Hip-Hop is a cultural movement that was formed following the defeat of the African Revolution of the 1960s. Its poetics, aesthetics, and politics reflect African life under the US counterinsurgency.
The conditions that define the moment hip-hop arose were: increased privatization, mass unemployment and poverty, increased colonial violence and a decrease in mass mobilization. Hip-Hop shares these conditions with other African art forms such as the blues and calypso, of an earlier period, and reggae music of the 1970s.
Hip-Hop’s enduring character is attributed to its origins in the African working class.
Hip-Hop and rap music has, at times, offered political prescriptions to the African Working Class. More than often, rappers and other cultural workers have reflected the revolutionary upsurge amongst the masses.
Historically, the most remarkable rap group was Dead Prez. As this episode's guests noted, Dead Prez did not just rap about political topics, they had excellent skill and production but were also African Internationalist organizers. This year is the 20th anniversary of Dead Prez’s album Let’s Get Free.
In 2020, rappers and African cultural workers have entered into political debates over police violence and electoral politics. As we see in this episode, their conclusions are not always what we expect but, as our guest Professor Fanon Che Wilkins notes, we should continue to engage rappers and Hip-Hop as an arena of struggle.
In this episode, we do just that.
Hosts Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu talk with:
Episode #88: Touch One! Touch All! Denzel Draughn acquitted for pepper spraying San Diego cops
Episode #87: Africans in St. Petersburg Florida Demands Reparations! Take Back the Dome!
Episode #86: From Protest to Power: Kyle Rittenhouse, Ahmaud Arbery and the Black People‘s Court
Episode #85: NoThanks to Colonialism--African and Indigenous Solidarity and Anticolonial Resistance
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #84: Deepening the Resistance to Police Terror--The 13th Annual Black People‘s March on the White House
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #83: Live like Huey!--The African Working Class Defends the Legacy of Huey Newton
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #82: ”Stop stealing our babies”–African Women organize against CPS
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #81: ”Water more poisoned than Flint‘s”--Activists on the Benton Harbor Water Crisis
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #80: 55th Anniversary of ”The Battle of Algiers”: Anticolonialism, Revolutionary Film, and Afro-Asian Solidarity
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #79: The Road to Socialism is Painted Black!
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #78: Organizers demand the US Stop the Deportations and Reparations to Haiti and All African People
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #77: “The Truth About Afghanistan - Colonialism: the graveyard of imperialism Part 2”
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #76: “The Truth About Afghanistan - Colonialism: the graveyard of imperialism”
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #75: Getting Fit for the Revolution
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #74: It‘s 2021! African Workers Unite! Let‘s Get it Done!
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #73: The Revolutionary Power of Black Poetry
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #72: Long Live Marcus Garvey!
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #71: Black August: Free our political prisoners!
The People's War Show, Episode #70: Tribute to Glen Ford, African freedom fighter
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #69: Africans continue fight against COVID, Vaccine protocols issued
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