On Aug. 11, 1973, a block party in the Bronx spawned a genre that would go on to influence nearly all aspects of US culture – and the music, fashion and art of countries around the world.
Rapper Beautiful The Artist performs in the music video for the dip hop song ‘DEAFinitely Lit.’
Beautiful The Artist/YouTube
Dip hop artists move across the stage, hands flying through the air, as audiences pulse to the rhythm of a blasting bass beat.
Hip hop artists, from top left, clockwise, DMX, Lexii Alijai, Prince Markie Dee and Trugoy the Dove have all passed away within the past decade.
Getty Images
As hip-hop turns 50, an unfortunate reality is that so many of its pioneering artists never live to see much more than 50 years themselves, a professor of hip-hop writes.
Busta Rhymes and P. Daddy’s song “Pass the Courvoisier” was a major hit in 2001, and reportedly led to a significant rise in the brand’s US sales.
Busta Rhymes/YouTube
Legend has it that African Americans soldiers brought back a love of cognac after service in Europe in World War II. It’s a lovely story, but the history goes back much further.
Kendall Roy listening to music in season four of Succession.
Courtesy of HBO
Ronald Reagan may have been known as ‘The Great Communicator,’ but rap artists don’t view his legacy through such rose-colored glasses. A professor of Black studies and history takes a closer look.
Flowers are laid near the scene of a mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill.
Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
Since rap music emerged in mainstream culture in the late 1980s, politicians have derided its lyrics and imagery as violent. Over the years, rap has become an easy target to blame for violence.
Young Thug performs onstage on March 17, 2022, in Austin, Texas.
Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW
Since rap music emerged in mainstream culture in the late 1980s, conservatives have derided its lyrics and imagery as violent. But hip-hop artists argue those images reflect urban realities.
Neither 50 Cent, left, nor Ice Cube, right, herald a previously undetected Black male movement to reelect President Donald Trump.
AP Photo
Despite the attention paid by the press when two Black hip-hop artists signaled their support for Donald Trump, they do not represent swelling enthusiasm for Trump from young, Black men.
Rapper Skibkhan in the video for ‘Shob Chup,’ which condemns the culture of silence around poverty and inequality in Bangladesh.
YouTube
In voicing youthful outrage over inequality and violence, Bangladeshi rappers are creating a powerful form of protest music — just as American MCs have done for 40 years.
Rapper 50 Cent at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in May.
L.E. Baskow