It’s rare that rappers make explicit statements about presidential candidates, especially decades removed from the height of Sistah Souljah and Public Enemy’s popularity. But Donald Trump has inspired a lot of uncommon political engagement thanks to his campaign’s outbursts of alleged racism and fascism.
Today that engagement comes in the way of “FDT” (or “Fuck Donald Trump”) by South Los Angeles gangster rappers YG and Nipsey Hussle. Neither rapper has much history of being outspoken on issues of national politics, but as this clip of a Valdosta State student explaining she was kicked out of a Trump rally “because we’re a group of black people” shows, the color of one’s skin is not always a neutral position.
Over a bassline so funky you can almost smell it, YG repeats the catchy chorus and opens his verse with the line, “I like white folks but I don’t like you.” After calling Trump racist and saying that he’ll “turn black panther,” YG offers up substantive criticism: “He too rich, he ain’t got the answers.” Of course, being a gangster rapper, he also threatens to fuck up a hypothetical L.A. Trump rally and expresses surprise that neither El Chapo nor the Nation of Islam have tried to come for the leading Republican nominee.
Hustle, by the same token, focuses his critique on Trump being a trust fund kid out of touch with the country, including his native Crenshaw, California. After an audio sample of Trump stumping for his Mexican border wall, both rappers pledge their allegiance to Mexicans, with Nipsey proclaiming, “It wouldn’t be the USA without Mexicans.”
Even apart from the many salient points or threats of violence, what makes this song stand out is that it bangs, which makes it the best political rap song since Killer Mike’s “Reagan” and maybe the most relevant since Lil Wayne’s “Georgia Bush.”
Photo via Spin/Twitter