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.H I P H O P M AT T E R S.Soon after defeating Hill in the November mayoral election, Kil-patrick was touted as America’s hip-hop mayor.It is a tag he wearscleverly and cautiously.The day after the voters had made theirchoice the new mayor-elect appeared at a press conference sporting adiamond earring.During the campaign he chose not to wear the ear-ring, concerned that it might convey the wrong message to older vot-ers.In a relatively short period of time, Kilpatrick rose to become a widely respected figure in Detroit.As longtime city resident and Detroit News city hall reporter Darren Nichols notes, “He makes every-one feel comfortable around him.If you go out into the streets ofDetroit and ask about the mayor they are talking about ‘Kwame’rather than ‘Mayor Kilpatrick.’ The tone around the previous cityleader was ‘Mayor Archer’ it was never ‘Dennis.’ ” In Detroit Kil-patrick also makes regular appearances on a local urban hip-hopradio station for a segment titled “Ask the Mayor.” The radio appear-ances provide young Detroiters access to the mayor and likewise, themayor access to a constituency he represents in more ways than one.Kilpatrick was also aware that the “hip-hop mayor,” tag producedsome problems.He believed that some used the tag to challenge hisability to live up to the expectations of the mayoral position.He told the Detroit News that the reason for this was “the hip-hop generation, still, is a generation to mainstream America that is lost, that are not organized, that are not thinking people.”The “hip-hop mayor” marker, in reality, was more than a matterof stylish politics, hip symbolism, or negative stereotyping.Mostsignificantly, it represented the dawn of a new era in urban politics.“I think it says something on the surface that’s humorous, but there’s really a lot of substance in that statement,” says Kilpatrick, referring to the moniker.“Finally, someone from the Run DMC generationfrom the ’80’s generation, has made it into some of the political cir-cles that we don’t look like we belong in.” According to Nichols,“[Kilpatrick] does not hide from the fact that he is from the hip hop196
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