Beyond the music

     With the birth of “political hip hop” thanks to groups like Grandmaster flash and the furious five, political awareness grew for everyday occurrences that happened in the lives that these rappers depicted, lived, and saw. Although the first encounters with this were in the 80s, political rap is still strong today. Rappers like Nas and Common have taken it upon themselves to inform the people of the injustices that they see happening and where their opinion lies using more than just their music.
      Rap artist Mos Def recently took part in a project with human rights organization “Reprieve”. He’s been a part of protest before with things like hurricane Katrina and raising
awareness for political activist but this is something no artist has done before. Mos Def volunteered to be force fed the way they do to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. In this video that is almost too painful to watch you can hear him beg them to stop and see the pain he is going through. More than 40 prisoners in Guantanamo bay are being fed this way because it is the only way to keep them alive since there are more than 100 of them on a hunger strike. Many of these prisoners have already been proven innocent and are still being held, something Mos Def must have felt very strongly about putting himself through that experience.
     When the possibility of the first black president arose, rappers quickly got to work voicing their support. Common, Will I am and Young Jeezy (among many others) all mentioned the future President in new hits. Rappers compared President Obama to Martin Luther king and other prominent people I black history. Common was active in getting the president the ticket for the Democratic Party, attending rallies and voicing his support. He had never been shy about voicing his political opinion, being very clear about how he felt about the Bush administration and the War in Iraq in his song A letter to the Law where he says “With that happening, why they messing with Saddam? Burn a bush, cause for peace he no push no button. Killing over oil and grease, no weapons of destruction. How can we follow leader when this a corrupt one?”. A few years after that, the first lady, Michele Obama invited the rapper to the White house for a Poetry event. Common gladly accepted and performed a poem clearly showing his approval for this president.
    Today, political hip hop is still alive and well. Songs still depict how low government spending on low income communities force people to commit violence and drug related activities, how access to better education is not possible everywhere and over all the struggle of coming from less privileged homes (to say the least). Not only is political hip hop heard in songs but its seen in the actions of the artist who decide to take an extra step to see out the changes they want in the world, proving once more the power of music.