I’m glad that so many artists have suddenly taken it upon themselves to be pundits and spout off about politics but I feel irked by this sudden burst of *consciousness* in rap. I’m tired of the Election Year Activists, mutherfuckers who only act like they give a damn or have ish on their brains when it’s commercially viable or makes them look good in the press. This takes away the shine and much deserved credit from folks who do this all day, every day, often with little or no media attention or support like Davey D.

I know people who run activist organizations like the League of Pissed Off Voters and other groups are the real superstars of youth politics. So I suggest this: from now on, when an artists decides to release a *positive* or pro-active *message* song, we decide as a Hip Hop nation that that song has set a new bar for them, and afterwards they cannot go back to being an alcohol peddler in their videos or a fantasy pimp as soon as the fad of being an *activist* is over.

Come on people, if we do not take the enthusiasm built by election year politics *beyond* the election year we will continue to be fucked. That seems simple to me. Politics should not be used as a popularity ploy. This shit is not a game. This is very serious business for folks whose lives, and livelihoods literally depend on the hope that one day there will be substantive change in the American political system.

For rich folks, like many of the suddenly *politicized* artists like Diddy, it doesn’t matter as much. They’ll still be rich no matter who wins the election, maybe just keep a few dollars less or more depending on Candidate Whomever’s tax cuts, but they’re still rich folks. It angers me when artists, especially those in Hip Hop play with politics this way, only when it’s *popular* and really some folks need to get called out.