Hipolitics and the era of Obama

Wassup, wassup, wassup to everybody out there in the blogosphere. This is ya man Q Sincere the publisher of this blog, yall know the name "State of the Hip Hop Union"at hx2coalition.blogger.com. And by now if anyone has read my post, you know that I created this blog to discuss or rant about social, economic, and political issues along the backdrop of hip hop culture. With that being said I wanna give a shout out to Tiffany from San Francisco for being the first to peep out my newly created blog, much love to ya out there in the Bay! Anyone else who would like to stop by and check out my page you are more than welcome homies! Anyways......Today I wanna get a lil bit intellecutal if you will with a topic concerning hip hop culture's role in mainstream America and its relationship to the ascendency of America's first African-American President. Be mindful that when I say hip hop's relation to the subject, I mean the hip hop culture as a whole not just the music. Lets get started. As I begin to elaborate on this subject I think of few things......The first thing I think about is a line in one of the late great Tupac Shukur's songs "I Wonder If Heaven Gotta Ghetto" where he says "and although it seems heaven sent/we aint ready to have a black president". The second thing that comes to mind is the excerpt or sample of that line on the Nas "Untitled" album in a song entitled "Change the World" in which the excerpt of the Tupac line is played followed by a harmonizing of the phrase "yes we can, change the world. Then lastly, but most certainly not least, I am reminded of that night on November 4, 2008 when history was made, and that dream that MLK had, that Malcolm X fought for, that Jesse Jackson lived to see, and that Tupac, eventhough he may have wanted to see though he had his doubts, came to fruition. As I watched my tv (still in kind of a state of shock myself) I looked across the crowed that had assembled at Grant Park in Chicago, IL, I noticed something a lil bit more different than I had ever seen. The rare ginuene assembly (ginuene being the keyword) of all ethnicities, social backgrounds, religions, and ages really astonished me because I hadn't seen this type of unity since 9/11. But as I continued to watch the tv I couldn't help but notice the scenes being shot around the nation and the world of places that were celebrating this monument of an event and how the majority of these scenes where taken at college campuses. At these institutions of higher learning where students of all backgrounds were celebrating some even in tears, I realized that this group also known as the "youth vote" (which includes myself by the way) were the catalyst behind this campaign for change. This brought to my attention the labeling of today's generation or "youth" as the "hip hop generation", and as I thought about it more and more, I began to realize that not only was the victory of Barack Obama a win for America, it was a win for the culture of hip hop. I've read alot of conservative articles that try to seperate the two extremes of culture and politics, however in my opinion, the relation of a specific culture and politics has never been more evident. It is a fair assesment to say that the hip hop culture was created primarily in the minority communities as a way to express the ongoing forms of struggle and repression that many inner city urban youths were facing (and still face) at the time. It is also fair to say that as the commercialization of hip hop began to grow and it started to be seen a lucrative cash cow as well as an art form, that it got to the point where eventhough the minority were still in control of the principles and the image, the majority and mainstream America was in control of the market. This in turn, caused the hip hop culture to transcend to new heights outside of music which included, business, endorsements, and yes even politics. However, hip hop culture didn't just become popular in mainstream America because it was a lucrative business, it became popular among mainstream America because of what it represented, style, fearlessness, triumph in the face of adversity and a rebelliousness toward the status quo that was (and continues to be) repressed in the hearts of many Caucasian Americans that make up the majority of buyers of the music. So in a sense the common and now almost dominant language of hip hop culture is the barrier breaker between black and white young and old that brought millions together that night in Grant Park. In many ways Obama himself represents all hip hop has stood for over the years, style, fearlessness, and triumph in the face of adversity that transends bounderies. I like to think that he represents the best of both world's to the degree that he has come from the black struggle, single parent home, moving from place to place, etc. All of which were stories written out in hip hop lyrics through the years. However he represents the ability to rise from the ashes and crossover to mainstream America (attendending Harvard, obtaining a law degree, becoming President) in ways that were once only a dream. And because we as hip hop heads.......no, as the hip hop generation saw the best of both of our worlds in him, we helped to make the dream a reality. That's my opinion, whats yours?

Peace
-Q Sincere