The old accusation that hip-hop is responsible for street-violence is one that pops up every few years. The frustrating thing about it, aside from it distracting from the predominant cause of such violence, namely poverty, is that the politicians who point the finger always overlook the fact that the main values which gangsta rap peddles to kids are the exact ones that keep their likes in power; the same values of capitalism, materialism and a look-out-for-number-one individualism that dominate our government’s policies. If the macho, materialistic drive of music by the likes of 50 Cent or Eminem, and the further reactionary elements of fascism, chauvinism, misogyny and homophobia that they contain, are more a reflection of such a culture than the cause of it, then David Blunkett may have something when he says it isn’t acceptable. He’s right, it’s not; we can instead try to promote better ideologies than the ones he, his ex-employers and gangsta rap promote, and the place to start may be Anticon.

The steady growth of underground hip-hop label Anticon carries with it the hope of a fight against the forces of reaction

Founded in 1998 in Oakland California, the steady growth of underground hip-hop label Anticon, run by and consisting primarily of eight collective artists, carries with it the hope of a fight against the forces of reaction. “Shove that gun up your ass”, was the firm if inelegant response from Anticon collaboration-group Themselves in 2003 to the gun-glamorising gansta rappers dominating the genre, “You’re as good as dead.” If enough people lend an ear, perhaps that latter lyric will be vindicated.

While, as founding member Sole (aka Tim Holland) has said, “there is no cohesive ideology between members”, the thing that gels the artists together is best summed up again by Sole: “If hip-hop is about the message, maybe, Anticon seem to be saying, the message needs to change.” Perhaps nothing sends a louder message against the materialist ethos of mainstream rap than the current release of free download album (or ‘approved theft’ as the industry terms it) theFREEhoudini. The album features several of the Anticon collective and is something of a gift given the current economic crisis. It’s also so fresh it’s able to discuss both the depression and Obama’s invasion of Afghanistan, thus displaying the as-yet-untapped potential for the internet to deliver music dealing with bang-up-to-date issues.

Politics are a key part of their music’s content and it’s Sole who’s the most directly political of the collective. Similarly antagonistic to gangsta rap (“I never took lessons from no hip-hop Nazis” he spits on 2003’s ‘Da Baddest Poet’), Sole has dedicated his lyrical content to attacking American values and politics. In 2005’s ‘Dumb This Down’ he attacks capitalism and corruption (“Under the false umbrella of hope, lives are sold and people are bought”) and riffs on Gramscian notions of state-control and the introjection of the law (“You’re not created in a womb, you’re created in a classroom – by rich people”), while in 2003’s anarchic ‘Selling Live Water’ he seems to advocate propaganda of the deed (“I say hang the queen from every streetlight on every Washington street”). If that sounds as aggressive as Snoop Dogg, it is, but at least it carries a progressive meaning.

theFREEhoudini displays the as-yet-untapped potential for the internet to deliver music dealing with bang-up-to-date issues.

And it’s not just the lyrics. “You can tell a lot about a man by the sound of his music” raps Themselves’ Doseone (aka Adam Drucker) on 2003’s ‘Good People Check’, and indeed sound and form have reflected content for much of the Anticon output in as far as attacking the norm. If the simple rhyming couplets that make up the lyrics of an Ice Cube song are as status-quo-affirming as his lyrics’ emphasis on making money, then Sole’s stubborn refusal to fit into the formal-straightjacket of rhyming reflects his socialistic lyrics. “The world don’t rhyme”, says Sole, “so why should I say anything other than exactly what I’m thinking? Why cut those ideas short because I had to rhyme cat and hat?”

It was Sole, along with founding member Pedestrian (James Brandon Best), who came up with the label’s name, and it’s one that’s spurred much debate. On one hand the name simply refers to the six-legged insect that is their symbol (ant-icon), but the loaded ambiguity in the interpretation of it as ‘anti-con’ has led to much conjecture. Certainly the ideologies the collective pedal are fairly anti-conservative, with socialist leanings that are certainly anti-consumerist, and they’re also somewhat anti-conventional and anti-conformity as far as style and substance goes, though the latter term has an adolescent-rebellion feel to it that isn’t in keeping with the more sophisticated tone of their content. Some have further insisted it means ‘anti-convict’ on account of their doing much to battle the glamorisation of criminal behaviour inherent in gangsta rap, though this also seems dubious, since some of Anticon’s members lean left enough in their politics that the state would no doubt deem them ‘criminal’ too.

Some have labeled Anticon as elitist or ‘nerd-rap’; as if it were nerdy or elitist to challenge the oppressive and reactionary values of modern industrial society and its culture.

For many, conjecture has turned to criticism, and it’s perhaps inevitable for most avant-garde movements to at first be deemed pretentious. No doubt helped along by the occasional comment that can be taken as patronising, such as Doseone describing Anticon as “a Wu-Tang Clan for grown ups”, some have labeled the movement as elitist or ‘nerd-rap’. As if it were nerdy or elitist to challenge the oppressive and reactionary values of modern industrial society and its culture, or to protest for animal rights and environmental awareness, or be involved in a slew of charity work that would shame Bob Geldof.

So let’s hope Anticon spreads to as many headphones as possible. Not because if it doesn’t kids will instead listen to gangsta rap and shoot someone, but because perhaps listening to it can help in some small way to bring about a progressive mindset in youth that can help eradicate the circumstances whereby gangsta rap and guns exist in the first place – a society that does not have the reactionary values for gangsta rap to reflect.

Essential Listening

The best Anticon albums from the last ten years. (click the title of the album)

The No Music Themselves’ second collaboration sings a swansong to gangsta rap and offers a revolutionary restructuring of the rap format in its place. Challenging but essential listening.

Selling Live Water Perhaps Sole’s most angry album to date, protesting the Iraq War with lines like “God wants McDonald’s plots on every desert shield”.

Alopecia Why?’s latest album, featuring such lyrical observations as “Only evil people live to see their own likeness in stone.”

Forcefield Kids The Passage deliver 21 furiously fast songs so speedy they mostly clock in under two minutes. As difficult to categorise as it is to catch.

Resurgam Alias’s last album goes entirely instrumental, creating atmospheric soundscapes to rival the more sensitive Aphex Twin.

Download theFREEhoudini from http://www.anticon.com/thefreehoudini