Salon: GOP "playa hatas"

[kskiska]

Rush Limbaugh and other angry conservatives mock John Kerry and the Dems for hanging with hip-hop stars. But they're dissing a key (and mostly white) bloc of youth voters.

Republicans have never been able to rock. But can they learn to rap?

Bruce Springsteen told President Reagan's campaign in 1984 to stop using his anthem "Born in the USA" at rallies; he didn't want it to be associated with the Republicans. In the 2000 campaign George W. Bush received similar cease-and-desist requests from Sting, Tom Petty, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp and Los Lobos. Today, as the party unveils a major new push to land the 18- to 24-year-old vote, the GOP is again grappling with its fragile ties to pop culture. The party wants to appear open and hip while still waging a cultural war.

Prominent right-wing figures make a business of denouncing pop culture as coarse and crude, mocking the music and the message, especially hip-hop. (In the rap world, they'd be tagged as playa hatas.) That disconnect was highlighted last month when the Republican National Committee tried to put a fresh young face on the party by staging a high-profile voter registration drive outside MTV's studio in Times Square, complete with an 18-wheel rig that morphed into a soundstage and pumped out hip-hop hits. Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie even made a guest appearance on MTV's daily countdown show, "TRL."

On March 30, Sen. John Kerry appeared on an MTV news special for an interview, where he was asked about trends in popular music. "I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop," Kerry responded. "I think there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, because it's important."

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/23/gop_rap/index.html

[MissMarple]

1. As I've been learning...rap and hip hop have a strong cultural niche.

Even crossing into mainstream culture. A couple of DUers here have raised my awareness. Hip Hop is even going to have its own cable channel. But this group of Republicans are much more comfortable with "Home on the Range" than contemporary music trends. I think they even have a difficult time with a lot rock and roll. I say leave them to it.

:evilgrin:

[amandabeech]

2. Then I hope that they have subtitles,

because these old ears simply can't decipher the lyrics. Without lyrics, these music forms have much less appeal, IMHO.

[MissMarple]

4. LOL . Subtitles would be useful.

But a lot of the lyrics can be quite misogynist, and make you start looking around for a bar of soap. But it is an evolving form, like rock and roll. We've come a long way from "Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog", or whatever it was. Some of it's bad, some good, some has a lot of angst, and some of it is just for fun.

[sofa king]

3. Interesting point about Springsteen

It occurs to me that you likely won't find a lot of hip-hop artists who support the Republicans.

So why not encourage the artists to state that they don't want their music associated with the Republican Party?

I think I'd die laughing if Dr. Dre said that he doesn't want America's youth to think that he supports Republican values. Hell, I'm laughing now!