When I think of a hip-hop politician, Grandmaster K is the first one that comes to mind:
Posted on 06/30/2004 1:00:50 PM PDT by areafiftyone
Several thousand young political activists will try to parlay hip-hop's influence on consumer culture into a viable political force that they hope will rival that of soccer moms and NASCAR fans.
While organizers of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention held earlier this month in Newark, N.J., did not endorse a presidential candidate, they did agree on a national platform that they hope a major political party will adopt as its own.
We did not endorse a candidate because we feel the civil-rights leadership has gotten into the habit of voting for Democrats without getting anything back, said Bakari Kitwana, author of The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture. We cannot play the game if we cannot lobby both sides for change. The way things are now, the Republicans just ignore us and the Democrats take us for granted. It's harsh but it's true.
About 6,000 people attended the three-day convention, and 350 to 400 delegates won their status by registering at least 50 new voters, according to the convention's organizers. Wyclef Jean, a politically active rap artist, attended and spoke at the convention.
Both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) ignored the convention. Angela Woodson, a Cleveland-based political activist, said she asked both campaigns to attend the convention or send surrogates, but never received a response.
Only Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has reached out to so-called hip-hop voters in his failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, and he sent a letter endorsing the convention.
The message is political, the question is how to mobilize, Kucinich told The Hill. My guess, as someone who has been involved with that community politically, they're looking for authenticity. It cannot be just an anti-Bush [message].
The National Hip Hop Political Assembly, an advocacy group born out of the convention, will try to sell its political agenda beyond urban areas, where rap music origininated, to a broader national audience, said Woodson. The group is also seeking to hire a lobbying firm here to help press its agenda.
Delegates decided that education, economic justice, criminal justice, health and wellness and human rights would make up the platform. They also adopted different planks, such as free education from kindergarten to graduate school, universal health care, ending racial profiling, reparations for slavery, and opposing the military's use of hip-hop culture on MTV or in different magazines as recruiting tools.
Music has long been a part of political protest even if the music does not endorse a specific candidate. Warren Zanes, vice president of education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, said music has inspired political change dating back to Henry VIII when society's poor wrote nursery rhymes embedded with political commentary.
Zanes added, When I think of songs that address social conditions Hip-hop is very alive with political energy.
Political organizers have been trying to figure out how to lure younger voters to the polls ever since 18-year-olds won the right to vote in 1972. That year, 42 percent of 18-to-24 year-olds voted. In 2000, that percentage declined to 28.5, according to Curtis Gans at the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.
Hip-hop activists hope to reverse that trend by transforming younger, urban African Americans and suburban whites at least those born between 1965 and 1984 into a potent political force.
"Music has long been a part of political protest even if the music does not endorse a specific candidate."
RIGHT.
this article discusses hip hop. not music.
Whaddya gotta do to join dis par-taay?
Pop somebody? off a b**ch?
Oooooh, I'm a-skeered now. Hip hoppers gonna take over our country!
When Hip-Hop first struck, I thought it was like the 24 hour flu, instead it has turned into a bad case of Malaria.
Hip Hop is to music as chewing gum is to food (or grafitti is to literature).
Nah they just want their Bling Bling from the government!
"Free education from kindergarten to graduate school, universal health care, ending racial profiling, reparations for slavery, and opposing military use of hip-hop culture on MTV."
If this isn't a liberal platform, then I don't know what is. It's the "ME ME" generation folks....and I am not willing to part with one penny so that reparations can be paid for slavery.
...And the Republicans didn't attend to show their support? Damn, there goes the far left hip-hop vote....
I thought kerry was a hip-hop flip-flop.
Naw, this is hip-hop, not rap.... Sing-talk a few verses of uh huh and oh yeah while boppin up & down will get ya in.
Since the polls are only open from 7a.m. to 8p.m. what do you think the chances are that the dope dealers will actually get out of bed during those short 13 hours? Do you suppose during the oh so short window between marijuana hangover and the next session that the hip hop generation will realize that it’s election day? Unless convicted felons are given the right to vote, your group’s numbers will be far higher than actual eligible voters.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
Heh! Bling bling indeed!
The hip hop crowd will be sitting on the couch stoned, drinking a 40 and watching Rock the Vote on MTV during election day. Guaranteed!
1. Don't pander.
2. Treat them as adults.
That's a start.
Oh goodie ... black marxists ... with no capacity for melody or harmonic complexity.
When I think of a hip-hop politician, Grandmaster K is the first one that comes to mind:
Kerry is changing his name to 'Grande Master Flips-a-lot' to appeal to the hip-hop crowd.
That powerful, huh?
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