Trump, Hip-Hop, and the Dangerous Illusion of Connection: A Deeper Dive into the Misplaced Empathy
Trump, Hip-Hop, and the Dangerous Illusion of Connection: A Deeper Dive into the Misplaced Empathy There’s a peculiar admiration for Donald Trump within certain segments of the Black community, particularly within the hip-hop culture that has, for years, glorified wealth, power, and a certain ruthless approach to success. The brash former president, once a darling of rap lyrics and a fixture at the VIP tables of Black celebrities like Diddy and Russell Simmons, has found a strange kinship among some of the street-educated men in the hood who see in him a figure worthy of some misplaced admiration. But as we peel back the layers, this connection reveals itself to be nothing more than an illusion, a mirage in the desert of American capitalism where Trump thrives but has no true kinship with the people who idolize him. To understand this, we must first grasp why Trump became a figure of reverence in hip-hop culture. During the ’90s and early 2000s, as rap music gained mainstream prominenc...