hip-hop
Archive of articles on libcom.org about hip-hop.
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee, directed by Shane Meadows
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.
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
Saul Williams, The Fader Label, 2005. Music review
Review which finds that Saul Williams fails to translate potent political polemics into poetic musical magic...
Slam Dunk Funk Sunk by Clunky Punk Junk
Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap, by Eithne Quinn, Columbia University Press, 2005. Book review
Tom Jennings reviews an invicisve history of an important contemporary music genre.
Can’t Knock the Hustle by Tom Jennings
Ms Dynamite, Judgement Days, Polydor, 2005. Music review – Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings judges Ms Dynamite’s second album a mismatch of unremarkable smooth music and remarkably self-indulgent rant.
MsJudged Blandishments by Tom Jennings
Dancehall Dreams by Tom Jennings (2004). Music review – Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings’ essay on contemporary urban music, gender and class.
Dancehall Dreams by Tom Jennings
8 Mile, dir. Curtis Hanson (2003), Eminem and hip-hop. Film review – Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings’ essay on the Eminem phenomenon and its cultural context.
Br(other) Rabbit’s Tale by Tom Jennings
Beautiful Struggles and Gangsta Blues. Music review/essay – Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings’ urban music review of the year 2004.
Beautiful Struggles and Gangsta Blues by Tom Jennings
‘Life is a beautiful struggle / People search through the rubble / For a suitable hustle / Some people using their noodle / Some people using their muscle / Some people put it all together / Make it fit like a puzzle’ (Talib Kweli, ‘I Try’).
Pick A Bigger Weapon, The Coup, Epitaph Records, 2006. Music review – Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings reviews a new album from the radical Cali rap duo.
Weapons-Grade Funk by Tom Jennings
