In the article “How Rock and Roll Became White”, Jack Hamilton explores how rock and roll, a genre that originated with black artists became white. Through rockist ideas, black artists were pushed out of the history of rock and roll. The elimination of black artists rewrote the history of rock and roll as a creation from and for white artists. Contrastly, in “Still Fighting the Power”, Theresa Riley interviews Jeff Chang about the history and emergence of hip hop music as a revolutionary force. What I found particularly interesting is that hip hop emerged after decades of marginalized artists forced out of the music industry unless they adhered to traditional values. To me, it seems that hip hop emerged to fill a vacuum in the music industry and as a protest to the attempts to quiet and forget marginalized communities. Hip hop created the space for marginalized artists to thrive and express themselves. Unlike rock and roll, it emerged from black artists, was not segregated, and did not need to adhere to rockist values. Quoting Chuck D, Jeff Chang says “that hip hop was CNN for blacks” and “it’s become CNN for marginalized young people all around the world”. Hip hop was a form of expression that allowed young people to critique society and to share the challenges that their communities faced due to sociopolitical systems. It allowed for a level of expression that was not seen in the music industry beforehand.
I selected Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz as he is another influential black artist in rock and roll. For my hip hop selection, I chose C.R.E.A.M. by the Wu-Tang Clan as they were very influential in hip hop.
Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBwAxmrE194
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