How Hip Hop Artists Like Kendrick Lamar

Over the last two years in the United States the African-American people have been fighting a war within our own backyards. The Washington Post reports that since January 2015, the police have shot and killed over 175 young black men ranging from ages 18-29; 24 of them were unarmed. On the flip side 172 young white men were killed, only 18 being unarmed. With these statistics there are similarities in the numbers but, blacks were killed at rates disproportional to their percentage of U.S population (1.Washington Post). Of all unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015. With 40% being black men make up just 6% of the nation’s populations. In the wake of the killings of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and many more the world has been made more publicly aware of injustices black people have to handle when dealing with law enforcement. Crime in the black community is nothing new in the black community or should I say black on black crime. There is a bad stereotype that has been put on black people since slavery times that I believe has help fueled the violence between the police and my people.

From the early 1980’s into the early 1990’s, hip-hop was an integral tool in the dissemination of young people’s voices against mainstream politics. These times were tense and rather controversial. It began with Reagan’s call for the reemergence of state rights; this call was a form of political messaging which utilized coded language targeting different groups with dual messages also known as dog whistling. It allowed individual states total power and control in instituting their own policies including segregation. On top of the aforementioned and in light of the increased state regulation, intense and increased police brutality became an unfortunate reflection of the times. As a result, many people, especially those of color, lost trust in

America is suffering. In 2015, the police killed 102 black people. 102 empty seats at the dinner table. 102 mothers having to bury their sons. Years of racism and police brutality haunt this country. It hangs over us like a dark cloud. It poisons our future. Fear and anger live in all of us. In the 1960s, it lived in the innocent black families that were subjected to senseless violence. In 2015, it lives in the hearts of millions of Americans. If the Black Panthers existed today, they would make little progress in the matter of eradicating police brutality. The government would slap the label “terrorist organization” on them and they would be faced with the harsh criticisms of white Americans too blinded by their privilege to care. The existence

The Civil Rights Movement from the mid 1950’s to late 1960’s fought for equal rights of People of color in this nation. That movement was successful in pushing for an end to racial segregation and discrimination in the country. Decades later, a new movement is beginning to gain traction in the fights against excess police brutality against People of Color. “Since the acquittal of Trayvon Martin's killer in 2013 and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, the phrase "black lives matter" has become a rallying cry for a new chapter in the long black freedom struggle” ( Cooper 2017). The movement has been growing since and more and more after every new case of a person of color being killed by police enforcement. Contemporary anti-racist social movements like Black Lives Matter have had a definitive impact in changing the way people of color are treated, by creating the very important conversation of police brutality against people of color. In order to keep the movement growing, it have has to keep expanding its message of excessive police violence and push for policies that would create better training for law enforcement.

African-Americans have been victims of crime since the 1600s: the beginning of slavery in the U.S. During slavery, African-Americans’ were treated unfairly because they were thought to be inferior. Although slavery ended some time ago, African- Americans are still being treated poorly, because some people still believe blacks are inferior. Unfortunately many of these people work for law enforcement. This causes fear among the African-American community, especially African American males. The long history of police violence against African-Americans proves that everyone is still not treated equally, which is causing African- Americans to dislike law enforcement, and fear their lives, and start movements to bring about

Some Black-Lives-Matter activists were trying to push the government to not have police officers mostly white, and to place more African American officers into the police force. “Studies showed in 2007 that African American police officers were treating the blacks harsher than what the white cops were” (Craven 2016). When most African American citizens see black cops, they feel like they are being betrayed because one of their own kind is going against them. Black officers felt that they weren’t accepted in their societies because they were cops trying to help better their city and

Unfair police brutality against African Americans were not rare so the Black Panthers took the initiative to show to the poice that as a community, they were not afraid of standing up for their rights as Americans.

In today’s society Black Americans face many hardships including police brutality, racism, and classism. The way we determine the most crucial problem in today’s society or which problem should be addressed first is by realizing which problem attacks us more as a people. Amongst all these the most crucial problem would be police brutality. This crucial problem is tied to our past by how we as a people were beat, brutalized, and murdered by police officers during the Civil Rights Movement. Police brutality, I believe will help us grow as a society and rise up against this brutality. As the brutality increases more and more Black Americans will start to unite as one. Going forward as a society, we should raise awareness about how many young and

People around the world have different ways of expressing their emotions. Many people use music as a way to release the emotions they feel inside. When listeners analyze a song sometimes they can understand what an artist might feel or better understand their perspective. Many African American artists sing about how African American communities are dragged into a never ending cycle of poverty and criminal activity. Some artists many have a different perceptive on the future of these communities where they grew up in. Gang Starr’s “Code of the Streets” and 2Pac “Changes” exposes the experience of living, being raised in a poor community expressing different emotions in the song.

Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings and shootings.

There is a problem stirring about in America right now: discrimination against black people. Even though the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was long ago, racism still seems to seep into American culture. Recently, many black people who were unarmed, have been slain by police officers all throughout the country. Some were either committing petty crimes such as Eric Garner, and some did not even commit any crimes whatsoever, like Freddie Gray. From these tragedies, rises a movement that has started protesting against the events that have been unfolding recently, and that movement is known by Black Lives Matter. The movement has since then become infamous for their ethics and the way they handle

Yeah I know . I did a paper on the black panther in college. I hope this is a beginning not a end. This is similar to how the panther started. They had to police the black community because of the crooked cops. Not because of the black crime.What the panthers did change our society today for better. They are not properly given their credit. I hope that the New Era grow and do not fall in the traps that the original panthers did.Thanks for the sharing of information Joseph

however provocative lyrics do not negate the fact that Hip Hop is a vocal outlet for many people in America. Hip Hop has provided a platform for MCs and rappers to express their opinions about society, the government and the treatment of African Americans in America for decades. This outlet is crucial for the uplifting of the black community and would benefit society entirely if people opposed to Hip Hop tried to embrace the culture rather than attack the culture.” (Kathleen Odenthal) Artists today like Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Drake, and even Kevin Gates are the type of hip-hop artist we need to listen to rather than

Even in 2015 we still see how protest music is being used in the Black Lives Matter Movement. As protests and anger against the police grew again like it did in the late 80’s and early 90’s “F- Tha Police” became the anthem for a new movement of civil rights protesters. In Ferguson, chants of “hands up, don’t shoot” turned to “F- Tha Police” as the protests turned to riots. In Denver, protesters dumped red paint over a police memorial and tagged the back of it “f- the police” during a Black Lives Matter protest. We still see how relevant the protest song is today even though it was released over 20 years ago. The protest rap just like protest music in the 1960’s resonates with people. The listener has this stimulated experience were they

With the recent election being highly controversial and contested the United States finds itself with an incredibly volatile and inclement political climate. While the United States continues to face social and political issues rap music and its artist have been a source to document the oppression that is still occurring within the country. Documenting racism and oppression by using politically charged lyrics is a method the rap community is particularly familiar. As time went on rap artists began to become more politically informed and began to shine through their lyrics to become sources to start a national dialogue. Rap artists like Tupac Shakur, Chuck D, Chance the Rapper, and Kendrick Lamar have been fundamental pieces of the