- 2 days ago
Follow the evolution of Hip Hop as its artists turn into multimillionaires and successful entrepreneurs. As a cultural phenomenon, Hip Hop continues to change history and is adopted as the voice of protest around the world.
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00:00The following program contains mature content that may not be suitable for all audiences, including depictions of physical assault.
00:08Viewer discretion is advised.
00:16All through the 90s and then through the millennium, hip-hop was taking over America, all over the place, all over the world.
00:25Unbelievable growth.
00:26Hip-hop artists were super mainstream, and they were pop stars now.
00:32I wanted to be really different. I wanted to be outstanding. I just wanted to be flashy tonight.
00:38It was all about who's going to get to the money, who's going to be rich, who's going to be an entrepreneur, who'll be a millionaire.
00:46Jay-Z owns his own record label, clothing line, and movie production company, generating half a billion dollars a year.
00:53I see absolutely nothing wrong with doing what you love to push the culture and also, yes, earn a living.
01:03But it's like, dude, do you know what came before having the good time?
01:06A lot of rappers had that conundrum.
01:11I got one foot in the hood and one foot in the boardroom, and now where should I be? I'm straddling both.
01:20Yeah, it's the biggest business. It's bigger. It's bigger.
01:23But when you got power, then comes responsibility.
01:27What you going to do with it?
01:28Fight the power!
01:47Fight the power!
01:51Fight the power!
01:56We got the fightin' the power, Death Beat!
02:21When hip-hop started, it started from the rubble.
02:35It started from the Bronx.
02:38Then it gains this traction to when it gets to a point where the music that derived from that pain and that suffering
02:44then becomes profitable.
02:48But the music industry had a harder time understanding how to mass market a defiant black image to middle America.
02:59And so the narrative became cats with nice cars, girls, and fancy clothes.
03:06This is the American dream, you know, and it has a dope-ass beat playin' to it at the same time.
03:15While record labels may have been stripping back on the political messages of hip-hop,
03:19there was plenty for rap artists to be talkin' about.
03:24Morning.
03:26Like in New York, where Mayor Giuliani had been tightening the screws on our community.
03:33New York police have increased efforts in the last four months to combat petty crimes that make life miserable.
03:39Rudy Giuliani have supported the broken windows theory, this idea that if there's a broken window on a building,
03:46if you don't fix that broken window, when you come back tomorrow, there'll be two windows broken, or three windows broken.
03:52Something that people sometimes find a little unusual, but it really works,
03:55emphasizing the quality of life crimes, dealing with some of the small things.
03:59I mean, this is really common sense.
04:01Criminals cause crime.
04:02Police officers can have an impact on criminals.
04:04If you arrest them, take them off the streets, and if you patrol effectively, which is even more important,
04:09you can prevent them from committing crime.
04:12Stay down! Stay down!
04:14Anytime the cops will pull us over, you gotta spend the night in jail.
04:19It would just be crowded.
04:20Of course, black and brown.
04:23And I'd be like, what you in here for?
04:24I was drinkin' a beer.
04:25What you in here, they call me Widow Joint.
04:28What you in here, y'all cross the street on the red.
04:31And that was that Giuliani era, where he was just like, lock everybody up.
04:38Rudy Giuliani is also the one to increase stop and frisk.
04:43It set up a very hostile relationship between the police and the black community.
04:48The war on crime has been a key feature of Mayor Giuliani's administration.
04:53But with this extensive success has come a tidal wave of complaints of police brutality.
04:58You look at what Giuliani did to the police.
05:02Imagine what it's like going out there and being the roughest, toughest gang in New York
05:07and operating with impunity because the mayor had your back.
05:12It was only a matter of time before they killed someone.
05:16Amadou Diallo was killed early Thursday morning when police shot into the lobby of Diallo's building.
05:22Police, looking for a rapist, fired 41 bullets at the unarmed and innocent West African immigrant.
05:32Amadou Diallo, cab driver, hard-working dude.
05:36So here you have this innocent man, this hard-working man, this migrant man who was killed.
05:41And Giuliani stood behind the police.
05:45I understand feelings of frustration and fear and anger.
05:49I also think it's shameful if people exploit that and try to make it worse.
05:53The very best thing to tell people at this point is to let the legal system run its course.
05:59Bring the jury in.
06:03Is your verdict unanimous?
06:05Yes.
06:06Not guilty.
06:07The news that four New York City police officers who killed an unarmed African immigrant in a volley of gunfire were set free
06:16brought swift reaction, especially in minority communities.
06:21We are not trying to disrupt the city.
06:24We're trying to stop city police from disrupting us.
06:28This is something that has gone on too far, too long.
06:32Amadou Diallo's story.
06:34He's a black man coming home with his wallet in his hand.
06:37And he gets shot at 41 times.
06:40That resonates with me.
06:42I come home with my wallet in my hand every day.
06:46You felt the gravity of the moment and our responsibility as emerging artists to use our platforms.
06:57The younger generation started to pop up and say things, you know, truth to power directly.
07:07So you had a movement coming about it like what dead press would do.
07:13I remember the hip hop back then became very much anti-status.
07:43Anti-police and police brutality.
07:46I want to be free to live.
07:48Able to have what I need to live.
07:50Bring the power back to the street where the people live.
07:53We sick of working for crumbs and filling up the prisons.
07:55Dying over money and relying on religion for help.
07:58We do for self like ants in a colony.
08:01Organize the wealth into a socialist economy.
08:03A way of life based off the common needs.
08:05And all my comrades is ready.
08:07We just spreading the seed.
08:10There was a consciousness, a greater awareness.
08:12That was wholly exciting too because that introduced this wave of self-empowerment.
08:19We got to get together.
08:20And whether it's a union, whether it's a code of honor, whether it's just us respecting each other as human beings.
08:26I think it's common sense.
08:27It feels like the music began to turn outward again.
08:32In fact, I would argue to the early beginnings, to the roots.
08:37And then of course 9-11 happened.
08:39Catastrophe.
08:59It's like 9-1-1 of what people saw on the television screen was beyond anything that they've seen in the movies.
09:09The 9-11 happened.
09:17And everyone sympathized on America.
09:23And then we responded.
09:27At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations
09:33to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.
09:41It used to be, when we went on tour, the world loved America.
09:45But then that same big smile that we got when we traveled around the world,
09:51people were like,
09:53you're from America.
09:55Fire!
09:56Why are you guys invading a country that didn't show any responsibility for the plants?
10:07And so we wrote a song called, Where's the Love?
10:12And I think the reason why that song made an impact,
10:16because everyone had that same question.
10:18Where is the love?
10:20Where is the love?
10:22I remember when Where is the Love came out.
10:28Honestly, I think it was difficult for some people to translate that to hip-hop,
10:32because it had pop influence.
10:34What's wrong with the world, mama?
10:36People living like they ain't got no mama.
10:39I think the whole world's addicted to the drama.
10:41Only a track of the things that'll bring the trauma.
10:43But for me, identifying with the Black Eyed Peas was easy.
10:48It was them rhyming on a track that was going to be received
10:53in audiences outside of hip-hop.
10:57One of the lyrics in the song was,
10:59If you only have love for your own race,
11:02then you only leave space to discriminate.
11:04And to discriminate only generates hate.
11:07And when you hate, then you're bound to get irate.
11:09Because it made so much sense.
11:11It's like a simple way of saying, like,
11:13how can you only look out for your folks?
11:19Because then that means other folks are looking out for their folks.
11:21And that's the whole concept of racism.
11:24You don't know how to work together.
11:26Let the soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all.
11:29People killing, people dying.
11:31Children hurting, you hear them crying.
11:34And you practice what you preach.
11:36And what you turn the other cheek.
11:38Will.i.am knew where his core came from, culturally.
11:43I need what's being said here to be received
11:46in not one household, not two households.
11:50I need this to be worldwide.
11:52Selling 625,000 singles,
11:55Black Eyed Peas have the biggest selling hit of the year.
11:58And it played all over American radio.
12:00Even in deep south states, they played that.
12:05That song became super important.
12:14George Bush!
12:16George Bush!
12:18As the war in Iraq turned sour,
12:22thousands took to the streets to protest.
12:24That energy was brewing,
12:27and the hip-hop nation said,
12:28we ain't gonna take it no more.
12:29Eminem is releasing a new anti-Bush video online,
12:32and I have to quote Salon.com,
12:34who says,
12:35it makes Theron Haidt 9-11 look like a GOP campaign spot.
12:39Going to Bush,
12:40like, I just reached a point where I seen,
12:43like, I felt like it'd be a real letdown
12:45to any of my fans
12:47if I didn't speak on,
12:48like, how I felt from the heart.
12:50America is the best place to live,
12:52I feel like.
12:53We live in the best country there is,
12:54you know,
12:55and there's supposed to be freedom of speech,
12:56and we got troops overseas that are dying,
12:59and I feel like,
13:00let's get this dude out of office,
13:01because if not,
13:02he's gonna spend the next four years,
13:04I feel like,
13:05driving our country in the ground.
13:08Eminem became a lightning rod
13:10for whatever scared
13:13those in control of society.
13:15He wanted to poke fun at the facade of,
13:18or the hypocrisy of America.
13:27Oh, boy.
13:32When I was a kid,
13:34I just loved hip-hop.
13:35I would just take other rappers' beats
13:36and loop them on a cassette tape,
13:38make raps.
13:39Just little old me.
13:42So, when all these
13:43millions of people
13:45are listening to me,
13:46it was crazy to watch this
13:48whole thing, like,
13:49people are tripping
13:50because I said that.
13:52It made me realize, like,
13:54hip-hop is having this effect on me,
13:56but it's having this effect
13:57on millions of other people, too.
14:01Eminem was a dope rapper.
14:03I first met Eminem
14:04right after he won the Rap Olympics.
14:06He became popular
14:08purely because of his talent
14:09and his skill set
14:11and the fact
14:12that he was a white guy
14:14that was out-rapping
14:15everybody at that time.
14:17What's up, baby?
14:20You can't talk about Eminem
14:21without talking about Dr. Dre.
14:24Dr. Dre foresaw N.W.A.
14:27and helped create
14:28what gangster rap music was,
14:30but he also understood
14:32the game needed changing.
14:34What Dr. Dre recognized in Eminem
14:36was that there's a place
14:38for poor white people
14:39to have say in this culture.
14:41Eminem was not afraid
14:42to call out white America
14:44and say the word
14:45white America.
14:46As a kid,
15:01you'd see MTV raps
15:02and you'd see somebody
15:03like Ice Cube
15:04saying that, you know,
15:05this is,
15:05we're just basically
15:06reporting to you
15:07what's happening
15:08on the streets
15:09where we live.
15:10A lot of the same
15:10was going on
15:11in neighborhoods
15:12that I lived in.
15:12He was a white kid
15:14out of Detroit
15:15who had gone through
15:17hard times himself.
15:18He was able to reflect
15:20white America
15:20in ways that
15:21even black artists couldn't.
15:23White America
15:24I could be one of your kids
15:27White America
15:28No, Eric looks just like this
15:30White America
15:31Erica loves my s***
15:33I go to TRM
15:34Look how many hugs I get
15:36Listen to Eminem's early stuff.
15:38What's going on internally
15:39in the white home.
15:42He's writing you out
15:43He's telling you
15:44Here's my struggle.
15:46So to the parents
15:47of America
15:48I am the derringer
15:50aimed at little Erica
15:51spit liquor in the face
15:53of this democracy
15:54of hypocrisy
15:55What Em showed
15:56the bigger world
15:57that hip-hop could do
15:58was unite people
15:59to understand
16:00that everyone
16:01suffers undeservedly.
16:04He participated
16:05in a culture
16:06he loved
16:07and he brought
16:08new audience
16:08with him.
16:10It's the huge explosion
16:12in legal downloaded
16:13music sales.
16:14It had become so easy
16:16getting hold of music.
16:18Everything was available
16:19at the click of a button
16:20and that made artists
16:22like Eminem
16:23just get bigger
16:24and bigger.
16:26It was the first time
16:27in hip-hop
16:28and rap music
16:29you could get somebody
16:30who really seriously
16:32is making
16:34Elton John
16:35type of money.
16:36You went
16:37in a decade
16:38from being an intern
16:39and a college kid
16:41at Howard University
16:42basically
16:43and then within 10 years
16:44you've got this empire
16:46that you've put together
16:47worth
16:48I'm guessing
16:49tens of millions
16:50if not hundreds
16:51of millions of dollars.
16:52Yeah.
16:52How much are you worth
16:53right now?
16:54I mean it's
16:55I'm worth a lot.
16:58So whenever a big company
17:00wants to sell something
17:01who do they turn to?
17:02They turn to the
17:04inner city musician
17:05to help them
17:05sell their products.
17:07Turns out
17:08we are an enterprise.
17:12They're brand builders.
17:13They decide whether
17:14it's Coke or Pepsi.
17:15The hip-hop community does.
17:16They decide
17:17you know
17:17on Ralph Romano
17:18or Tommy Hilfick
17:19they make choices.
17:21It's just a worldwide
17:23takeover
17:23on every level.
17:2650 Cent
17:27when they announced
17:27he had just made
17:28like $100 million
17:29off of vitamin water
17:30definitely wanted
17:31to transition points
17:32when it went towards
17:33total domination
17:34of the market.
17:35The whole crew
17:35we all out here
17:36y'all it's going down
17:37vitamin water.
17:38They pay me
17:39a lot of money.
17:43Hip-hop artists
17:44understand that
17:45they are now
17:45major cultural leaders
17:48in America
17:49and being such
17:51you have a platform
17:53you have power.
17:54So when things
17:56happen
17:56in the real world
17:58and hip-hop
18:00speaks to them
18:01everybody hears it
18:03everybody's impacted
18:04that's what takes
18:05place with Katrina.
18:06There's now over 25 feet
18:35to water where there
18:36was once city streets
18:37and flourishing neighborhoods.
18:40The city has been transformed
18:41tragically
18:42and perhaps forever.
18:47Hurricane Katrina
18:48the devastation took place
18:50which is when the levees broke.
18:53It's like that area
18:55sits almost in a bowl.
18:57Those communities
18:57are the most economically
18:59challenged communities
19:00predominantly black communities.
19:02those that could leave
19:08dead.
19:10So by the time
19:11the flooding happened
19:11the real devastation
19:13the people that were still there
19:15were there because
19:16they couldn't leave.
19:19When Katrina hit me
19:21it was personal.
19:22It was personal
19:23because I
19:24knew people
19:26from down there
19:27a great friend of mine
19:29her and her mom
19:31Miss Tillman's house
19:32was wiped out.
19:35The United States of America
19:36and the world
19:37saw people in New Orleans
19:39stuck
19:40on the roofs
19:42of their houses
19:43crying for help.
19:45The president's job
20:03is to reassure
20:04the citizens
20:05to make us feel
20:06that things
20:07are under control
20:08that there's someone
20:09in charge.
20:10He did not
20:11do that.
20:14Coming back
20:15from a western trip
20:16Air Force One
20:16flew President Bush
20:18low over New Orleans
20:19for a first-hand look
20:20at the devastation.
20:25That tragedy
20:26showed me
20:26government gave
20:27not one damn
20:28about us.
20:31Government
20:32did not care
20:33to save
20:34the people
20:34who were pouring
20:35on the ground
20:36in a way
20:37that they deserved.
20:38The song
20:39you're singing
20:39at the Grammys
20:40is about Katrina,
20:41right?
20:43And that song
20:44you, right?
20:45I knew some people
20:46who were in that pool,
20:49right?
20:51Are you still angry
20:52about it?
20:54Angry isn't the word.
20:55No!
20:56No!
20:56No!
20:56No!
20:57No!
20:57No!
20:57No!
20:58No!
20:58No!
20:58No!
20:59No!
20:59No!
20:59No!
21:00No!
21:00No!
21:01No!
21:01No!
21:02No!
21:02When there was a space
21:04for leaders
21:05to move in,
21:07hip-hop artists
21:08moved in
21:09and took over
21:10that space.
21:11You know,
21:15artists like
21:16Diddy and Jay-Z
21:17getting together
21:18and donating
21:18a million dollars
21:19for all of
21:21the New Orleans
21:22artists.
21:25David Banner
21:26organized
21:27an amazing,
21:29an amazing
21:30concert in Atlanta
21:32simply to get
21:34the money
21:34to send
21:35to victims
21:35of Hurricane Katrina.
21:37and we were in
21:39one of the biggest
21:40stadiums in the country.
21:42Hip-hop gave
21:43exactly what they had
21:44themselves.
21:46They gave their talent
21:47for the bigger purpose.
21:57We're looking
21:58at Hurricane Katrina.
22:00We are looking
22:01at 9-11.
22:02We're looking
22:03at the Iraq War.
22:04People were clamoring
22:07for something different,
22:08that they wanted
22:09change to happen.
22:12People of color
22:13were tired of Bush.
22:14They were tired
22:15of being ignored.
22:17Tired of being told
22:18that a black man
22:18can never,
22:19or a black woman
22:19can never be president.
22:21Got tired of that.
22:22It's going to take,
22:23I feel it's going to take
22:23a black president
22:24to make a change
22:25like that.
22:26It's going to take
22:26a black president
22:27to stand up
22:28that has gone through
22:29all of that pain
22:30and heartache
22:31and turmoil
22:33in their lives
22:33and struggle
22:34to be able
22:35to set things right
22:36and balance
22:37the world out.
22:48I was there
22:49at the Democratic
22:50Convention
22:50at the coming out
22:53of Senator Barack Obama.
22:56Everybody was just
22:57thrown like,
22:58who is this guy?
22:59Tonight is a particular
23:00honor for me
23:01because, let's face it,
23:03my presence on this stage
23:05is pretty unlikely.
23:07My father was born
23:08and raised
23:09in a small village
23:10in Kenya.
23:11Through hard work
23:12and perseverance,
23:13my father got a scholarship
23:14to study
23:15in a magical place,
23:17America,
23:18that shone
23:19as a beacon
23:20of freedom
23:20and opportunity
23:21to so many
23:22who had come before.
23:25You had the senator
23:26standing up
23:27and speaking out
23:28against the Iraq war.
23:30That in a dangerous world,
23:33war must be an option
23:34sometimes,
23:35but it should never be
23:36the first option.
23:39He was pointing out
23:41the ills
23:41but making you feel
23:42that there was
23:42some hope involved.
23:44It's the hope of slaves
23:45sitting around
23:46a fire singing
23:46freedom songs.
23:48The hope of immigrants
23:49setting out
23:50for distant shores.
23:52The hope of a skinny kid
23:54with a funny name
23:55who believes
23:55that America
23:56has a place
23:57for him too.
24:02Thank you very much,
24:03everybody.
24:04Right, thank you.
24:06Barack hit my soul
24:07and he had to look.
24:12Did I see him
24:13being president
24:14in 2007,
24:168?
24:16Hell no.
24:17The United States
24:18of America
24:18is such
24:19in a racist place.
24:21You know,
24:24I don't see it happening.
24:28Is this fun to do?
24:29I love doing this.
24:30This is what politics
24:31is all about.
24:32Can I say hello?
24:36Obama scares me.
24:38I just,
24:39I'm worried about
24:41what will happen
24:42to this country
24:42if Obama takes off.
24:47One person tell me
24:49that they're afraid
24:50that if Obama
24:50got elected
24:52as president
24:52that he would make
24:54all the white people
24:55slaves.
24:56You know,
24:57somebody told me
24:57that they weren't
24:57going to vote
24:58for that
24:58I think that's
25:02probably the most
25:02offensive thing
25:03that you could say.
25:04People were like,
25:05get out of my face.
25:06No black man
25:07is going to be president.
25:13But Barack Obama
25:14was a breath
25:15of fresh air
25:16when you were tired
25:18of the same old
25:18politics.
25:20We are one people.
25:22We are one nation.
25:24And together
25:25we will begin
25:26the next great chapter
25:28in the American story
25:30with three words
25:31that will ring
25:32from coast to coast,
25:34from sea to shining sea.
25:37Yes, we can.
25:39Thank you, New Hampshire.
25:41By the time Obama
25:44started to run,
25:45the youthful fervor
25:46in trying to get
25:47some kind of change
25:48had really picked up.
25:51Obama was young
25:52and he had swag
25:54and he was comfortable
25:58with hip-hop
25:59and hip-hop culture.
26:00And so he had
26:08this mobilization
26:09of hip-hop artists
26:11begin to flock
26:13to his side.
26:13This is beautiful to me.
26:15This is the thing
26:15that they don't understand.
26:17We're honored.
26:18We came out here
26:18to see you guys personally.
26:20I think about Jay-Z,
26:22I think about Puff,
26:23Vote or Die.
26:23What better commercial
26:25could you have?
26:26It's comparable
26:27to the Beatles
26:28campaigning for you.
26:29Something that I never
26:30felt before.
26:31I could feel,
26:32you could feel,
26:33our children could feel.
26:34Don't take it for granted, y'all.
26:36Things are about to change.
26:38It was a whole new way
26:40of hip-hop
26:42really getting involved
26:44and getting people out to vote
26:47and getting people
26:47registered to vote.
26:51Decision day at last.
26:53Turnout is huge.
26:55Cueing time is up to five hours.
26:58Go Barack!
26:59Woo!
27:00My daughter was a voting age.
27:02She voted.
27:03I voted.
27:05And then my dad
27:06and my mom voted
27:07for the same person.
27:10Huge numbers of these people
27:11have never voted before.
27:18People have died
27:19and fought for us
27:20to have this right.
27:21And so the exercise
27:22is right today.
27:23It's like giving back
27:23to Martin Luther King
27:25and Rosa Parks
27:26and everybody
27:27that fought for us
27:28to have this right to vote.
27:30We're not going to vote
27:31for nobody
27:31just because they're black.
27:32You know,
27:33we're voting for him
27:34because he's the best candidate.
27:35Yeah!
27:38It does feel good
27:39that we finally have
27:41somebody that's actually qualified
27:42that's given a chance.
27:43CNN cannot project
27:54the president-elect
27:55of the United States,
27:58Barack Obama.
27:59Obama is the first
28:16hip-hop president.
28:20The generation
28:21that grew up on hip-hop,
28:23they voted Obama in.
28:25So there has been
28:29a changing of the guard
28:30for the better.
28:41The guard tears to my eyes
28:44and I remember
28:46going to the club that night
28:47and they kept playing
28:49that Jeezy.
28:50My president is black
28:51all night.
28:53Tell him I'm doing fine
28:55Obama for mankind
28:57When we ready for
28:58change
28:59so y'all let the man shine
29:00Stuntin' on Martin Luther
29:02Feelin' just like a king
29:03Guess this is what he meant
29:05when he said it
29:06He had a dream
29:07My president is black
29:07My lambo's blue
29:09Rap is a lightning rod, man.
29:11It connected that energy
29:12to be able to say,
29:14Barack Obama,
29:15yes,
29:16it's your time.
29:18Is anyone out there
29:20who still doubts
29:22that America
29:23is a place
29:24where all things
29:25are possible
29:26Who still questions
29:28the power
29:29of our democracy
29:30Tonight
29:32is your answer
29:33Thank you
29:41God bless you
29:42And may God bless
29:44the United States
29:45of America
29:45I was at the inauguration
29:56It was freezing
29:58But he had the whole
30:01hip-hop community
30:02behind him
30:02It was a wave
30:05It was an energy
30:07Obama
30:10So does hope
30:11feel like heroin
30:14It took a while
30:19for that glow
30:22to wear off
30:24A lot of people
30:28had convinced themselves
30:30that because we elected
30:32a black man
30:33there was black equality now
30:35No
30:35You elected
30:37a black
30:38captain of the ship
30:40But we still live
30:42in different compartments
30:43on the ship
30:449-1-1
30:47Do you need police
30:48for our medical?
30:50Maybe both
30:50I'm not sure
30:51There's just someone
30:52screaming outside
30:53Okay
30:54And is it a male
30:54or female?
30:56It sounds like a male
30:57And you don't know why?
30:59I don't know why
31:00I think they're yelling
31:01help
31:01but I don't know
31:02Just send someone
31:04to like
31:05say stop
31:05Okay
31:06Does he look hurting?
31:09I can't see him
31:10I don't want to go out there
31:11I don't know what's going on
31:11So
31:12They're sending
31:14So you think he's yelling
31:18help?
31:19Yes
31:19Alright
31:20What is your
31:20Just
31:23There's
31:23Don't you
31:24Trayvon Martin
31:29Trayvon Martin
31:29A high school student
31:30never in trouble
31:31with the law
31:32was on an errand
31:33when he caught the eye
31:34of neighborhood watch
31:35captain George Zimmerman
31:36After Zimmerman reported
31:38the teen is suspicious
31:39two minutes later
31:40the teen had been shot
31:41in the chest
31:42and killed
31:43I'm sickened
31:44with every black life
31:46I see
31:46robbed of an opportunity
31:48to grow
31:49at the hands
31:50of the state
31:51or white vigilantes
31:52And with being sickened
31:56I cannot tell you
31:58I'm surprised
31:58You cannot name me
32:02a decade
32:02that blacks
32:03have not been
32:04in this country
32:05where this type of
32:06horror has not happened
32:07Trayvon Martin
32:08was my son
32:09But he's not
32:12just my son
32:13He's all of our son
32:15and we have to fight
32:16for our children
32:17Yes
32:18Trayvon Martin
32:21happened under
32:23Barack Obama
32:23When I think about
32:27this boy
32:29I think about
32:32my own kids
32:32You know
32:36if I had a son
32:36he'd look like Trayvon
32:37We had never heard
32:39certainly a sitting
32:40president
32:40say something like that
32:42from the heart
32:43the response
32:45among African Americans
32:46was like
32:46what are you going
32:46to do about it now
32:47There were a series
32:52of very high profile
32:54incidents
32:55during the
32:56presidential administration
32:57of Barack Obama
32:59where black people
33:01die in the hands
33:02of the police
33:04In Ferguson
33:07with Mike Brown
33:08you had the pictures
33:09of a black man
33:11being shot
33:12and his body
33:12being left
33:13in the street
33:14for almost four hours
33:15People were frustrated
33:17people were fed up
33:18and it was
33:19an explosive moment
33:21What does it mean
33:26to have a black president
33:27if the streets
33:29are on fire
33:30Our folk are dying
33:35Wake up
33:36We are here
33:36to be heard
33:37Our voices do matter
33:40You saw the birth
33:41of Black Lives Matter
33:42I mean that was
33:42happening
33:43under the presidency
33:45of Barack Obama
33:46If they could make
33:48send us two cops
33:49to jail
33:50The whole damn system
33:52is guilty as hell
33:53We marched
33:55on Barack Obama's
33:57White House
33:58You had
34:00black people
34:02white people
34:03gay people
34:04straight people
34:05everybody was there
34:06It was beautiful
34:08like that
34:09It was a realization
34:11It was a wake up call
34:12Your president
34:13ain't here
34:14to do these things
34:15for you first
34:16You better figure out
34:17and make them
34:17understand that
34:19black lives matter
34:20Enough is enough
34:22We are tired
34:24of going to jail
34:26for nothing
34:26and others going
34:28home for something
34:29Hip-hop is always
34:33going to give you
34:34the song that you need
34:35It's going to supply you
34:37with the theme song
34:38to the moment
34:39We gon' be alright
34:42We gon' be alright
34:44We gon' be alright
34:46We gon' be alright
34:48We gon' be alright
34:49We gon' be alright
34:51The anthem of
34:54Black Lives Matter
34:55is
34:56We gon' be alright
34:57My knees getting weak
34:58and my gun might build
34:59But we gon' be alright
35:01We gon' be alright
35:03I remember watching the video
35:06and every time my stomach would go into knots.
35:11Living in the United States
35:12during the whole beginnings of Black Lives Matter,
35:16this is what we tell ourselves.
35:18Like, we're going to be all right.
35:20We're going to be all right.
35:21Do you hear me? Do you feel me?
35:22We're going to be all right.
35:24Not that we're going to fix this.
35:25Not that it's never going to happen again,
35:27but we're going to be all right.
35:29And that's what we need right now.
35:31Some hope.
35:33We're going to be all right.
35:35We're going to be all right.
35:37We're going to be all right.
35:38That youth that Black Lives Matter is built on,
35:42they were the ones that were singing
35:44because it gave them a unifying thing of healing.
35:49We're going to be all right.
35:51We're going to be all right.
35:53We're going to be all right.
35:55People are feeling the same trauma, the same despair.
35:58Kendrick coming with this song
35:59helps you to express your anger and your grief.
36:02When you know
36:03We've been hurt, been down before
36:05When our pride was low
36:07Looking at the world like, where do we go?
36:10We done been through this before.
36:13We fought it.
36:13We've lived on beyond it.
36:16So the only way to express that is
36:18We're going to be all right.
36:19When President Barack Obama came in,
36:25I looked at his presidency as an hourglass.
36:29I said, take advantage of your time.
36:31Time will go fast.
36:34By 2016, I knew that that clock was running out.
36:38I got to go back to work.
36:42I still got to work.
36:44Donald Trump, real estate man and multi-millionaire.
36:49A wheeler and dealer who doesn't let anything or anyone stand in his way.
36:54Hip-hop during the 90s embraced Donald Trump.
36:59He showed that upper level of status.
37:02The riches, the diamonds, the jewelry.
37:05Donald Trump was even inside cats, bars and lyrics.
37:09The aspirational side of hip-hop saw Donald Trump like a great Gatsby kind of figure.
37:17It made some of us in the movement at that time uneasy because we knew Donald Trump.
37:27Five teens, four black, one Latino, all charged with the brutal rape of a 28-year-old jogger in New York Central Park.
37:35Two weeks after their high-profile arrest, Donald Trump took out full-page ads in four major newspapers calling for the death penalty to be reinstated.
37:47The Central Park Five served their sentences nearly seven years in prison, but none of them were guilty.
37:56The guys that went to jail wrongly around the Central Park Five were people that would buy hip-hop, people that would buy rap.
38:05So I would try to say to a lot of the hip-hop artists, the fans that are making you are the ones victimized by the guys like Trump.
38:15I never deceived myself of who he was and what he was about.
38:20I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again.
38:39From the first speech, he never hid his message.
38:43He played off of racism and divisiveness.
38:46When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.
38:52They're bringing drugs.
38:53They're bringing crime.
38:55They're rapists.
38:56They had cardboards that said, the silent majority.
39:08So, what you have to understand is that cardboard was saying, oh, there's a lot of people who feel the same way I feel.
39:15They just don't say it.
39:17USA! USA! USA!
39:20We saw what they call the white lash response to Barack Obama.
39:25Anger and frustration.
39:27First thing I'd like to say is all lives matter, not just black lives.
39:32You're an American citizen!
39:35Stand up as an American!
39:37Hip-hop artists were no longer talking about,
39:40yeah, Donald Trump's the man because he got billions.
39:42They're talking about what is this white supremacist doing
39:44running on the White House?
39:45His conversation is divisive,
39:47and that's not an evolved soul to me.
39:49So he cannot be my president.
39:53He cannot be our president.
39:56We don't need Jay-Z to fill up arenas, you know.
40:00We do it the old-fashioned way.
40:02This country was divided,
40:08and he played on that,
40:10and he got elected on that.
40:12Ladies and gentlemen,
40:14the president-elect of the United States,
40:16Donald John Trump.
40:26When he got elected, there was so much apathy,
40:30disillusionment.
40:32I said,
40:33now people have steered their ass backwards
40:37into a dark unknown area.
40:55Trump had just gotten in office when Charlottesville happened.
40:58There was a sense that we were moving backwards.
41:02Hundreds of torch-carrying white nationalists
41:05marched through the University of Virginia campus,
41:07protesting the decision to remove a statue
41:09of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
41:13You could feel the tension when you rolled into the town.
41:17And you could see the people just kind of watching us.
41:19Then you started seeing dudes with these big, long sticks,
41:25these AR-15s, and these assault rifles.
41:28As soon as I looked back up, bam!
41:33One person is dead and 19 injured
41:38after a speeding vehicle drove into a group of protestors
41:41marching peacefully through downtown Charlottesville.
41:4332-year-old Heather Heyer died when a car
41:46drove into counter-protesters
41:48after a demonstration by neo-Nazis,
41:50white supremacists, and Ku Klux Klan members.
41:53We condemn in the strongest possible terms
41:56this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence
42:02on many sides. On many sides.
42:05The times we were living in at that moment,
42:09the way that he had divided the country
42:11and some of the things that was coming out of his mouth,
42:14I don't know. It was getting me angry.
42:16There was a group on this side, you can call them the left,
42:19or you've just called them the left,
42:21that came violently attacking the other group.
42:24So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is.
42:28You need to be aware of your platform.
42:32Sometimes you might need to take a stand and say certain things.
42:37It's the calm before the storm right here.
42:42Wait, how was I gonna start this off?
42:44I felt like I wanna take this opportunity
42:47to let people who don't know what I'm about understand.
42:53This is why I'm saying this.
42:55Racism's the only thing he's fantastic for,
42:59cause that's how he gets his rocks off and he's orange.
43:03This is what I feel like I need to say right now.
43:05I wanted to make it so that there was no doubt.
43:08And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his,
43:11I'm drawing in the sand a line you're either for or against.
43:17And if you can't decide who you like more in your split
43:21on who you should stand beside, I'll do it for you with this.
43:25The headlines this morning belong to Eminem, who released a scathing cipher directly at Donald Trump.
43:33The four and a half minute takedown is throwing the world into a frenzy.
43:38Eminem is a truth teller at his core.
43:44You know, that's why he's a great hip hop artist.
43:47He knows that there's a lot of overlap between his fan base and Trump's,
43:51which to me is why his call out of his fans is really so significant.
43:56If it's gonna divide my fan base, then so be it.
44:00You may divide some people, but you're also gonna bring a lot more people together.
44:06And maybe I could take this opportunity and this platform I have to be somebody that could inspire change.
44:13The rest of America stand up.
44:18We love our military and we love our country, but we pay Trump.
44:28Nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump.
44:32And if you look with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln,
44:40nobody has done what I've done.
44:42What the? Did I see that? Did I hear what? Did he just say that?
44:51Donald Trump doesn't engage with the problems black communities continue to face.
44:58Like the problem of police brutality.
45:02I am the big, big believer and admirer of the people in law enforcement. Okay? From day one.
45:12He has visions of crime infested cities. We need to go back to this era of punishment.
45:21Please don't be too nice.
45:24Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand off.
45:33Like, don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody. Don't hit their head.
45:36I said, you can take the hand away. Okay?
45:38What we saw in 2020 was a reflection of where we were as a country that had not made advancements.
45:45So we had not dealt with police brutality in a legislative way. We had not changed the police culture. And it just took a spark.
45:54Please, man. Please, please, man. You got an idea on you? I got going on.
46:03All right, what's your name? George.
46:06Oh!
46:07What are you- are you on something right now?
46:08I got nothing.
46:09Cause you have to real erratic.
46:11Ah, stop falling down.
46:13I'm claustrophobic, man.
46:15Stand up.
46:16I'm claustrophobic.
46:17Stay on your feet and face the car door.
46:19Please, man. Please.
46:21No.
46:23Get them down the ground.
46:24on your feet and face the car door no thank you get on the ground on the ground
46:44right you got your uh mama on my right side back mama mama
46:54marks watching please
47:0246 year old george floyd died in police custody on monday you could clearly hear mr floyd saying
47:09that i cannot breathe when i saw the george floyd murder i think that americans who don't believe
47:18tyranny is possible need to look at that george floyd tape over and over and over and over again
47:24and take the fact that he was a black and a man out of it and understand that this can happen to
47:28any united states citizens once another citizen is given power by the state and a uniform the
47:34injustice that we're seeing it is not new this is centuries old the question is what's going to be
47:39different this time the rise of smartphones means that we are beginning to capture these incidents
47:50of police brutality at an accelerated rate and instead of now millions of people viewing this
47:57billions of people are viewing this in very short periods of time
48:03stay at home that is the order tonight from four state governors it was in the midst of a global
48:08pandemic everybody was at home everybody was on technology and so the video with the murder of george
48:17floyd it got shared worldwide this is a video of the incident i just need to warn you that it is
48:25distressing in this newly circulated video you can hear floyd pleading for air people all over the
48:35world are watching this hatred and hostility toward people because of the color of their skin
48:41and it was all exacerbated by the fact donald trump was president why are african americans still dying
48:50at the hands of law enforcement in this country so are white people so are white people more white
48:56people by the way more white people there is a common feeling of anger around the globe and hip-hop becomes
49:05the guiding force that compels people to join in and speak out it's easy to be indifferent when there's
49:13really no proof but now that you have proof there's no way you can just stand on the sidelines and be
49:18indifferent about this stuff anymore hip-hop communicated now not through bars and beats but through cameras
49:25and social media this is the powder keg this is the perfect storm if you will uh for the opportunity
49:33for change to come social media is bigger than the news what happens here is worldwide now is the time
49:40to plot plan strategize organize and mobilize social media gave hip-hop a platform to say
49:51what we're going to do is congregate we're going to posse up
50:12thousands marched in london berlin tehran rio de janeiro even across the globe in new zealand
50:21we're talking about the largest protest in american history
50:42and arguably perhaps some of the largest protests in world history
50:46that is very much a reflection of hip-hop hip-hop has always been the soundtrack of the revolutionary
50:54impulse i said to myself yeah it's almost like cycles i emerged in the 80s
51:05now you had the younger activists with black lives matter there's always been hip-hop brought us all
51:11together when we released fight the power in 1989 we were voicing the struggle of our times
51:22but every generation has to figure out for itself because you know what fighting the power means
51:28it's always going to be some can you answer that the year is 2020 the number another summer get down
51:37sound of the funky drummer music getting the heart cause i know you got soul
51:43after what happened with george floyd it was beautiful to see the resurrection of fight the power
51:49with classic mcs and new mcs on it yo chuck i'm fighting the power right now thanks to you flavor p.e putting
51:56it down putting your life on the line so i can rap now the next generation still singing fight the power
52:03it's just another way of telling you that the fight never ends
52:07but we're together remember that we're together
52:10fight the power
52:15hip-hop is the global voice of dissent and really the global voice for justice when people especially
52:23in urban areas want to get a message out to their community and to the world with feeling with vigor
52:30and with truth they turn to hip-hop as culture not just rap music
52:36fight the power in ukraine kalush orchestra they're speaking out against what's going on in their
52:44country hip-hop is you and your land you and your country speaking your truth to your people
53:00power rap has brought so many people together so many different nationalities so many from all
53:05backgrounds and i don't know if that happens without hip-hop
53:12hip-hop is the communication platform you know is it powerful absolutely
53:19does it have the power to shape public opinion and shape minds yes do i think that it's it's
53:25best days are ahead of it yes i think there's a lot of people now realizing um
53:31that is bigger than music you know it has to be people people stronger than this evil smash your
53:39power structure melanin royal rico system designed to kill and unprotect worldwide hit the streets just
53:44to get some respect our fight and our rights for freedom will never waver justice brianna taylor salute
53:49chuck and flavor feel the same anger since radio raheem died black power to the people push forward pride
53:55up hip-hop has always been like a worldwide religious experience i've always looked at myself as being a
54:03service person i'm at service to the crowd hip-hop's greatest achievement is seriously fighting for
54:11For that voice to be heard that was for so long strangled and silenced.
54:19Make everybody see in order to fight the powers that be.
54:30Fight the Power, How Hip Hop Changed the World is available on Amazon Prime Video.
54:41For more information visit www.fema.org
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