12 of the Best Political Voices in Hip-Hop
There's a potent strain of leftist politics woven into the history of rap and hip hop, and these artists have been pushing it harder than ever in recent years.
A scene from Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” music video.
With all the negative attention that Kanye West has been earning for himself in recent days...and months...and years, it's important to remember that he is a political outlier.
The vast majority of the time when rappers involve themselves in politics, they do not align themselves with figures like Donald Trump. There is a long tradition of hip hop artists using their platforms to call attention to important social movements and endorse liberatory left-wing politics.
These 12 artists are some of the most significant voices in hip hop and politics who have made serious efforts to spread important messages, and in some cases have done a lot more than that.
Paperboy Love Prince
Political Lyrics: Hold the door open for everybody, Ima Invite 'em in / The system try to kick you down while you just try to live. —"Hop the Train"
Of course political activism is one thing, but how many rappers actually run for political office? Paperboy Love Prince of Brooklyn went from making a goofy music video supporting Andrew Yang in 2019 to running to be the first non-binary member of congress in 2020.
While the 26-year-old Paperboy, who was the first artist signed to Azealia Banks's Chaos & Glory Recordings, lost out to incumbent Nydia Velazquez in the Democratic primary for New York's 7th district, they are still planning to run in November as an independent candidate. And though their fashion sense is on the opposite end of the spectrum from someone like Noname—Paperboy dresses as over-the-top as possible—the two would have a lot to talk about in terms of pushing for equity across racial, gender, and class lines.
In addition to Andrew Yang's UBI proposal, Paperboy Prince supports Medicare For All, the establishment of a national network of community centers, and a $500 federal stipend for every citizen to use in support of political campaigns—which could go a long way toward democratizing campaign finance. The primary ethos of their campaign has been spreading love and positivity.
Now if Kanye would just follow these examples, and go back to developing his YZY shelters for the homeless and criticizing presidents for their racist mishandling of major disasters, and stop (literally) demonizing vaccines and Planned Parenthood—and especially stop running interference for the Trump campaign—he could easily earn a spot on this list.
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