To what extent is hip hop a form of Black Nationalism? Answer with reference to the USA and/or other relative case studies.
Hip hop music has embraced and developed countless changes in its musical style, but also socially, with an influence from Black Nationalism (BN). To a large extent, hip hop can be identified as a form of BN when looking at various artists’ work from when the movement began in the 1960s, however there is an argument alongside this to suggest BN was actually vital in the development of the hip hop genre. Whilst this essay will firstly highlight the argument against hip hop as a form of BN in terms of the gangsta rap genre, it will also continue to explicate the key ideas behind hip hop as a form of BN using particular groups and artists such as Public Enemy and The Last Poets to suggest this. Black Nationalism has been defined and understood in multifarious ways; this essay aims to focus on the Black Nationalist concept of the imagined community and bringing people together. Jeffrey Decker addresses this form of BN in addition to hip hop nationalism, as…show more content… Gangsta rap is often criticized for its culture which endorses crime, rape, misogyny and violence, all sourced and financed by USA’s commercialism and capitalism. The genre almost undermines the hip hop works that advanced it, where earlier artists rap about their poor treatment and segregation fulfilled by that exact American society that is now funding and fuelling their work. Such can also be said about the work of Afrika Bambaata, who ‘attempted to bring about peace in a region increasingly prone to gang violence’ ; gangsta rap’s name is suggestive of its lyrical content, which primarily focuses on gang violence and gang culture. The genre is an illustration of how hip hop is not a form of BN as it seemingly disregards the works and ideas of pioneering hip hop artists, such as Bambaataa in this