DMX's America
Matt Yglesias highlighted a wonderful DMX interview, in which he expressed incredulity at the fact that a fellow named “Barack Obama” was running for president. But I was most struck by the part of the interview that followed the Obama discussion.
But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”
Right, exactly.
It’s all a fuckin’ setup. It’s all a setup. All fuckin’ bullshit. All bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about none of that.
We could have a female president also, Hillary Clinton.
I mean, either way it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. No one person is directly affected by which president, you know, so what does it matter.
Yeah, but the country is.
I guess. The president is a puppet anyway. The president don’t make no damn decisions.
The president…they don’t have that much authority basically?
Nah, never.
But Bush pretty much…
You think Bush is making fuckin’ decisions?
He did, yeah, he fucked up the country.
He act like he making decisions. He could barely speak! He could barely fuckin’ speak!
Can’t be serious. He ain’t making no damn decisions.
Two things:
(a) So I guess DMX is a Black Conservative …
(b) I have to say, he has a point. I mean, “they gon’ give a dog a bone?” Black Americans will still face the same struggles. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
I think the prerequisite of being either a Black Conservative or a Black Liberal is being remotely political, which DMX seems to fail quite miserably.
That being said, there actually is a really interesting discussion of the political stance of hip-hop music in Paul Butler, “Much Respect: Toward a Hip-Hop Theory of Punishment,” 56 STAN. L. REV. 983 (2004). (Prof. Butler terms hip-hop artists “post post-modern”). But I’m not sure he cites DMX in the article.
— David Schraub · Mar 20, 05:55 PM · #
i am wondering how the above commentor makes the assessment that dmx is not political. all humor aside it’s somewhat dismissive to cast aside his statements when i think dmx makes a very astute political observation about this election. should barack inherit the presidency, he is basically inheriting a political mess. the same pattern is seen in urban politics in reference to the emergence of black mayors in large american cities who were able to attain political office when these urban centers began to embark on a downward spiral.
this idea of a “hollow prize” resonates in the candidacy of barack b/c it seems that should he win the presidency, his entire time in office will be shaded by the problems and mistakes of a previous administration and his handling of these mistakes will be what determines his legacy. i wouldn’t be bothered if mccain were president and had to deal with these issues b/c quite frankly, mccain is not black. the legacy of the first black president on the other hand will almost certainly be looked at negatively. how can anyone really handle these problems in a way that will be agreed upon to an overwhelming extent by the general populace.
i agree with dmx that the problems of black americans will not be solved by having a black president, but i am concerned that if barack becomes president, the legitimate claims of black people will be seen as black people making baseless claims about the american government.
— aok · Mar 24, 12:25 PM · #