hop and Obama, in their own distinct though intertwining arenas, have grabbed the attention of a young, volatile audience; an audience that often finds itself ignored and underrepresented, an audience frustrated by all that is peevishly written off by mainstream society. To cut to the chase, Obama is Hip Hop: and while he gracefully embodies all that which is sacred and beautiful in medium, he is also therefore subject to its vices, and faced with defying its subsequent expectations. The concept of the American Dream has long monopolized the attention of generation after generation. The idea of hope, of possibility, of realizing one‟s seemingly unattainable potential triggers the rawest and most intoxicating components of human devotion. Hip Hop music describes transcending bad beginnings in order to achieve what no one ever thought its artists could and have: riches, fame, respect, and global influence. The fantasy, the reality, of Hip Hop is that it can be a proverbial Pass-Go card out the static urban world of joblessness, crippled educational intuitions, and poverty for anyone hungry enough to snatch it off its dangling string. 1 Hip Hop‟s roots are humble, unassuming, and surprisingly relatable to even the unintended audience. Obama‟s journey, similarly, appeals to those who may have previously never envisioned themselves in an equal position of such prominence. “He‟s a self made American who happens to be black. Not only is [being self made] an ideal of Hip Hop, it gets at the core of the American Dream” says Soulstice, an underground emcee and college radio figure (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate, Page 1, Peterson). Obama‟s race, coupled with his fatherlessness, speaks to an often trivialized Hip Hop community, to those who are in many cases brought up by grandparents or come from broken homes. On an even broader scale, Obama‟s domestic situation speaks to a generation that has seen one in two marriages end in divorce. Both Hip Hop and Obama on paper seem to have no business in the spotlight they‟ve earned, which makes them all the more fascinating: Obama is not white, he does not come from a politically prominent background, he is not a „good old boy‟, he‟s not even from the continental United States. Duly, Hip Hop comes from places that are certainly not glamorous, not the Americana white picket fence post card image; places that everyone would much rather have gone on ignoring, from a population that has consistently been marginalized. Most importantly, both Hip Hop and Obama would not have achieved half of what they have without the support of the youth population, which is an empowering and alluring concept. One of the most literal comparisons that can be made between Obama and Hip Hop is the multiracial and multicultural roots they both share. Obama is half Caucasian, half African, with an international education and upbringing. Hip Hop draws influence and technology from Jamaica, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and is rooted in international appeal. In fact Grandmaster Caz went so far as to state “that a lot of the early and today‟s Hip Hop artists who really shine through have that Jamaican or Caribbean heritage” (Casanova Fly, Page 199, 2 Brown). Both embody the appeal that America is historically known for, but as of late does not always positively demonstrate: a collaboration of many cultures and backgrounds coming together in a seamless culmination. The same people who sought Hip Hop as an alternative to a music scene that they could not relate to now also seek a politician to whom they can relate to as well. Obama appeals to immigrants, he appeals to Islanders, he appeals to white people, he appeals to black people, he appeals to multi racial people, he appeals to all those who could not find themselves in the long line of lined white faces that came before him. Like the music that has grabbed the attention of races and cultures from around the world, Obama has grabbed the attention of a nation so heavily fractioned, there was a time when the idea of uniting was but a distant dream. Obama has also employed an invaluable skill set which has long been the backbone of the Hip Hop movement: community involvement and dependence. Journalist Latoya Peterson describes Hip Hop as “a unifying force, a potent combination of entrepreneurship, community activism, creativity and innovation that appeals to youth across the globe…” (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate”, Page 1, Peterson) The ease with which Obama‟s campaign could be substituted with Hip Hop in regards to this description is almost eerie. Obama‟s grassroots campaigning was something that the election process had not seen in awhile, and the employment of merchandizing and small donor contributions echoes the kind of entrepreneurship practiced in the early days of block parties and mix tapes as a method of promotion. Just like the music scene that took something like a typical record and transformed its entire dynamic by playing only the breaks, correlates directly to Obama‟s method of advancing and expounding upon modern day campaigning to make the process entirely unique. Hip Hop has always been about the community, for the community and by the community; and Barak 3 Obama has proven himself to be “a straight talking community organizer” (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate”, Page 1, Peterson) deeply entrenched in that same sense of community. Hip Hop and Obama do not only share positives; both are constantly subjected to the ludicrous notion of legitimacy. Obama has been boundlessly accused of not being definitive enough: not being „black’ enough to be blindly supported by the African American community as whole. “Black, in our political and social vocabulary, means those descended from West African slaves” asserts columnist Debra Dickerson (“Is Obama Black Enough?”, Page 1, Coates). Obama‟s Kenyan background, as opposed to an African-American descent, has raised questions as to whether he could have had the same experiences as the average black person living in the United States. His biracial status has also cast some doubt as to whether he may act „too white‟ or „not black enough‟ to earn the „rights‟ of a minority status in the election. The ridiculousness of these points go almost beyond refuting: these points suggest that because Obama is “articulate, young, and handsome” he does not earn the authenticity that a figure like Al Sharpton would as a “bad black” (“Is Obama Black Enough?”, Page 1, Coates). The notion that because of his education and background he may not be seen as a legitimate black man echoes the predicaments that many performers in Hip Hop face, where the current norm is to have been at some point incarcerated, shot at, or come from the most destitute of situations imaginable. This idea of a “bad nigga” is explored in great detail by author R.A.T. Judy, who describes the “bad nigga” as “… this nigga who gangbangs, this nigga who is destroying the fabric of society, who has spread across the country like an infestation, bringing an epidemic of despair to black America” (On the Question of Nigga Authenticity, Page 106, Judy). Both of these notions stem from the same rotted root: that there is a deep seated “belief that 50 Cent, not Barak Obama, represents the real black America” (“Is Obama Black Enough?”, Page 1, Coates). 4 The concepts of legitimacy that plague both Obama and the Hip Hop community have also spawned many contradictory dual expectations. An obvious contradictory expectation that Obama currently faces, is that he is expected to represent all aspects of what it is to be „black‟. While that is not only impossible for one man to achieve, the very idea is impossible to even define. An entire race of voters cannot be personified into one man, even though that is what many pundits seem to be calling for Obama to do, playing into the notion proposed by author Bill Yousman, that “black artists reveal only part of the (his)story and none of the intense contradictions of America‟s obsession with race.” (Blackophilia and Blackophobia, Page 369, Yousman). Duly, Hip Hop is expected to stay true to its original roots, while simultaneously embodying a progressive movement rocketing into the future. Gangster rappers are currently under heat from the public and underground members of the movement for „selling out‟ the genre, but cannot get signed or sell as many records as their labels demand without that type of angle. The public buys records with misogyny, expletives, and racism abounding, yet has the audacity to criticize the artists for making money from the sales. The consumers of this violent brand of Hip Hop become more and more drawn to it the more they are prone to revile it: the “whites who grew up imagining the Black world as a world of violence and chaos, the more brutal the imagery the more true to life it seems to be” (Blackophilia and Blackophobia, Page 379, Yousman). The line between what Hip Hop artists are expected to be selling and how they are expected to be living is becoming more and more blurred and it is the Hip Hop community itself that is victimized by the confusion. The conflict is so deeply entrenched that reality is that the titillating and violent images driving young upper middle class gangster rap fans the most wild, are the very images that their upper middle class parents and relations cite as morally acidic and reprehensible to the fullest extent of the law (Blackophilia and Blackophobia, Page 379, 5 Yousman). Hip Hop artists even have to face criticism from black audiences as well, who turn away from music considered to be “too Negroid, too black, and too ignorant” (“Rhythm Nation”, Page 2, Kelley). Contemporary Hip Hop artists can many times only find solace in their hypocritical fan base, rather than in their own communities who would normally be looked upon for support and understanding. Good and bad aside, the true tenant that makes Obama the ultimate Hip Hop candidate is that the issues of the Hip Hop generation are also the issues of the Obama campaign. Obama does not only fit the physical description of the Hip Hop generation (young, fresh faced, multinational, warm, and determined), he has also embraced the mindset. Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, summarizes the goals of the Hip Hop generation are “ending the war, expanding access to higher education while reducing indebtedness, establishing health care for the poor, and rolling back the laws that criminalize and disproportionately incarcerate them” (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate”, Page 2, Peterson). Obama has clear and real plans for solving all those issues and more, making him the long awaited champion for issues that while obvious on the surface, have been long ignored by the current administration. Obama has defied public criticism and supports eliminating the legal differences between crack and cocaine powder, an extremely racial issue that has contributed staggeringly to the minority incarceration rate in this country (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate”, Page 2, Peterson). He also seeks to reform the legality surrounding mandatory minimum sentencing and improving the types of public defense that are being provided for those who cannot afford representation (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate”, Page 2, Peterson). Many of the troubles plaguing urban communities are those surrounding under education and over incarceration, trends that Obama‟s policies directly seek to combat. 6 The comparisons that can be drawn between Obama and Hip Hop, and the assertion that Obama is in fact a Hip Hop candidate, are not static notions. Obama and Hip Hop are both actively affecting the other in groundbreaking ways. Most obviously is the faith that Obama has placed in the youth generation, and how much they gave given him back in return. “Obama doesn‟t insult our generation‟s intelligence … I think many of us welcome that candor” (“Barak Obama, Hip Hop Candidate”, page 2, Peterson) states author Jeff Chang, echoing the sentiments of many who have long been waiting for a politician to genuinely value what it is they have been yearning to voice. “I think it speaks volumes to where the larger community is in terms of marginalized figures, who‟ve never been involved in the process” (“Obama Hip Hop”, Page 1, Diamond) muses Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of black pop culture at Duke University. By inspiring and involving those who had never been involved before, Obama completely changed the game when it comes to running an election, and he changed it to exactly the kind of arena that he thrives in. Obama‟s campaign has fundamentally changed a lot of political expectations, “I think for black America … we‟ve never had an elected official at this high level. And so I think a more sophisticated conversation about the governing process has to occur, and I‟m really excited to see what role Hip Hop plays in that process” (“Obama Hip Hop”, Page 1, Diamond) Neal remarks. Obama also echoes the questions implied of what he expects from the Hip Hop community in exchange for representing their views, “So yes, my job is to focus on poverty, education, and health care, but I think we have to acknowledge the power of culture in affecting how our kids see themselves and the decisions they make” (“Obama Gets Name Dropped in Hip Hop”, Page 2, Hamby). While Obama has the power to reshape public policy and political processes, it is Hip Hop that holds a finger over the red button that could set the youth generation off or blow them up on the landing pad. 7 Hip Hop has always been something of a weather vane when it comes to national issues such as the prominence of the campaign of Barak Obama. Beginning with Ice Cube and Ice-T‟s chilling predictions of the race riots that occurred after the Rodney King riots, Hip Hop has definitely earned the nick name of “The Black CNN” bestowed upon it by Public Enemy‟s Chuck D (“Obama and Hip Hop, Page 1, Kot). So with artist after artist pledged their support to Barak Obama from the beginning, it was only a matter of time before he blew up into the national sensation that he has become. Obama has had the support of performers Common and Talib Kweli since 2007, and since then even more artists have entered their ranks (“Obama and Hip Hop, Page 1, Kot). Obama has the support of rappers such as Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, JayZ, Nas and Will.i.am; not exactly the names that jump to mind when one thinks of presidential politics. But therein lies the beauty, and essentially the Hip Hop, of Obama‟s ability to inspire. Young Jeezy puts it best when he says, “Anybody that listens to my music … and know where I come from and know what I been through, and just to hear me take a pause from all the normal rapper stuff and just sit back and go, „you know what, we got a problem and we got to address this. If you‟re out here, [a] hardworking American, and you can‟t even put food on your table, there‟s a problem with your system‟” (“Obama and Hip Hop, Page 1, Kot). Hip Hop and Obama have met in the middle in what was ultimately one common cycle to find each other: politics has long been searching for a way to inspire the people again, to truly be a process for the people, by the people once more. And the people, namely those of the Hip Hop generation, have long been searching for a single shred of politics that they can trust, that they can dare to believe in again. Now that Obama is Hip Hop, and Hip Hop is Obama, it‟s comforting to know that in all the tangled mess all we have been seeking is the best of ourselves in others. 8