Top 5 Raps Dissing Republicans

Rappers + Republicans don't mix - and with the GOP convention going down this week in Tampa, Rap Genius is here to present the Top 5 Republican targets of rappers' ire

5. Mitt Romney

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“These ni*gas trying to get in our seat, a bunch of Mitt Romneys

But I stand at the podium with the fifth by me

Screaming out ‘Yes we can, open yo sh*t Papi’”

-Slaughterhouse “Back the F*ck Up” Lyrics

GOP Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Romney hasn’t been at the top of the Republican Party for too long, but he’s already catching flak from rappers like Joell Ortiz, one pissed-off quarter of the supergroup Slaughterhouse. It was a big deal in the rap world when Obama became the first African-American President, and Joell Ortiz & Co. aren’t eager to hand the keys to the White House back to a caucasian, let alone a Dad jeans-wearing, Brooks Brothers-shopping, Country Club-going Whitey McWhiterson like Mitt Romney.

4. George HW Bush

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"Tolerance is getting thinner

'Cause Iraq never called me 'n**ger'...

Wise up to the mentacide of the devil

Why must black folks be made to die?...

So why'd you stick him like that?

'Cause everybody want to get the black

But we'll see who stop the black guerilla

P. Dog, the Bush killa"

- Paris “Bush Killa” Lyrics

The first President Bush had a pedigree that seemed tailor-made for hip-hop hatred. He was a copper and a snitch (head of the CIA, though only for about a year), won a second term due to the notoriously racist "Willie Horton" ads, had a VP who attacked pop culture (Candice Bergen, stand up!) -- and, oh yeah, started a teeny-tiny little war or two. All of this did not exactly endear him to rappers. The Bay Area's Paris got in trouble for his 1992 track "Bush Killa," which was an assassination fantasy that didn't mince words.

3. George W Bush

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"George Bush guns, and you know I want that oil

Colin Powell chain on my wrist, and it's spoiled"

- Lil B “B*tch I’m Bill Clinton” Lyrics

Truly his father's son, G.W. Bush was long in the sights of rappers as well. Everything from Katrina (Lil Wayne's "Georgia...Bush") to not caring about black people (Chip's immortal line, "On my George W. Bush -- I don't f*ck with you ni*gas") to the Iraq War to his links with al-Queda -- the Prez wasn't a popular dude. But leave it to hip-hop's ultimate contrarian, Lil B, to turn Bush's power mongering into a positive. On his song "B*tch I'm Bill Clinton" ("Swag Bill Clinton, car Bill Clinton, house Bill Clinton, I love women"), rap's clown prince brags about having "George Bush guns."

2. Rudy Giuliani

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"'Hey, times is hard, man'

I know, don't remind me

If I catch another case, I'mma kill Giuliani"

- 50 Cent “Corner Bodega” Lyrics

New York rappers in the 90's loved to hate the man who took quality of life policing too far. Harlem's Big L was not a fan, threatening the mayor's life on a bunch of songs, including this epic freestyle (“Hear me and take more notes than Connie Chung / My clan plans to get Giuliani hung”). But Big L was far from the only NYC rapper to have a problem with Rudy. A pre-fame 50 Cent mirrored the frustrations of the time on his song "Corner Bodega."

1. Ronald Reagan

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"Blame Reagan for making me into a monster

Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra

I ran contraband that they sponsored

Before this rhyming stuff, we was in concert

- Jay-Z “Blue Magic” Lyrics

Where to start? The Grand Old Party's now-deified leader is something like a hip-hop Antichrist -- for the full story, see our blog post on the topic. His controversial role in the spreading of the crack cocaine trade is his main offense to rappers. Even Jay-Z, now a hip-hop elder statesman who is worth more than many of the business leaders the Republicans bend over backwards to help, has not been shy regarding his feelings about RR.

There are a whole world of other priceless moments. Who could ever forget Tupac telling the Vice President to "eat a dick up", for example? Or Lauryn Hill comparing Newt Gingrich to the devil? Or that classic moment where Pac (who seemed to bear no small grudge against the entire power structure) takes it back to 1864 and goes hard against Lincoln? Or Royce Da 5'9" and his mean-spirited but very funny John McCain punchline? It seems most times as if the only black Republicans in rap are the metaphorical ones.