Don’t Call it a Comeback

A recent focus by rappers on the Reagan Era and its aftermath renews the anti-Reagan critique so historically prevalent in Hip Hop. Kendrick Lamar’s albumSection 80 is a meditation on the generation born in the 1980s, what he calls “children of Ronald Reagan.” Juelz Santana, too, plans an upcoming mixtape called The Ronald Reagan Era. Nearly eight years after his death, the president seems to finding his way more and more into rap lyrics. Wale has mentioned Reagan multiple times in songs. Das Racist’s Kool AD returns to Reagan (and wife Nancy) even more often. Brother Ali and Jake One are currently prepping the release of Mourning in America, the title of which is an ironic play on Reagan’s “Morning in America” campaign slogan.

Whether it is rappers who came of age during the Reagan administration (e.g., Jay-Z, Scarface, Kanye) or those born during Reagan’s 80s (e.g., Wale, Kendrick, Juelz Santana), the consensus is that the Reagan Era constituted a watershed in American life, especially in the hood. Republicans, especially those in the Tea Party, agree. They too regard the Reagan era as epochal, the so-called “Reagan Revolution.” Reagan “made American great again.” The late president is held up as a sort of prophet or saint. He’s like Pac, Biggie, Dilla and Pun rolled into one. He’s become even more venerable in death, and it’s not surprising to hear him invoked dozens of times at Republican debates. And with good reason: Reagan changed the country into what conservatives envisioned. He was so successful that every president since him (including Obama) has largely stuck to the script. It is almost impossible to overstate the late president’s influence on the Republican Party and the direction of the country over the past thirty years

We’ve been so overwhelmed by the story of Reagan’s unassailable greatness that the conservative narrative largely prevails. “The Reagan Era is when shit got great,” the story goes, and nearly the entire media establishment has adhered pretty faithfully to some version of that story. So why rappers’ beef with Reagan and his legacy? Why is the story of Reagan told by rappers so dramatically different than the one told by conservative Republicans and even Americans more widely?

Rap on Reagan:

— Jay-Z: “I blame Reagan for making me into a monster”

— Wale: “Shit ain’t been the same since Ronald Reagan” and, echoing Hov, “I just blame it on a man named Reagan.” Even the name of Wale’s label chief Rick Ross is due to Reagan, as is Freeway’s.

— Scarface: “Reagan never planned for us to rise.”

— Kanye: “How we stop the Black Panthers? / Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer.”

— The Coup’s Boots Riley links Reagan to the genocidal crimes of Saddam Hussein.

— Public Enemy’s Chuck D: “Reagan is bullshit.” In fact, Public Enemy’s birth was due directly to Reagan.

— Jay-Z, Yaasin Bey (Mos Def) and Immortal Technique find little difference between Reagan’s clique and Osama bin Laden. Before there was bin Laden there was Reagan, says Jay-Z.

— Pusha T: “The Ronald Reagan era was a tough time and a detrimental time to the black community,” especially due to the “Cocaine Ronald gave us.”

— Kendrick Lamar and Ab-Soul: “Blame Reagan”

— Brother Ali puts it bluntly: “Motherfuck Reagan.”

— The opening scenes of 1991’s Boyz n the Hood (Ice Cube’s acting debut) feature a Reagan/Bush reelection poster shot through ignominiously with bullet holes like a wild west “Wanted” poster. Peep how Tre’s friend stops to offer a personal “fuck you” to the president.