TLDR: It doesn't matter where you come from or what you do, you might find that legit hip-hop is the voice we need.
Life can be strange. Fifteen years ago, I was working 50 and 60 hours a week in a non-union coal mine seven miles from where I grew up and was raising my own children. Long story short, my union roots got the best of me, and I got the fuck out of that mess after a final few blows with management. I may or may not have gotten a little bit radicalized by the whole situation. I also realized that coal companies had done more than work us to death, they were actively destroying and polluting our land much more than I previously realized. I became involved in environmentalism against mountain top removal (MTR) coal mining and eventually managed to get a scholarship (at the age of 32 FFS), working/hoping to become a better voice in the fight.
One summer, my family and I were invited to the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona to spend a week meeting Diné (Navajo) elders fighting a Peabody surface mine. Just like in my mountain home, the coal company had completely wrecked their ancestral lands among other horrible shit. There were many others at the gathering, too, including a couple of Chilean-American hip-hop artists/youth organizers who were working in the South Bronx.
Underneath a shaded canvas on a Diné homestead, they told us about the roots of hip-hop. I learned from them that it was the voice of the people before it was commercialized and marketed through controversial genres such as gangster rap and so on. When they did a rendition of “Which Side Are You On?,” a 1930s union anthem written by the wife of a union organizer in none other than Harlan, Kentucky, during a major coal mine strike, well… let's just say my interest was piqued. I grew up listening to a lot of heavy metal and punk and connected a lot with the anti-war/anti-establishment lyrics, but what I was hearing was on a new level.
That was almost 10 years ago. Since then, I have picked up on a lot of great hip-hop artists with great messages, including The Coup, Killer Mike, Dead Prez, Brother Ali, and more.
Relate Y'all.