As evidenced by the outrage surrounding RNC chairman Michael Steele’s call for the Republican Party to get a hip-hop makeover earlier this year, whenever said music genre is uttered by politicians, non-troversies soon follow. It’s all quiet on the RNC hip-hop front as of now, but the WSJ’s Lee Rosenbaum seems to be stirring up a little hip-hop meets politics ruckus in a recent interview with National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman (via Gawker). Here’s the exchange in question:

There are new forms of music … and the NEA should be there. We should be reflecting the reality in our world these days, whether it’s hip-hop, or whatever. There’s a lot going on that the NEA traditionally has no comprehension about.”

Do you think that hip-hop would be an appropriate area for NEA to fund?

Absolutely. And mural painting and graffiti are art. There are popular aspects of all the arts that I think shouldn’t be ignored.