Jack Johnson as Consolation
By Canyon Cody
Published in The Heights

Tuesday was a sad day for America. I will try not to exaggerate the issue, but I feel sincerely afraid of what might happen in our world during the next four years. For the moment, I can find no energy for protest. There is something so alarming about what I see occurring in my country that I cannot confront it directly.

In times like these, I escape to music. At its very best, music can do something that I cannot: It can simultaneously condemn the ugliness and celebrate the beauty in the world. On a day when Americans in 11 states have decided to vote homophobic bigotry into marriage law, I don't need music to remind me of the injustice that surrounds us. Today I need music for hope, or at least consolation. Here hip-hop can't help me, and instead I turn to the simple poetry of surfer guitar player Jack Johnson.

A-Side

Jack Johnson "Times Like These"
Liberals are inclined to talk about the president's re-election as if it marks the end of the world, but the slow, cyclical life of the Hawaiian surf has taught Johnson not to overreact to bad waves. From his perspective, the endless back-and-forth power struggles of politics, filled with "those for peace and those for war," are as meaningless as they are inevitable.

His words are simple, but his subtle wisdom is reassuring: "In times like these/ In times like those/ What will be will be/ And so it goes." All I can do now, Johnson seems to say, is ask God to grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. From the beaches of Honolulu, the politicking in Washington, D.C. seems distant and relatively unimportant to Johnson. When listening to Johnson, I'm not trying to forget or ignore the dirty politics in D.C.; I'm trying to remember the beauty that exists everywhere else.

B-Side

Jack Johnson "Cookie Jars"
The problem is not George Bush. The problem is the 59 million Americans who voted for him. Johnson sings, "We only receive what we demand/ And if we want hell then hell is what we'll have."

Why are so many middle-class Americans willing to support a president who does not support their interests? Because the television media coverage of the election was so poor that most voters were woefully uninformed. I understand exactly how Johnson feels when he sings, "I would turn on the TV, but it's so embarrassing." The right-wing bias of Fox News doesn't bother me as much as the general incompetence of television news. Jon Stewart rightfully criticized the political hacks on Crossfire for hurting America by turning politics into some sort of entertainment spectacle. "You're doing theater when you should be doing debate to inform citizens so that they can be knowledgeable," Stewart said.

Eminem Attack President
By Canyon Cody
Published in The Heights

What will Eminem do for his Encore? Some have speculated that he will vent some political anger on his upcoming fourth album, due Nov. 16. Will Eminem finally stop wasting his venom on easy targets like Britney and Benzino and instead channel his rage toward a more deserving enemy? Unfortunately, the album's horrible lead single ("Just Lose It") points to no such maturation and setting the release date for two weeks after the election rules out the possibility of having any real political consequences.

As a result, Eminem bypassed the lethargic and cautious record label to host a new DJ Green Lantern mixtape, Shade 45: Sirius Bizness, which also serves as an advertisement for Eminem's new channel on Sirius satellite radio. Eminem then enlisted underground emcee Immortal Technique to back up his big words with some actual socio-political knowledge.

Eminem "Mosh"
Until now, Eminem's strongest political words were, "Fuck Bush!" Earnest they may be, but ineffectual nonetheless. On this track, Eminem elaborates on his political views with more than two words: "No more blood for oil/ We got our own battles to fight on our own soil/ No more psychological warfare/ They trick us into thinking that we ain't loyal." Despite the Patriot Act, dissent is still truly patriotic.

Eminem got it right: "I'm like a skillet bubblin' until it filters up." Marshall Mathers might not be Howard Zinn, but he is an exaggerated barometer of suburban white America's adolescent angst, reflecting a festering anger among the uninformed and apathetic. On his last album, he stood with these kids, the ones with "so much anger aimed in no particular direction, just sprays and sprays," but after four years of the Bush administration, even Slim Shady understands that it is now time to direct our anger toward those who actually deserve it.

Immortal Technique "Bin Laden"
The difference between Immortal Technique and Eminem is that Tech read a book before he wrote his anti-Bush tirade. "Bin Laden," also on the Shade 45 mixtape, features Immortal Technique at his most politically vicious, blaming the government for the inner city crack epidemic and attacking Ronald Reagan for funding al-Qaida.

Technique compares George W. Bush to Osama Bin Laden, telling Americans that "Bin Laden was a CIA tactician/ They gave him billions of dollars and funded his purpose/ Fahrenheit 911, that's just scratchin' the surface." Tech explains the current insurgency in Iraq, not as evidence of fanatical loyalty to the old regime, but as the natural self-defense of a people from a foreign invasion. American ghettos would also defend themselves from invasion, Tech says, but it wouldn't reflect support for the Bush administration, but rather an instinct of self-preservation.