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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Hip-Hop and Voter Registration

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jul 31 2008, 9:04 AM ET Comment

I'm going to second Tim Fernholz skepticism of using artists--and art, for that matter--as a way to influence elections. Vote or Die was a joke from jump, mostly because the people involved, while interested in the cause, overestimated their power. Frankly, I don't think people listen to music to figure out which way to vote. Nor should they. Music is influential, but not in the easy mathematical way (if you listen to this, you'll do this) that a lot of us want it to be.



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