hip-hop

The problem with hip hop: patriarchy, proletarians and revolutionary culture

An article by Crudo about hip-hop as culture of the working class and some of the problems within the music.

Punk rock was the first style of music that really meant anything to me. That’s not really true, I was into grunge and radio rap for a while, but punk was the first musical culture that I felt any real affinity with. After all, punk was what lead me to anarchism, and then to class consciousness.

Political hiphop in Brum

Submitted by Choccy on May 6 2012 00:24

Pleasantly surprised by some midlands hip-hop

First off, my knowledge of midlands hiphop is non-existent, so I wasn't sure what to expect at the May Day event organised by Brum Trades Council - film showing about Greece (Reel News) followed by local hip hop Red Beard and Broken Dialect.

20 Years Later: the Los Angeles riots, hip-hop, rage and Trayvon Martin

Submitted by Juan Conatz on Apr 30 2012 07:52

A post about the Los Angeles riots, hip-hop and race in America.

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the Rodney King riots, which happened in a number of cities, but was most intense in the Los Angeles area. Over the last week, the media has been looking back at hip-hop of that era, interviewing people who were affected by the events or seeing what has changed since then (however superficial this assessment is).

The War on Terra, by Verbal Terrorists

Submitted by Tom Jennings on Mar 1 2012 13:38

“Rhyming for a reason, we ain’t here for the hell of it: Fuck ya deficit!” (Efeks, ‘Mass Production’)

Deterritorial Attack Group. Music review – Tom Jennings

Street Summer season, Channel 4

Submitted by Tom Jennings on Oct 4 2011 12:23

A naff cultural-historical hip-hop gospel packaged according to MTV aesthetics ...

Spectacular Coincidences. Television review – Tom Jennings

The Politics Of French Rap

Mr. R's album cover.

This is a small section of a far longer text about music, called "Some Musical Notes" which was originally published on the old endangered phoenix site. It was published at the beginning of 2006.

[i]" French culture combines a highly rationalistic mode of discourse with great value placed upon verbal articulation.

Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee, directed by Shane Meadows

Submitted by Tom Jennings on Nov 5 2009 10:12

Tom Jennings chuckles along with the pointed proletarian poignancy of Meadows’ latest chamber-piece.

Freestyle Manifesto. Film review – Tom Jennings

Class struggle and hip-hop: interview with Comrade Malone, 2009

Hip-hop has seen artists with social and political awareness. Rarely, however, has there been hip-hop fused with unashamedly class struggle, libertarian politics. 22-year-old Comrade Malone attempts to buck that trend with his album The Spontaneous Revolt LP.

Ed Goddard from libcom.org caught up with him to talk about life and politics in music.

Tell us a bit about your life growing up and how you got into politics.

Small Axe by Verbal Terrorists

Geordie hip-hop crew the Verbal Terrorists’ Small Axe brings forthright radical messages to agitate, educate and entertain. Tom Jennings goes with the flow.

Axes to Grind. Music review – Tom Jennings

The 3rd World, by Immortal Technique and DJ Green Lantern (Viper Records 2008)

The new release from Immortal Technique, hip-hop’s most implacable class warrior, thoroughly links local and global struggles. Tom Jennings nods his head enthusiastically

Globalising Ghettocentricity. Music review – Tom Jennings