On May 20th, 2017, in a stadium set to hear performances from the Libertines, Madness, and Little Mix, an unmistakable anthem took on a new meaning. As a 68-year-old, 2-time divorcee from Islington took the stage, a rendition of the White Stripe’s unmistakable ‘7 Nation Army’ echoed through the political epicentre that is Prenton Park Stadium, […]
NWA
“A reflection of our reality”: Music, a political force or apolitical mess? | Part 1
“Our art is a reflection of our reality,” claimed O’Shea Jackson Jr., playing his father, Ice Cube, in the recent N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton. Staged in a press conference asking the band members if they felt responsible for glamorising the gangster image, Jackson stakes a central claim of music to political significance. The film […]
Music Lesson 9: Gangsta Rap
Veteran Eminem listeners may recall a certain skit from his Marshall Mathers LP album (the first one), in which an exasperated Steve Berman “explains” Dr. Dre’s album successes: “he’s rapping about big-screen TVs, blunts, 40s (40 oz. beer bottles) and bitches”. Such is the foundation of the genre known as gangsta rap, the topic of […]