...or are we really in an age of the end of ideology?
while millions are buying the 50 cent album, how many have ever heard of the coup, or dead prez?

what do you think of political rap?

I think political Rap has come along way, alothough u are right that almost noone has ever heard of coup or dead prez, it is mostly because it isnt advertised like 50 cent and Snoop Dog.

and why isn't it advertised?
are there people affraid that the lyrics will put some unwanted ideas into people's minds?

some may say that its all about the beats (the music), and hip hop fans just rather nod their heads to jay-z than to the coup.

but take for example "Me And Jesus The Pimp In A '79 Granada Last Night" (the coup). It grabs you from the first beat. very smooth, catchy track. if the lyrics were more about the glamour in being a pimp (rather than all the misery that this pimping brings) - it could easily become a hit single.

maybe the music industry wants us to have an image of a violent, mysoginic, greedy black men.
I wonder what these images serve (besides some bank accounts)

I agree totally, and the fact is when the music industry see's these rappers that are diffrent they get afraid that people wont like it and they will lose $$$$. They wold rather keep rappers on the same line like nelly, j-z, snoop, 50 cent, if u notice they sound alot like each other.

of course! it sells. music, especially pop music, is about $$. so simple rap tunes that just have a decent beat to get played in the club and have a video filled with half naked women will always be the big money makers.

Nelly sells. The Roots don't
50cent sells. Outkast doesn't.

Most people are not even aware that hiphop goes very far beyond the pop stuff that gets played on MTV and BET. It's like thinking that N'sync is an accurate representation of all rock music.

most pop rap is soo crapy. Songs are always simple proclamaitions as to how much money and women the artist has.

as far as political rap having a chance? no not in the mainstream. no big bucks. but there are fans outthere who will listen. there will always be an audience.

A lot of old rap is pretty political when you think about it. A lot of it was about Black rights (Ice Cube, Public Enemy...) and then you have guys like KRS One, Beastie Boys etc who rap about world events.

I think the main reason political rap generally doesn't sell as well is because the rappers are too smart to be whored by the record companies and they'd rather do things for themselves. They are they ones who are in it for the music and the messages, not the money.

What i actually meant by "does it have a chance?" was a chance in changing the system, turning it upside down, changing its values. I didnt mean does it have a chance in making big bucks...
but I guess the way you interpreted the question is the most accurate answer to it.
the values of capital are so hegemonic that we even see the opposition as yet another comodity in the market.

Krs One (Knowlage Reigns Supreme over nearly everything)

Was a Very Big influential political rapper imo

ooooh, different question. more about politics than the music industry.
again I would say no. what's the voting participant rate here 50%? There needs to be a large change in attitude to get people more interested in being involved. As much as I may adimire the messages in some political music, I doubt it will (by itself) make much of a difference.

Aye, political rap has been around for ages. Don't find anything new with it.