From Ye calling out George Bush after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to the breakthrough of having Barack Obama brush the imaginary dirt off his shoulder, hip-hop has long had a complicated relationship with the White House. On Tuesday (April 16), ESPN and Disney’s Andscape debuted the first trailer for Hip-Hop and The White House ahead of the documentary landing on Hulu on April 22. It’s the first feature out of the &360 series, which explores Black culture’s impact on society.
The Jesse Washington-directed doc will delve further into how hip-hop forced its way into becoming a fixture in politics with oppressive policies from the ’70s and ’80s having a direct impact on the genre. Hip-Hop and the White House will also examine rap’s relationship with the youth and their politics.
Jeezy is onboard as an executive producer, and the Atlanta icon appears in the trailer saluting political pioneers in rap such as N.W.A and Tupac Shakur. “2Pac, N.W.A and those guys connected me because it was in the language I speak,” the “My President” rapper said. “This is the story about how hip-hop got the power.”
Aside from Jeezy, Common, YG, KRS-One, Curren$y, Waka Flocka Flame, Roxanne Shante, Chika, Grandmaster Kaz, Bun B and U.S. Representative Maxine Waters also make contributions to the documentary.
“When Ye said, ‘George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.’ That was supremely important,” Common said in a salute to the bravery of the rapper formerly known as Kanye West putting the president on blast back in September 2005.
Water added regarding Ye’s bold statement to George Bush on national television following Hurricane Katrina: “Black people were seen on television begging for help and nobody came.”
Hip-Hop and the White House hits Hulu on April 22. Watch the trailer below.
