#032: Hey Artists, Stop Acting Like Politicians

“The role of the artist is that of the soldier of the revolution” — Diego Rivera

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s gave rise to protest music and an era where musicians led movements as cultural influencers. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and half of the Woodstock lineup from 1969 were writing anthems to protest injustices in America and around the world. They used their medium and talents as songwriters and performers to speak up for what is right. Music has a power and ‘cool factor’ that a speech can never deliver. To create real change, it takes public support and a movement to make it happen. The community organizers — as the boots on the ground — and the politicians — through legislation — deliver the results. But a key factor in the civil rights era was the music to shift public sentiment and awareness, especially with the youth, to make it all possible. This continued for many years ahead, even seen in Smash Mouth’s often-mocked hit “All Star”, which features a Nostradamus-like second verse that directly addresses the climate change that was ahead. In today’s music industry, far too few artists are willing to take those steps to lead to the changes that are needed in our world today.

A great majority of today’s music industry seem to embrace the mindset of Michael Jordan — and I’m not referring to the hard work and dedication to their craft. Michael Jordan famously said, “Republicans buy sneakers, too” in a response to who he was voting for in the Presidential election. The comment insinuates that he won’t say either way because he prefers to sell shoes to 100% of the country vs. take a political stand. This is precisely the mindset of so many of the top recording artists in the music industry today. Most of today’s hit songs couldn’t be farther from protest music and their is more focus on social media and branding than on the content of the music itself. This might be best represented by the Justin Bieber song “Holy”, which feeds a safe anthem to a Christian nation and has a music video that stars Bieber as a blue-collar oil field worker. Luckily, there are still bold artists today that speak up, especially in the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement — just not enough, on too few issues and usually on social media instead of through their music itself — especially with us coming off 4-years of the Donald Trump presidency. Much respect to “FDT” by Nipsey Hussle and YG, “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar and “This is America” by Childish Gambino. Let’s hope that anthems like these, which also impacted the Billboard charts, will inspire the chart-topping songs for the years ahead.

Music and recording artists must be authentic. Not every artist needs to go down this path. However, too often a monetary decisions seems to out-weigh what is right. It is the core duty for a songwriter and/or artist to speak their hearts to impact change, regardless of what the safe path might be. If this next generation of creatives embraces that, it will be a key piece in us having a better world for the decades ahead.

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JAY’S SONGS OF THE WEEK:
Dylan Dunlap - “Follow My Echo”
Tkay Maidza & Yung Baby Tate - “Kim”
Jeremy Zucker & Chelsea Cutler - “emily”
Freddie Gibbs - “Gang Signs” (feat. ScHoolboy Q)
Zach Hood - “Isabelle”