Do y’all remember that song Eminem did four years ago, "Mosh"? It was a good song, even if it was kinda sludgy in its production. But it was intended as a march, and the beat is just right for moving your feet straight ahead. Which was the point, after all- it was a song designed to motivate people to take back their own political power (as opposed to various other kinds of power) released right before the 2004 Presidential election. It was interesting, because it made Eminem pretty much the only major MC to release an overtly political song during the most politically-charged season in America that I had ever seen. And I spent the three months prior to the election in pretty much every city in America. It’s just interesting to think about how apolitical hip-hop was a couple years ago. Not that, you know, everybody’s on some Public Enemy shit now, but check it out-

Nas delivered 600,000 signatures to Fox News yesterday, calling them out for the well-documented race-baiting of Barack Obama. Which maybe doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s important. For decades black America (and white America, for the most part) has had its leadership replaced by pop culture and sports figures, who are limited in the amount of political power they possess because they’re contracted to the same system that has an interest in seeing them without power. There’s a deliberate apoliticization of athletes, and artists are convinced that making their art is the point, and the only point of their platform. Nas putting the mic aside to go directly to a political organization (which Fox News is) and challenge them, armed with 600,000 voices, is a big deal. And to validate that, Fox refused the signatures, refused to acknowledge that he was there.

Media companies like NewsCorp, which owns Fox, are a big part of the reason why the major voices and images of black America are rappers and athletes. What they have to be prepared for is what happens when the people they’ve helped turn into stars decide that they’d rather be leaders.