![]() You didn’t have a way to talk to the masses and did. “A lot of what were saying, they’d hope it would be crystalized by a song. “People can now speak for themselves,” he said. The current generation of rap fans and activists relies less on hip-hop artists, who have gotten less lyrically political over time, to legitimize their sentiments and movements, Davey D added, underscoring the lasting effects of N.W.A.'s legacy. ![]() However, the pioneering rap group was an influential piece of a tapestry of politically charged verbal expression, said Davey D, a noted hip-hop historian and veteran radio DJ in California’s San Francisco Bay Area. Misogyny in N.W.A.’s lyrics helped to fuel criticism that the rappers were less than ideal as messengers of the black struggle against oppression. “If you’re or activist today, you have been influenced by N.W.A., particularly in how you’re articulating that message,” said Welbeck, who is also a Philadelphia-based hip-hop artist and social activist influenced by the pioneering rap group. The biopic celebrates in part N.W.A.’s legacy and influence on a generation of civically minded artists and activists, such as Black Lives Matter, a growing movement against police brutality that has been drawing increasing media attention. riots that followed the videotaped beating by police of Rodney King by a few years. Release of the group's breakout album, “ Straight Outta Compton,” in 1988, with its unflinching critiques of law enforcement in songs such as “F- tha Police” and “Express Yourself,” preceded the L.A. “Not only did they further usher hip-hop into the mainstream culture, they also shined a light on urban neglect that many people felt was being ignored.” “They are one of the most influential groups of any genre of the last 25 or 30 years,” said Timothy Welbeck, an African-American studies professor at Temple University, in Philadelphia. While critics of their hardcore and vulgar lyrical content ranged from white politicians to conservative black community leaders, their message and meteoric rise - chronicled in the highly anticipated "Straight Outta Compton" biopic opening nationwide Friday - in many ways foreshadowed today’s mainstream scrutiny of police treatment of minorities in the U.S. Formed in the late '80s out of South Central Los Angeles, the group put the West Coast, specifically the city of Compton, on the map during what had been an East Coast-dominated hip-hop scene. ![]() through their music.įew of them, however, have been as groundbreaking as N.W.A., the quintet who rhymed about the grim realities of their immediate, volatile surroundings. But one thing that can't be disputed is how many rappers past and present have chronicled injustices experienced by urban and African-American communities in the U.S. ![]() Whether the modern movement against racial profiling, police brutality and mass incarceration has hip-hop artists to thank for giving voice to the struggle is debatable.
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