Compared to most music genres; Hip hop and rap music is fairly new and fresh. Originating around the 1970s, hip hop has gone through many different eras and has now emerged as one of the most popular music genres that is listened to today. With its emerging popularity, hip hop also is one of the most controversial topics as well. There has been debates and arguments centered around how rap music is a major influence of social controversies such as violence, police brutality , and political backlash in American culture. Within all of these issues it is to be believed rap music has been linked with racism and it has been a major part of its culture since its early origins all the way to modern day rap today.
In the 1990s, one of hip hop’s golden ages, political rap started to emerge onto the scene. As rap became more and more popular other issues started to occur more as well. Violence and police brutality in the 90s was more apparent in African American cities. Using their popular platform , artists like A Tribe Called Quest and De la Soul began describing and advocating about these issues in the lyrics of their music. According to Gideon Plotnicki “They weren’t militant, they weren’t mean, they weren’t aggressive; in actuality, they represented African-American intellectualism. Their portrayal of the African American experience is connected with many who were searching for an alternative to the ultra-left militance of Public Enemy and the ultra-angry violence of N.W.A. Not to knock those groups–who affected change and pushed the conversation incredibly in their own right–but ATCQ( A Tribe Called Quest) spoke to a certain type of person, and they rode that wave, paving the path for so many other socially conscious thinkers who were looking for an outlet”. As many African Americans were impacted in a negative way during this time , A Tribe Called Quest created music for those who wanted to feel at home. Music is an outlet for a lot of people and for a group of artists to design and make music about political issues such as racism it meant a lot for those who need it and it says a a lot about the group’s intentions and reputation within the rap culture along with African American culture.
Racism and violence hit an all time high in the early 1990s. In Los Angeles ,California, a riot broke loose after the jury found the four white police officers who beat Rodney King innocent. The majority of people say this as a hate crime against King who was black and it led to violent criminal acts, looting , and many other civil disturbances throughout the whole Los Angeles county. The African American community came together . In fact, the bloods and crips of Los Angeles even signed a truce during this time , and rappers in Los Angeles began to think on how the consequences of the riots impacted them and if the violence was even worth the mayhem it caused. As Annette Ejiofor states, “It had been months following the L.A. Riots with rappers, artists, and activists alike, reflecting on the year behind them, looking at what could be in their present and future. Ice Cube being the most consistent and resilient rapper during the L.A. Riots, penned a song months later to summarize whether that hope of the peace treaty, would be upheld.” Ice Cube being one of the many rappers from Los Angeles , wrote a song named “It Was a Good Day” and its lyrics speak on how a day of with no violence, drinking, and being with his friends was much more ideal than the days of the violent riots. Similar to the music by A Tribe Called Quest, music during these times helped people cope with the racism that filled African Americans lives and made people happy to escape from reality.
Music videos are a popular way for artists to portray their lyrics and meaning behind the music they make. Shifting eras to a more modern time, a rapper that goes by the name of Joyner Lucas, released a music of his song “I’m not Racist” (. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43gm3CJePn0). The music video went viral for its shocking stance on racism and the way the video is produced. It starts with a stereotypical white man speaking on African American stereotypes including how they are lazy, don’t have many goals, and even how they use the N-word but don’t allow any other races to use the word. In the middle of the video it then switches to a black man speaking on white privilege and different types of cultural appropriation. Although the video ends with the two men hugging, the video gained millions of views for the “beef” between the two men. Joyner Lucas who wasn’t that popular before this music video released, gained many followers for bringing the subjects of racism and stereotypes to life, but he also gained backlash for being too insensitive. In a CNN article written by Doug Chriss , Lucas is quoted saying “I’m very shocked at the amount of love that I’m seeing. I’m not seeing as much hatred,” he said. “I’m actually seeing a lot of comments along the lines of ”wow, i never looked at things that way before. I can understand where the white man is coming from. I can understand where the black man is coming from”. With this being said, it is easy to say that Lucas is a very knowledgeable person on the topic of racism. A lot of artists today don’t use their platform to speak out on racism or other controversial subjects , so its rewarding for artists like Joyner Lucas to receive the recognition they deserve.
Rap has become a music genre that has a very widespread white audience. The music festival scene comes to mind where there are many rappers performing for a crowd at a festival such as Coachella that is mainly white people in the audience. While this isn’t an issue in itself it is important for all members of the crowd to understand the lyrics and meanings behind the artists lyrics, especially if there is politics involved. According to Steven Netcoh, “Most participants claimed they were attracted to “conscious” Hip Hop‟s “radical politics,” but they refrained from associating with its racialized politics. Rodriguez attributes his participants‟ reluctance to adopt Hip Hop‟s racial politics to their color-blind ideologies, which are defined by race neutral social and political outlooks”(13). Netcoh is quoting Jason Rodriguez who is performing a study on white adolescents on their ideologies and involvement in the rap music concert crowds. Rodriguez found that many of the people he interviewed were numb to the racism and white privilege in the artists’ music. There have been times where crowd members have been brought up on stage to sing along to songs with the artists that are performing. A recent instance of this was rapper Kendrick Lamar bringing a girl on stage by the name Delany to sing one of his more popular song “M.A.A.D City”. All is going well until Delany sings along with the song that contains the N word. Delany being white, she received a lot of backlash from the crowd and even from Lamar. Kendrick proceeds to tell her “You gotta bleep out one single word”. Stero Williams writes “There doesn’t need to be any further explanation as to why white people can’t be comfortable saying the “N-word” in public. This isn’t about who “can” or “can’t” say the word; it’s about who can use it wantonly in public with no regard for repercussions “(Williams 1). Although Kendrick raised some eyebrows even bringing a white girl on stage to sing the song, crowd members like Delany should be aware of the lyrics and meaning of songs like MAAD city. There will always be consequences for actions like this and although Delany may have unaware and innocent her and others should understand the culture behind a lot of rap music being made today.
Unfortunately, something that has been consistent in African American culture and even rap culture is police brutality specifically against African American men. It has been an issue ever since the beginning of rap and still happens today. All of the violence and hate has taken place throughout the years but one of the most unfortunate aspects to this is that it takes death for innocent people for society to raise eyebrows. Cooper states, “ It has taken the recent publicized deaths of innocent black men and the flagrant resurgence of overt institutionalized racism in various police departments i.e random traffic stops to create the beginnings of a renewed sense of solidarity in the African American community” (Cooper 1). Referring to the deaths of James Byrd and Jasper Texas, then deaths of these men caused African Americans to take notice including rappers at the time. Rappers like Tupac and the group NWA began to fight back but through their music. Tupac’s song “Living in a White Man’s World”, and NWA’s song “ F- the police” were two of the most famous rap songs that spoke out against police brutality. Some would say that this time period is what is responsible for rap music’s popularity. “ By 1988, rap music had not only survived what critics said would be a short-lived trend but invaded the popular music charts” (Berry and Loony 243). Like what was stated before, its unfortunate that death Is what sparks this fire in the African American community, but in a musical standpoint, people can look back and see how rap music became popular and how this style of rap still resonates in today’s music. Artists such as YG have wrote similar raps to those of NWA and Tupac. In one of his songs “F- Donald Trump”, YG provides hateful lyrics to the once President candidate and now President of the United States and even mentions the LA riots. As a few decades have passed it is apparent that police brutality against African Americans in the United States and rappers like YG have similar messages to those in the past. Racism in rap has been a major topic of discussion throughout the history of its existence. From the early 1990s with artists such as Ice T and A Tribe Called Quest to artists in the present day such as Kendrick Lamar and Joyner Lucas have been advocates for the protecting the culture in rap music. Artists that stand up for this culture give hope for those who follow and listen to rap music and are knowledgeable on how racism still exist around the rap culture. It will be important moving forward for rap music to have these types of artists because in todays society there is a very young audience connected to rap and pop culture. With this being said its to be believed that racism is still going to be a part of rap culture in the future but there will always be artists who use their platform to bring these issues to light. Rap as genre will change for the better as long as more people are educated on its controversial history and the social issues that have been attached with it.