Million Man March rap flops

December 10, 1997
Issue 

One Million Strong
Various artists
Through Shock Records

Review by James Vassilopoulos

This hip hop CD was released on the second anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington DC in October 1995. The mobilisation, initiated by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, attracted more than a million African-American men.

The artists on One Million Strong are Ice T, Chuck D (ex-Public Enemy), Ice Cube and Dr Dre (ex-NWA), the Alkaholiks, 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. (the first and last time that 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. sang together as both have since been gunned down).

The Million Man March was one of the most important rallies in the history of the black struggle. The participants were overwhelmingly black workers, but many African-Americans from middle-class professions also turned up. The rally came at a time when the US Congress was tearing up affirmative action programs for minorities.

Although the march focused on "atonement" — the idea that individual men can do better, not take drugs and look after their families — it was a political rally. One Million Strong, however, has very little politics beyond the occasional reference to Malcolm X and lyrics like "Niggers you want gone, are one million deep on your front lawn". There are typical misogynist references to women as bitches.

Apart from a couple of songs, musically it is flat-rap, gold-necklace rap, boring-rap. "Where ya at?", involving many rap artists, is quite a catchy tune and a reasonable song. It is hip hop's version of pop music's Band Aid.

"Wake Up", by X-Niggaz, is a seductive whispering song, with rap to a piano. It is different and interesting. It does say something political about slavery and the African-American condition, and seems to be sympathetic towards the Nation of Islam: understandably so since that organisation is filling a black leadership vacuum, despite its sexism and anti-Semitism.

Why is this CD so musically and politically uninteresting? It probably has something to do with the commercialisation of rap and the type of music that record companies want to promote.

Rap's origins were in young black people in the streets of the inner-city housing projects in the late 1970s. It was a highly fluid and creative form, with a large dose of social commentary and black politics: very different from much present-day rap.

Gangster rap, which brags about shooting others, selling drugs, sexual prowess and being tough, is heavily promoted by record companies because this selfish individualism does nothing to challenge the status quo. It also makes big bucks for the burgeoning range of companies now marketing the rap "image".

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