As the rhythm designed to bounce,
What counts is that the rhymes
Designed to fill your mind.
Now that you’ve realized the pride’s arrived,
We got to pump the stuff to make us tough

This was the mainstream rap of my youth. Sure, Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” never climbed as high on the charts as MC Hammer or Young MC, but most kids my age knew who Chuck D was and had a cursory understanding of what the band stood for.

Not so, for the last 10 or 15 years. It’s stupid to once again lament hip-hop’s slide toward materialismland … blah, blah, blah. Let’s instead look at a couple of really encouraging signs of rap’s return to political relevance – and I can’t imagine a better time.

Two mainstream rappers, Nas and Ludacris, have made a lot of noise lately for putting out politically charged music – Nas for his new album, “Untitled” that was originally supposed to be called “Nigger,” and Ludacris for his song “Obama Is Here,” in which he calls out Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson, John McCain and George W. Bush.

Barack Obama? Not too happy (though, I’m betting his staff bangs that song at least three times a day. And how sick is that beat?).

While Nas’ leftward bend is a bit easier to see coming, Luda’s is a little surprising. After all, this is the man who introduced himself to the world with the line “Cadillac grills, Cadillac mills …” There’s no doubt about “Obama Is Here” though:

Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant
Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?
if you said it then you meant it how you want it, have a gut!
…
McCain don’t belong in ANY chair unless he’s paralyzed
Yeah I said it, ’cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Ball up all of his speeches and I throw ‘em like candy wrap

Likewise, Nas has taken a turn toward politics both with his new album and a well-publicized campaign against Fox News that took him to “The Colbert Report” and got Bill O’Reilly screaming at him. Somebody get Bill a tampon.

It’s too bad in a way, because Nas’ album is really bad – the production seriously blows – so it’s a bit unfortunate that the first overtly political rap album to hit No. 1, well, probably ever, sucks. It is, however, a step in the right direction.

This is good to see though. If rap is truly the “black CNN” as Chuck D called it, then there needs to be a mainstream antidote to champagne in the club and $100,000 Bentleys. There will always be groups like Dead Prez, Oakland’s own Paris and Talib Kweli, but none of those guys hold the weight and have the audience Luda and Nas do. One day, maybe – hopefully – but until then, we need the mainstream to come around.

Good for these two for leading the charge.

MP3: