Rapping from the Right, by Doc Gibbs

A New Visions Commentary paper published March 2000 by The National Center
for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web
https://nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source
is credited.

She’s angry.

She’s naming names.

She’s rhyming and rapping and reciting.

And she’s naming more names.

With titles like "Gun Control is Racist," "Liberal Democrats are Racist" and "Liberal Democrat Education is Wack," it’s obvious that this lady has got a beef against liberals, left-wing politicians and specifically, liberal Democrats. Most of us recognize rap music by its characteristic angry bravado and preoccupation with guns, gangsters and girls; then along comes Racism Exposed featuring vocalist Shoanna Z (with appearances by Moe Z with Tionna Day, lyrics by Don Kennedy and Rocco Gotti, and music by Cube-Savannah Street Music on Corad Records).

Remember "the angry white male" syndrome? Well, here’s an angry black female. She’s angry, all right. She’s fuming about what she sees as liberal Democrats’ perennial stranglehold over the lives and politics of fellow African-Americans. Tackling subjects as diverse as school vouchers (which she’s for), gun control laws (which she’s against), feminist political agendas (which she deplores), affirmative action (which she abhors), major network TV media bias, demeaning/controlling government hand-outs and most of the issues that define America’s conservative movement, Shoanna Z weaves her clever, sophomoric litany about liberal policies and practices into a heavy hip-hop groove. While her "in your face" style can be upsetting to some, what a novelty to hear rap music from a right-wing ideology.

When she names names, she does it without apologies: She literally raps President and Hillary Clinton, Senator Ted Kennedy, NOW’s Patrica Ireland, network anchors Rather, Jennings and Brokaw, Ted Turner’s CNN and "former Klansman" Senator Robert Byrd, exposing what Shoanna Z’s feels is liberals’ hypocrisy and dissembling in order to keep black Americans from achieving their full economic, educational and enterprising potential.

The 13 songs on Racism Exposed offer glimpses into American history ("Our Founding Black Forefathers"), the workings of contemporary liberal politics and the deleterious effects of patronizing white liberalism on the lives and choices of black Americans. Take, for example, the issue of school choice:

Liberal Democrats and teachers bound at the hip, this liberal control of education makes our minds sick.
School vouchers will give us a choice and let us decide on how to educate our kids where the opportunity lies.
White Democrats oppose school vouchers to ensure their own power they fear educated blacks who will be smarter by the hour.
Hillary and Bill say public schools are good enough for [sic] us, but sent Chelsea to a private school so she could be her best.
Politicians and hypocrites they must be, social elitists we’ve exposed them, and now we all see.
Liberal Democrats step aside and let us be great, let us decide our own fate.
– From "Liberal Democrats Are Racist"

Do you get the feeling that Shoanna Z doesn’t like liberal Democrats? Did I say "like?" After listening to most of these songs, one gets the feeling that she detests liberal Democrats’ ways and thinks that they are racist, condescending, deceiving and patronizing. Most of the songs come across as a wake-up call to black Americans to see that liberal Democrats are not the saviors they appear to be.

90 percent of all blacks vote Democrat – why?
Most of us say we won’t vote Republican, before that day – We’ll die.
By telling them we’re theirs to keep – not right.
We’re allowin’ them to own us cheap – Dem lights.
What you say, what you say, what you say.
Liberal Democrats are racist.
– From "Liberal Democrats Are Racist"

Rap music has been around for 20 years. The Sugar Hill Gang rocked our radios with, "Rapper’s Delight." Carried by the infectious groove of Le Chic’s "Good Times," "Rapper’s Delight" gave us a medium of music that opened a new category of music, and introduced us to rap and hip hop celebs like Run DMC, Public Enemy, Tone Loc, N.W.A., Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Sean "Puffy" Combs. In all of my years of listening, I don’t recall any of these artists skewering liberals, railing against Democrats or closing their album, as Shoanna does, with recitations of the Gettysburg Address, the Bill of Rights, and "Timeless Quotes" from Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King. Racism Exposed is a unusual, intriguing, thought-provoking, dance-groove collection of right-leaning rap and hip-hop.

One stark non-conservative feature of Racism Exposed is its cover photo of the nearly-naked female, plus inside photos of a similarly revealing, curvaceous body. I suppose it’s designed to "flesh" out the idea of "exposing" racism. Racism Exposed is a colorful work of brazen, bombastic, beat-driven barbs whose clarion call is sure to send liberals running and make black Americans think. It’s worth a listen.



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