Hip hop and grime have always been heavily influenced by politics, but it’s only recently that rappers started publicly endorsing political parties and politicians
Many grime artists voiced their political opinion during last year’s general election, expressing their support for the Labour Party. Even though the outcome wasn’t as expected for the party itself, the turnout of young people who registered to vote was higher than at any other election. According to a performance breakdown on the GOV.UK website, 366,000 people registered to vote on the day Stormzy publicly endorsed Labour on Twitter, compared to the 109,000 registrations from the day before.
In a lengthy Instagram post, the 26-year old grime artist wrote: “He [Jeremy Corbyn] is the first man in a position of power who is committed to giving the power back to the people and helping those who need a helping hand from the government the most.”
However, Stormzy’s engagement in current political affairs and in sharing his personal opinion on the party’s leader sparked mixed reactions. Conservative MP Michael Gove replied to the rapper’s political activism by saying he is “a far, far better rapper than he is a political analyst”. This then again sparked an ongoing debate, on whether artists should voice their political opinion or just “stick to making music”.
London-based rapper Cameron Messam, aka Camessam, explains that he has mixed feelings regarding musicians using their political opinion for their tracks. He tries to stay away from it in his own productions and explains that he fears misleading people. Camessam feels uncomfortable being responsible for altering someone’s opinion, believing they should educate themselves to see the bigger picture.
He says: “Especially if I have an audience listening to me, I don’t want to say something which isn’t true and then have other people blindly believe it,” he says. “It’s not fair for them to make up their minds based on only my side of the story.” Camessam, however, doesn’t rule out ever producing a track inspired by politics, but for now, he’s planning on using personal life lessons for his tracks.
Politics is a difficult and conflicting topic for many musicians, as art is a form of expression and should, therefore, have no boundaries or restrictions. In an anonymous survey conducted by OUTRÉ, 82% of participants said they believe musicians should be political in their work. Out of the people who disagreed, one participant, said: “Some people may not know what they’re voting for and [will] solely vote on the basis that their favourite artist disliked someone.”
Rapper Nathaniel Akodu believes in using his political views for his tracks and highlights the importance of raising one’s voice.
“I think it’s super important to be able to voice and create something out of what you believe in, even if it’s only one track. Especially as the role we play in the world and how influential we are.”
He mentions that voicing a personal political opinion is a form of freedom of speech and is frequently seen in films and TV shows. “So why should musicians who have something to say be withheld from that?” he asks. He says politics is one of the principal influences when it comes to his own productions. The message he is aiming to bring across is all about change. “Let’s make a change in the world,” he says. “We really have more power than we think, and being able to see what we can achieve together is what I try to bring across in all the music I produce.”
Just like Akodu, fellow London-based rapper La Noire believes in taking action and influencing his audience’s opinions towards certain political topics.
The first track on La Noire’s recently released EP, Ambition Over Love, is Blue Sirens, a song inspired by the politics that impacted his life and surroundings. “In a lot of tracks, musicians are trying to talk about current affairs and current issues,” he says. “I decided to start my EP with that song because I’m actually tired of what’s going on with the government, they aren’t helping us.”
For Blue Sirens, he focused on the fact that more flats are being built than youth clubs, especially in London. “Those clubs are an essential thing for the youth to stay off the street, and if that’s not happening, then of course knife crime and gang violence are going to go up,” says the rapper. The way La Noire is using his political opinion on this particular track shows that he deliberately wants to make a difference with his music.
Another question regarding musicians involving in politics is the conflict of separating the artist from their art.
Can one truly separate the art from the artist, if they express a completely different political opinion to one's own?
Of course, this also depends on the views made public by the artist. Out of the 50 people we asked in our survey, 17 participants said they couldn’t separate the art from the artist, especially if they made racist, homophobic or sexist statements.
It also depends on the artist’s work and how solid and committed their fanbase is. There are several talented artists who have made questionable statements, but their fans are still true and stick to them. A perfect example of this is American rapper Kanye West. In January 2019, West went on a Twitter rant endorsing US President Donald Trump. He wrote about how his MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat made him feel like Superman, as though he could do anything. He then wore the hat on several public occasions.
Camessam was disappointed in West but justified his actions and kept listening to the rapper’s music: “He was in a dark time,” he says. “Because if you go back to 2001 or 2000, he was saying that George Bush didn’t care about black people on live TV. That’s such a stance to take to fight for young people, to then suddenly not believe that and go to the enemy.”
Even though many fans were outraged, many still kept listening to his music and blamed his political outbursts on him being misguided. Akodu says that it was really easy for him to still listen to West, despite his comments. “I could separate him from his comments easily,” he says. “You have your opinion and stuff, and that doesn’t impact how I see your music.”
The question is, how far can an artist go until they lose their audience? At the end of the day, musicians are people who live in the same political environment as the rest of us. Some are more interested and involved than others.
This means, therefore, that there’s no right or wrong answer to the question of whether musicians should express their political opinion. For the audience, it’s one’s personal choice whether you can look beyond political beliefs, in case they’re not the same as yours. Although it seems that if you really love someone’s art, you tend to forgive them.
Cover video credits: Camessam
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