When I watch that Druski video I feel like... yea some of the stuff was kind of goofy but damn would it be nice to have some of that sincerity back.

UK music formula: study what US did 1-2 decades ago

Not a diss cause Dave and Simz are them niggas

I both feel ya and i dont.

My household was quasi-hotep so im like “ehhhhhhh” yall really don’t want that s*** back bro niggas was so homophobic and transphobic back then

The Willie Lynch theory aint even real dawg lmao

perhaps i'm being too rosy eyed but with the current era progress and acceptance mixed with some of that pro-black unity... add in some anti-capitalist sentiments and we could have some amalgamation of that in today's current landscape.

like I get it, the hotep era was flawed as hell but I don't think our current decision to just abandon it and all it stood for is the right choice either.

i'm only really talking in terms of today's pro-consumerist, less introspective, highly commercialized and corporatized era we're in right now.

I think it's harder and harder to make brash political music without sounding trite when you've got so much political opinion coming from social media etc. Not saying it can't be done, but I don't think it will hit like punk or public enemy did for their generation. More subtle political commentary still hits but will that make the charts?

Ehh i wouldn't really say that. They had a politically conscious hip hop scene there for a very long time

punk is inherently anti-establishment or at least that's what it used to be and since hip hop has been the commercial success it has been, I do think there has now opened a space for the anti-establishment guys to congregate... now as far a mainstream success? that's another thing

its not about the content, you could say someone did a lot to make sure this type of commentary never reaches wider popularity. by 2000s it was a subculture thing ('conscious hip hop') and by 2010s it was completely infiltrated and designed for status quo (tpab and questlove activism)

rappers won’t even say f*** trump anymore

I’m just talking generally, the US empire hasn’t viewed Haiti as worth a s***, so the sentiment leaks into the populace

No reason for it to be as bad as it is over there

that's because some of them (and their fans) like trump this time around so yea... this is where we're at.

didn't kodak and fivio make a pro trump song? and nobody even cares lmao

Punk bands I enjoy that get a little political

I never heard uk political 90s rap

If im wrong on that then im wrong tho

at some point you realize that finding some kind of political outlet in your objects of consumption, be that music or pop culture, is exactly how the entire economic system of our life is designed to work. thats when you either hit those books or get into local organizing

I just think social media is calling that preachy.

Part of it is the industry’s fault and part of it is the academia niggas fault for losing sight and not even trying or attempting to meet niggas where they was at. Somewhere in that realm (mid 2000s) the divide began.

Remember, TPAB took a second to catch on to niggas in real time.

The irony is the hotep movement isnt even anti-capitalist nor what it stood for was anything more than disenfranchised black folks overcompensating for their lack of power by following a false sense of “we was kangz” (when realistically, if everyone was kangz and queens, who the hell were the niggas making up these kingdoms?”)

It’s actually kinda saddening when u really think about it in a way, them mortal kombat cosplay niggas on lenox just be projecting they insecurities tbh.

The thing is Malcolm X said entertainers weren’t meant to be seen as leaders in the 1st place.

The cornel wests (and i dont even wanna get into him cause lololol) of the world were supposed to be the ones to bridge the gap.

but music is not simply just an object of consumption is it? it's art

and like all art, there will always be a relationship between it and the socio-political landscape.

films are not just entertainment, they can be more

music is not just somethin to put on, it can be more

I do understand what you mean in the sense of expecting our artists to teach us but just as much as book can be a restorative form of education, so can music I think.

And Everyone aint a D*** Gregory.

yup. tyler vs ian should’ve been an open-shut discourse, but it wasn't for the same reason we have trump supporting rappers now

it’s crazy, top rappers of the 90s would’ve gotten fivio and kodak outta here themself for pulling some s*** like that

and Malcolm is right but I think there is difference between being a celebrity and being an artist. they don't have to mix.

now unfortunately under our current landscape, what he says is incredibly relevant when I think of a kendrick lamar for example who is just conscious enough for corporate acceptance but would never go past a certain line

art is an object of consumption even if theres an aspect of it that cant be directly attached to value it produces. books are directly designed to contain and distribute information, both music and books can get your mind to work if thats what you mean but ultimately they dont provide the same purpose

that aside, putting art above political action or even substituting the two provides a great cover because you can get stuck in the semantics of art and never look past what political action actually addresses

definitely agree with

and I think music, film, etc has been used to subvert or subdue political action which is a whole other discussion but one that is relevant to today as well.

Cover so f***ing hard
F*** america

Kendrick is more cowardly than drake to me

Atleast with drake you know he’s a vapid self obsessed guy

Kendrick tried with distance himself from societal expectations with the ‘i am not your savior’ act

But everything he has done since then screams that he does view himself as a sage that can guide the people out of darkness

Just to proceed to be vague and not speak truth to power