Don't let anyone tell you that rappers don't watch the news. Following the September 11th attacks and the ensuing actions taken by the US government to stop terrorism, Hiphop artists have been outspoken about the subject. MCs ranging from Eminem to Nas to Ghostface Killah have all sprinkled their rhymes with 9/11 references. Osama Bin Laden, Colin Powell, George Bush and the twin towers themselves have been injected into the lyrics of MCs across the board, with comments ranging from being patriotic to utterly sarcastic. While many mainstream MCs have devoted studio time in the past year to commenting about the attacks, three underground rappers laced Hiphop music with the most thought-provoking material on the subject over the course of the past 12 months, and all concurrently prescribe to protecting the civil rights of Americans and maintaining perspective in post-9/11 America.
Brooklyn rapper and former NYC public school teacher J Live released "Satisfied," off of his second LP, All of the Above. The track provides an alternative view to the iconization of the NYPD. J Live spits, "It ain't right them cops and them firemen died/ The shit is real tragic, but it damn sure ain't magic/ It won't make the brutality disappear/ It won't pull equality from behind your ear." Recalling their past record of brutality and the infamous Amadou Diallo case in which an unarmed man of African descent was shot at 41 times by NYPD officers, "Satisfied" offers opposition to the forces who are pushing for relinquishing civil liberties in the name of self-protection.
Boston Underground stalwart Mr. Lif released the controversial "Home of the Brave" on his EP Emergency Rations. In the song, Lif insinuates America went to war with Afghanistan to gain access to an oil pipeline and created anthrax to encourage public support for military action. Don't think this was something Lif didn't take seriously, the MC claims to have done his homework on the subject. "I wanted to see a critical analysis of the information being dispersed to the American people," says the skeptical MC, particularly worried with what role the government is playing in our everyday lives since the attacks. "I'm really glad that ["Home of the Brave”] is out there, and I just didn't know what response I'd get....None of us really know what this level of increased security is gonna bring us, too, and what this means for our civil liberties. I'm not begging people to agree, I'm just saying to question what you are taught." Despite some worries for his and his family's safety after he released the controversial song last June, Lif has continued to perform the song on tour with DJ Shadow this past summer, often doing it a capella for increased effect.
Finally, Sage Francis's "Makeshift Patriot" is a solemn account of an American's mourning, and how issues of racial profiling and journalistic ethics have been questioned since the attacks. Sage raps, "Don't waive your rights with your flag" and puts the experience of the common American who simply wants to know the truth in a poetic fashion. Sage felt "sickened" that many hip hop artists were quick to support the government after the attacks: "Apparently they have no knowledge of our country's horrible track record as far as foreign policy goes, and they were all too ignorant to consider that they were cheering on the deaths of more innocent people... Hip hop is really a tool of empowerment for the people, and I did my best to make people question what was happening around them."
Wax Paper: Don't Sweat the "Technique" by Chhay Chhun
