Listen to RIOT by the well-known group Reverend and the Makers: ‘Government claiming trust in us, while the people say don't fuck with us. Many men will end up shootin' stuff, because a needs a must when the times are tough’.  
 
Lead singer with Reverend and the Makers Jon McClure released a statement saying: “I watched the events unfolding on the news the other night the same as everyone else and was gutted to see the buildings on fire and people losing their businesses. Watching the news put me in mind of an old unfinished track that we had worked on. This is that track. It’s free, it’s not a money thing in any way but I feel it’s my job as an artist to talk about and react to what’s happening in my own way. It’s not going to be a political record in the slightest but to keep schtum when there’s rioting in the streets just ain’t me. Hope you enjoy.”

 

McClure uses his music to criticise both the government and society: hip-hop as a weapon. 

 

Music journalist Alex van der Hulst says, “In the first place, hip-hop is used to talk about your own situation. ‘Keep it real,’ is the rappers motto”. The first protest rap, Fight the Power (YouTube video),  tackling the situation in the black ghettos, was released in the late 1980s by the US hip-hop group Public Enemy. The music soon made its way to Europe.

 

Protest rap is also extremely popular among the younger generation in the Netherlands; most of the rappers don't mince their words. Rapper Appa is a Dutch-Moroccan and it's clear that he spent lots of time hanging about in the streets. He insults the authorities in no uncertain terms in the rap, "I don't give a fuck 'bout the government". He sings: "fuck the cops, I'll eat 'em raw". (YouTube video)

Youth under pressure

Despite the image of rap being for urban youth with an immigrant background, rap is also the medium of choice for young people from small towns and villages as well. Although some rap about positive emotions it's the negative words and emotions that make the evening news. Bennie Semil, co-founder of the Rotterdam Hip-Hop House, knows where the anger is coming from: “Society’s going to hell and there’s a lot of pressure on young people, especially young people in poor inner-city neighbourhoods. And they blame the government for it."

Urban youth in the United Kingdom and France have been rapping for far longer than Dutch youth. In RMI (unemployment benefit in France) MC Solaar, a major rap artist of Chadian-Senegalese parentage, talks about unemployment and hopelessness among migrants and young people in the banlieus (run-down suburban housing estates) surrounding many French cities. ‘Dans les bas-fonds on rêve des fonds du FMI, mais au fond on sait qu'les familles sont souvent proches du RMI.’ (YouTube video).
 
According to Mr Van der Hulst, the majority of rappers in Spain and Germany are native youth. “German protest rap had its beginnings in the former division of the country, a good example of that is Absolute Beginner. Spanish hip-hop is mainly about the problems faced by separatists groups, the Basques and Catalans. Barcelona rappers At Versatis criticise capitalism and cultural domination by the Castilian majority (YouTube video). 
 

Although the hip-hop scene has made it over to eastern Europe, protest rap really doesn't feature. The genre is still in its infancy in eastern Europe and still very American. It's very reminiscent of late 1980s black rap; the clothes, the gold jewellery, the dance style are all the same but the skin colour is different (YouTube video) 

Going too far
Occasionally, a rapper goes too far: Mo$heb threatened to kill Dutch politician Geert Wilders in several of his raps (YouTube video). In 2009, the Dutch-Moroccan was arrested, charged and convicted and sentenced to 80 hours of community service.

The effectiveness of a rap is chiefly dependent on the way it is delivered. In 2006, the Dutch government decided to employ the same weapon and then Justice Minister Piet-Hein Donner rapped against drug use. The number generated mixed reviews. Bennie Semil says, “A good initiative but considered absolutely ridiculous by people in the rap scene." Keep it real!