In another era, narrow-minded fear-mongers would have raged over the appearance of jazz icon Duke Ellington, country legend Johnny Cash, R&B start Marvin Gaye or socially progressive rock idol John Lennon. Music and words are powerful, and those who manage to create a wide fan base are sure to create fear among the holders of the status quo, even with positive messages, if they are speaking in a musical language that is already new and misunderstood. All of the musical genres mentioned above were attacked by older-generation mainstream media when they first came into popularity because they were new, misunderstood and their potential influential power feared.
Hip Hop could be one of the most feared and misunderstood cultural phenomena of the past couple decades. Part of the body of work created under its banner (Gangster Rap for example) certainly brings some justification to the bad rap many conscious leaders in the movement are fighting to overcome, but Hip Hop as a musical genre is no more threatening to the moral base of our society than Rock & Roll. It fact, a musical genre is not by itself the expression. Rather, it is a vehicle for artistic expression that might speak to a certain span of history and generation, being taken over by a new musical genre and phenomenon every couple decades.
Currently, Hip Hop, however, as a genre, is of critical importance as one of the largest music-driven cultural youth movements in the world. If political and social leaders and media could embrace this instead of misjudging it and building greater fear and division between generations and cultures, they could create huge positive shifts in the state global consciousness.
Today, there are artists working within the Hip Hop genre that are raising social awareness and shifting that global consciousness in the same way many of our musical icons of rock and R&B (Bob Dylan, Fela Kuti, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, John Lennon, Bob Marley…) did during the late 60’s and early 70’s. Common is one of those artists. Others include K’NAAN, the Roots, Nas, Talib Kweli, Nneka, KRS-One, MV Bill, Shad, Damien and Ziggy Marley, and many more. These artists take their work and their social influence seriously and responsibly, representing a global movement spreading positive messages and awareness via the universal language of music, which so happens to fall under the misunderstood banner of Hip Hop.
Then again, maybe it is simply the freedom of speech that is truly feared by those hoping to prevent change and hide the truth. Contrary to that, music is an essential, powerful tool for us to unveil the truth and break down the barriers to understanding that continue to feed the fear and conflict at home and around the world. I personally applaud Common for his high standard of both art and social consciousness and am inspired and moved by those with the courage and strength to do the same, despite the criticism and resistance.
