by John Bear
Daily Lobo
Hip-hop has the potential to talk politics.
But it usually doesn't.
Instead, MCs usually brag and boast about their lyrical prowess, false street credentials - really, rappers don't get good at flowing while shooting people and selling crack, but by sitting in a room with a pen and paper - or the ubiquitous cataloging of personal possessions. Politics get left behind for the most part.
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Sure, there was Public Enemy, a little before my day, but I listen to them now and then and hear about how wack the political climate was in the late '80s. Flavor Flav is now doing lame reality television, though it is kind of funny to watch him reign terror on fellow washed-out celebrities like Joey from Full House. As far as I know, Chuck D still hasn't sold out.
Presently, we have don't have much politicking in the mainstream. The Black Eyed Peas are getting retarded and 50 Cent is not dead but filthy rich. He tried and succeeded. If you look a little below the surface, you will find Immortal Technique, who will tell you all about Sept. 11, 2001, and the nastiness that accompanies it. Unfortunately, he peppers his rhymes with enough overt misogyny to undermine any relevance they may have contained.
So I guess we are just out of luck if we want some politically conscious rap music.
Not to worry. Rob Swift released War Games, a scratch-laden thesis on Sept. 11 and other social topics.
The only problem is, Rob Swift isn't an MC. He's a DJ.
Swift is most known as a member of the Xecutioners - once called the X-Men, but lawsuits are a bitch. He lets his opinion about Bush, the war on terrorism and America be known. And all without uttering a word - scratching his views out instead.
The album opens with Bush addressing Congress after the invasion of Iraq. This is interspersed with news clips about the Enron scandal and Bush's justifications for the Patriot Act. Also chiming in is the over-used but deft vocal sample from Mobb Deep's track "Survival of the Fittest:" "There's a war going on outside no man is safe from."
Many of Bush's more cowboyish ramblings - the ones he made before being reigned in by his handlers - sound off at various places in the album. The speeches are always accompanied by spooky synthesizers and bass drum hits. "A Terror Wrist," featuring DJ Melo D, opens with a sample from an old radio show that is supposed to be a radio announcer proclaiming that Metropolis has been bombed by unknown assailants. A complicated scratch then morphs words into the unsettling "Terrorists, here to bring trouble."
The album moves on to point out that many things in America remain unchanged, new nebulous spectre of terrorism notwithstanding. "Another Friendly Game of Baseball.Xtra Innings" is a remix of a track that originally appeared on the "Boyz N the Hood" soundtrack. The song is an extended metaphor about police/poor black men relations and features Large Professor rhyming over open high hats, scratching and ominous instrumentals.
"Dream" is the high point of the album, and it features Breeze Evahflowin's expert rhyming that occasionally touches on Bush. The vocals blend perfectly over an ascending piano line that is pretty standard hip-hop fair but possesses a soulfulness that demands repeat listening.
Because Swift decided to include ghetto happenings on the album, it sometimes veers off course, like in "The Holy Trinity" featuring vocals by Akinyele and Prints Haze. The bleeping synth line is dope enough, but the braggadocia lyrics - especially the line about rolling in a Humvee - seem somewhat out of place on this album. All in all, it is refreshing to see a DJ - someone usually at the rear of the stage - talk turkey about politics, especially the open-ended war on terrorism. If you are sick of hearing about the candy shop, give this one a listen.
