Conscious Hip-Hop, the Soundtrack to Young Politics in
the UK

This is the music that is mobilising Britain's youth
and getting them to think about issues they might not
otherwise have done

By Richard Sudan The Guardian (UK) April 30, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/30/conscious-hip-hop-uk-youth?INTCMP=SRCH

Thousands of students protesting against the
government's plans for tuition fees in recent months
put paid to the myth that young people are apathetic
and don't care about politics. On the contrary, they do
care so much that many were subsequently beaten by the
police, illegally kettled and demonised by the press in
the weeks that followed.

There's a soundtrack to accompany this struggle, and
that soundtrack is conscious UK hip-hop - a vehicle
that is mobilising young people and articulating their
collective voice. You can hear it in the lyrics and you
can hear the music. It is played at almost every major
protest, blaring out from soundsystems.

Differing from the often violent image that rap has
been tarnished with, conscious hip-hop is generally the
opposite of what is marketed and supported by corporate
labels. As London-based rapper Lowkey, one of the best-
known figures on the scene, puts it in a track entitled
My Soul:

"They can't use my music to advertise for Coca Cola 
 they can't use my music to advertise for Motorola 
 they can't use my music to advertise for anything 
 Iguess that's reason the industry won't let me in 
 refuse to be a product or a brand I'm a human 
 refuse to contribute to the gangsta illusion."

In short, conscious rap is hip-hop as it should be.
Many people know of US conscious rappers such as Dead
Prez, KRS-One and Immortal Technique. But how is it
relevant to activism here in the UK? US professor and
author MK Asante Jr argues that hip-hop simply means
"making an observation [about society] and having an
obligation".

Asante, who also co-wrote and produced the film The
Black Candle - a Maya Angelou-narrated film about the
Kwanzaa festival and African American history -
recently teamed up with British rapper Akala and Lowkey
to discuss this topic in front of a packed audience at
the British Library. Their conclusion was simple. While
hip-hop should reflect reality, it should also have the
capacity to offer solutions and provoke debate as any
art form should.

This brand of hip-hop is embodied by anti-capitalist
rappers who are key figures on the underground scene.
The rap group they founded, the People's Army,
exemplifies the kind of hip-hop which can galvanise
socially conscious young people. One offshoot of this
has been the birth of The Equality Movement. Founded by
Lowkey, Logic and activist Jody McIntyre, it organises
public meetings which are free and open for anyone to
attend. It has drawn huge crowds and has so far
included themes such as "What is imperialism?" and "How
to resist", while the first meeting included keynote
speeches from journalists Tariq Ali and Seumas Milne.

A quick YouTube search for these artists reveals that
while they remain unsigned (indeed, they don't want to
be signed), their tracks gain thousands of hits.
Lowkey's song Long Live Palestine for example (all
profits were donated to the people living in the Gaza
Strip) and the buzz it created raised awareness of the
issue to a new audience. It speaks volume for hip-hop's
ability to get people thinking about issues they might
not otherwise have done.

Likewise, Logic's recent track Down for my people spoke
to those young people who experienced their first taste
of protesting at the student and anti-cuts demos. The
song has received an avalanche of hits on YouTube in a
matter of weeks. Another notable collaboration by Logic
and Lowkey was their track in support of the NSPCC's
"Don't hide it" campaign, in which they encouraged
young people to speak out if suffering from abuse.

While young people continue to identify less and less
with the current political status quo, hip-hop will
only continue to strengthen. So far, it has reached and
politicised young people when other artists supported
by mainstream labels have failed. While we often look
to the US for inspirational rappers, we do in fact have
an abundance of talent right on our doorstep. They are
just a click away.

___________________________________________

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