50 Years of Hip-Hop: How a generation fostered creativity from urban despair and racial barriers
Hip-hop, a subculture and an art movement, was born when urban youth in crime and poverty-ridden neighbourhoods in South Bronx in New York City sought street corners to hang out and found ways to express their despairing selves. In the late 1970s, South Bronx was rocked by a manufacturing decline and an expressway that ended the local businesses. The emerging hip-hop movement gave the youths a recreative space to voice their despair and hardship, which grew to become a global phenomenon. Here's a look at the pioneers
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
Queen Latifah Circa 1980. Queen Latifah made her mark by bringing rap closer home by offering an alternative to rap's predominantly male, often misogynistic viewpoint. Her songs spoke of issues faced by a black woman every day—domestic violence, harassment on the streets. Her seminal 1994 anthem, 'UNITY', earned her the first rap Grammy awarded to a woman. Her success in music in the late 1980s launched a wave of female rappers who deify her to date.
