Riot Rap & Working Class Hip Hop

So this emcee who calls himself Testament did a remake/diss of Jay-Z”s black bloc appropriating video “Run This Town.” I’m not crazy about this musically but it’s kinda funny and/or interesting. Seems to have some of this weird “masonic” obssession.

This got me thinking again about rap related to riots but not using the black bloc tactic. If anybody can think of any other good videos/tracks, let me know.

And then I wanted to plug the Brooklyn emcee Skyzoo’s working class video interview series related to his first official album, “The Salvation”. It seemed fitting, since hip hop started as an expression of oppressed working class Blacks and Latinos in the Bronx in the ’70s.

Another group who used interviews to investigate working class conditions and to attempt to change them was the European group Kolinko.

Jay-Z in Vancouver and Black Bloc Hip Hop

Personally, I haven’t even bothered to check out Jay-Z’s new album. I’m the kind of old man who’d rather go back and listen to Jay-Z’s “Death of Autotune” producer No I.D.’s album again.

Or Jay-Z’s collaboration with Original Flavor even further back.

But over at the Vengeance blog it was pointed out that Jay-Z’s latest video was visually based on the riot tactic known as the “Black Bloc”.

Of course, Jay Z wasn’t the first to do this.

Nas did it last year.

And Eminem did it before that.

And KRS-One and Buckshot came out with “Robot” before “Death of Autotune” too.

Oh well…

What the f___ is a Black Bloc? Check here…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc