Vocalo Radio Same Old New School 15: AOC’s Congressional Clapback, Logic & Locksmith
Written by Vocalo Radio on July 28, 2020
Every Monday at 8:30 p.m., Kevin Coval and Idris Goodwin take over Vocalo’s IG Live to look at how hip-hop intersects with culture, politics, fashion and more. It’s a half-hour of hip-hop, laughs and wisdom from some of the best guys in the game. It’s Same Old New School.
For the first time in SONS history (all fifteen weeks of it), we have another thinker weighing in on this week’s topics! To help the guys break down the new album and subsequent retirement from rapper Logic is their ‘youth correspondent’ Zayd Patel. Also happening in this episode: the “Black Holocaust” video and verse from Locksmith and the powerful speech from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Watch the full episode above, or stream it below at the end of the article.
Zayd Breaks Down Logic
As mentioned at the top of the article, Mr. Zayd Patel, the show’s first youth correspondent, joined the show to break down some Hip Hop news. After dishing on his personal Top 5, he began his review of Logic’s latest, and last, album.
No Pressure dropped on July 24 after the surprise announcement from the rapper of over a decade that this would be his final release before retiring.
“I think it’s what we all liked in Everybody that happened in 2017. It’s the Logic that we remember from then. He kinda fell off with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind…it wasn’t the greatest album, it was more mainstream, derogatory towards women – which is one of rap’s most hated qualities – and he really switched [it] up with this album.”
Zayd particularly enjoyed the normal-ness that Logic chases on this album, as he wishes to be a normal dad, husband, person. It also debunked the argument that Logic changed with his rising fame.
As a fan of the rapper, Zayd said the retirement announcement was bittersweet. He’s personally proud of what the musician accomplished and happy for the future Logic is embarking on.
And if you loved Zayd’s segment as much as we did, don’t worry, we’ll all be seeing plenty more of him in upcoming episodes!
A New Video From Locksmith
The film, titled “Black Holocaust” is packed with powerful lyrics taking on performative liberalism and racial oppression. If you haven’t seen it yet, the very first bar is “OK, look up in the sky/ It’s a bird, it’s a symbol/ It’s another wealthy liberal throwing up a virtue signal.”
Coval noted that this is part of the reason why the guys love Hip Hop, and the entertainment of it, so much: there’s enough in this one-verse-song to crack open into an entire semester’s worth of material for a civics class.
“This is what it is, to me,” said Goodwin. “Yes it’s also a jam, it’s also party rocking, it’s also all those things…but to me this is the foundation. This is the core. This is an essay. Hip Hop is so influenced by its orators […] and that’s what he’s doing. Every line is a jewel.”
The entire verse is a call to remember the Trans-Atlantic Slave Route as what it is: a holocaust. It’s also a call to come back to the people on the streets to be their own reporters and storytellers since no one else is getting it right by them.
AOC’s Art of the Clapback
Last week United States Representative Ted Yoho exchanged some nasty words with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the days that followed, AOC delivered a speech condemning ‘violent language against women.’ Goodwin quoted this particularly memorable part of the gripping address:
“While I’m not deeply hurt or offended by little comments that are made, when I was reflecting on this honestly I thought I was just gonna pack it up and go home. It’s just another day. But then yesterday Representative Yoho decided to come on the floor of the House of Representatives and make excuses for his behavior. And I cannot let that go.”
To Goodwin, it wasn’t surprising to hear a response like this after he remembered AOC had Tupac on her own Top 5 list. And Coval noted that the very way she structured her response was the way an emcee might structure a song.
The entire speech, given by a woman of color from the Bronx, was close to ten minutes long and took on both the patriarchy and white privilege. No one was safe as she used her time to call out not only Representative Yoho, but also the president, the governor of Florida, street harassment and more.
And as our guys reflected on, the language she used to call out violent words towards women was also a callout for Hip Hop.
“Her connection between taking the train in the Bronx and what she heard on the steps of Congress represents a continuum between this disgusting maintenance of male privilege and patriarchy,” said Coval.
Goodwin expanded, saying that while Hip Hop and men of color have heard this “well-earned critique” in the past, part of what made this so powerful was the taking to task of congressmen and senators and people of power who are doing the same thing (but look down upon those of a certain class).
“No, fam. This is a borrowed way of being in the world,” he said.
Tune In On IG Live Every Monday At 8:30pm For More Episodes
Check out the Same Old New School Official Instagram where you can get bonus content, including extended conversations that can’t make it into the 30 minute Vocalo episodes!
Follow Kevin Coval on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Idris Goodwin on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Written By Shelby Kluver
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