A while back I read an article written by Mos Def where he was theorizing that "everything is political." Since then, the nation has been advanced so often in hip-hop, it's starting to sound like a cliche.

Politics, simply defined, is the use of power. Politics is in everything because human relationships have always involved a power struggle; be it me against you, or me with you, against them. Politics is the science of using what you got to get somewhere and for this reason, it also means everything to hip-hop's development.

It means hip-hop artists that rhyme and promote ice as a status symbol are, in fact, also promoting slavery, as the global trade in diamonds is largely supplied by African countries where slaves are forced to harvest the diamonds that could eventually end up around some rapper's neck. This is the politics of greed and of capitalism, and ironically, also the politics that originally brought. Africans to the Americans as slaves.

It means hip-hop artists that rap about "this bitch" and "that ho", are actually endorsing patriachy the politics of male superiority, and therefore, natural human inequality.

It means KRS-One's signing of the hip-hop declaration of peace is an attempt to unite hip-hop's members around a shared goal, politics are something like nation-building.
KRS-One is using his power to acquire international recognition for hip-hop as an independent political force, at the same time, forging a common identity for hiphoppas.

How are you using your power to take hip-hop somewhere? Where are you taking it? For hip-hop to survive, we need to be more politically conscious. If you don't know where you're moving hip-hop with your power, it may end up somewhere you don't want it to be.

LinX*one