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Can The Republican Party Use “Hip Hop” Marketing To Gain More Votes?

It is an innovative idea: the Republican National Committee’s new Chairman Michael S. Steele wants to launch an “off the hook” public relations campaign to get younger voters — African-American and Hispanic voters, in particular – -by framing the party’s principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

Can it work? After all: people and organizations can adapt. What will it look like adapting to “urban hip-hop settings?” Here’s one example of adaptation by one group to the hip-hop culture:

It could be argued that if the GOP tries and shed its current image which may not be an accurate one (an image of limiting seating in an increasingly smaller tent controlled by a lot of rich white guys who think the “bunny hop” these days means THIS instead of THIS).

But some could also argue that given the p.r. impact of GOP’s stance towards President Barack Obama’s outreach on crucial swing voters, Congressional Republican’s position on the stimulus, the n-o! position of many Republicans in California who were willing to risk state bankruptcy and remove their negotiation leader because he dared compromise on tax cuts, plus stories that some Republican governors are reportedly are seriously thinking of rejecting stimulus money for their decimated states on ideological principle (but don’t bet the house on it), that the song below could perhaps be a bit more more fitting, maybe even down to some of its lyrics:

  • hiphoprepublican
    First I would like to say what a great article but I think its missing some details. First what is “Hip- Hop Republicanism” or aka Urban conservatism it is a movement within both Democrat & Republican circles. All you have to do is take a look at Newarks Cory Booker or Adrian Fenty to get a glimps.

    This movement was born out of a rebellion against the 40-plus years of bad leftist polices and years of mismanaged urban areas under Democrats. In his article “The Blueprint for Urban Conservatism?” Brandon Brice a Harlem Republican who describes himself as being a “Hip- Hop Republican” that given the economic trends of Hip Hop culture, since it’s inception, this one movement has created more African-American entrepreneurs than any other industry in America, which speaks to one of the reason for adopting the name.

    As with any business plan there must be a mission, thus the mission of the Urban Conservatism movement is to highlight real issues; healthcare affordability, fiscal responsibility, solutions to better inner city schools and job creation. Let’s think about the trends of economic activity in urban America.

    In 2007 Def Jam Chairman Russell Simmons created a credit based debt card for urban families to input funds on a card, without creating debt or overdraft fees, as a means to educate on financial literacy. In 2007, Atlanta rapper T.I. started T.I construction as a means to help recently released ex-convicts find employment. Def Jam South Rapper David Banner teaches low income residents in the south about the importance of saving and investing. Jay-Z, when he’s not on tour, gives more to Make A Wish, Brooklyn Public Schools and the Marcy projects than any other rap celebrity in the New York City area. So now that we’ve discovered that Hip Hop has not been the source of fault for urban America’s downfall; we can now consider the idea that neither the government and Wall Street had a hand in this decay..

    In reality, urban conservatism speaks to all of the issue’s in everyday neighborhoods by putting a direct spin on how to counter education, by offering advanced literature of Mac Beth and The Canterbury Tales in neighborhoods schools that never have considered this broad array of topics. The Urban Conservatism movement influences ex-gang members to put down the guns and pick up a book, or a pen to learn how to start their own legal businesses. This movement takes experts out of the hospitals to speak on pro-active health in local community centers. The movement utilizes media contacts, not for personal gain, but to address the crisis of housing affordability, or the need for prison reform so that tax payers aren’t baring the burden via tax dollars. The movement recognizes that America is changing and it’s time for the Republican Party to adapt to new solutions.

    Imagine if Hip Hop icons Jay-Z or Puff Daddy, gave concert tours on economic empowerment or how to start businesses, what influence could this create towards 10,000 young minorities under the age of 18.What makes this concept of Urban Conservatism unique is that it pushes minorities to become self sufficient and responsible. The blue print for urban conservatism is for the party to take on new problems in the 21st Century. The movement recognizes that Republicans can no longer run on set guidelines to win elections, but must solely run on the issues.

    http://hiphoprepublicans.ning.com/
    http://blackrepublicans.ning.com/
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