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Who's Ludacris?

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009


A very sharp piece appeared in The Times on Sunday, almost tongue-in-cheek, comparing Glenn Beck and the loud-mouth Right with the rap tradition.  A fan of hip-hop, David Segal finds that he’d heard these voices before . . . in gangsta rap.
He breaks down the similarities into Ego, Haters, Feuds, Verbal Skills, etc..


From the piece by Segal:
“I’ll admit that the parallels between Jay-Z and Rush Limbaugh do not seem obvious, and to grasp them you need to look beyond the violence and misogyny that have made rap a favorite target of the right wing. (Come to think of it, perhaps each of these realms will be chagrined to be likened to the other.) But as soon as you dig beneath the surface, the similarities between talk radio and gangsta rap are nothing short of uncanny. And these similarities are revealing, too.” . . .
“Even beyond simple matters of style, rap and conservative talk radio share some DNA. Once you subtract gangsta rap’s enthusiasm for lawlessness — a major subtraction, to be sure — rap is among the most conservative genres of pop music. It exalts capitalism and entrepreneurship with a brio that is typically considered Republican.”

Here’s the piece

© 2024 Steve Brodner