Hip Hop is / as Activism
Hip hop has its roots in self-expression and addressing oppressive constructs – originally addressing race and class, underground hip hop continues to tackle more issues including sexism, able-ism, homophobia, transphobia, other race issues, and way way more – leading into sub-genres of crip-hop, queer hip hop and way way more.
Here's some titles for the curious.
Hip Hop World – Dalton Higgins
The hip hop generation fights back: youth, activism, and post-civil rights politics
Keep on Pushing: Black power music from blues to hip-hop
And just because they are incredible, here's some A Tribe Called Red. Huge energy, great shows, but please, just don't show up in redface ya'lls. – here's more on that. OKOK, so they're not pure hip-hop, but electronica and mash-up, but have a listen for yourself.
They recently teamed up with NYC's Das Racist for this knock-out track full of irony and subversion:
And here's the track that launched it all:
And, check out NYC's Das Racist. BAM. Their poinant Fake Patois – points out the appropriation of patois. And it's a great track. Here's a discussion on fake patois in conventional hip hop and media.
Who are you favourite indie / underground / activist hip hop artists?
7 thoughts on “Hip Hop is / as Activism”
These are pretty nice tunes 😀
glad you like!
Whoa! Cool tunes!
Yep agreed they are cool!!
Yep they are cool.
I’m notuh of a fan of hip hop,it lacks subtlety or any meaningful subtet, it’s a bit too aggressive and explicit.
My school is a hip hop school. Most students are crazy about it.