Defsounds

The American (as well as Canadian) media is diligently making certain not to miss a second of the recent surge of presidential candidates battling it amongst one another with the most predictable tools used in every political race to the White House, including stale jargon, a sale of hope and optimism, and most recently, the annoying hoax up republican sleeves: the so-called concern and dedication to the “fight against terror”. We here at Defsounds have been following the locomotion of a charismatic black senator, the woman who uses tears (a female power-tool) oh so eloquently to gain sympathy votes, and the old man who can barely stand on his two feet yet being a war vet that he is apparently overshadows his ignorant and foolish statements like the one where he promises to provide universal health care while lowering taxes – both economically and logically not practical, but hey, how many republican supporters actually caught on to such nonsense?

As we juggle the latest news reports on elections with the most recent album reviews and monitoring of the up-and-coming artists, we thought to ourselves, what would happen if a rapper was elected to the White House? According to RIAA’s Consumer Profile of 2006 hip-hop is the second most popular genre galloping in after rock. Are we then, crazy to even entertain an idea that would place hip-hop’s rock stars in the forefront of the world’s largest popularity contest, the presidential race?

Let’s set aside the pre-requisite for political experience because truthfully, rappers do not have any. But please, let that not be the end-all of our inquisition. For George W. Bush, with all his political “experience”, served the U.S. as a president for not only one – but two terms in office, not due to political experience soaked in ethics and leadership, but mainly due to the fact that he a) made the rich even richer and b) sold the entire war to his own citizens that’s based on fabricated ‘evidence’ and fear. So, political practice is of course preferred in a candidate but we here at Defsounds find that the right intentions mixed with colossal popularity can sure go a long way (think Angelina Jolie and her endless lobbying for UNHCR).

For the logistics of running a country advisors are available. On topics ranging from health care to the economy, from social welfare to national security, there are people who devote their entire adulthood researching and defending various theories so that they may have the privilege of advising the president and his (perhaps now her) office. Therefore, one need not be an expert in such matters as the expertise for conducting a humanitarian intervention for example, can be easily left to the professionals. So far, our idea is still plausible.

The rapper who continues to overshadow his counterparts in album sales is the late Tupac Shakur, his lyrics pushing somewhere around 36 million units in total. No matter how popular though, Pac cannot run for presidency. So, the second in command would probably be Jigga man himself, who is not only the most popular rapper, but also arguably, the best one at that (sorry Wayne, time to get serious). Remaining open-minded to our idea, one is bound to notice why Jay-Z can make a suitable candidate for the popularity contest (aside from the 25 million records sold). First, he was not raised among the American elites who in turn make up a very small percentage of the population. Shawn Carter came from the economic and social struggle that unfortunately encompasses a large number of American citizens; in itself that would allow him to relate to the people he is leading, much more than perhaps, any previous nominee could. Social services such as welfare and health care, as well as public services such as education, are more likely be in the forefront of Jay-Z’s policy rather than let’s say, an invasion. For what person who has grown up around death and violence would eagerly lead a country into more death and suffering? Vibing off of that, how much torment and loss has Bush experienced in his own life when he decided to invade Iraq (not to mention Afghanistan), causing a humanitarian crisis that has resulted in close to a million dead bodies so far? Probably not much.

Another potential candidate, at least according to popularity, is Eminem. His Marshall Mathers LP sold over 10 million copies, earning Slim RIAA’s Diamond Certification, an honorary not often seen in the hip-hop genre. Granted, most purchasers of Eminem’s music are likely under the legal voting age, but so what? Kids can influence parents, and I’m willing to bet that a Hillary/Eminem debate would sway many people away from the teary-eyed creature who attempts to use bigotry and racism in order to swing voters away from any candidate who isn’t Christian and white. An advocate of free speech and never the one to hold back his tongue, Em just may be the dude to endure a debate without holding punches all the while pulling the presidential platform away from jargon and rhetoric, and closer to honesty and reality.

And what about Nas? The man who brought us Illmatic prior to inciting much debate with both his last album, Hip Hop is Dead, and his equally controversial succession, N*****. The amount of controversy Nas brings to the game may be just enough to elect him for president, and if he gains sufficient votes for a nomination, why not consider Mr. Jones a serious candidate? Just as Jigga has his beautiful B, Nas has Kelis, which allows him to openly parade his appeared values for marriage and family as his wife attempts to draw in the female voters (granted, the naked pictures of Kelis would not go over too well with Evangelical, Baptist or Catholic Christians, a population that makes up 70 % of America’s faith). But irrespective of Kelis’s eccentric behavior, Nas can make it up with his critical, and many times disapproving, outlook on society.

As the 2008 elections trot closer toward the finish line, we here at Defsounds would like to ask you to entertain the idea of a presidential rap race. Like all levels of politics, a popularity contest in hip-hop is not much different then a popularity contest in a presidential campaign (maybe minus the tattoos and chains). The level of success depends on management, PR staff and the support of the media itself as much as the passion, dedication and actual understanding of one’s craft. For MC’ing and political rhetoric are skills in their own merit, ones we can dissect and analyze, criticize and scrutinize, all the while secretly championing for our own leaders and saviors to win the election or the Grammy because when they do so, somehow in the most irrational yet emotional manner, we feel that we’ve won too.