Am I supposed to believe that an artist who raps about growing up in the hood and starting “from the bottom” can’t find a damn thing to say about the almost weekly reports of murders by police officers? Aren’t a lot of these rappers always screaming about how “hood” and “real” they are? Strange how they never seem to have a problem publicly beefing with other artists, instigating corny Twitter wars, or flexing their gangsta persona…but when it’s time to put that “tough guy” talk to good use – crickets.
Many pioneering artists like Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee, used their voices to uplift society, willing to sacrifice their successful careers, because they understood the power of their influence and truly loved the people. Fearlessly, they pursued their mission and became legends in the process. In Hip Hop, groups like Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Poor Righteous Teachers were unafraid to speak truth to power, whether it was popular or not. They too are legends. But with all the money and so-called power today’s big name rappers brag about having, the truth is that they lack any power at all to do anything truly significant. Buying cars, jewelry, houses, clothes, and other material things doesn’t prove you have power; it proves you’re a consumer, nothing more, nothing less. How many of these so-called artists will go down in history for doing anything except rapping about everything they have and everything you don’t? God forbid they deviate from the program and upset their label or risk their endorsement deals for growing some balls and rapping about something meaningful for once.
Then again, these artists may be involved in various acts of social activism that the public knows nothing about. After all, I’ve never been in a position to risk hurting my career for simply sharing my opinions in public. I’ve never had million dollar endorsements on the line for speaking up about social problems. I don’t know what it’s like to be forced to hold my tongue because my family’s financial security depends on my passiveness or silence.