I’ve been re-listening to Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” a good amount lately. It goes hard!
One track that’s garnered a lot of attention in recent weeks is titled “Savior” and begins with this admonition about following performers.
Here’s the excerpt:
Kendrick made you think about it, but he is not your savior
Cole made you feel empowered, but he is not your savior
Future said, “Get a money counter,” but he is not your savior
‘Bron made you give his flowers, but he is not your savior
He is not your savior
The idea is that Kendrick and his entertainer contemporaries might inspire us but can’t save us. And taking it literally, I agree. It’s unhealthy to place performers on that kind of pedestal. But the song made me think back to overtly political performers with true galvanizing power and wonder whether overt activist-artists, like Nina Simone, and Bob Marley, and the group Rage Against the Machine, are even possible today.
With civil rights in the U.S. under attack, it seems worth asking where all the true activist-artists have gone.
Art, in the right hands, can liberate. Oppressive attacks meant to obscure it — whether by ISIS bombers attacking historical statues in Iraq, or Russian officials jailing a feminist punk group, or Republican officials wanting to ban and burn books — is a testament to this power. With civil rights in the U.S. under attack, it seems worth asking where all the true activist-artists have gone. It feels like our social and commercial infrastructure aren’t set up to allow that kind of power.
By social infrastructure, I mean the platforms we use to exchange information — social media, usually — are rife with falsehoods and nefarious actors trying to manipulate us. The widespread dispute over truth isn’t just an issue for media outlets, but for anyone who wants to make a cogent point online without being dragged or defamed. And that includes artists. The rise of the activist-artist is kneecapped by a constant deluge of nonsense online.









