Video: Hoofprints in the Sand by Sage Francis

Brother Ali, the next Woody Guthrie? Twenty years from now, will we look at rap lyrics the same way we now look at folk music? When asked the about music of the 60's and early 70's, the time before disco, people often talk about Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, John Lennon, musicians who wrote about protest and empowerment. The words "folk music" in particular seem synonymous with protest, as if every hirsute balladeer sang about uniting to face the greater powers that conspire against the common man. [...]