Are GOP Politics and Hip Hop Sensibilities Compatible?

(Note: Every Friday, hiphoplaw.com contributors will respond to a hot-button issue related to the intersection of hip hop, law and culture.)

Pamela D. Bridgewater:

"First off, the question is based on the false premise that the hip hop nation is closely associated with any mainstream political party, including the Democratic party. This last election was a phenomena, and we all know why. If the hip hop nation was a Democratic party we would have had a different result in 2004. And if the GOP had any idea as to how to draw in the hip hop kids – they would have done so in 2008! Now, to be sure, the hip hop nation, the Demoractic and Republican parties have a lot in common – like capitalism, hyper consumerism, anti-queer sentiment, anti-reproductive freedom, and the failure to adequately work toward eliminating the root causes of poverty and oppression. But, since many rappers grew up with a picture of either MLK or JFK (often both) on their nana’s walls, they are more familiar with, and thus lumped in, with the Dems. But in order to understand the schism between hip hop and mainstream political parties, one has to look back to 1995-97 and pick out two words: COP KILLER.

Like Mumia Abu Jamal and Assata Shakur, the hip hop nation will forever (forever ever forever ever!) be inconsistent with the mainstream political parties because of its fear and loathing of the police. And further, the GOP takes particular pride in hyping up the fear part of that relationship. Yet, members of both parties cringed when ICE T dropped Body Count in the Rodney King era and was forced to choose to pull it from the album. Since then we can track several of rap’s reconciliations. Yet, of all the contested relationships between rap and the larger society and within rap itself – the tumultuous relationship between rap’s artists (and their constituencies) and the police have never been reconciled. As long as ICE-T and others (except Warner Brothers) stand by the following lyrics:

Fuck the police, yeah!
Fuck the police, for darryl gates.
Fuck the police, for rodney king.
Fuck the police, for my dead homies.
Fuck the police, for your freedom.
Fuck the police, don’t be a pussy.
Fuck the police, have some muthafuckin courage.
Fuck the police, sing along.
Cop killer!
Cop killer!
Cop killer!
Cop killer!”

The major political parties’ pro police, pro enhanced crime enforcement, pro prisons message will always seem diametrically opposed to hip hop and rap and gangsta rap. Michael Steele and President Obama have their work cut out for them."

D. Aaron Lacy:

"The GOP and the hip hop movement will never be compatible. In many areas, the GOP’s stance is the complete opposite to what the hip hop generation believes in. If the GOP wants to reach out to the hip hop generation, it must change its fundamental beliefs that are the bedrock of the Republican Party. Any effort by the GOP to reach out to the hip hop generation must be more than mere dressing up of the same conservative message. If all the GOP does is use hip hop slang in an attempt to make it seem like it relates to the hip hop generation, it will do nothing more than alienate more of the voters that they seek to win. In addition, that attempt will more than likely alienate many of the voters they currently have.

Hip hop culture is more than just words. It’s an attitude and it’s a way of life. Recently, Michael Steele urged the GOP to acknowledge their mistakes and commented “Tell America: We know the past, we know we did wrong – my bad.” A Minnesota Congresswoman followed Steele by proclaiming “You be da man!” It’s this type of superficial banter that I speak of above. Behaving like this will do nothing but give late night talk show hosts things to make fun of the GOP. Watching Michael Steele act this way is like watching Steve Martin “act black” in the movie Bringing Down the House.

In order for the GOP to be compatible with the hip hop movement, it would have to remake itself completely to give the people what they really want (not slang). That is just not something that I see happening anytime soon, if ever."

Nick J. Sciullo:

"Hip-hop is not bi-partisan, but that does not mean that there is no room for conservative politics. Music should open up space where multiple actors can engage in the creative process. There are no bars to participation, save a modicum of talent. If we deny conservatives the ability to participate in hip-hop, then we force hip-hop to lose its focus. Does this mean that conservative hip-hop will shortly replace emo-rap as the newest fad? No. Hip-hop is still the domain of liberal activism, but as with any musical genre or culture, it should be open to new participants.

Hip-hop has traditionally been rebel music, but now the rebellion seems to have died down. How revolutionary is hip-hop today? Was Nas correct when he asserted that hip-hop was dead? To argue that hip-hop is not as liberal as it might wish to be is a persuasive argument. The politics of major corporations, White-record label ownership, and manipulative disc jockeys remind us that hip-hop is indeed a business and not a naïve liberal revolution. To claim, self-righteously, that hip-hop will exist forever or that hip-hop has no room to progress would be a horrible blow to hip-hop’s potential. Hip-hop must move forward. Artists must do new things, songs must sound different, recording machinery must be improved, and so on.

Michael Steele’s recent call for a union of hip-hop and conservativism rings hollow. It sounded desperate, with no context. Steele has not sufficiently explained how he plans to achieve this hip-hop makeover, nor does he give the impression that he has the tremendous knowledge of hip-hop needed to change Republican politics as usual. I don’t know how the Republican Party Remix of 2009 will go, but my guess is not well."

(Image courtesy of nyc.indymedia.org)

A Hip Hop Makeover of the GOP

Michael Steele, current chair of the Republican Party, very famously stated recently, that the GOP needs a hip hop makeover. Acknowledging a festering GOP concern that the party is becoming “regionalized,” is losing relevance and that a strong need exists to reach out “beyond our comfort zone,” Steele promised some “off the hook” public relations plans to win over the hip hop nation. Steele believes that Republicans need to “convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands for principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

Meanwhile, recent rumblings around Washington, D.C. seem to indicate that reporters and pundits believe that President Barack Obama is resonating differently with his white and African American constituents. In the article “Blacks, whites Hear Obama Differently” the author opines that President Obama’s occasional slang, his loping gait and some of his mannerisms signal to the black community that he is “down” in a way that is largely “missed” by the white community. Recently, the President responded to a cashier “nah, we straight” when asked if he needed change, and on the campaign trail, Obama reminded voters not to be “bamboozled” by negative politics. These terms, "nah, we straight" and "bamboozled" say something very specific to those in the black community while the terms “sail over the head” of most whites.

As Michael Steele plans his wooing of the hip hop community, one thing that must be recognized, is that for the hip hop generation, authenticity and “being real” is sacrosanct. And Michael Steele and Barack Obama provide incredibly divergent examples of authenticity, at least to the hip hop nation.

At a recent symposium at the West Virginia University College of Law, Talib Kweli called President Obama not just our first black president but our first hip hop president. I think there is much more to this than the mere fact that Jay-Z appears on the President’s iPod. President Obama authentically connects with not just black folks, but with the hip hop generation in a staggering way. Obama was endorsed by hip hop superstars, up and down the coasts. Obama’s troops, those that ushered him into the White House, were on the ground in EVERY state, and were overwhelmingly young, overwhelmingly diverse and ultra devoted. As Cornel West mentioned at the same symposium at WVU Law, when West was campaigning in the early days for Obama in Iowa, when the foot soldiers broke up from campaigning at night, the volunteers were not just listening to, but were feeling hip hop. And according to West, at that time, they were young and were mostly white.

Obama’s verbiage, gait and style, to resonate with the hip hop nation, HAS to be authentic. If hip hop is about anything, it is about "being real" and this is where Michael Steele fails. Steele’s dated references to “bling bling” and “off the hook” p.r. plans redound as inauthentic and very much, not “real.” It is difficult to imagine a single member of the hip hop generation being attracted by Steele's attempt to use hip hop lingo or language to attract a new breed of GOP voter. The words are inauthentic; the mission is inauthentic; and the outreach seems doomed to inauthenticity. Michael Steele needs to be real, to garner the attention of hip hop aficionados.

President Obama on the other hand has an easy manner and the "hip hop" in him is subtle. He knew that he needed to “deracialize” his campaign in order to win. Yet, he gives cues and clues to black america that “winks” at the community and the hip hop generation as if to see “i am down, and you know that i am down, I just can’t say it right now.” He has won an election and now has an enormously wide berth with the hip hop generation and the black community in general to do what he has promised to do. Of course, authenticity mandates that he carry through with his promises, of which portions of the stimulus package and new legislation seems to try to do.

I am not sure that the author of “Blacks, whites hear Obama Differently” got it exactly right. It is not just blacks that “hear” Obama. And not ALL whites hear Obama differently. It is the hip hop generation that hears Obama, together with the black community, including the civil rights generation (per Obama’s references to Langston Hughes, MLK and Malcolm X). The hip hop generation, includes whites, latinos, American Indians, Asian Americans, and so on – those folks that are profoundly influenced by the lyrics and culture of hip hop. President Obama has tapped into a very powerful force of support and loyalty. Michael Steele simply cannot. The authenticity is missing.