Pop Music & Social Change

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Pop Music and Social Change
Pop music, especially hip-hop music of the late 80s, 90s to today have been at the forefront in the lobby for racial equality as well voicing out against social injustices. The hip-hop groups of the 80s and early 90s was a major turn-around for the fight against social injustices that the citizens from the projects in the American cities faced (Thompson). Although hip-hop music faced strong opposition following their use of uncivilized slang, its role in demanding social justice cannot be overlooked.
Hip-hop artists of African-American descent from the 80s to the 90s happened at an era when social injustices against the minority had risen (Charney, Bown, and Csandra). In his track “Changes,” Tupac addresses racism, police brutality, and poverty all at the same time. Tupac says “am tired of being poor and even worse am black.” On police brutality, he adds “police give a damn about a Negro, pull the trigger kill a nigga he’s a hero.” (Stanford) The Ghetto Boyz found themselves in a political storm following a critical album “War and Peace” that was well received by the black community (Fransisco-J and Adrian). Rapper Immortal technique from Harlem released “Revolutionary 1 and 2” to address the challenges the black and Latino citizens were facing. Today, rappers such as J-Cole, Kendrick Lamar, T.I among others still express the need for equality through hip-hop music (Hafez) (McCormick).
In the push for a just society, hip-hop artists of white descent from the 90s and early 2000s were not left out (Alexandrovna).

Eminem in his songs “Mosh” and “We as Americans” criticized George Bush for the Iraq bomb attack. Also, rapper Diabolic together criticized the way that George Bush governed regardless of the needs of the minority Americans. (Rodman)
To conclude, it is evident that hip-hop music despite its uncivil language has been a significant tool in intervening violation of the rights of citizens in the United States of America.

Works Cited
Alexandrovna, Larisa. Hip-Hop artist Immortal Technique challenges colonialism and the fourth estate. 17 February 2009. https://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/HipHop_artist_Immortal_Technique_challenges_colonialism_0216.html. 03 October 2018.
Charney, Bown, and Csandra. “Is Black Motherhood a maker of opression or empowerment.” Journal of Hip-hop Studies 2.1 (2015): 41-44.
Fransisco-J and Hernandez Adrian. “Beyond the Hip-hop stages.” Sage Journals (2015): 13-22.
Hafez, Farid. “Politics beats in the Alps.” Journal of Black studies 1.3 (2016): 171`-212.
McCormick, Neil. Beyoncé’s Super Bowl salute to the Black Panthers is a thrilling example of how pop can be political. 8 FEBRUARY 2016. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/beyoncs-super-bowl-salute-to-the-black-panthers-is-a-thrilling-e/. 03 October 2018.
Rodman, Gilbert. “Eminem and the cultural politics of Authenticity. .” the international journal of media and culture 2.4 (2009): 95-121.
Stanford, Karinj. “Keepin it real in Hip-hop politics; a political pewrcepectrive of Tupac Shakur.” Journal Of Black Studies (2010): 7-16. sage journals.
Thompson, Derek. 1991: The Most Important Year in Pop-Music History. 8 MAY 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/1991-the-most-important-year-in-music/392642/. 03 October 2018.