Hip hop needs its haters. Haters represent hip hop’s relevance, and the conflicts generated by haters sustain audience interest. Haters come in many forms:
- Conservative critics (pick a Fox commentator)
- Rival rappers and their crews (shout out to Drake, Chris Brown, Meek Mill)
- Aspects of the individual self (Nicki vs. Roman, T.I. vs. T.I.P., Eminem vs. Slim Shady)
And yet, hip hop has another hater who consistently draws attention to the genre.
Hip hop’s original hater is the devil.
Before folks like G. Craig Lewis, Vigilant Citizen and others started claiming that rappers were agents of the devil, rappers described their interactions with the devil on their own terms. I’ve written elsewhere about why all the silly devil talk should be taken seriously and Rap and Religion breaks down how and why rappers use devil discourse. But for now, check out rap’s four most explicit songs about dealing with the devil–hip hop’s most vicious hater.
http://youtu.be/wlP1NKE6D6g
In each video, the devil is clearly an antagonist, but do you think rappers also worship the devil?
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