Some rappers burst into surprisingly patriotic rhapsodies, while others emphasized the continued plight of black Americans. What response there was, was somewhat scatter-shot. It’s somewhat surprising that since 9/11 was an attack on New York-the birthplace of hip-hop and its epicenter-and an event of a magnitude that had not been seen by anyone in the hip-hop generation, that there was not more of a response. Just because a rapper didn’t mention it on the mic does not mean he or she didn’t or doesn’t have deep feelings about it, it just seems like those mentions were few and far between. When it came to 9/11, almost everyone experienced it through television.
When Chuck D referred to rap as black America’s CNN, he did not mean that rappers are a general-interest news source but rather that rap is how black communities report on themselves to one another. to South Africa, became more routine topics. By the late ‘80s, as rap became more politically engaged, current events involving race relations, from the U.S. Rappers in the early ‘80s mentioned the perilous crime, drugs, inflation and unemployment that plagued their neighborhoods, but largely ignored specific occurrences. “Smiling Faces”, “What’s Going On”) but in the early days of rap, there was little direct reference to specific current events. The ‘60s and ‘70s saw many songs about current events by black artists (e.g. The two basic responses to credit crunches are advocated and reflected in the African American musical archive. The bad macro-economic advice to “save up yo money” in the above folk ditty was countered by Billy Paul’s 1970s Keynesian anthem “Let The Dollar Circulate,” which was sampled by rapper Young Jeezy for his song “Circulate” in early 2009 in response to the 2008 liquidity crisis. I wear clothes made for all kinds of weather I wear shoes made of all kinds of leather,
A nickel worth of meal and a dime of lard The prolific body of song describing natural and man-made calamities was one of the few types of Afro-American song that came close to being a historical record.įor years following the Panic of 1907, according to Levine, the folk memory of the hard times that liquidity crisis induced reverberated in song. He surmises about the proliferation: The fact that song could be utilized to expunge difficulties may well help to account for the strong tradition of disaster songs in black music. Levine surveys the many songs made about events current at the turn of the 20th century. In the landmark study Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (1977), the late Lawrence W. Making songs, rhymes, or ditties about national tragedies has a long history in African American folk expression. Juelz Santana – There It Go (The Whistle Song) (prod.More so than the work of his fellow rappers, Juelz Santana’s raps fit into an old tradition, peppering sincere musical memorials of tragedy with humor. “There it go, I don’t need to ask I proceed to grab her / Chicks love my G’d up swagger.” “Move the thang like a boomerang and come right back,” he spits, over minimalist production from Terence Anderson & Daren Joseph. For the most part, Santana opts to spit game, allowing his charismatic delivery to do the bulk of the work. That’s not to say that “There It Go” is a lyrical clinic by any means - in fact, it’s pretty much the polar opposite. Now that enough time has passed, it’s hard not to feel the warm glow of nostalgia upon queuing it up. Though some might have deemed “The Whistle Song” to be part of hip-hop’s decline, others most certainly appreciated the low-stakes banger for what it was. Today marks Juelz Santana’s 39th birthday, and in honor of the Dipset rapper’s career, it feels appropriate to highlight one of his biggest mainstream hits. Juelz Santana There It Go (the Whistle Song)
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