When Questlove speaks on social issues, people will stop and listen. He has established himself as someone socially aware enough to make statements on the issues facing our society that make sense and spark intelligent debate. In light of the recent Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand jury decisions not to indict the cops who killed the two men, Questlove has called up his fellow hip hop to start addressing the issues with an intelligent, socially aware approach that will help spur the issues forward (via Billboard). He is alarmed at the lack of voices being heard from the hip-hop community who have not taken action beyond a 140 characters on social media expressing their outrage. In a message posted to his Instagram, Questlove expressed his desire for more activist songs coming from the hip hop community that have "real narratives," are "songs with spirit in them" and most important songs with solutions and questions.
We have seen some artists come out and take a stand against the current state of relations between the black community and the police. T.I., Alicia Keys, J Cole, G-Unit and Lauren Hill have all expressed their sentiments on the situation, but Questlove is looking for more then the current list of artists. He wants to see a scene-wide movement towards activism that presumably would not just end with the fallout of these two cases, but keep the discussion going on issues that effect the African American community for years to come.
In an interview with Cornell West in Interview Magazine, The Roots drummer thought there might have been some activism in 2003 during rhe Bush years after the start of the Iraq War. He admits that he "couldn't have been more wrong" and saw the music scene fall silent. He hopes that does not happen again.
Read the Instagram post below.