Hip-Hop is Moving Away From it’s Protest Roots

Hip-Hop’s history as a protest genre is well known, it lies at the very core of its past and present as we still see some glimpses and remnants of the genre’s bombastic and defiant nature. Throughout history it has been the artists who take on the responsibility of expressing emotion for the masses, creating bodies of work that effectively capture the feelings and experiences people have, regarding society, love, heartbreak, etc. So in these last 12 months, especially considering the end of the 45th president’s infamous term, a time where we’re experiencing a pivotal moment in America, the need for someone to voice what the country is feeling is at an all-time high.

Here’s the reality of the situation: Hip-Hop hasn’t been as active in spreading awareness about the issues that the black community faces as the genre has been in the past. Many artists aren’t using social media’s amplifying power to speak up and push the movement forward at a time where exposure is at its highest. Without current artists taking on the storied responsibility, the people can never be confident that they are truly being heard, and Hip-Hop will have failed. Hip-Hop is changing for the worse, and it needs to return to its roots of protest music.

While NPR dubbed 2020 “The Year of Protest Music,” there is something to be said for the lack of politically themed releases. Other than a spat between wordsmiths Noname & J. Cole along with a single from Lil Baby, at the peak of American unrest in 2020, there weren’t many other songs shedding light on the issues of last year. As countries around the world watched American cities burn, some of which, joining in American citizen’s cries for human civil rights and equality around the world, it felt as if Hip-Hop wasn’t listening. Hip-Hop, a genre historically more defiant than Rock and Roll, was silent. A genre known for its unpredictability, versatility, and high volume production and output. When it comes to album releases, the balance and output of Hip-Hop music have not stayed consistent these last few years, which is blurring the current identity of the genre.

While it is slightly unreasonable to expect the lyrical leaders of Hip-Hop to be the ones to speak for an entire community, the radio silence from the most enlightened rappers is a bit disturbing. We expect artists to take advantage of the times, using viral or important moments to help their own platform. So at a time where dropping music about the struggle for equality would have been the most useful, no artists stepped up to supply that content.

Many artists were affected by the pandemic, aside from the inability to morally and safely put on live performances, the album rollout for many artists were shifted, changed, and in many cases along with the releases canceled altogether, including top-level artists like Kendrick, Cole, Drake. But that shouldn’t matter, most artists, especially the elite ones can release music seemingly at will.

But when America, and more specifically Black America needed someone to put words to what they were feeling, the artists most likely, and most equipped to say something, still haven’t. So here’s the question: can we even expect content regarding the issues we’re dealing with going forward?

We can talk about whether it should or shouldn’t be artists’ responsibility to be the voices of the people, but shouldn’t we hope that they could use their platforms to amplify the cries for help that ring through black communities around the world? It might be wrong to expect “woke” content from all of Hip-Hop, but it should make sense to expect it from Kendrick and Cole. Instead, we’ve seen Kendrick seemingly start a new label imprint, and J. Cole release a new shoe with Puma. This blatant disregard for the people to focus on business moves strays a long ways away from Hip-Hop’s roots, and it is not what I expected out of these rappers, and it will be disappointing if Hip-Hop continues to stray from its DNA.

Now Cole and other rappers including Cordae, have been seen protesting these injustices around the world, and don’t get me wrong, the importance of protesting is huge when it comes to pushing movements forward. But, a lot of the awareness that comes from protests can be pushed to much higher levels if artists dedicate some of their craft to speaking about protests, and encouraging Americans to speak up against social injustice.

Like all genres, Hip-Hop is continuously evolving from decade to decade, recalibrating as the audience's demands and needs shift. But throughout the last decade where lyrical rappers have become less prevalent due to the industry and many fans putting a preference on artists who can hit the top of the charts, and be played on the radio, Hip-Hop artists can still find success when they talk about issues in American society, whether it be one of the several hit singles from Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”, or Childish Gambino winning multiple Grammy awards for his loud yet meticulous “This is America.”

It’s easy to understand why many artists decided not to add to their discographies while the country is in disarray due to the pandemic. But the lack of action in a more general sense from the top rappers in the game, whether it be, singles, or a project speaking on the issues of the last year is quite concerning and signals a departure from the foundation that made the genre what it is. A Hip-Hop fan’s only hope is that artists who canceled releases in 2020 have recalibrated their upcoming albums to include the topics that were so prevalent over the year, but this may backfire. Fans are not demanding artists to change their art to match current times, and not every artist is equipped to do that anyway, but Hip-Hop has sorely missed their most prominent voices in 2020, and the void remains vast.