Ferguson shooting: What rappers are saying, and doing

Rappers are raising funds, producing new and old songs in response to the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Rappers are making their voices heard in the Missouri city where a white police officer killed an unarmed young black man, channeling hip-hop's earlier roots when the genre worked as a voice for the oppressed and spoke out against injustice.

"It's really important to see hip-hop's role of being some grown-ups and doing some really stand-up, grown-up stuff," Public Enemy's Chuck D, one of rap's most powerful voices, said in a recent interview. "These people have actually stood up ... and that has to be saluted."

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said he's impressed with rappers such as J. Cole, who released a heartaching, tearful song called "Be Free" inspired by Michael Brown, the 18-year-old who was shot to death Aug. 9 in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, igniting weeks of protests.

Others in rap also have lifted their voices: Talib Kweli, like J. Cole, marched in Ferguson and spoke out about injustice; David Banner appeared on CNN; Nelly started a scholarship for teens in honor of Brown; and Lauryn Hill dedicated her song "Black Rage" — which uses some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things" — to the Ferguson community.

"When the dogs bite, when the beatings, when I'm feeling sad I simply remember all these kinds of things and then I don't feel so bad," she sings.

The largest hip-hop gesture for Brown, who was an aspiring rapper, came Wednesday when the Game released the song "Don't Shoot," in which he's joined by all-stars like Diddy, Rick Ross and 2 Chainz, among others. Sales from the song will benefit the Mike Brown Memorial Fund on GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $300,000 in two weeks.

"I wanted to do my part in bringing awareness to it, so that at the end of the day that I can sleep well knowing that I used my voice correctly," the Game said in an interview Thursday.

Though hip-hop has been criticized for glorifying sex and violence, its musicians have a history of standing up against perceived injustice, especially in the genre's early years, with songs like "Fight the Power" and "The Message."

A more recent example came after the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old who was killed by a Florida neighborhood watchman in 2012.

Last week, T.I. released the song "New National Anthem," which he wrote after the July 2013 acquittal of the watchman, George Zimmerman, who argued self-defense. T.I. says he hopes to start a dialogue between the community, city leaders and police.

"This is not to divide race, color, generation, region. This is not to incite or encourage people to go against to the police. This is to bring about change by way of creating awareness of the current status in America in these inner city areas for our young black men and young black people," the rapper said in a recent interview.

Other black entertainers have spoken out including Kerry Washington, Jesse Williams and Spike Lee, who attended Brown's funeral on Monday. At a concert last week where he performed Marvin Gaye's seminal "What's Going On?" at the Hollywood Bowl, John Legend wore a shirt that said "don't shoot."

While a number of members of the rap community have come out in support of Ferguson — including Russell Simmons, Killer Mike, Young Jeezy and Wiz Khalifa — others have wondered if hip-hop's most prolific and popular stars will chime in, from Jay Z to Pharrell to Kanye West to Lil Wayne.

"I don't believe everyone has a role for this, and I also don't believe quantity takes over as quality. I think we have a quality combination in there," Chuck D said.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu at twitter.com/MusicMesfin

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Ferguson shooting: What rappers are saying, and doing
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0830/Ferguson-shooting-What-rappers-are-saying-and-doing
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe