Hip-Hop Politics

This is a new track from MC Yogi called Universal Healthcare. I’m diggin’ the real happy sound, although I gotta admit the chorus is a bit much for me. You might remember Yogi from his politically conscious videos for Grassroots Movement and Vote for Change. This track attempts to make a case for universal healthcare. Click below to listen to MC Yogi’s Universal Healthcare:

And click the following link to download the track for FREE: Download

You don’t normally think of rap stars as having much to do with Washington’s health care debate. After all, hip-hop is mainly about young people and young people almost never think they’re going to get sick. But, even rappers get older, if they’re lucky. Bodies begin to give out, doctor bills begin to pile up and suddenly that health care debate hits home.

“Normally I find it kind of hard being a part of things like this,” said hip-hop artist Malik Taylor, better known as “Phife” or “Phife Dawg” from the Billboard award-winning rap group A Tribe Called Quest. (more…)

This is a CNN report on the Hip-Hop Caucus’ “Green the Block Initiative,” a campaign intended to address urban poverty and climate change at the same time.

Interview by Prop Anon – Immortal Technique is an artist in the lineage of Zach De LaRocha and Chuck D, and he needs to be listened to. His story is a testament to the power of the pen. Born in Peru and raised in Harlem as a child, he found himself in trouble with the law as a teenager and young man. After serving time in prison for a couple years and becoming free, in more ways than one, Immortal Technique worked his way up through New York City underground Hip-Hop in the early 2000’s battle-rap scene. During this period, Tech got a name for himself for delivering vitriolic rhyme schemes deconstructing a system that has repeatedly lied to many in order to benefit a few. He also ran with the well-known underground NYC Hip-Hop crew, Stronghold, and frequented thenow longest running open mic in the city, End of the Weak. (more…)

The United Nations has launched a trust fund to build a permanent memorial for victims of slavery, and appointed entrepreneur and hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons as a Goodwill Ambassador to promote the project.

A 2007 General Assembly resolution designated 25 March as an annual day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and called for a permanent memorial to be erected at UN Headquarters to acknowledge the tragedy and consider the legacy of slavery. (more…)

Roanoke, VA – Terry McAuliffe brings hip-hop artist and Democratic activist will.i.am onto his campaign for governor for four Virginia stops. The former Democratic National Committee chairman and the Black Eyed Peas leader will appear together next Monday in Portsmouth, Hampton, Richmond and Arlington. (more…)

Written by Gary Lapon, Northampton, MA – A few weeks ago, I saw DAM perform at Hampshire College, where they expressed solidarity with Hampshire Students for Justice in Palestine for pushing their college to divest from the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

The show was amazing, as DAM brought an energy and achieved a synthesis between MC and audience that gave weight to their statement: “Hip Hop is not dead. It is alive in Palestine.” (more…)

Big ups to Chilly S for sending this over. I guess a bunch of cats got together to kick Bush in the ass on his way out back in January.

This is an interesting interview/performance from Cuban hip-hop group Anonimo Consejo, which was filmed for a Worldfocus news story “Social, economic change is in the air in post-Fidel Cuba.”

This is a video called “Word Wars,” part of a news report about hip-hop in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem put together by John Pendygraft of the St. Petersburg Times.