Hip Hop is a musical genre that emerged in the late 1970's from the urban African American community. It is a musical form composed of rapping (spoken word) over music. The mentality of hip hop is grounded in the feelings of anger and hoplessness over the problems of modern urban life. For many black Americans, hip hop has become the tool with which to critique the state of American affairs in which the establishment of white America has systematically denied black people of fundamental rights. Hip hop is thus a tool for social, political and economic change. Although not all hip hop artists speak of this state of affairs in their music, it should be remembered that all "real" hip hop artists with credibility among their peers come from this background.

Although hip hop comes from a negative world view of people's situations, it must be seen as a force for positive change- at least in the minds of the artists and their listeners.

For artists like Public Enemy, positive change means raising the social awareness of American people about the country's oppression of black people and other minorities. Linked up with this idea are the goals of social justice, equality and economic mobility. (Click here for a link to a Public Enemy audio file)

Other artists use hip hop as primarily a means of individual change- as a means of getting themselves out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Because of the popularity of hip hop in todays music market, there is a lot of money to be made by those who have talent. This type of attitude is exemplified by the Wu-Tang Clan, who before reaching worldwide stardom lived in the ghetto of Staten Island. Their song C.R.E.A.M. exemplifies this attitude, with the refrain: Cash Rules Everything Around Me, (Cream) get the money, dollar dollar bill y'all.

Then there are the hip hop artists who use the medium as both a means for personal gain and social change. This attitude is best exemplified by the artist Tupac Shakur. Criticized for being a self-proclaimed "thug" who appeared to care only about making money and having sex with a multitude of women, Tupac's sense of social justice and personal responsibility often went overlooked. Unfortunately Tupac was gunned down at the early age of 25. This act may have unwittingly aided the cause of social change as it forced the sad consequences of the "thug" lifestyle into the public eye,

Regardless of the attitude that hip hop artists take toward the presentation of their music, the genre is inexorably linked with America's poor treatment of blacks in the social, political and economic arenas. Denied of the right to pursue the material rewards that many white Americans take for granted in this country, hip hop has become a tool of change for many of the nation's urban poor. As I've demonstrated, this tool has taken the form of an ideology of personal gain (an "I'm gonna get what I want" mentality) as well as an ideology of social change.

Jeremy Rifkin provides some insight into the background of the hip hop mentality in The End of Work. Rifkin argues that African Americans have historically been forced to take the lower paying, lower status jobs in this country. During the 1800's, these consisted of agricultural jobs in the rural south. As automation came around, the jobs that many black people had became obsolete. Factory jobs in the north opened up, though, and many southern blacks moved there for economic opportunity. Rifkin argues that as factories become automated in the modern era, the jobs that black people have are becoming obsolete- with no other employment option available. Because of America's racist policies, black people (as a whole) do not have many options open within the corporate system.

This is where hip hop comes into play. It's immense popularity allows black people the potential for economic gain, and its use of the spoken word provides a forum for artists to discuss their socio-political situation.

Many people lament the violent lyrics of much of today's hip hop, as if the hip hop artists themselves are responsible for creating violence. While this may be the case, as it undoubtedly was with Tupac Shakur, the problem certainly goes deeper. The violence that many artists discuss is (for the most part) a representation of the violence within their communities. The violence that has taken over the urban core of America's cities and pushed America's whites to the suburbs results from policies that have historically denied black people the same opportunities as whites. Frustration and hopelessness are the root causes of this violence, not music.

There is much that can be learned from hip hop, whether one is white, black, green or purple.