FEATURE:
The Revolution Will Be Televised
PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Rodgerson/Unsplash
Fight the Power: Hip-Hop and Rap’s Social and Political Importance in 2023
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I am still …
IMAGE CREDIT: BBC
enjoying and learning so much from the BBC’s documentary series, Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World. A movement that began humbly fifty years ago this year, it came from New York and took over the world. One of the broadest and most important genres, Hip-Hop, alongside Rap, has changed lives and created some seismic moments. With different sub-genres and scenes, there is something for any music lover to explore and learn from. I love the brief Daisy Age wave that saw the likes of Del La Soul reign. Although I love modern-day Hip-Hop greats like Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar, and Little Simz, I think it is the groups of the past that excite me most., My favourite are probably Public Enemy. I think the more political Hip-Hop groups have made the biggest mark and left a huge impression. Through sampling, incredible and direct lyrics and that inter-band chemistry, forces like Public Enemy are still causing shockwaves today. Influencing the new generation with their wisdom, rage and brilliance! So much of the fuel for Public Enemy’s lyrics came from injustice and racism. Same goes for N.W.A. and, in fact, so many Hip-Hop acts. In the 1980s and 1990s, when police brutality against the Black community was not making news for the right reasons, their music incite the need for change. The fire and explosions that reigned from their phenomenal albums is still relevant today. In fact, the manslaughter of Tyre Nichols by police in the U.S. is, sadly, nothing new.
Police brutality and extreme violence is not going anywhere. Excessive and brutal violence against an innocent motorist. This is not the first time that sentence has been written in the past few years. In fact, go back to last March, and read articles that highlight how little has changed since the murder of George Floyd. The number of fatalities caused by police in the U.S. are alarming, but you look at the Black community and the fact that so many needless deaths are caused by police, and it does chill the blood. The Guardian wrote about the shocking death of Tyre Nichols:
“A group of Tennessee police officers punched and kicked Tyre Nichols –delivering at least a half-dozen blows – as he languished on the ground, crying out for his mother, during a 7 January beating that would result in his death, surveillance footage released on Friday night revealed. The deadly attack on Nichols reportedly unfolded about 80 yards from his mother’s home.
The disturbing video, which was released in four parts by the Memphis police department, included both body-camera and street lamp-mounted camera video showing the attack on Nichols, who is Black. While Nichols’s injuries were clearly severe, and his physical condition in obvious decline, the video indicates that an ambulance did not arrive for more than 20 minutes after the vicious beatdown.
The four videos made public provide a rough chronology of the fatal encounter between Nichols and the five Black police officers. The incident started when two Memphis police officers pulled him over in a traffic stop.
“Get the fuck out of the car!” one officer shouted several times. An officer pulled him out of the car.
Nichols replied: “I didn’t do anything”. An officer said, “Get on the fucking ground” and warned that he would “Tase” Nichols.
Nichols, 29, tells them: “I’m on the ground.”
“You guys are really doing a lot now,” Nichols also said. “I’m just trying to go home.”
Nichols, who was brought to the ground, wound up running from the officers. “I hope they stomp his ass,” one of the officers could be heard saying. The fatal beating unfolded when other officers later apprehended him at an intersection.
Some of the chaotic footage shows officers punching and kicking Nichols. One officer shouted that he would “baton the fuck outta you”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Megan Thee Stallion is one of the most important Hip-Hop artists of her generation/PHOTO CREDIT: Future Publishing/Getty Images
I think that reform and change will be very slow in the U.S. Riots and protests will break out. You wonder whether Hip-Hop should react to the violence and police corruption in the U.S. Classic Hip-Hop acts reacted to it, and you may say they were unable to change much. I think that their words should be revived and taken to heart now. There are not as many Hip-Hop groups today, but I do think that artists need to put their focus towards a great injustice and evil. Hip-Hop is brilliant today, but there is more of a move to the personal rather than political. As Hip-Hop turns fifty later this year, I wonder whether there needs to be a return to the roots. It is outrageous and horrendous to read stories about innocent people being murdered by police. There is activation online, and protests definitely will help to bring about change. Whether that is harsher sentences for police officers culpable of brutal crimes or defunding, something needs to happen! Potent and worldwide, a great Hip-Hop song that calls to attention corruption and brutality in the forces can definitely make a difference. I do feel that yet another senseless and racist murder has opened eyes to the fact that, soon enough, there will be nationwide riots across the U.S. Once was the time this would provoke Hip-Hop artists to highlight the insanity around them and ask what is to be done. To be fair, Public Enemy are still recording - but there is a young wave of Hip-Hop artists who should react to what is happening in the U.S. Mass killings and gun violence in general has been in the news. There is an ocean of horrific and mindless violence that is so upsetting to see. Ahead of music’s greatest genre turning fifty, I hope that we get many songs and albums that hit back at…
POLICE violence in the U.S