Art Quote by MC Ren

I think hip-hop has always been political because this is a community that doesn't have any other choice.

— Ari Melber

Hip-hop music has done a very good job of maintaining the political context, where they stand and not giving a sh-t what people think.

— Conor Oberst

If I wasn't rapping about politics, then I might have been just another person trying to sell albums, and I might have sounded like…

— Boots Riley

Hip-hop has globalized a conception of blackness that has had a political impact, whether or not it had a political intent.

— Michael Eric Dyson

We as artists cannot be politicians. We as artists can only be truth-tellers.

— Viola Davis

We're not into the rock/rap movement.

— Shavo Odadjian

The powers that be are trying to meld, shape, and corral the culture of hip-hop into another speaking voice for the government.

— Chuck D

People underestimate the hip-hop audience and the capacity to understand politics when it's part of music.

— Michael Franti

Hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem.

— Kendrick Lamar

We're a direct mirror of the audience, and that shows how hip-hop has expanded. It's no longer just an urban thing, and it's no…

— Taboo

We've never been political, and our fans like us that way. Music is supposed to be fun. But we do drop a positive message.

— Pepa

When I say 'hip-hop is dead,' basically, America is dead. There is no political voice. Music is dead.

— Nas