Breaking Down Hip-Hop’s Fascination With the Illuminati Posted by John Stewart on 07/16/10 | Filed under Top Stories, Features, The Final Word

'Killuminati, all through your body."

The idea that the 'Illuminati' is behind the hottest music acts of today is an idea that reaches way past our current generation of stars. It is documented that artists all the way back to the '50s have been part of this machine. I definitely don't buy into this hype. I feel that this floating idea/fear is something being utilized by artists to get fans talking in this waning industry. Let me fill you in on some things.

Number One: The Illuminati as hip hop sees it probably doesn't exist. Why? Well, why would it? Yes, of course, there are people with lots of money that make decisions that can effect the social relevance and economic fortune of today's top acts, but why do we equate that to the dark dealings of the Satan-worshipping 'Illuminati'? Look at any corporate structure in America. The people at the top have the money and they make decisions. Whether it be with a construction company, hospitals, schools, and in this case the music industry. In the same way that you get together with friends and decide where you want to eat dinner, these cats at the top of the corporate ladder often meet with their constituents and their peers to discuss how to allocate the millions of dollars they have at their fingertips. People in these positions are there, most likely, because of hard work, and not because they have blood pacts with Satan.

Number Two: Hip Hop is the only culture (that I know of) where success is paralleled with Satan and the 'Illuminati'. If you look at the beginnings of hip hop, shit if you look at the history of blues music, the root idea of most of the music you'll find is the idea of freeing yourself of struggle and making a better life for yourself. No one wants to be poor. People kill for money. People kill for notoriety. We all want 'the money, the money and cars, cars and the clothes, the hoes'. I suppose thats what I'm supposed to believe success is. Yet, once people work hard to attain these material items, the have-nots of the hip hop world now want to claim that those who succeed are 'Illuminati'. That is sooooo contradictory and backwards that I ask you to sulk on that. Why does hip hop want to crucify those who obtain the very things we all long for?



Number Three: The 'Illuminati' is a marketing firm. Insert visuals from Jay-Z's 'Run This Town' or 'On to the Next One'. People who succeed at anything are smart. Dumb people don't make moves. People like Jay-Z and other 'illuminated' artists see and hear of the current fascinations of the culture they influence and they would be retarded to not use those fascinations for monetary gain. Look at the culture. Look at the countless YouTube videos trying to expose these facts. Shit, look at this article. The visuals and ideas put in front of us make us talk and think and then talk some more. If you have for an instant bought into the idea of the 'Illuminati' influence on pop culture, then the higher ups have done their job. The heart of ANY marketing campaign is to get people interested in your product, and for this, record labels and artists have recently turned to the use of these images and this subject matter for the purpose of making you talk. Their marketing concepts and strategies have worked and they have worked well.

Of course, I could go on and on about May 1, 1776, 9/11 conspiracy theories, Tupac, Michael Jackson, the dollar bill, the layout of Washington DC, the Denver International Airport, Drake's t-shirt at the BET awards, Kanye's performance at the BET awards, and blah blah blah, but quite honestly, I don't care. Why do I not care? Well, I in no way buy the idea that you have no choice but to play the cards you are dealt in life. I fully believe that you yourself have the power to decide what you want in life and then the power to assume the means to make that happen. Yet, if the 'Illuminati' truly does exist, quite frankly, I'm gonna keep living, as will you, and no amount of wasted energy trying to prove links to the 'illuminated' ones, or other theories will ever change that.

I suggest that you live your life.

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