The legacy of Black Power Visual Culture in 1990s Hip Hop

The article which I chose from US Studies Online was “The legacy of Black Power Visual Culture in 1990s Hip Hop”. I chose this article because, following last week’s lecture and blog task I became more interested in the representation of the Black Power movement through different forms of music and film.

The article I chose focuses specifically on Hip Hop in the 1990’s which was politically charged and reflected on the treatment of African Americans at the time. Groups such as N.W.A were particularly controversial in this aspect, with Anti-Police songs and because of their lyrics, a heavy police presence at their concerts in order to stop public disorder.

The article goes into detail about the use of imagery by Hip Hop artists in the 1990’s, showing images from album covers and posters, depicting obvious black panther symbolism and images alluding to the separatist movement. One such image is the album cover of Boogie Down Productions’ (BDP) second album By All Means Necessary. The image portrays KRS-One standing with a gun in one hand peering out of a window, mirroring the famous picture of Malcom X from 1964. The album’s title itself is also a play on the line from the famous Malcom X speech where he calls for an end to the oppression of the black people by any means necessary. This remake of the old political poster shows a permeation of the old Black Power movement through the generations to the Hip Hop artists of the 1990’s. It also highlights the importance of the movement as it is being distributed nationally through the music of the popular Hip Hop artists.

I feel like this was the most interesting article I could find personally as, having just had a lecture on Black America and finding it very interesting I felt as though I wanted to pursue this further. The article also links the political side of the Black Power struggle with the more cultural side and I felt as though this was particularly interesting.

Bibliography:

http://www.baas.ac.uk/usso/the-legacy-of-black-power-visual-culture-in-1990s-hip-hop/