Tuesday, July 30, 2019

The Long Con: Rap Music's Toxic Love of White Capitalism

I grew up listening to rap music that praised Donald Trump. Black rappers pretending to be rich raved about a white man pretending to be rich, who planted stories in the media pretending to be rich. Like a hall of mirrors, the image duplicated itself again and again. And then he started popping up in pop culture, Vibe Magazine parties, hip hop events.

I was a little boy, but even I knew about the Central Park Five. Even I knew that he had declared bankruptcy multiple times, flopped at a football league, had every venture flop, but I still heard the line 'richer than Trump'woven into songs by black ppl who cared more about being adjacent to a figurehead of white capitalism than reality.

And it felt surreal. I didn't stop dancing to the music. But I did think 'huh' for about a split second when I would hear his name. It wasn't a protest 'huh' but more like a 'huh, that's strange' and then I would continue dancing. Why Trump? Why not Robert Johnson of BET? He's actually a legit billionaire, but he's not flashy. Oprah? She popped up in a few songs, but she's difficult. And a woman. And outspoken (this was back in her talk show days, so ppl forget how many men HATED her, as opposed to now where she's just accepted)

Trump was the preferred icon for black male rappers. He re-enforced male toxicity, fragility. He co-signed on many fraudulent rappers lying about their wealthy, and they would co-sign on Trump's wealth. And the mutually agreed upon lie benefited both parties.

Don't know why I thought of that last night. I thought maybe I was delusional so I googled 'Trump in rap music' and pulled up the hundreds of songs.

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