POST NO ILLS E-Roundtable: Sucka-Free Democracy--Natalie Hopkinson (1)

I absolutely think hip-hop artists can and should continue their tradition of political critique. For all the rich symbolism and hope that his campaign has inspired, Obama is not the Messiah. Centuries of disenfranchisement cannot be tackled overnight, and there will continue to be a need for this feisty kind of critique from the outsider’s perspective that has been the role of hip-hop. So I expect and hope Chuck D. et al hit a President Obama just as hard as they had the rest of the white guys.


OPENING RESPONSE I absolutely think hip-hop artists can and should continue their tradition of political critique. For all the rich symbolism and hope that his campaign has inspired, Obama is not the Messiah. Centuries of disenfranchisement cannot be tackled overnight, and there will continue to be a need for this feisty kind of critique from the outsider’s perspective that has been the role of hip-hop. So I expect and hope Chuck D. et al hit a President Obama just as hard as they had the rest of the white guys. ___So far, what I’ve seen is Obama inspire hip-hop artists like Nas and Luda to celebrate what he’s already accomplished and appreciate the very real power the symbolism that an Obama presidency will bring—and that definitely has helped to drive up political participation. Before this election, I personally have been pretty cynical. I never voted, never did what I had to do in order to register. Thanks to the sad, Rome-like state of affairs in this country and to Obama’s rise, I am more engaged than ever with what is going on in politics. (I actually watched the Republican National Convention—history, folks!!!) Ever since the Iowa primaries last year, the Obama family has helped to explode my previous assumptions about white America. Whatever happens in November, I am more hopeful than ever for a new America that makes this hopeless, cynical, sense of doom-and-gloom, can’t-be-bothered-with-it pose to become outdated. ___Hopefully this is a political awakening for the rest of my peers in the hip-hop generation as well. I hope that it inspires some softening of the cynicism we heard from Chuck D, André 3000, and Dead Prez and others which can be debilitating in its own way. It is not constructive to urge people to sit down and not vote, whether it is a black man is on the ballot or anyone else. We have to participate in the process in order to claim what we are entitled to in America. Part of the maturation of hip-hop means growing up and appreciating the possibilities and responsibilities as well as relentlessly holding America to the fire about the ongoing inequities. I expect in the coming years we will hear both from hip-hop. OTHER PARTICIPATING RESPONDENTS: Mark Anthony Neal Natalie Moore Adam Bradley R. Scott Heath Close Window

___So far, what I’ve seen is Obama inspire hip-hop artists like Nas and Luda to celebrate what he’s already accomplished and appreciate the very real power the symbolism that an Obama presidency will bring—and that definitely has helped to drive up political participation. Before this election, I personally have been pretty cynical. I never voted, never did what I had to do in order to register. Thanks to the sad, Rome-like state of affairs in this country and to Obama’s rise, I am more engaged than ever with what is going on in politics. (I actually watched the Republican National Convention—history, folks!!!) Ever since the Iowa primaries last year, the Obama family has helped to explode my previous assumptions about white America. Whatever happens in November, I am more hopeful than ever for a new America that makes this hopeless, cynical, sense of doom-and-gloom, can’t-be-bothered-with-it pose to become outdated.

___Hopefully this is a political awakening for the rest of my peers in the hip-hop generation as well. I hope that it inspires some softening of the cynicism we heard from Chuck D, André 3000, and Dead Prez and others which can be debilitating in its own way. It is not constructive to urge people to sit down and not vote, whether it is a black man is on the ballot or anyone else. We have to participate in the process in order to claim what we are entitled to in America. Part of the maturation of hip-hop means growing up and appreciating the possibilities and responsibilities as well as relentlessly holding America to the fire about the ongoing inequities. I expect in the coming years we will hear both from hip-hop.

OTHER PARTICIPATING RESPONDENTS: