‘Fight the Power’ Misses How Mainstream Rappers Became Power – Rolling Stone

At first PBS documentary series Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the Worldas Chuck D claims:[In 2020]Without hip-hop, the Black Lives Matter protests would not have happened. It’s a lofty statement, because anti-establishment organizing and insurrection has existed since black people were brought to America. As Lupe Fiasco said in his four-part series finale:

fight the power It does a powerful job of documenting how the rapper became a cultural spokesperson for Black Americans through protest anthems that function as some of society’s most resonant sociopolitical statements.Executive Producer Conductor Chuck D said the documentary series appealed not only to scholars and cultural commentators, but also to artists like Ice-T, Fat Joe, Melle Mel, Lupe Fiasco, and himself telling stories. I said it was because I was dependent on it. The times forced their social commentary.

Series directors Yemi Bamiro and Todd Williams were tasked with cramming 50 years of history into about four hours. They smoothly navigate you through the hip-hop timeline, beginning with a slow-burn introductory episode that highlights New Yorkers’ desperate need for creative expression, which rap pioneer DMC, KRS- One, Chuck D proves to be the strongest hour in a series that talks about cultural origins. DMC explains how the poverty-stricken quagmire of 1970s New York inspired young people like him to seek “anything that makes them feel stronger than their surroundings.” Most fans recognize his four elements of hip-hop: rap, DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing. KRS-One explicitly states that these were he four different communities of individuals who eventually coalesced and worked together. While some people take hip-hop for granted today, the first episode highlights how the community was formed as a cathartic liberation amidst systemic oppression.

This documentary traces the evolution of hip-hop during key moments in history, from Shirley Chisholm and Jesse Jackson’s iconic presidential campaign to President Obama’s White House victory in 2008. , and the MAGA Plague are all viewed through the lens of the hip-hop generation. Documents are most effective when they amplify individual artists and contextualize how their work appeals to social ills. In episode 2, the 1994 crime bill sequence (filled with Joe Biden’s racist scare-mongering footage) transitions to Tupac’s wider segment after an artist like Tupac raps about prison. and gives the extremist icon the singular treatment he deserves.

Crack cocaine flooded the streets during the Reagan era, and this documentary series not only examines how it fueled America’s captivity, but also the hip-hop world’s reaction to it. Chuck D explains that Public Enemy created ‘Night of the Living Baseheads’ because they wanted drugs to look ‘ugly and dirty’, highlighting the political value of hip-hop . Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign and other divine infomercials didn’t reach young people, but hip-hop did. Elsewhere, USC Professor Jodie Armor revisited when songs like “Fuck the Police” delivered anti-police sentiment to isolated people living in suburbs, stating: Police…it invites you to adopt a new perspective. That’s what great art does. ”

The document also spotlights Melle Mel’s ‘The Message’, Ice-T’s ‘6 ‘N the Mornin”, ‘Cop Killer’ and, of course, Public Enemy’s ‘Fight the Power’. A man caught on the street calls Public Enemy “wake-up music” to wake people up. fight the power Ice-T and Chuck D also reason that violent rap lyrics only reflect the state of the artist and are political in nature, arguing that violent rap lyrics are It does a great job of refuting the reductive perception that it is the cause of real-world violence. correct. “Every word that came out of the mouth of a young black man in the 80s and his 90s, especially in rap music, was all about resistance,” Chuck D says. I felt that. It’s like, “How can I get better? How can I get out of here?”

Another fight the powerThe bright spot of ’90s sees both men and women taking hip-hop for its misogyny, acknowledging that the deluge of ’90s slander and misogynoir was the genre’s devastation. The discussion would have been more effective if the lyrics reflected why the song grossly insults women, but it still comes across as a moment of accountability. I needed more of these moments.

When Chuck D makes the aforementioned “Resistance” remarks, songs like Eric B and Rakim’s “Follow the Leader” and The Jungle Brothers’ “Done by the Forces of Nature” are called to underscore his point. But in a later episode, Karsonya Wise-Whitehead, a professor at Loyola University in Maryland, said that at the turn of the 20th century, “music felt outward-facing” (or evoked a more social commentary). That said, this document can’t point to any other song that plays Dead Prez’s “Police State” and emphasizes her point. Is it a creative oversight, or a careless comment about her lack of Y2K rap hits with radical messages?

In Episode 4, music journalist Rodney Carmichael reveals that it was more difficult for corporations to sell the rebellious and radical acts in the vein of Public Enemy to Central America, saying that the mainstream ” I was overloaded with depictions of “cats, girls, cats with nice cars.” in fancy clothes. Chuck D also said that for the newly rich artist, [business], but with power comes responsibility. This argument explores the reality of corporations profiting from black trauma inflicted by conditions they haven’t tried hard enough to eradicate, and how the genre’s biggest figures truly benefit the underclass. I needed to dig deeper by contemplating whether they were navigating their power in a way that would bring. The spirit of hip-hop was built.

Many critics believe that mainstream rap became less radical in the 2000s. That’s because the genre’s biggest act has grown into a wealthy figure who’s increasingly distant from the struggles he once went through. Perhaps this documentary series could have explored Jay-Z’s Moment of Clarity. So he explored this dynamic and rhyming. And, “If I’m one of the poor, I can’t help the poor/So I got rich and gave me back. It’s a win-win for me.”

The final episode chronicles Jay-Z, Jeezy, and Diddy tripping over President Obama while too many black celebs adhere to Joe Biden’s “You’re Not Black” Democratic National Committee failing to acknowledge people’s legitimate concerns that they are tripping over not an edict. He, one of the show’s talking heads, should have explicitly asked if the artist should make more demands on the co-signer.

It would have appropriately contextualized the 2020 uprising, the final chapter of the documentary series. But activists, including the so-called black elite, who colluded with the establishment to maintain an unfair status quo, were also demonstrating against the entire power structure. planning, organizing, [and] Mobilize. But the clip is from a press conference where he and fellow rapper T.I. told Atlanta residents to stop protesting in the midst of the 2020 George Floyd riots. Parroting instructions is a tenuous way to open up a work about counterculture. And that’s to say nothing of Mike’s nasty defense of vote suppression against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. They could appreciate the ground demonstrations of artists such as Bun B, Chance the Rapper and Raz Simone. you call us people But it should be acknowledged how great the spirit of the community of Noname and an extraordinary artist like him is.

In 2010, Chuck D slammed Jay-Z and Kanye for extravagant work look at the throne“Hip-hop celebrates people who want to kill rather than make a living. make me laugh fight the power I needed more of that energy. The documentary is basically an homage to protest anthems, but when it begins to highlight how wealthy artists are getting and the artistic changes caused by rap’s corporatization, they’re starting to see the genre’s capital. It opened the door to further critique of the ideological spirit. It’s great that hip-hop put artists and others in a position to support their families through creative expression. It just means that Chuck D is about to become the very force he was trying to fight.