If you compare what's going on right now politically and socially to what was going on in the 1970s and 1980s, there isn't too much of a difference. Politicians are dealing with scandals, there's social unrest in minority groups and there is still a huge issue with the distribution of wealth. The only difference is that back then, many musicians were speaking out about such issues. You had bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash and even N.W.A who were preachers to the church of young adults that were fed up with the current situation. They sang and rapped about problems that affected many: oppressive government, economic injustice and unfair treatment by the police.
Unfortunately, this "punk" mentality was lost somewhere along the way to the point where there are no mainstream or popular underground artists with politically or socially-charged lyrics. Punk rock is essentially non-existent today (and what remains is labeled as punk is typically pop-punk, which will just make you hate your parents) and a lot of mainstream rap is no longer about the social injustices many people face.
Of course, there are exceptions to all of these. The Russian band Pussy Riot made headlines when they were arrested due to their political and very opinionated lyrics. Kendrick Lamar's album "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" explores the city of Compton, CA through the eyes of someone who wants nothing to do with the gangs and violence that are so synonymous with the area.
But there still isn't this huge presence of rebellion in music that there was 40 years ago. We need it back, and more than ever. A misogynist racist billionaire is running for president, police brutality is a rising problem, the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming more helpless by the day. Obviously, punk rock won't solve this problem, but it's a start. Pairing these problems with music creates a way for the message to be more easily conveyed. If you write a book about it, people will read the book once. If you write a song about it, people will listen to it over and over again. The melody will be in their heads and the words will be stuck to the back of their minds like glue. We need musical controversy back.
We need punk.
