| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Rishika Dugyala, Jesse Naranjo and Teresa Wiltz
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POLITICO illustration/Getty Images | What up, Recast family! Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie goes on the attack against fellow presidential hopeful Sen. Tim Scott, President Biden establishes a national monument after Emmett Till and his mother and the DOJ sues Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after he erects a floating barrier to deter migrant crossings. Today, we kick things off with a first-look shared only in The Recast. First-term Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) says she’s a child of hip-hop. Now she’s set to drop a resolution that remixes how we think about the arc of the genre's influence on American culture and politics. Kamlager-Dove says her resolution, which she is unveiling on Wednesday, but allowed The Recast an exclusive review of a draft of the bill, goes far beyond recognizing Aug. 11 as the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. “Hip-hop,” the bill declares, “has evolved as a platform to advocate for social, political, and economic needs of all people, including environmental justice, education, healthcare, and voting rights.” And as such, Kamlager-Dove is hoping that the resolution will underscore the significance of Black American contributions to one of America’s greatest exports. She hopes the resolution can be another tool to push back on what she says is a Republican effort to double down on culture wars — that specifically targets Black history — ahead of next year's elections. Framing the bill in that way, however, may make it hard to win much-needed GOP support. Before Kamlager-Dove was sworn in, her predecessor, former Rep. Karen Bass — now the mayor of Los Angeles — gave her some advice: pursue issues where she could work in bipartisan fashion. But Kamlager-Dove thinks the bill will inspire some Republicans to reach across the aisle. “I'm sure a lot of these Republicans have some rap songs on their Spotify playlists,” she tells The Recast.
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Her resolution, should it pass, will also push for members of Congress to organize and plan activities to honor hip-hop’s contributions as well as encourage local governments to strengthen relationships with hip-hop entrepreneurs in their communities.
A larger event aiming to elevate and drum up support for the resolution is planned for September — coinciding with the annual Congressional Black Caucus conference — and the anniversary of the murder of West Coast legend Tupac Shakur. We chop it up about her own hip-hop influences, why she was worried House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a known Biggie enthusiast, would bigfoot her idea — and how her resolution differs from the bipartisan one passed in the Senate. ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: Hip-hop is celebrating a milestone next month and your resolution aims to highlight how the culture and the genre impacted not just America, but the globe. Why is it important for you to introduce your resolution now? KAMLAGER-DOVE: I'm a fan of hip-hop. I'm a child of hip-hop. I grew up in New York when hip-hop was just finding itself and had just started. When I was a little person going to elementary school, Run DMC was out, it was the Beastie Boys, Roxanne Shanté, Big Daddy Kane. Back then, many folks sort of saw hip-hop as a fad, as some subgenre of music that wouldn't last, mostly because these rappers seemed so “unsophisticated” and “unintelligent” and yet they were able to marry rhyme with color and rhythm and fashion, and this unapologetic truth that spoke to a population that felt unseen. I mean, fast forward to the last presidential election, Cardi B was a surrogate for the candidate who is now the president of the United States. When [Barack] Obama was president, he put out playlists and talked about some of his favorite rappers. It's part of the zeitgeist of this country. I mean, good lord, folks like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who has demonized our music until they appropriate it, because it's convenient for them. And this lady puts out a fucking video where she’s basically sitting on a throne that looks like Big Daddy Kane.
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Twitter | So I wanted to have a resolution to celebrate this 50-year journey. THE RECAST: I know your predecessor, current mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, gave you some advice about picking issues that can help you work across the aisle. Do you feel like having a resolution on hip-hop is going to kind of aid you in that effort? KAMLAGER-DOVE: Maybe not publicly, but privately, I'm sure a lot of these Republicans have some rap songs on their Spotify playlists. I will say, if there're some courageous Republicans out there, they need to sign their name on the resolution. I will say that Republicans are doubling down with these culture wars, baiting Black people, with the discussion of DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] — tomorrow we have the 75th anniversary of desegregation in the military. Meanwhile, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama refuses to support the nomination of the Joint Chiefs of Staff nominee Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a brother, under the guise of Tuberville being anti-abortion. But I think it's really about denying Black people. But I am encouraged by ongoing conversations with the Foreign Affairs Chair Mike McCaul (R-Texas) and he talks about music as a soft power, as a diplomatic power. Now I don't know if he's got any rap on his playlists. But I share that because I think music and dance can be incredibly powerful bridges that are used to connect people.
|  | THE RECAST: Last week Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, heralded the passage of a similar hip-hop resolution, along with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) which calls for the establishment of Aug. 11 as “Hip Hop Celebration Day” and November as Hip Hop History Month. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) is introducing similar legislation in the House. How is your resolution different? KAMLAGER-DOVE: I talked to Rep. Bowman about it and I joked about not wanting any East Coast-West Coast beef on this. We’re hoping to do more on this during the Congressional Black Caucus in September. Theirs is to recognize hip-hop in general. Mine is specifically to highlight the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. I’m really excited that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is also supportive of it. At one point we thought that he would want to do this one because you know him being from Brooklyn, the genesis of it and I told my staff: “If he yanks it from me, it’s OK because he’ll be the speaker [one day].” But my resolution is about the arc of the movement and the role hip-hop has played through generations to empower Black politics and Black people. It’s also an opportunity to push back on this new Republican narrative about erasing Black history — both in the classroom and through political agenda. Part of Black history is hip-hop and part of the resistance of the Black political movement is also embedded in hip-hop. The resolution kind of celebrates all of this and is an opportunity to talk about all of those things as well. |  | THE RECAST: That’s interesting. Now I'm wondering if you're going to get bipartisan support on this if planning to weave the resolution through that lens. I am wondering if you can talk a bit about the influence of hip-hop on Congress. I mean I don’t think that there would be such a thing as a Congressional Sneaker Caucus on the Hill if it weren’t for hip-hop, launched by Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.). KAMLAGER-DOVE: It goes to show how transcendent hip-hop has become, right? So you're absolutely correct. I was thinking about that right before you asked it. I was like, Yeah, that's true. Everyone was rocking some new Air Force 1s. THE RECAST: So what are your top-5 hip-hop tracks on your playlist? KAMLAGER-DOVE: Well there’s Roddy Ricch with his “Aston Martin Truck.” I'm kind of listening to all things. Burna Boy. I just went to this Jay-Z event at the Brooklyn Library, so I’m like “Big Pimpin’” — so, yes! And “The Story of O.J.” There’s J. Cole's “Pride is the Devil” And then, I guess if you want to go really old, Roxanne Shanté with her “Roxanne’s Revenge.”
| | | EMMETT TILL MEMORIALIZED
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President Joe Biden signs a proclamation to establish the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument Tuesday at the White House. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo | President Joe Biden today officially designated three sites across Mississippi and Illinois honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, to commemorate how the boy’s murder served as a catalyst for the civil rights movement. Ahead of the signing of the proclamation, which comes on what would have been Till’s 82nd birthday, Biden said the 1955 murder of Till, who was 14 years old at the time, “is hard to fathom.” “The country and the world saw… not just heard, the story of Emmett Till and his mother as a story of a family’s promise and loss in the nation's reckoning with hate, violence, racism, overwhelming abuse of power and brutality,” Biden said. The president also referenced the anti-lynching bill named after Till that makes lynching a federal crime, which he signed into law last year. And he took the opportunity to rail against some Republicans who championed what some see as a whitewashing of difficult parts of American history. “Darkness and denialism can hide much; they erase nothing,” Biden said. “Telling the truth and the full history of our nation is important.” In August 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, both white, abducted, tortured and mutilated Till, who was visiting relatives near Money, Miss. His alleged indiscretion was for making sexual advances toward a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, Roy’s wife. Both men were acquitted by an all-white jury. In a later interview with Look magazine, for which they were paid $4,000, the men talked openly about how they killed the teen. Years later Carolyn Bryant admitted to a historian that she fabricated the interaction with Till. (Her family later denied that she’d said that.) She died earlier this year at age 88.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO Just Out Today — POLITICO is out with this handy interactive tracker to see so far who is on, who is out and who is within striking distance of making the GOP debate on Aug. 23. Check it out here! Christie Rips Scott — Ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose presidential campaign is centered on thwarting Donald Trump’s path to a third-straight GOP nomination, is now jabbing at Sen. Tim Scott. Why? Because of the South Carolinian’s refusal to blame Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. More from POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky and Kelly Garrity. DeSantis Doubles Down — Fellow 2024 GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies in the state “are digging in and defending the state’s new standards for teaching Black history,” writes POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury. Texas Showdown — The DOJ is suing Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for the state’s use of a floating barrier in waters along the southern border, in what the state says is a deterrent for migrants crossing into the U.S. The DOJ says it's a public safety threat, POLITICO’s Kierra Frazier and Josh Gerstein report.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS She is a short and former Republican congresswoman from Florida. He is stocky with a slight beard and her transgender son, who is also a trans activist. A must-read from WaPo on how they navigate the hostilities toward trans people in today’s politics. Check out this an interesting read from political consultant Chuck Rocha — an alumnus of The Recast Power List — who lights into an Food and Drug Administration proposal that he says will criminalize habits of Black Americans, particularly Black men. Two-time Pulitzer-winning novelist Colson Whitehead talks about his newest novel, “Crook Manifesto.” Travis Scott, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd join forces in “K-Pop.”(Pharrell makes a cameo.) Here’s a blast from the past: The late, great Nina Simone performing her classic, blistering “Mississippi Goddam '' live at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966. Burna Boy hopped on the remix to Byron Messia’s dancehall bop “Talibans,” complete with some new visuals.
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| In “Special Ops: Lioness,” Zoe Saldaña plays the head of a secret government program that embeds women in terrorist groups in order to take them out. It’s streaming now on Paramount+. TikTok of the Day: Hip-hop Battles | 
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