Senator Barack Obama's campaign slogan goes: "A change that we can believe in". For every politician, change is like a loaded super soaker, being pumped and pumped then sprayed with a watered message as far as it can reach.
The late Tupac Amaru Shakur once spoke of change in a single released 1998.
"And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East. Instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me."
Naseer Jones, poetic lyricist, spoke of the need for change in his recent well received single titled "Hip-Hop is dead".
"Everybody sound the same, commercialize the game
Reminiscin' when it wasn't all business
If it got where it started
So we all gather here for the dearly departed"
These influential figureheads say the word change (or make reference to it) and we stop, look and listen, inspired and empowered, because we believe that these men are forces for progress or movement.
But what does change mean for the status quo of hip-hop? Does it mean censorship of artists like 50 cent, Nelly or Lil Wayne? Does it mean stronger combat among artists on what constitutes true hip-hop, real lyricists vs fake thugs? Does it mean coercing rappers to acknowledge and act on their responsibility to youth.
What do we believe in where hip-hop is concerned? Do we believe in pure unadulterated story telling where tales of the streets, and 'the drug game' offer life and death accounts of the dark society we can relate to?
Do our convictions lie in the charismatic energy, sex, and harmony that hip-hop delivers? Or is it humility of spirit, integrity and heart that drive us?
Hip-hop is like a government, with divided wings of constituents that promote separate ideals for its conveyance. What's your vote gonna be?
-N
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