Few phenomena have enjoyed the broad appeal and influence throughout the world like Hip Hop and rap music have sustained throughout the past 4 decades. In nearly every city in the world, children and adults, men and women, and people of all colors and classes enjoy this dynamic genre, which often features controversial and anti-establishment lyrics. Despite its broad appeal, it seems that rap/hip hop is substantially more popular among inner-city African Americans, and it is largely associated with progressive, liberal ideology. If you enjoy Hip Hop and appreciate most rappers’ lyrics, you might not be as leftist as you believe yourself to be. In fact, rap lyrics have a distinct libertarian theme to them – which is the polar opposite of the progressive, socialist, Democratic ideology that people might assume rap represents.
Among the most successful Hip Hop artists of the past and present are NWA, Drake, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Tom MacDonald, Wiz Khalifa, J Dilla, Eminem, 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Chris Brown, ASAP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, and Logic. Their songs have been heard billions of times on YouTube alone.
The libertarian ideology:
Libertarian economic philosophy is a free-market, capitalist one, in which people are free to engage in commerce in any way they see fit without government interference.
Using the financial intelligence often associated with Jews, Lil Dicky puts in the work of knocking on doors and asking wealthy homeowners if he could use their properties in his music video. In the song, he proudly admits that he’s been saving since his Bar Mitzvah and is always super frugal with his money. Conservative financial policy is a libertarian policy. The hilarious – and economically efficient – music video has 169 million views on YouTube.
In the music video for ‘Hot Nigga’, Bobby Shmurda openly drinks alcohol in public (a crime) and smokes weed in public (a crime). And 758 million people have seen him openly mock the government!
Rising rap star Tom MacDonald’s music video for ‘Everybody Hates Me’ expresses the epitome of genuine self-expression – the most libertarian of ideas. He also wears an armor vest throughout the video, which has been watched over 25 million times. One of the phrases in the song is “The government robs”. ‘Taxation is theft’ is perhaps the most famous libertarian phrase. MacDonald may actually be libertarian, judging by his many pro-liberty and anti-government songs.
One of the most successful rappers of the past decade, Lil Wayne consistently raps about how much he disrespects the law. One particularly egregious example of his proud criminality occurs in the song ‘Gun Walk’, in which he discusses the trouble he has walking around while carrying a large firearm. Over 10 million people have watched the video and heard him repeatedly say “I’m strapped up, nigga – fuck a gun law!”
Rap star Chris Webby seems to have the political ideology of a typical Connecticut progressive. His songs regularly diss Republican politicians, though he has called out the worst leftist politicians like Clinton. It seems like corona-fascism really pissed him off, though. He actually mentioned in a song early in the scamdemic that people should socially distance and take the virus very seriously. But after 2 years of tyranny, he has had enough. Over 3.7 million viewers have now seen his November 2021 music video for ‘Raw Thoughts V’. In the song, he impressively calls out Biden as a demented corrupt pervert who heads a ‘false administration’. He also disses Hunter Biden for his corruption, crack use, and child porn on his laptop. He also recommends locking Kamala Harris in Guantanamo Bay and throwing away the key. Throughout the song, he destroys the unsafe and ineffective vaccines (and boosters) and threatens to wipe his ass with a medical mask. He calls out Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and many others. He calls out cancel culture and virtue signaling multiple times, as well. After dissing Ted Cruz in nearly every prior song, he actually gives him credit for standing up for freedom of speech. Throughout the video, he features an inordinate amount of AR-style rifles and pistols.
In the song called ‘Bounce Back’, Big Sean proudly tells his rags to riches story. The theme throughout the song is one of hard work, perseverance, and individual achievement – the most libertarian of ideals. Over 6 million people have watched the video in which Sean says such phrases as “Betting on me is the right risk”, “Last night took an L, but tonight I bounce back”, and “…on a private jet from the public housing”.
In the famous song about how much they resent law enforcement, the rap group ‘NWA’ says: “They have the authority to kill a minority”, referring to cops. Of course, the title ‘Fuck The Police’ leaves no mystery in the minds of the 80 million listeners to this video about how the group feels about government enforcers.
Only 520,000 viewers watched the YouTube video of J Dilla’s rendition of ‘Fuck The Police’, but he makes a few excellent points in the song, including: “Another cop busted for illegal business” and “Now tell me who protects me from you?”
If you thought 2023 was weird…what if someone told you that 2024 would begin with a Tom MacDonald collaborating with Ben Shapiro on a rap song…that would top the Billboard charts at #1??? The music video featuring the conservative commentator and orthodox Jew quickly received over 4 million views on YouTube.
Rising rap star Machine Gun Kelly explained to 27 million viewers in his music video for ‘A Little More’ that “The government is just as crooked as police”.
Superstar rapper, Wiz Khalifa embraces the libertarian capitalist entrepreneurial spirit, openly smokes cannabis, and disrespects police in the music video for ‘King of Everything’, which has been viewed over 69 million times. Throughout the song, Wiz repeatedly boasts that he is “Smokin’ weed when I wanna”. For good measure, he also says “Fuck the police” in the song.
The unexplainably popular weed anthem by Shelley FKA DRAM & Lil Yachty has been viewed over 425 million times on YouTube. The artists of ‘Broccoli’ proudly discuss working hard and earning massive amounts of money – and then spending it (which stimulates the economy – even leftist politicians admit that).
Over 100 million listeners have listened to Cardi B’s song called ‘Money’. In true anarcho-capitalist fashion, the entire song is about how much the Bronx rapper loves money: “Nothing in this world that I like more than checks”
Cardi’s song with 1.3 BILLION views on YouTube further cements that she really loves money: “I like million-dollar deals”
Afroman has been in the rap game for decades, boasting over 250 million views on his music video for ‘Because I Got High’. Since long before it was considered benign, he openly talked about smoking cannabis in his music videos, clearly defying the law. But his anti-authoritarian streak recently took a crazy turn – for the better. And it has been quite funny.
In 2022, police officers conducted a military-style destructive raid of Afroman’s home. They smashed his front door and destroyed many other items while ransacking his house ‘looking for drugs and a kidnapping victim’. Understandably, Afroman (Joseph Edgar Foreman) was not very happy that a bunch of armed thugs viciously raided his home under a bogus pretense and a pathetic warrant signed by Judge Roy Gabbert. So, he expressed himself in the best way he could – through music. He quickly produced three new rap songs about the unjust raid on his home. Instead of responding to violence with violence, he expressed his frustration through music.
The songs were called ‘Will You Help Me Repair My Door?’, ‘Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera?’, and ‘Lemon Pound Cake‘. The cops disconnected his security system during their unethical raid. He used plenty of footage of the raid in his music videos. The videos do not make the cops look good, because they show them doing bad things, such as raiding the home of a peaceful, innocent, public figure for no good reason (possibly as retaliation for previous issues with his local police department). The music videos quickly gained millions of views on YouTube. The cops were ashamed that their despicable actions were caught on a person’s home surveillance system when they violently broke into his home and stole $5,000 and caused another $20,000 of property damage.
So, they sued him. For violating their privacy. By essentially making money from videos that include footage from inside of his own home that happen to include the armed burglars in them. Those familiar with privacy law surely understand how preposterous the lawsuit is. Ironically, the police officers (deputies Shawn Cooley, Justin Cooley, Shawn Grooms, and Lisa Phillips, as well as sergeants Michael Estep and Randolph Walters Jr. and detective sergeant Brian Newland) who are suing for ‘humiliation’ are embarrassing themselves by suing a person for free speech.
The greatest rap-metal group of all time, Linkin Park made an album with arguably the most successful rapper of all time, Jay-Z. In a live performance of their most successful song, before beginning to sing, Jay-Z simply says this:
“Instead of spending billions to kill people, we could spend billions to help people live”
Over 68 million people have seen the video which calls out the corrupt and violent politicians for what they are.
In 2013, Rapper Vinnie Paz’s ‘End of Days’ song and music video received over 5 and over 3 million views on YouTube. The rapper eviscerates countless mainstream paradigms, including gun control, government-forced vaccines, and Obama. He correctly locates the enemy not in Saudi Arabia but in DC.
A rapper named Boosie said in an interview that the government is the mob and taxation is essentially theft that the government does not even spend on sensical items or policies.
Over 4 million listeners have heard Immortal Technique’s song which lists dozens of the hundreds of terrorist acts that the united states government has committed.
Post Malone, one of the most successful artists in the world, open carries firearms when he walks around.
Some rappers, like Eric July is such a pro-freedom, pro-liberty voluntaryist that he primarily sings about freedom and self-determination. July left Fire From the Gods and created Backwordz, another rap-metal group that sings about libertarian values like self-ownership. Star singers from metal bands like Attila and Escape the Fate have been featured in Backwordz songs.
When Kodak Black voluntarily donated air conditioning units to poor families, the local government forced him to stop doing the good deed.
Nearly every other rapper talks about illegal drugs, illegal firearms, and disrespecting law enforcement in their songs.
Liberty is about expressing oneself in ANY way you please! Whether they realize it or not, the most successful hip-hop stars are libertarian!
More recent pro-liberty and anti-government hip hop:
Propaganda – Dax & Tom MacDonald
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Liberty Block or any of its members. We welcome all forms of serious feedback and debate.
