Believe it or not, I think it could.
I also believe punk rock could have changed the world (well it DID, but I think it could have been in a more meaningful, impactful and constructive way). Hip hop can pick up where punk rock left off or maybe even unite with each other (this is what I thought about when I first heard Public Enemy).
One of the biggest differences is technology.
Think about it, in the 80’s if there was a riot or a surpise concert or a raid, no one could communicate with each other and intervene. Now you’ve got texting and camera phones. If you wanted to read about underground music or even KNOW about underground music you had to live near an indie record store or hopefully have at least one cool, geek leader type in your community. If you were really hip and connected you might have tracked down an indie zine and you collected every issue. They came once a month. The news was old before you got it. Now you’ve got the World Wide Web, streaming video and blogging. In the 80’s if you wanted to discover underground hip hop you had to live in an urban area and/or be lucky enough to live on the right hill facing the right way so you could tune into the alternative radio that was available nearest you. Now you’ve got internet radio and podcasting. In the 80’s, you might have been the only weirdo on your entire block with a shaved head or mohawk. Now you’ve got YouTube and you can find all kinds of groups to belong to. You know you’re not alone. You’ve got it all babe. If you use it constructively, you can change the world.
I totally believe it.
Did not Martin Luther King Jr. change the world? He didn’t have a T.V show, a podcast, a cell phone, a blog, nada. He couldn’t contact thousands or millions of people at the push of a button. You can. You and hip hop can change the world.
What am I listening to now? DJ Rasta Root, XM Satelite radio channel 65 - The Rhyme. Good stuff.
I truly think that if you listened to hip hop non-stop for 30 days you would be a different person at the end of it. BUT not the commercialized shizzle that you hear on top 40 radio. I’m talking about the kind you hear on Ali Shaheed Mohamed’s show on XM 65 or www.hiphopphilosophy.com. Take the challenge and see what happens.
