Cameron returns to rap

Having made such a botch on the subject of rap and knife crime, Callmedave Cameron is going to try again and meet a rapping singer.

Conservative people say the meeting with Rhymefest is part of what they do:

A Conservative Party spokeswoman said: "We feel it is important that, if we make comments like that, we meet the people involved.

"David doesn't back away from anything he said and we are having a sensible meeting."

Of course, if David doesn't back away from anything he said, it's curious why the meeting is coming nine months or so after he waded in on the whole issue; it's also curious that, if he's so pleased to stand by everything he said, then why is he meeting Rhymefest rather than Lethal Bizzle. Bizzle, you'll recall, was the first rapper to respond to Cameron's stance, and was rewarded by being wrongly label by Cameron as writing the sort of songs Dave doesn't like.

We'd have thought Dave might have wanted to meet Bizzle to apologise to him.

More to the point, why is Dave meeting an American rapper anyway? Surely if he's really interested in finding out if, and why, there's so much violent imagery appealing to British music fans, it'd make more sense for a British politician to speak to people involved in the British music scene?

Perhaps when Cameron was told he'd had an invite from Rhymefest he thought it was some sort of poetry event in the Welsh hills.

And, of course, it might be more worthwhile for Cameron to spend his time speaking to some of the rappers who do sing about guns and knives, rather than the ones who don't.

The Tories seem to admit this is a bit of a sterile meeting:

The Conservative spokeswoman said: "I don't think they are coming from particularly different angles.

"We realise there are responsible rappers out there who understand what David said."

We love that idea of "responsible rappers" - like safe drivers, or careful savers - almost as much as we love the idea that there are people who might not have understood what Cameron meant when he demonised an art form enjoyed disproportionately by young, black, city-dwelling people. The ones who are talking to you are the ones who don't think you're unsalvageable, Dave.

Maybe you'd be better off thinking where you're going to cut the £21billion from public services.

music david cameron rhymefest