What Democratic Leaders Can Learn From Hip-Hop
For some strange reason, major Democratic-run metropolises are experiencing huge spikes in violence. Over the Independence Day weekend in Chicago, there were 87 people shot with 17 fatalities. In Atlanta, there were 31 people shot with 5 fatalities. Shootings in Baltimore left 8 injured and 1 person dead. Of course, there is no accountability being taken by Mayors Lori Lightfoot, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Bernard Young, who blame everything from Donald Trump to the coronavirus to “distress” stemming from the economic lockdowns (which were in response to a virus that, as of this writing, kills 407 people per 1 million citizens for a whopping 0.0407% of the population). Instead, these Mayors are criticizing the President for not calling in the National Guard to fix their mess. It is this dependence on the federal government that creates cycles of poverty, violence, and entitlement. Mayor Bottoms seems to have a couple of new besties, as Atlanta rappers T.I. and Killer Mike religiously vouch for her and conduct press conferences together. Perhaps Bottoms, and some other Democratic leaders, can take a lesson from Hip-Hop.
Throughout large stints of its existence, Hip-Hop has been an independent movement. In the 1970s, disc jockeys like DJ Kool Herc brought house and block parties to life with mixers and record players. During the ‘70s and into the ‘80s, lyrics were added to the newly mixed beats. That led the way for Kurtis Blow and other pioneer artists to start crafting completely original music. The path was paved for NWA, 2Pac, and the Hip-Hop explosion of the ‘90s. All of this was done with a grassroots, independent approach. No oversight from a major record label like we see nowadays. No managers or A&R people, no one to blame if your record did not catch on. Early Hip-Hop, and even a few pockets of modern-day Hip-Hop such as Tech N9ne's Strange Music label, took a bag of lemons and not only made lemonade, but they also made a 3-course meal out of it.
Some of the political leaders in place have multi-million, if not billion, dollar budgets and revenue streams, and still cannot manage those resources for the betterment of the people they are supposed to govern. It all becomes a game of point the finger. A local government that needlessly depends on the federal government breeds needy citizens. Instead of developing some work ethic and ambition, they are rewarded for sitting back and waiting for someone else to pay their way. Over the course of a generation or two, this mindset bleeds into Hip-Hop. Younger artists become stagnant and wait on their record label to do the marketing and promotional work for them, instead of putting their careers in their own hands.
Democratic leaders like Lightfoot and Bottoms should take an example from the early days of Hip-Hop and start making moves to help their crumbling cities. If they need someone else to do their job for them, why are they still in office?
