“For most of its public life hip hop has poignantly reflected the steadily shifting currents in American social, political, and pop cultural life.” - S. Craig Watkins
Hip Hop is a cultural movement that evolved through the years to speak to the masses through lyrics, beats, rhymes and fashion. From the “Boogie Down Bronx” came artists like KRS-One and none other than Sugarhill Gang. In 1979, Sugarhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight”, which became the first Billboard charted rap single and since then Hip Hop never left the scene.
We began to hear the smooth rhymes of Slick Rick: la-di-da-di La-di-da-di we like to party; to “It’s like that”, the real lyrics of Run D.M.C. So what has changed? There is no doubt that the music industry has evolved and the world of Hip Hop is not how it was in 1982, but the fiery lyrics of poverty in urban communities, issues surrounding race and gender has not left. It is just time to make these poetic words more mainstream. Hip Hop’s purpose is to serve as a voice for those who may have become silenced & to embrace a whole youth culture... I am most certain that its purpose is still there!
