Following the inauguration yesterday (January 20th) of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States [click to read], HipHopDX reached out to some of the culture’s most esteemed emcees (and one distinguished deejay) to get their reactions to the historic swearing in of the nation’s first black President, as well as their thoughts on how Hip Hop will be affected by the dawn of this new era in American political and cultural life.
While an estimated 1.2 million people were in attendance at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to watch Barack Obama take the Presidential oath of office, Nas’ official deejay/mixtape giant Green Lantern had an arguably more interesting vantage point than that of anyone in the nation’s capital yesterday: on a train leaving D.C. After learning that all trains and planes would be booked leaving the D.C. area for 48 hours following the inauguration, Green was forced to leave the city early, immediately prior to the swearing-in ceremony, to have any hope of making it back to his native New York to attend meetings the next day. But with the aid of technology, and many of his Hip Hop peers, he was still able to witness history in real time along with the rest of the nation.
“I’m on the train – train left at 10:30 [a.m.] – and I’m on Twitter, and I’m seeing all of the people that’s on there – Miss Info, ?uestlove, everybody that’s watching [the inauguration]- and Q-Tip was giving a play-by-play of the whole inauguration,” Green explained to HipHopDX late yesterday. “I’m just seeing everybody’s comments, and I think DJ Enuff had [posted] something like, ‘I’m a grown man and I’m crying right now.’ And everybody just had these real profound moments. These are normally people that have got a lot of smart-ass comments that are funny, but everybody [in] the moments leading up to [the inauguration] was saying a whole lot of profound, heartfelt, real deep shit. It was affecting them a lot. And it really made me wanna have a TV in front of me.”
One Hip Hop heavyweight that did have a television in front of him to take in the sights of the inauguration was maybe surprisingly to some a native of D.C., Wale. HipHopDX’s “2008 Rookie of the Year” [click to read] chose not to witness history in the flesh, but was equally as moved as his Hip Hop fam on Twitter by what he too saw on his TV screen. But for Wale it was ironically a moment not before or during the inauguration, but shortly after the swearing-in ceremony itself, that was the most moving moment of the day for the rapidly rising star.
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“They were showing [Obama] on the local news like behind the desk,” explained Wale, “and [he was] like, ‘I’m a leftie.’ Like, he was just signing some papers or whatever. And I’m just looking at him behind that desk and I just got chills. I was like, ‘Yo, we got a black President.’ And I’m just looking at all the white people around him [Laughs] and I’m just like, ‘He’s above all of them.’ [Laughs] It was just like weird, but it was definitely a good feeling.”
For Wale’s Allido Records labelmate, Chi-Town emcee Rhymefest, his good feeling moment did in fact come during Obama’s inaugural speech.
“When he said, ‘For those of you with clenched fists, if you are willing to unclench your fist we are committed to reaching out to you,’” ‘Fest noted as his most memorable moment of the inauguration. “You know what that is? That’s saying, ‘Yo man, look, we don’t want no beef, c’mon.’ I [thought] to myself if I was a terrorist and heard that how would I feel? ‘Cause what he’s saying is no matter what happened before, this represents a new day.”
“And so with that being said,” ‘Fest continued, “I said, ‘Damn, this represent a new day for me [too].’ ‘Cause like, I had clenched fists. Like, I don’t think he was just talking to terrorists. I think he was talking to black people who don’t believe in this country. When you talking about clenched fists bro’, you just talking about people that’s uptight about things that probably don’t even matter right now. And he said, ‘Let’s be committed to reaching out.’ And that’s what out of all of it, that’s what I took away the most [from his address]: ‘To those of you with clenched fists, we committed to reaching out to you.’ And I said, ‘What side do I wanna be on? Do I wanna be caught on the side of history – or does anybody, the racists, anybody – with clenched fists, or the side that’s like okay, let’s work together? I’d rather be on that other side, ‘cause that clenched fist that’s a disease, that’s hatred.”
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One artist that proudly keeps his clenched fist, of not hate but political protest, firmly in the air is ‘Fest’s good friend Killer Mike, who had a no less impressed but slightly different reaction to yesterday’s inaugural festivities.
“It took Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, The Cosby Show, Bad Boy videos, and [Jay-Z’s] ‘H To The Izzo’ video to prepare my psyche for this,” said Mike, who then explained that unique observation adding, “Obama has the self-analysis of a Malcolm X, the unifying power reminiscent of – but not like – Dr. King, The Cosby Show prepared us to see successful, hardworking black people i.e. married black people with children, a whole black family, the Bad Boy videos got me accustomed to seeing a line of black Cadillacs [and] negroes jumpin out of [‘em], and the ‘H To The Izzo’ video is the inauguration only without the New York Knicks jerseys.”
While what role Puffy, Jigga and Cliff Huxtable played in preparing the nation to witness the inauguration of America’s first African-American commander-in-chief is debatable, one figure Mike mentioned that cannot be undervalued for his role in preparing the nation for the swearing-in of Barack Obama as President is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And fittingly, Obama’s inauguration took place the day after the nation celebrated this year’s MLK holiday.
“How did that happen?,” Rhymefest rhetorically queried of Obama’s history-making moments continually syncing up with MLK’s. “How did it happen that he was [accepting the democratic nomination for President] on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech? [And] how did it happen that today he’s sworn-in [the day after the MLK holiday]? How did it even happen that when Bobby Kennedy was speaking after Dr. King died [in 1968] and said, ‘Forty years from now, we may have our first black President’? Word?! [All of that symbolism] is just gonna happen like that? It’s symbolism [but] it represents reality.”
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That reality of a unified American electorate collectively choosing to elect this nation’s first black President was arguably created as much by MLK’s sacrifices in bringing all races together as it was Hip Hop’s powerful ability to do the same for successive generations. But will Hip Hop artists use the culture’s unifying power to bring the music into a more politically-minded era during Obama’s presidency than it was during George W. Bush’s administration?
“I think the excitement [of Obama’s election] will die down honestly, and sadly enough I think it’s gonna die down and just return [Hip Hop] to the same ole thing,” replied Wale when asked that very question. “It’s gonna wear off, just like Obama merchandise and all that is gonna wear off. That’s why I just hope that the message that’s there remains.”
Rhymefest isn’t even that hopeful.
“It won’t [be different],” he forecast of the fate of the music during Obama’s presidency. “‘Hip Hop, out in the park,’ it ain’t that no more. Hip Hop is a business, and as long as business has its grip on our music our music will continue to sell itself and sell itself out. How will [Obama’s election] change Hip Hop? People will make a few songs, say Obama’s name, and go back to selling dope on records. They’ll go back to talking about frivolous things that don’t matter. They’ll go back to wearing clothes that’s too tight for ‘em. They’ll go back to wearing shit that can’t nobody else afford. They’ll go back to not talking about Oscar Grant. Don’t nobody wanna talk about Oscar Grant. Yeah ‘My president is black, my [Lamborghini is] blue,’ [but] what happened to Oscar Grant?”
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Killer Mike shares his good friend’s feelings on the need to address the tragic death of Mr. Grant [click to view], something he told DX he was reminded of while watching the parade following Obama’s inauguration.
“When I saw all the people around [Obama] that were protecting him, I thought about how law enforcement had failed Oscar Grant,” said Mike. “Oscar supported Barack Obama and now I expect Barack Obama to do something on [Oscar’s] behalf to end this police violence, this state-sponsored terrorism on young, black men.”
Immediately following Obama’s November 4th election, Mike and other artists revealed to DX some of their then expectations for an Obama administration [click to read], offering suggestions to the incoming President as to what issues he should concentrate on tackling when he takes office. But in addition to adding Mr. Grant’s case to Obama’s to-do list, Mike also noted yesterday that great expectations of social and political change for our new President should also be matched by new expectations for ourselves.
“Wale and Rhymefest [said Hip Hop won’t change] because they’re black and angry,” he joked when told about his peers more dour outlook for the culture’s political consciousness. “Hip Hop is going to change during Obama’s presidency because what you’re about to see now is genuine political interest from people who [previously] weren’t interested. I really think Jay-Z is on his way to becoming a philanthropist. I really think that T.I. is seriously trying to change the world. And I think that having the opportunity to have a new bar…Because Obama gives us a new aspiration, we’re destined to become something different.”
