Credit: Michael Vadon
Back in November 2016 I started writing a book on the historical developments of protest music tentatively titled 500 Songs of Protests. Writing about music’s link to a variety of protest movements while the US election was winding down and then witnessing the aftermath of the results, made for an interesting climate to write about this subject.
Within this backdrop there has been an increase in the proliferation of protest songs. For example, you have the formation of Prophets of Rage, the ultimate super group consisting of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord, Cypress Hill’s B Real and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford. They went on their “Make America Rage Again” tour, and they played a protest concert within blocks of the Republican National Convention where Donald Trump was accepting the party’s nomination.
It wasn’t just the old guard who were raging with righteous indignation. A number of artists, especially within the hip hop community were voicing their discontent. One of the main catalyst in this musical protest revival was Donald Trump. It was quite easy to find songs to chose from for this list of ant-Trump tunes. The challenge was limiting it to only 10. For instance, Trump winning the Republican nomination lead to the project 50 Songs in 30 Days, where every day different artists contributed their anti-Trump protest song during the 30 days leading up to the election. This project was musically diverse including contributions from indie rockers, folk singers, punks and rappers.
Since Trump has been elected there continues to be no shortage of protest tunes. A number of the tunes that made the Top 50 Protest Tunes of 2017 were Trump inspired. Also anti-Trump songs such as Common’s Letter To The Free, Ryan Harvey’s Old Man Trump and Fiona’s Apples Little Hands were all featured as a Daily Dose of Protest.
Also check out the list of 10 Protest Songs About US Presidents.
Fergus Laing – Richard Thompson
Even though the song was officially released in 2015 (appears on the deluxe version of the album Still), it was performed as early as 2014, which was prior to him officially announcing his candidacy for the Republican leadership. In this satirical tune, British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson uses the pseudonym “Fergus Laing” to focus on Trump’s shady business practices and lack of regard for Scottish heritage (which connects to the golf course that he owns in Scotland).
The video posted here is audio of a live performance where Thompson makes biting introductory comments and adds a few additional lyrics. He also jokes that he can’t mention Trump’s name out of fear he might get his kneecaps removed.
FDT – YG and Nipsey Hussle
Quite often the most effective protest tunes are the least subtle. When the world is totally screwed up, the only appropriate response is to declare a defiant FU. That is the case with “FDT”. The “DT” is short for Donald Trump and the “F” I think you can figure out. This was recorded even before Trump was announced as winning the Republican leadership. It was in response to his many ethnic slurs. For example, addressing Trump’s hateful statements about Mexicans, the song refers to fact that parts of the country were once part of Mexico and many Latinos have a longer American lineage than the white nationalists that want to supposedly take the country back. Those that want to take America back lose sight of the facts that America is a land of immigrants, and it wasn’t originally their country to begin with. The tune is also a declaration of unity between black and brown and it is a rallying of the troops to put any differences aside to stand up against a common enemy.
After the shocking results, many people’s response was likewise “FDT”. As long as Trump is President, this will continue to be a default anthem.
YG also recorded “FDT Part 2” featuring G-Easy and Macklemore.
Viva Presidente Trump – Brujeria
Brujeria is a Mexican-American extreme metal band who has been kicking around since 1989. Considering some of Trump’s anti-Mexican statements it shouldn’t be a surprised that the band would make Trump the target of their musical aggression. The song opens with Trump’s comments about Mexican’s being read in English and then the song morphs into a blistering assault sung in Spanish. Translated into English the lyrics include:
“He hates wetbacks, he hates Mexicans
If Trump wins he’ll deport everyone
He hates my race, he loves his money
That crazy güero is going to start a war”
Part of the band’s gimmick is that they portray themselves as violent drug lords who wear balaclavas and carry machetes. Within the context of the roles they are playing, the lead singer mentions that he is voting for Trump because “he wants war, and so do I”. Using dark twisted humor the song makes it clear that unless you are a racist warmonger who wants to see the downfall of America, why would you vote for Trump?
Make America Great Again – Pussy Riot
Back in 2012 three members of the Russian feminist collective, Pussy Riot were imprisoned for their performance of the song “Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away”. This garnered international attention and activist organizations such as Amnesty International got involved. With the international outrage and with Sochi, Russia hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics, they were granted Amnesty.
After being free, they continued the good fight. In 2016 they decided to record a couple of songs in English. One of those songs released during the US elections was “Make America Great Again” which took sharp aim at Donald Trump. Compared to their past tunes, this recording has a catchy pop beat that you could groove to. But the accessibility didn’t soften the message, the lyrics clearly attacked Trump’s anti-immigration and anti-woman views.
When you consider allegations of Trump’s Russian ties and comments he made praising Russian President Vladimir Putin, you could understand why Pussy Riot would be concerned. The regime that imprisoned them as enemies of the Church and State, could now possibly have the backing of the world’s biggest superpower.
The song raises legitimate concerns about Trump’s attacks on freedom of speech and beliefs. For a politically confrontational group like Pussy Riot that starts to mirror the tyranny they faced in Russia.
Fat Fingers – clipping.
This is one of the notable highlights of 50 Songs in 30 Days. The industrial hip hop collective features the talents of Daveed Diggs who won a Tony Award for his performance in the acclaimed musical Hamilton. Diggs went from portraying the third president of the USA, Thomas Jefferson, to critiquing a presidential candidate.
“Fat Fingers” takes the form of a hip hop diss track. Diggs starts off by mockingly calling out to “Donald” and then he decides that the best way to take down a school yard bully is by giving him a taste of his own medicine. The venomous attack includes such lines as “too much twitter talk to be trusted with the button”, “product of racists with weak poker faces”, “and he wanna make America great again, like when woman couldn’t vote and it was legal to own human as slaves”.
Diggs clearly points out the folly of voting for Trump presidency and how it would move America backwards in terms of race relations and woman’s rights. Since battle raps and diss tracks generally have short shelf lives and beefs generally get settled, it was Diggs hope that after the election his protest would no longer be relevant. But just in case the unlikely did happen (which it did), the tune both sampled the Canadian and New Zealand national anthems playfully referring to the fact that a Trump presidency could result to millions of citizens fleeing to these countries.
Bernie Got Berned – Chuck D and the Impossebulls
Along with Prophets of Rage, Chuck D made another contribution to the US election season. Joined by a group of MCs billed as the Impossebulls he recorded a musical expose entitled “Bernie Got Berned”, which was uploaded to YouTube on November 7th, 2016, the eve of the US elections. The tune deals with the fact that they felt that Bernie got screwed out of the Democratic nomination.
This song is both anti-Trump and anti-Hillary Clinton. It criticizes the two-party system and it points out how the public is left with a choice of “two flavors of shit” and how one candidate is a “politician and the other is an asshole”. It also explains the disillusionment of those in the Bernie or Bust camp. Bernie Sanders succeeded in getting millennials excited about the prospect of voting and he gave individuals with left leaning ideologies hope that a more progressive platform might get pushed within the government. When those hopes were squashed and there was evidence to suggest the system was rigged, that left millions of people disillusioned and frustrated.
Wednesday Morning – Macklemore
On Tuesday, November 8th, 2016, Donald Trump was elected as the next president of the USA. The morning after left several distraught people trying to process the unexpected turn of events. “Wednesday Morning” is Macklemore’s attempt to work through his emotions. He makes reference to his daughter and how the news of a bigoted and misogynist person being elected president will affect the world that she has to grow up in.
Even though there is a certain air of sadness, there is also a hopeful resolve that his country can survive and recover from whatever the next 4 years bring. Macklemore is not going to move to Canada and he won’t let Trump raise his daughter. Instead of walls he’ll help build bridges, and hopefully in the end, love will trump hate.
We The People – A Tribe Called Quest
“We The People” from A Tribe Called Quest is from their album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. The album was released on November 11th, 2016, three days after Trump got elected. Appropriately “We The People” was the first single off the album. The song tackles the racist and homophobic attitudes expressed by Trump and his supporters. Even though it doesn’t mention Trump directly by name, during a February 12, 2017 performance at the 59th Grammy Award, Busta Rhymes who joined them on stage, addressed the tune to “agent orange” in one of the more politically charge moments in Grammy history.
The song also includes the lyric “Gentrify here, now it’s not a shit hole”, which now takes on greater resonance in light of Trump referring to immigrants from a number of prominently black countries as coming from shit hole countries. He also moan that the US don’t have more immigrants coming from predominantly white countries like Norway. Just like gentrification ignores the issues of systemic poverty and tries to whitewash black communities, Trump is trying to do something similar with America.
Trump Talkin’ Nukes – Tim Heidecker
In 2017, Tim Heidecker released an entire album of anti-Trump tunes, entitled Too Dumb for Suicide: Tim Heidecker’s Trump Songs (which was one of the top 25 protest albums of 2017). The album is filled with satirical and dark humor, but “Trump Talkin’ Nukes” is more serious and mournful in tone.
Not My President – Oshun
“Not My President” is a 2017 hard-hitting tune from the female indie hip hop duo Oshun. They pull no punches with lines such as “fuck yo’ wall!” and “fuck yo klan!”. The song also holds out a hopeful defiance with “love trumps hate” before concluding with a chaotic jazzy instrumental breakdown. The closing instrumentation at the end also makes a profound statement, it is symbolic of the beauty that is trying to pop up in the midst of constant chaos.