Is Your Favourite Rapper A Foreign Asset?

Dear Reader,

What was Hillary Clinton's answer when asked if hip-hop could be a geopolitical chess piece? “Absolutely!”

In fact, Pentagon proposed to deploy Taylor Swift as an asset during a NATO meeting.

What started as a voice for the marginalized, has today evolved into a tool of statecraft for the US... a weapon of propaganda actually.

All of it under the guise of cultural exchange. The US State Department calls it "people-to-people diplomacy" but leaked documents reveal a more calculative picture.

Rhymes, beats, and regime change are more connected than you think.

"Can art retain its integrity when deployed as statecraft? Does the strategic use of hip-hop undermine its authenticity? And where does cultural exchange end and propaganda begin?" asks Adithi Gurkar in her latest piece.