Political hip hop

Political hip hop is a form of hip hop music that developed in the 1980s. Inspired by 1970s political preachers such as The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy were the first political hip hop group. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released the first well-known sociopolitical rap song in 1982 called "The Message", which inspired numerous rappers to address social and political subjects.

Explicitly Political hip hop is a distinct sub-genre of Conscious hip hop, and refers to artists who have strong and overt political affiliations and agendas, as opposed to the more generalized social commentary typical of conscious hip hop. It can also be used to include political artists of all ideological stripes, whereas the term Conscious Hip Hop generally implies a broadly leftist affiliation or outlook.

Black Nationalist Hip Hop

Black Nationalism was one of the driving ideologies behind the militant wing of the North American Civil Rights Movement in the 1970's and early 1980's. It played a major role in early political hip hop and continues to be a major animating force for many contemporary political hip hop artists. Prominent Black Nationalist artists include Public Enemy, Paris, Dead Prez, and many others.

Dead Prez is distinct from the others because they also incorporate Anarchist critiques of Marxist-style revolutionary vanguards (most notable in their song Animal in Man) and of the State (in the intro to "Police State")

Marxist Hip Hop

Marxism has long been a major animating force in leftist social movements worldwide and is no less so in Hip Hop. Prominent Marxist hip hop acts include The Coup, Marxman, and Immortal Technique. For these artists, as with Marxists in general, Class Struggle and Anti-Imperialism are major recurring themes in their music and their politics and their music is overtly presented as an effort to spread Marxist ideas and ideals.

Anarchist Hip Hop

Like Marxism, Anarchism has been a major motivating ideology for popular revolutions around the globe and is just as relevant in Hip Hop culture. Unlike Marxist acts, several of which have been signed to major labels, anarchists artists have generally followed a DIY ethos which has led them to remain independent. Prominent Anarchist hip hop artists include Lynx, Direct Raption, Anarchist Academy, Captain Moonlight, and Entartete Kunst.

Anarchist hip hop artists are especially distinct from conscious hip hop because they reject voting as a useful tool for social change, so while prominent conscious hip hop artists like Kanye West are doing benefit shows for Rock The Vote, Anarchist artists like Lynx are producing and releasing songs urging people to boycott elections and instead spend their energy organizing to create change locally instead of relying on politicians.

Other Political Hip Hop

Other political hip hop artists advocate a wide range of positions, and often disagree with one another, as can be expected from an extremely diverse global scene. Zionist hip hop acts like Golan , and Palestinian Nationalists like the Iron Sheik have obvious fundamental disagreements about a wide range of issues, but both use Hip Hop music and culture as a vehicle to express themselves and spread their ideas.

References

• Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Bush, John (2003). The Definitive Guide to Rap & Hip-Hop. Backbeat Books, ISBN 0879307595.