The Roots of Hip-Hop Protest

With the way that Hip-Hop has seemed to grow and evolve during the 21st century, the essence of the most consumed genre in America is based in some of America’s core beliefs. In the beginning, the relationship between an MCee and a DJ was to keep house parties going. But as the genre refined itself on the streets of The Bronx, New York, the genre expanded from a party act to one of the most volatile genres in music. Back in the 80s, being a B-Boy, DJ or MCee, was as common among the black community as garage bands were for the white community, a cool new way for the youth of the community to tell their story, voice their frustration and anger, using music to turn raw negative energy into positivity. 

In the early 80s, Hip-Hop would not just increase in relevance, but the content and delivery would become more and more refined. Most notably, GrandMaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” would change the landscape of what could be a Hip-Hop hit. The vivid lyrics depicting what it was like in the ghettos of all major cities, specifically for black people, make the song one of the most influential songs to this day. Other major acts like Kurtis Blow, Rakim, Run DMC, and Public Enemy are just a few of the artists who would mainly use their platform to speak on the issues Black America has to deal with. The loud, fed up energy in the music would only rise, with the 80’s era of local wordsmiths turning into a balance of Hip-Hop Scholars and soldiers. 

It first started when the West Coast picked up on the genre, finally bursting on to the mainstream with the original Gangsta Rap group N.W.A. releasing one of the most impactful protests songs of all time “Fuck the Police”. Taking over the radio waves with loud bass, mesmerizing synths, raw energy, and attitude, N.W.A. started a new era for political Hip-Hop. The same one that would be the foundation for the polarizing Tupac. Through the 90s, the West Coast and East Coast Hip-Hop hubs would begin to take very different routes going forward. While Gangsta rap was loud and in your face. Hip-Hop’s hometown heroes on the East Coast were going a different route. 

In the 90’s the New York City super collective “Native Tongues” which included groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, and more focused on what could be considered a movement for “Black Enlightenment.” The collective championed Black self-love, the complex existence of being Black in America, and the celebration of Afrocentricity. East Coast Hip-Hop’s evolution was based much more on aggressive lyricists, socially conscious wordsmiths, and jazz samples. 

Tupac and Biggy were prime examples of both respectively, and the two would eventually become the two biggest Hip-Hop acts of their time taking the genre to new heights. Tupac’s vision and voice would inspire the next generation to think higher of themselves, while Biggy would completely change what was reachable for a Hip-Hop artist. But with both artists meeting an untimely death, it seemed that there was a slight lag in Hip-Hop’s momentum. Hip-Hop started with rappers talking about their environment and their experiences, and while more rappers began to experience success, the stories of dark nights fighting for survival were traded for stories of gold chains, exotic cars, and women. The symbols of success became just as important as the actual success let alone the quality of the music. But in the early 2000s things began to shift again.

After the lull during the transitions between millennia, Chicago would unleash two of the most politically loud artists of their time. Rappers Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco would make an early name for themselves depicting the struggles of Black America in a way that hadn’t been seen before. While a lot of the protest music in the 80s and 90s was in direct opposition to entities that challenge black existence like the police, crack cocaine, and gang violence. The two Chicago artists would depict their experience of racism as children who were a product of it. Lupe’s “Food and Liquor” talks about how the different aspects of Lupe’s life and his environment have affected his mindset, from growing up with one parent, to the issues of gun violence and racism. Kanye on the other hand talked a lot about the oppressive system in America that maliciously targets Black lives and the subconscious rules, motivations, and insecurities that Black people have been forced to either assimilate to, deny, or somehow coexist with, while all the while fighting for their lives. But with both Kanye and Lupe’s career fluctuating in very different ways, their impact on the Black movement hasn’t been nearly as impactful as expected when the two artists first popped onto the scene. But with Hip-Hop continuing to evolve in the 21st century, Black voices have continued to diversify, and increasingly been amplified.

During the 2010s, artists like Kendrick Lamar, Nipsey Hussle, Jay-Z, and Joey Bada$$ have taken a page from the ’90s. Albums like “To Pimp a Butterfly,” “4:44” and “All-Amerikkkan Bada$$” have been some of the loudest mainstream displays of pro-Black creativity, that beautifully display the dark truths of Black existence in America, which is that all the issues highlighted in the ’80s and ’90s haven’t just continued, they’ve actually gotten worse, trying to help educate audiences and get them to acknowledge how the American landscape has become even more dangerous for Black lives. 

Going forward, with protest Hip-Hop having more reach via streaming services empowering artists, songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright”, Childish Gambino’s “This is America” and YG’s “FDT” may increase in frequency going forward. Every era of Hip-Hop is as much influenced by the artists coming up during them, as the current events that happen during them. With the major climate in 2020, Hip-Hop may see itself return to a balance of party music and political tracks, pushing the versatility of Hip-Hop’s content back to the forefront of the biggest genre on the planet. The evolution of Hip-Hop has been quite fast, sonically, in content, visibility, in execution, and more. And the genre’s evolution going forward should be loud, vibrant, and filterless. 

The Black American experience is unique, at times seemingly, a contradiction within itself. A survival story told over almost half a millennia. The soil we call home is a continuous revolving door of its own values and principles. A government that shows us how close to the tree the apple falls. Through it all, Black people have used their voices to lift their spirits, express their grief, open doors, and change the world. But there’s still so much work to do. The OldMilk staff has curated a playlist of recommended albums and songs that we feel capture the large spectrum of protest Hip-Hop and Black liberation music that depict the Black American experience. Listen to it here.