Political Media Review – PMR

Thomas Gibson
QD3 Entertainment, INC, Chatsworth (2004)
Reviewed by Anthony J. Nocella, II
SUNY Cortland

Letter to the President: The Streets Get Political, produced by Russell Simmons, directed by Thomas Gibson, composed by Quincy Jones, and narrated by Snoop Dogg, is a wake-up call to the world that hip-hop and rap does not mean money, ignorance, and violence, but a voice from a imprisoned, oppressed, and repressed community.

This is an excellent film on the history of hip-hop and rap in the U.S. in relation to race, class, and sexism. Often, people associate hip-hop with gold chains, bouncing around on stage, and rapping about Bentleys and strippers, but rap is really poetry with a beat, a culture, a rhyme, and a movement. The documentary’s impressive list of people interviewed include the most political of the rap artists: KRS-One, Chuck D of Public Enemy, and M1 of Dead Prez to the professor of hip-hop Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. A few more of the many interviewed include Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Juvenile, Common, Mike Epps, MC Lyte, and Wyclef Jean.

The film opens with a narrative by political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, discussing the corruption and violence the U.S. has conducted on Blacks in America while showing pictures and clips of the Black Panther Party.

With this harsh critique the film looks at President Regan’s politics on the poor, which was more like a mass arrest of Black males. The analysis of this film on Regan can be summed up by Carl Officer, the Mayor East St. Louis, IL, “Regan had no clue what was going on in America.” The next serious issue the film addresses was one that the East coast and West coast could agree on: mass police brutality on the Black community, justified by claiming that any group of Black youth hanging out together on the street were thugs and gangsters. If this does not overwhelm you enough, the film describes how crack and guns got into poor Black urban hoods. M-1 from Dead Prez clearly notes that, “There is no 17 year old kid in the projects that can every claim they pioneered crack. There is no scientist white-coat wearing 17 year old with gold teeth talking about, I got it, I got it.” Crack was not created in the Black community, but rather was put in the Black community to destroy the Black Panther Party and other Black political groups by the U.S. government. Crack was a powerful weapon targeted at the Black community, because it made money and ruined people’s lives.

B.I.G.G.I.E. sums up the opportunities of Black urban youth in the 1980s, “The streets is a short stop, you either slingin crack or have a wicked jump shot.” From Grandmaster Flash to Public Enemy rap repeatedly broke open the illegal actions that the government directed at the Black community in the U.S. from shoving drugs in the Black ghettos to sending poor Black men to fight wars for corporations. This film does not hold any punches, case in point, Dick Gregory profoundly states, “The CIA and the FBI are two of the most corrupt groups. They do stuff that would make Hitler blush.” This statement was reinforced by author and researcher Gary Webb, also was interviewed in the film, who thoroughly explains the history of U.S. police corruption. Further, KRS-One explains that, “illegal business controls America,” from drug trade to the expansion of the prison industrial complex.

The film concludes with a critique of where rap is heading. It is increasingly capitalist and materialist driven and often lacks political and social concern. The film closes in a depressed and frustrated pre-Obama era where Kerry looses to Bush. Many of the artists ask people to get out and vote if nothing else, but on the flip side they demand the politicians help the Black communities in order to get that vote.

Due to the films harsh language and complex socio-political analysis, it is probably best suited for college students. Not to say that middle and high school students would not understand this film, but because of the controversial content and language it might be difficult to bring into a school, unless you teach at a social justice school such as a Quaker middle school.