If not, what artists or genre of music is going to spark it? Lead it? I'm sure there are many underground and indie musicians doing good work in all genres. But I am talking about something, someone, that is going to appeal to the masses.
"Music is important in the struggle, every revolution has music." I'm paraphrasing here, but this is the spirit of what the legendary Grace Lee Boggs said during her opening speech at the North Dakota Study Group in Detroit, MI last weekend. Later a woman got up with her acoustic guitar, echoed her comments and then proceeded to lead the group in singing a protest song from the '60s.
One hour later we were on a bus taking a tour of Detroit. As we passed the old "Hitsville USA" I began to come back to that idea of music and social change. Are we going to have another What's Going On by Marvin Gaye? War by Edwin Starr? Then again, the struggle was so different then, so visible, so tangible. This made it easier to be outraged. The enemies, the issues were clear. Despite more media, the struggle now is more elusive. Is a musical artist going to write a song railing against institutional racism? Develop a catchy chorus that shines a light on predatory loan practices? How do you describe those things? Do you write about the cause, or the results?
That evening, performances included a Detroit rapper named Invincible who, along with a versatile flow and solid wordplay, carried with her a strong message of change and hope. This also made me return to the idea of change and music. I wonder what role rap music can have and will have.
This is going to be the first of yet another series of posts that highlights lines, phrases and rhymes that are aimed at societal change. It is hard to do that topic well but I plan on holding a high standard. Important and prophetic words alone will not be good enough. Ultra-technical and "deep" artists may not always get posts. Flow and wordplay are going to be just as important content. It's rap after all, not spoken word poetry. It has to be musical.
All of my reoccurring posts have a title that is drawn right from the topic itself. Vomitspit, Come Back Like Jordan..., 7MCs, and Camay are all representative of lyrics or song titles by particular artists (DOOM, Jay-Z, Rakim and Ghostface Killah). "If Revolution Had a Movie..." is props to Common.
