Playlist for Righteous Anger

The following playlist is designed to help you be subversive, angry, and maybe a little bit radical.

1)      Put You On Game- Lupe Fiasco

This open-ended song details the woes of inner city poverty, especially focusing on violence, poverty, and drugs. Speaking from the perspective of the unnamed cause of the tragedies faced by those who live in city ghettoes, Lupe claims responsibility for myriad problems throughout but also outside of ghettoes. This unnamed phenomenon is old, ultrapowerful, and omnipresent, but unnamed. This song inspires thought, and perhaps conspiracy theories.

2)      Makeshift Patriot- Sage Francis

I consider this song the antidote to nationalism. Sage Francis here indicts America for a brand of nationalism he views as exclusionary, manufactured, and entrenched. Sage Francis weaves in clever allusions to a variety of objectionable societal phenomena—from Disney’s racist underpinnings to asbestos as a public health hazard-- and also provides excellent quotes: “wave those flags with pride, especially the white part,” and the serious, “don’t waive your rights with your flags.”

3)      Kenji-Fort Minor

Kenji is a narrative song detailing the experience of one Japanese-American in American internment camps. Kenji, revealed at the end of the song, as the father of one of the members of Fort Minor, accepts his country’s violations of his rights, but despite the absence of open defiance, deep resentment and frustration is evident.

4)      Fight for Peace- Joe Con

Fight for Peace, as the name suggests, is an ironically militant cry for pacifism. The song is unabashedly anti-war, lumping wars as categorically immoral and recalling 1960s Vietnam protests. Musically, the song mixes folk instrumentals with rap lyricism, allowing Joe Con to maximize his message while still producing a song with a catchy melody.

5)      What It’s Like- Everlast

This song allows the playlist to end on a personal level; rather than indicting government actions, this song focuses on empathy, especially in the context of poverty. Everlast argues that personal circumstances are highly volatile and thus that individuals should not be judged solely on the basis of their current status.