Gil Scott-Heron died last week. He was a politically aware intellectual, poet, and musician who came up in the 70s and who had a big influence on many contemporary performers and activists. He is probably best known for this:
Here’s another one I found that I like even more because he stretches out and develops the ideas and the wordplay. You could call it a lot of things, but I’d probably put it with “protest music” alongside Rage and Bob Marley and Woody Guthrie.
Actionsuit Alert! 
Change some of the names and both of these songs/spoken word are relevant today. I think of Wisconsin immediately and how people’s protests against the Governor’s actions there barely receive recognition while corporate funded sham political rallies with less than a thousand people get top billing.