Behind the lyrics: Donald Trump
March 1, 2017
While some artists draw inspiration from personal love stories or hardships, others draw it from the political climate.
After President Donald Trump announced his run for office and his campaign platform, music artists — predominantly hip hop — took to the studios to pen in their thoughts on the current commander-in-chief.
By: YG and Nipsey Hussle
The rap duo team up for a track made to bash Trump and everything that he stands for. With lyrics like “have a rally out in L.A., we gon’ f— it up,” and “you vote Trump, then you probably on dope,” paired with an album cover with a red X over Donald Trump’s face, opinions are made very clear and very public. Nipsey Hussle, a Los Angeles native, pulls in a unique point of view as he grew up around the ethnic groups that Trump targeted throughout his campaign. YG claims that the two brought their thoughts to the studio because they wanted to say something that no one else would.
By: YG, G-Eazy, Macklemore
YG called G-Eazy and Macklemore for work on part two of “FDT.” With the same message as the first part, more strong opinions are rapped: “A Trump rally sounds like Hitler in Berlin,” “What if we ban all the white dudes? Because a couple have run up in trench coats and rifles And killed in the name of Jesus Christ at the high school,” and mocking Trump’s statements to defend himself “just sayin’ what’s real, I don’t give a f— who I offend.”
By: Nicki Minaj
The remix of Rae Sremmurd, Gucci Mane and Mike WiLL Made-It titled “Black Beatles” mentions the immigration and travel policies that Trump is putting in place. Lyrics like “Island girl, Donald Trump want me to go home” and “now I’m prayin’ all my foreigns don’t get deported,” attribute to Minaj’s already established history of opposing Trump. The Trinidad and Tobago native fears for her minority and chose to drop her song on Nov. 15, after the 2016 election.
By: Run The Jewels
Killer Mike, a well-documented, politically unhappy rapper, takes stabs at the president and government as a whole. “Went to war with the devil and a shaytan. He wore a bad toupee and a spray tan” along with lyrics accusing the government of being taken over by corporations are sprinkled throughout the song released on Oct. 24. Killer Mike was an avid supporter of Bernie Sanders and endorsed Hillary Clinton in her run for office, not keeping his thoughts on Trump to himself.