by Alan MacLeod Through its myriad of agencies, the United States government has recruited and groomed rappers from around the world to further its political interests. Washington has spent tens of millions of dollars funding, training, and promoting artists who foment public discontent, organize protests, and lead color revolutions in nations in its crosshairs. In Bangladesh and Senegal, U.S.-funded rappers led political movements that toppled governments. Washington-backed musicians were the face of a failed counter-revolution in Cuba, and will likely be called upon again by the Trump administration. And artists in dozens of countries worldwide (including the U.S. itself) are paid to promote American government interests. This is the story of how the U.S. government uses hip hop, a medium of struggle pioneered by Black artists in New York, as a tool for regime change. Part 4 - Cuba: the great astroturfed revolution The United States has been trying to overth...