Member-only story
A Brief History of Well-Meaning Rappers
Hip-hop’s always made room for contrast — so as the culture continues to veer toward profiteering, let’s celebrate the givers
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
In the introduction to Tricia Rose’s seminal book Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop — And Why It Matters, she laments that the national paranoia around the art form has robbed the culture of artistic validation — and worse, strengthened the conditions that fueled its urgency. “In this climate,” she writes, “young people have few … honest places to turn to for a meaningful appreciation and critique of the youth culture in which they are so invested. The attacks on black youth through hip hop maintain economic and social injustice.”
Unfortunately, not much has changed about the world or the business of hip-hop in the 13 years since Rose’s book dropped. The largely still White-controlled industry of rap is marketed even more through the apertures of misogyny, self-destructive behaviors, and unapologetic greed. And somewhere out there roam the rap moguls of the universe, building and swapping Black culture like house flips.
