Hip-hop culture has the ability to effect the way people think about politics and how presidential candidates execute their campaigns. This power has been realized recently, especially by President Obama, but we have yet to truly see it reach its full potential.
Hip-hop has been around since about the early 1970s, but never had it realized its potential to effect politics until the 2008 presidential election. The starting point of this realization was during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This was during a time that many young, especially African-American, people were already tired of President Bush in office and it showed in many hip-hop songs in those years. Hip-hop made a small attempt on their own to get more young people out to vote for …show more content…
This is exactly the fuel that President Obama needed to start his campaign. The dilemma that faced Barack Obama in this race was “How can you outsell the competitor without converting their customers?” (Stoute). This is what led President Obama to the epiphany that he needed to create an entire new set of customers in the younger community who, historically, do not vote often. Instead of starting his campaign in Washington D.C. like most presidential candidates, President Obama started his campaign in his own hometown of Chicago. Associating himself with his own community first, instead of starting at the capital and working his way down, helped President Obama gain credibility in his campaign. It showed that he too grew up in that community and he understands the struggles that they go through on a daily basis. He helped the people of this community see how he could change their lives if elected president. He did this by speaking of an, “American Dream in need of rescue” (Stoute). By this, he meant that the American Dream of working hard to be able to buy your own house and support your family was slowly dying in this country due to the state of the economy. President Obama also showed that he associates himself with this community with his use of hip-hop figures in his political campaign. Every presidential candidate that came before him tried to keep hip-hop artists as far away …show more content…
By doing this, hip-hop artists and hip-hop culture will substantially increase their influence over the political world. We will begin to see this in the very near future with the 2016 presidential elections approaching
Hip-hop has been around since about the early 1970s, but never had it realized its potential to effect politics until the 2008 presidential election. The starting point of this realization was during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This was during a time that many young, especially African-American, people were already tired of President Bush in office and it showed in many hip-hop songs in those years. Hip-hop made a small attempt on their own to get more young people out to vote for …show more content…
This is exactly the fuel that President Obama needed to start his campaign. The dilemma that faced Barack Obama in this race was “How can you outsell the competitor without converting their customers?” (Stoute). This is what led President Obama to the epiphany that he needed to create an entire new set of customers in the younger community who, historically, do not vote often. Instead of starting his campaign in Washington D.C. like most presidential candidates, President Obama started his campaign in his own hometown of Chicago. Associating himself with his own community first, instead of starting at the capital and working his way down, helped President Obama gain credibility in his campaign. It showed that he too grew up in that community and he understands the struggles that they go through on a daily basis. He helped the people of this community see how he could change their lives if elected president. He did this by speaking of an, “American Dream in need of rescue” (Stoute). By this, he meant that the American Dream of working hard to be able to buy your own house and support your family was slowly dying in this country due to the state of the economy. President Obama also showed that he associates himself with this community with his use of hip-hop figures in his political campaign. Every presidential candidate that came before him tried to keep hip-hop artists as far away …show more content…
By doing this, hip-hop artists and hip-hop culture will substantially increase their influence over the political world. We will begin to see this in the very near future with the 2016 presidential elections approaching