Mos Def

The rapper formerly known as Mos Def was arrested in South Africa after trying to leave the country on a "world passport."

In what often seems like a genre focused on getting cars, cash, and girls, rap often gets a bad rap. Some of the genre's most talented voices use their powers for good.

Or they try. Instead of playing to the lowest common denominator, their politically charged and often personal song lyrics are an attempt to alter the course of pop culture.

Rapper Mos Def, who now goes by Yasiin Bey, is protesting the U.S. government's policy of force-feeding Guantanamo Bay prisoners on hunger strikes.

To make his point, he volunteered to be filmed undergoing the standard medical procedure currently being used on 44 detainees who refuse to eat.