We’re only two months into 2017 and we can already tell that it's going to be a really shitty year. Brexit is going to happen, the far right might take power in France, and senseless acts of racism and violence have spread into Canada. Need I mention that orange-haired, toupee-wearing orangutan with the brain the size of the walnut is the president of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world?
So there are plenty of reasons to protest. In the age of online music, such protests need a dope-ass playlist. Why? Because if a 20-minute car ride is enough of an excuse for a playlist, then fuck it, why not have one for when you’re marching on Robson Square and protesting the means of production and the bourgeoisie — I mean, Trump, racism and the one per cent?
So here are the seven best songs to listen to when you want to be angry at politicians and run away from riot police in 2017.
7. “FDT (Fuck Donald Trump)” — YG ft. Nipsey Hussle/Macklemore and G-Eazy
YG is one of Compton’s finest. If there’s one thing you need to know about the veteran rapper, it’s that he doesn’t give a flying fuck about anything. This anti-POTUS anthem has two versions — an original featuring Crenshaw rapper Nipsey Hussle and a remix with both Macklemore and G-Eazy. The US Secret Service actually tried to block the release of the song. After all, there’s no hiding the message — it’s just fuck Donald Trump.
6. “White Riot” — The Clash
The Clash are without at doubt one of the most famous rebel bands of all time. The London rockers have quite the discography to choose from when it comes to protest anthems. Anything from classics like “I Fought The Law” and “Clampdown,” to deep cuts like “Career Opportunities” are all more than perfect for a list like this. But it's “White Riot,” the band's first single, that takes the cake. The short but fast-paced song doesn't hold back on encouraging a good old riot against the economic divisions that plagued England in the late 1970s.
5. “Nazi Punks Fuck Off!”— The Dead Kennedys
When you think Dead Kennedys, usually you’ll think of “Holiday in Cambodia” or “California Uber Alles.” However, this often overlooked one-minute piece of pure punk thrash was rebranded by lead singer Jello Barfia as “Nazi Trumps Fuck Off.” I won’t comment on that whole thing, but I will tell you that this song definitely gets your blood boiling.
4. “Express Yourself” — N.W.A
When it comes to N.W.A., this song is often overlooked, with most gravitating to “Fuck Tha Police” or “Straight Outta Compton.” But when considering “Express Yourself,” you need to look past the lighthearted Charles Wright sample and look at the lyrical content. Dre opens the song about his self-expression leading to his censorship and incarceration — something all too present in today’s world.
3. “We the People” — A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest’s final album We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service was released three days after Trump became president, but it sounds like the whole album was made as a dark and encompassing soundtrack to that whole week. It acts almost like a rally cry for people to resist all the bullshit going on in the world and it came from the emcees who are gonna know one or two things about resisting.
2. “Anarchy in the U.K.” — The Sex Pistols
“Anarchy in the U.K.” was the song that took punk music and forced it onto everyone’s dinner table. It's hard to think that a song with lyrics like these came out in 1976 and it certainly caught much of England off guard. The Sex Pistols used this song to launch a musical career that opposed all of British conservatism and conformity, making it one of the most legendary rebellion anthems of all time.
Honourable Mentions:
“Revolution” — The Beatles
“The Message” — Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (ft. Melle Mel and Duke Boote)
“Rise Above” — Black Flag
“Testify” — Rage Against the Machine
1. “Fight the Power” — Public Enemy
“Our freedom of speech is freedom or death/We've got to fight the powers that be.” These lyrics opened Spike Lee’s 1989 movie, Do the Right Thing. The song quickly spread across the world, becoming the protest anthem for different youth movements everywhere from Brooklyn to Serbia. Even 28 years after its release, Public Enemy’s hit remains to be the most recognizable protest anthem across the globe and it's likely that it will stay like that for awhile.
There you have it — seven songs to listen to for all the days you feel discouraged and angry this year, which by the looks of it so far, will be as often as the rain in October.
Happy 2017.