For those of you who follow politics?

[stanciyf]

I try to stay away from politics for the most part, but I know enough about it to not look totally foolish in a conversation about a well-known issue. In political rock and country songs, I understand most of the topics because of history classes. And for the things I don't understand, at least I can connect with the artist and understand the situation based on the feel of the song, so that makes for good listening. Old school political hip-hop has the same feel. If someone brings up the Arizona immigration laws in conversation, I won't know all the details, but at least I can think to myself, "Oh yeah, I remember Public Enemy talking about that, and it sounded messed up."

But with most modern-day political hip-hop it's a different story. I still get the feeling of the songs, and many of them are still good songs, but it ends up being more about the artist than the topic. When I hear Ice Cube, I think "Wow, that must have been a tough time for society as a whole." But when I listen to Immortal Technique, I think "He sounds pissed," or "He might be onto something," or "Damn, he can really rhyme." It's always more of an exhibition than a song, and the feeling doesn't come across even if I know what he's talking about, so I don't get anything out of it.

But like I said, I don't follow politics ferociously, so it might just be me. For those of you who are actually interested in the stuff he's talking about, do you feel the same way or does having some knowledge and interest in the subjects really change your position on the quality of the songs?

[fenwick]

I dont know about the quality changing. But chances are your never going to agree with everything a political artist or song is saying. So that's why I stay away from it usually. Unless im familiar with the artist views and they are similar to mine. Immortal technique gets to make songs n has free speech in this country. If he's so mad he should move to a 3rd world country where they'd cut his tongue out for speaking up.

[jerard]

I dont know about the quality changing. But chances are your never going to agree with everything a political artist or song is saying. So that's why I stay away from it usually. Unless im familiar with the artist views and they are similar to mine. Immortal technique gets to make songs n has free speech in this country. If he's so mad he should move to a 3rd world country where they'd cut his tongue out for speaking up.

I try to follow politics but it's very confusing for me. When I listen to immortal technique I can understand most of what he is saying because I also researched history and what happened. I think his message is good to wake up people who don't know what's happening or what happened in the past. Have you also heard LowKey? He's another political rapper from the uk.

[therron57]

You could get more information on specific issues from www.politicsandprosperity.com

[luther]

I try to stay away from political hip hop no matter when it came out since it's always from the liberal view point. Take an Ice Cube song, he talks about how cops are beating black people for no reason but fails to mention that the same black people are running around in blue and red killing each other over turf and colors. It's like the muslim people who complain about being searched at the airport. Yeah, not all muslims are terrorists, but the terrorists that have attacked us have been muslim. Yeah, not all black people were in gangs and killing each other, but there weren't nearly as many jews running around blasting each other, so they are less likely to be questioned by cops. It's always biased, and it has never changed my opinion on anything. Especially if Immortal Technique says it. I'm just sick of that guy in general.

[ear]

Never really listened to any political rap, but I can say that the more knowledge you have in it, the better the quality of the song. This can probably go both ways, but if you have, and this is just an example, no knowledge in the subject, than typically you won't enjoy it and it will make the quality seem a lot less for you.

That's just my opinion.

[kenway]

well I usually know the subject pretty well so if a rapper raps about something that my views don't agree with, which is not rare, then its whatever.
I really am not a fan of political rap, due to alot of it being too much.


like Technique he has too many conspiracies, while someone like Pac and Ice Cube can say something political and it doens't come across as overbearing as when Tech says it

[artzai]

If you understand the basic concept of what you are listening too you can understand where its coming from, where its aimed, and why its there. No matter the topic, you will always look at it differently if you know what to listen for and and what to expect. Lupe can say something related to whats current and whats been happening over the past years but if you dont know what he means by what he says... how are you going to analyze what hes saying and form your own perspective as opposed to just thinking, "man.. that was some deep complex sh*t"... A song can be just random rhyming or it can be intelligent, intellectual wording of an issue... I think it does, If you know the idea and theory behind the "Illuminati" .. your going to understand those words better and most likely feel better about listening to it.. I like socio political rappers and songs... it really does intrest me.