ICE CUBE'S "ARREST THE PRESIDENT": A NEW KIND OF MEDIA


     Campaigning for 2020  has started with a bang featuring the usual media  blitz, like TV interviews, Town Halls and print articles. What is notably missing are other kinds of campaign coverage, popular years ago before current media practices. Would you believe buttons, banners,  flags, quilts, hats, and aprons took center stage to promote a presidential candidate, particularly popular during  the Civil War period?
     Yet, campaign slogans were also important and represented media of a different kind. Consider  "Let Us Have Peace" ( Ulyssess S. Grant- 1868 ), " A Square Deal All Around" ( Theodore Roosevelt- 1912 ),  " Happy Days Are Here Again" ( Franklin Roosevelt- 1932 ), and " Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" ( Bill Clinton- 1992 ).
    The last two slogans were put to music which got voters' attention in an effective way. After all, William Saffire once said," Good slogans have rhyme, rhythm." 
     Which makes us think, what media category would we put songs / slogans in? Easy answer: Songs (audio ) would be turned into video via YOUTUBE, MTV, TV performances by musicians, etc.  Some would convey powerful commentary about a candidate, but the most memorable ones were those that produced protest messages. Remember  Bruce Springsteen's 2017 blue collar collaboration with Joe Grushecky, "That's What Makes Us Great." The lyrics are still relative: " Don't tell me a lie/ and sell it as a fact. /I've been down that road before/ and I ain't goin' back."
     Carol KIng's 2017 "One Small Voice" ( taken from her 1982 version ) is similarly relevant to Trump:  "The emperor's got no clothes on. No clothes? That can't be. He's the emperor."
     A more recent 2018 protest song by Ice Cube, "Arrest the President" ( the title perhaps referring to  "Lock Her Up" ) is a potent example that bears watching on YOUTUBE. Sight and sound don't exactly match: what you see and hear are not the same. It was  confusing, therefore, for this critic to listen to the lyrics, which were lengthy. For example, "When I drop the mic it hit the floor like Thor ( That's right ). ...Y'all know what it is, y'all know what it was (Yeah ). Y'all know what it shall be."
    Like Springsteen's and King's songs, we assume Cube's words are allegories although they can be hard to interpret for some people who are from a different era or culture. The video's visuals make sense more easily: a  montage of clips showing iconic Trump stills with Putin, police attacking young blacks, close-ups of Ice Cube. Of all the elements in the song, however, it is the music itself that is most mesmerizing, pulsating and relenting.
     To appreciate "Arrest the President," watch the film " Straight Outta Compton" ( 2015 ), a biopic featuring the ups and downs of Ice Cube and his musical group, N.W.A. In many ways, the movie is a rite of passage which we have seen before. It also gives the viewers an insight into rapping and its purposes, its mixture of violence and social protest and its misunderstanding of how the two elements work.
     Although not perfect, we like Ice Cube  and his group in the movie, including Dr. Dre and Eazy-E. They are not a bunch of hooligans . They are committed to their art.
     We need more campaign protest songs on YOUTUBE. "Arrest the President " is a good start and a new way of looking at media.

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