November 1, 2011 | 3:43 PM | By

‘DC Or Nothing’ Trends Worldwide

“DC Or Nothing,” the title of a track from District rapper Wale’s latest album, “Ambition,” was trending worldwide on Twitter early today. The song criticizes leadership in D.C. and lyrics reference a number of District issues, including gentrification and demographic changes; “when the city was chocolate, there was death in the air” and “push them whites in the hood” are some such lines.

The song can be heard here (and, fair warning, it does contain profanity). If you do happen to listen to it, we’d like to know what you think: does Wale accurately describe D.C. with this song?

@J_LivesGFGD
J.Mercedes
Dc or nothing is talking about current conditions in Dc, Gentrification,aids, hopelessness,violence,drugs i gotta say this is briliant
Nov 01 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

  • Elijah

    Does he accurately describe DC in this song? In a word, yes.

  • Elijah

    Does he accurately describe DC in this song? In a word, yes.

  • http://twitter.com/motus_compos Timothy Hoagland

    Are you kidding? Besides the fact that the sound of his spoken word stirs your soul, and the chorus vocals generate the vision of storm clouds.. I live in DC, have for 5 years; every day I see the gentrification and homelessness, even in old-money neighborhoods.  The DC shootings of Halloween? = the influx of guns into the District (“Where there’s minimal conscience and there’s thousands of choppers”).  Wale is the mouthpiece for the city that was built with the intention of being the pedestal from which the world views/ compares themselves.  Rivaling European history, Asian culture & tradition, and South American beauty; and yet we are rife with these problems.  Wale “is the messenger here.” His observations are not only “contagious” but transparent; you can see right through him, to the city outline behind him.  He helps us to realize in that this city is the home of our country’s greatest leader, not just its most current one but its most prophetic visionary; and yet, there are no leaders in our communities, little guidance to our youth (“Ain’t nobody here leading, it’s way  too easy to follow//They knee deep in today, ain’t too fond of tomorrow”). 

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