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As a follow up to yesterday's list of political hip hop, I've got a track from Canadian indie rapper Annakin Slayd, a Canuck with a whole lot to say about the current political climate:
Annakin Slayd - Loud
The track of his that initially caught my attention was Afraid, which you can hear on his MySpace page. Loud is his single for the radio, but I think that Afraid is a better representation of his music. It's a lot less pop and a lot more political, and his take on the fear mongering of the last few years manages to be both amusing and thought provoking at the same time.
Yet I have to admit that Annakin's anti-American rantings have left me conflicted. The past six years have caused me to seriously question my own patriotism, to say the least, but it's hard for me to listen to a Canadian (albeit, a Canadian who lived in New York for three years) tell me what's wrong with my country. I concede that this is a bit irrational on my part, some sort of xenophobic nationalism that only seems to surface when a foreigner criticizes the U.S. I don't think I'm alone in that, however, and I'd be interested to see how his music will be received south of the Canadian border.
I suspect Slayd will find an American audience through college radio, but what about the average hip hop fan? Perhaps that question is moot, though, as the average hip hop fan seems to be more interested these days in lyrics about lip gloss than anything to do with current events. That's surprising, as the current state of the union seems almost as divided as the late 80's, when artists like Public Enemy, Ice Cube and Paris found audiences very receptive to their brand of political rap. Perhaps that's a topic best saved for another day, though.
Getting back to Annakin, his music is a nice change of pace from the mindless pop rap that's been clogging up the airwaves. If you're looking for some politically conscious hip hop, go check out his album.
7/05/2007 8:28:29 PM posted by Fresh