Radio Ro Blog

More and more, we are beginning to see hip hop and politics come to the forefront of music, artists talking about real issues and encouraging the listening audience (many black youth) to put faith back into the system and vote for the change so many have been waiting for.

Rappers tend to love him -- or at least the basic idea of a black man in the White House. They understand him, they can see his dream for the future and his positive campaign, and overwhelming success is unrivaled by any other in history.  Pro-Obama rap songs and references are arriving in droves, and online video endorsements are arriving just as quickly, from "Yes We Can" a song put together by Will.I.Am featuring John Legend, all the way to hip hop stars, Young Jeezy and Nas with "My President is Black.

Ludacris with his contriversial "Politics" praising Obama, calling Hillary a bitch, saying John McCain should be in a wheelchair, not the White House, and declaring that President Bush "is mentally handicapped."

A remix of Ice Cube's "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It," mentions Barack on which Scarface raps: "I hope that Barack could pull the troops from Iraq."

On "Black Republicans," a song from Lil Wayne's mix tape "Da Drought 3," guest Juelz Santana raps: "I'm feelin' like a black Republican / Naw, I can't call it / More like a black Democrat runnin' 'em out of office / Young Barack Obama, I'm all for it."

Three 6 Mafia's "Last 2 Walk" includes the couplet, "There's a whole lotta room in the front of the Range / Like Barack Obama said, yeah it's time for a change." 

Common, a rapper from Obama's home base of Chicago, has invoked the senator's name repeatedly, as in "The People," in which he declares: "My raps ignite the people like Obama." On a remix of the Jadakiss song "Why?," Common wonders: "Why is Bush acting like he trying to get Osama? / Why don't we impeach him and elect Obama?"

And in a recent freestyle, Jay-Z -- who is always using analogies to cast himself as hip-hop's microphone commander in chief -- concluded: "I'm signing off as the hood's Barack."

Its true that Barack inspired us all, and it shows in our music, ideas, and our actions.  I hope that because of this, we can strive to be a better people, I hope we can stop killing each other, and I hope... i just hope we can take an hour out of our day on Nov 4th and make it to the polls and vote for the change that we so desperately need.

I think that hip hop is starting to wake up and finally take some responsibility for the power it has. With all of the debate about it being an attack on the hip hop community, artists are putting out content that states a message more than ever before. I think before, artists just focused solely on getting money (which is still evident) but now they throw a positive message in their music here and there.

Its cool to have a good time and party but still be conscious that we, as a society, have a lot of work to do and not to lose sight of that. I see a lot of artist accepting their role as role models to the kids coming up and bridging the gap so our generations dont feel like they're out here alone. Hip hop is really maturing and that's a good thing but there's still work to be done.