3 Reasons Why June 2017 Has Been a Great Month for Political Rap

It feels like a lot of people have tried to include political messages recently due to last year’s US presidential election and movements such as Black Lives Matter. While it’s great to listen to music that tackles challenging political issues that people face it’s not at all pleasing to listen to people pretending to be politically aware just for the sake of appealing to a certain demographic. While I will not speak on US politics at large as I’m not very privy to it, I do think the overall political climate has been provided great inspiration for politically conscious musicians who actually do release music that is coming from the heart. The month of June 2017 in particular has been great for political rap and here are 3 reasons why.

Ice Cube Dropped a Hot Single & Celebrated “Death Certificate’s” 25th Anniversary

This year Ice Cube’s classic album “Death Certificate” turned 25 years old. To celebrate Cube released a 25th anniversary edition of the record which features a new, emotionally charged track “Good Cop, Bad Cop”. The song sees Cube bold as ever addressing police abuse that (mainly) black & Hispanic people in America face. Not only does it attack bad cops but it also implores good cops to step in and stand up against their corrupt colleagues. This is a reminder of what fearless, anti-establishment rap sounds like. 

Vince Staples Dropped “Big Fish Theory”

Vince Staples is one of the most intriguing rappers out at the moment right now. He has a wonderful vocal presence and personality that shines through in his music. His use of striking visuals in music videos for songs such as “Norf Norf” and “Senorita” is truly artistic. He dropped his second official studio album titled “Big Fish Theory” which is great project for the 23 year old. He continues to tackle touchy political subjects on this album and is quite the treat to listen to. You can watch the video for the lead single “Big Fish” below.

Public Enemy Dropped a New Album

The godfathers of political rap Public Enemy announced plans to release a free album titled “Nothing Is Quick in The Desert” in the month of July 2017. To the surprise of fans the iconic group dropped the album 5 days earlier than expected. I haven’t sat with the album long enough yet to offer an in-depth review; I mean it came out less than 48 hours prior to posting this article. However, from a quick listen it’s clear to see that Public Enemy hasn’t lost its boldness and anti-establishment sentiments. You can listen to the free project on the group’s Bandcamp page:

https://publicenemy.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-is-quick-in-the-desert?from=embed 

The project’s tracklist is as follows:

Honourable mention

The Tupac biographical film “All Eyez on Me” was released in the month of June 2017. While reviews have generally not been good it’s nonetheless been a long time coming to have the life of one of the most prolific artists of his generation dramatized on film. Pac was a gangster rapper but also touched on many subjects that can be deemed political and socially conscious such as “Changes”, “Cause I Had To” and “Ghetto Gospel” to mention a few.