It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation

by M. K. Asante Jr

  And it really is. And like all mediums or movements,

  it came out of a need.

  — MOS DEF

  Sankofa, symbolized by a mighty and mythic bird that soars forward while looking backward, is an Akan concept that means “go back to your roots in order to move forward.” That said, if we want to move forward, it is essential that we understand where we came from. The following time line highlights some of the key events—cultural, economic, political, and musical; good, bad, and ugly—that birthed, shaped, and molded hip hop into what we see, hear, and feel (or don’t feel) today.

  Unlike other hip-hop time lines that focus exclusively on events related to the four elements of hip hop (emceeing, DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing), this time line aims to spray-paint a much larger representation of hip hop in a global context. In some senses, this time line is a loop if one considers, for example, it begins with the Watts rebellion and ends with the spark that ignited the L.A. rebellions. It begins with the Vietnam War and ends with the Gulf War. “Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it,” proclaimed Marcus Garvey. To that effect, this time line should also serve as a deterrent for the post-hip-hop generation.

  Ella Baker, an African-American human rights activist who fought against Jim Crow, rallied against apartheid in South Africa, was a leader in the Puerto Rican independence movement, and witnessed the birth of hip hop, once said, “Give light and the people will find their own way.” The events listed in this time line—from Malcolm X’s assassination in 1965 to Ice Cube’s St. Ides commercial in 1991—function as one of the “lights” that can help our generation part the darkness of our current times.

  1965

  Don’t be scared of Malcolm X Cuz he died for ya.

  — DEAD PREZ, “FOOD, CLOTHES & SHELTER,”

  TURN OFF THE RADIO

  Malcolm X (Ei-Hajj Malik Ei-Shabazz), a Black Muslim minister, national spokesman for the Nation of Islam and founder of the Muslim Mosque, Inc., and the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is assassinated while delivering a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan on the first day of National Brother Week. Malcolm, like Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, quickly becomes an international symbol of liberation for oppressed people.

  Affirmative action ain’t reverse discrimination

  That shit is a pathetic excuse for reparations.

  — IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE, FEATURING KRS-ONE,

  “BIN LADEN (REMIX),” BIN LADEN 12”

  President Lyndon Johnson, delivering a speech at Howard University, frames the concept behind affirmative action, asserting that existing civil rights laws alone will not level the playing field. He pronounces:

  You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: “Now, you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.” You do not take a man who for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying, “You are free to compete with all the others,” and still justly believe you have been completely fair.

  African-Americans lead a race rebellion in Watts sparked by the brutal arrests of Marquette, Ronald, and Rena Frye. Their arrests served as the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back in a Watts community where police brutality, including rape of Black women, use of racial epithets, and excessive force, was rampant. The rebellion, which lasts from August 11 to August 17, results in thirty-five deaths, more than eight hundred injured, and over $35 million in property damage. This rebellion occurs in the midst of a period of rebellions, beginning in Rochester, Philadelphia, and New York City in 1964, and continuing throughout the decade.

  On March 8, thirty-five hundred United States Marines are dispatched to South Vietnam, marking the beginning of the American ground war in Vietnam. U.S. public opinion supports the deployment; however, their support is based on the premise that Vietnam is part of a global struggle against communism. Ho Chi Minh, president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, warns that if the Americans “want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to afternoon tea.”

  1966

  The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. The group was founded on the principles of its Ten Point Program, a document that called for “Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice, and Peace,” as well as exemption from military service that would utilize African-Americans to “fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America.”

  And until my people get uplifted

  No poppin’ shit, just poppin’ clips ‘stead of

  marchin’ we gon’ rip shit.

  — TUPAC SHAKUR, “TRAPPED,” 2PACALYPSE NOW

  A race rebellion erupts in the predominantly Black community of Hough in Cleveland, Ohio, spanning a six-night period from July 18 to July 23. The rebellion is sparked when a white store owner told Black patrons that “Blacks are not served here.” By the end of the rebellions, four people will be killed and thirty critically injured.

  James Brown, often dubbed the “Godfather of Soul” and the hardest working man in show business, wins the Grammy for best R&B recording for “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” boosting his international popularity. His call-and-response, dancing, and rhythmic style would be influential to hip hop a decade later.

  On September 27, the second race rebellion of the year breaks out in San Francisco’s Hunters Point, a Black neighborhood, when a white police officer shoots and kills a sixteen-year-old Black as he flees the scene of a stolen car.

  Maulana Karenga, who founded the Black nationalist US Organization a year earlier, creates the African-American cultural holiday Kwanzaa (celebrated from December 26 to January 1). The first Kwanzaa ceremony is celebrated by members of the US Organization in Los Angeles. The holiday would grow to become an international, pan-African holiday with over 18 million celebrants.

  1967

  Power to the people, black power, black is beautiful.

  — COMMON FEATURING THE LAST POETS, “THE CORNER,” BE

  Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Ture, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), popularizes the phrase “Black Power” in a speech delivered to an audience of sixty-five hundred at Garfield High School in Seattle. He defined “Black Power” as “the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary.” The concept was immediately endorsed by SNCC and Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), but not the NAACP.

  Kool DJ Herc, considered by many to be the father of hip hop and the originator of breakbeat DJing, moves from Jamaica to the Bronx where he, together with Grandmaster Flash, would pioneer hip hop. In a 1989 interview with hip-hop historian Davey D, Herc said, “Hip hop, the whole chemistry of that came from Nigeria, Africa.”

  Thurgood Marshall, civil rights activist and graduate of the historically Black Lincoln University and Howard University Law School, is nominated for appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States. On August 30, the Senate confirms his appointment, making Marshall the first African-American to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court.

  The summer of 1967 is a tumultuous period in American race relations. Racial confrontations escalate into full-scale race rebellions in Newark, New York City, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, and Detroit.

  1968

  I took a page from the book of Martin Luther,

  And decided that it’s better to hug you than to shoot you.

  — M — 1, “‘TIL WE GET THERE,” CONFIDENTIAL

  Martin Luther King Jr., the most famous and vocal leader of the Civil Rights Movement, is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4 while on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Prior to his assassination, King had become a harsh critic of the Vietnam War, U.S. foreign policy, and capitalism. In the followi
ng week, rebellions occur in more than sixty cities throughout the U.S.

  The FBI launches COINTELPRO, a covert counterintelligence program aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. With the Black Panther Party as a primary target, the founding document of COINTELPRO directed FBI agents to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” the activities of these movements and their leaders. The methods of COINTELPRO included infiltration, psychological warfare, harassment through the legal system, and extralegal violence including murder and assassination.

  On October 16, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, African-American sprinters, are suspended from the Olympic Games in Mexico City for holding up their fist in a Black Power salute while receiving their gold and silver medals at the awards ceremony. In addition, they wear no shoes to comment on the poverty endured by the majority of Blacks in America.

  1969

  On October 29, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that school districts must end segregation “now and hereafter.” With clear language, the court, which now had Thurgood Marshall as a member, left little room for misinterpretation or delay.

  I’m black and I’m a say it loud like James Brown

  People be proud ’Cause we all up in the game now…

  — STYLES P FEATURING MARSHA AMBROSIUS,

  “I’M BLACK,” TIME IS MONEY

  James Brown records “Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud!” and “Funky Drummer;” the latter would become one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop history. Brown would also record “Get on the Good Foot,” a song promoting very high-energy, acrobatic dancing that Zulu Nation founder Afrika Bambaataa asserts led to break dancing.

  Don Campbell, a young street dancer from Los Angeles, creates the Campbellock, a robotic funk dance style that would evolve into the hip-hop locking and influence the dance styles of popping, breakdancing, and liquiding.

  1970

  Angela Davis, a Black scholar and political organizer, becomes the third woman to appear on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List after being charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide, due to her alleged participation in an escape attempt of Black Panthers George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette, known as the Soledad Brothers. She would later be acquitted of all charges.

  Niggers always goin’ through bullshit change

  But when it comes time for real change, niggers are

  scared of revolution.

  — THE LAST POETS,

  “NIGGERS ARE SCARED OF REVOLUTION,” THE LAST POETS

  The Last Poets, a music/poetry group whose members included Abiodun Oyewole, Alafia Pudim, and Omar Bin Hassan, record The Last Poets, an LP that combines spoken word with jazz and drum instrumentals and lays the foundation for rap music. Their name is taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, who believed he was in the last era of poetry before guns would take over.

  On May 4, the largest student strike in U.S. history takes place and four Kent State University students demonstrating against the Vietnam War are shot dead by the National Guard in Ohio. Ten days later, on May 14, during a student protest at the historically Black Jackson State College, police fire more than 460 rounds of ammunition, killing two African-American students.

  1971

  I got twenty-five cans in my knapsack crossin’ out the

  wick-wack

  Puttin’ up my name with a fat cap.

  — KRS-ONE, “OUT FOR FAME,” KRS-ONE

  On July 21, The New York Times runs a front-page article on graffiti writer TAKI 183. The article, titled “‘Taki 183’ Spawns Pen Pals,” puts national attention on graffiti writing, one of the four elements of hip hop. The article also ignites competitive tagging among youth across the five boroughs and eventually the world.

  On September 13, 1,500 New York State troopers storm Attica prison, killing forty-three prisoners after the inmates led a rebellion. The prison, built to house 1,200 inmates, had over 2,000 inmates, 54 percent of whom were African-American and 9 percent Puerto Rican. All of the 383 correctional officers at Attica were white and frequently abused inmates. The inmates had demanded an improvement in their living conditions, showers, education, and vocational training, as well as reduced censorship of their mail and visitors. Before the uprisings, inmates were given one bucket of water a week as a “shower” and one roll of toilet paper a month.

  1972

  The Tuskegee Experiments end. Beginning in 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service’s forty-year experiment on hundreds of poor, mostly illiterate, Black men was described by one news anchor as using “human beings as laboratory animals in a long and inefficient study of how long it takes syphilis to kill someone.”

  Soul Train, a Black music TV dance program created by Don Cornelius and backed by Johnson hair products (manufacturers of the Afro Sheen line), moves into syndication and becomes a hit. Tagged by some as the “Black American Bandstand,” Soul Train would become the longest-running first-run nationally syndicated program in television history.

  1973

  Passed the Rockefeller laws to make us all state prop

  Feds handin’ out bids startin’ 15 a pop.

  — DEAD PREZ FEATURING DIVINE, “BABY FACE,” TURN OFF THE

  RADIO: THE MIX TAPE VOL 2: GET FREE OR DIE TRYIN’

  Nelson Rockefeller, Republican governor of New York, introduces and signs the Rockefeller drug laws in his last year in office. Under these extremely harsh laws, the penalty for selling two ounces (approximately fifty-six grams) or more of heroin, morphine, “raw or prepared opium,” cocaine, or cannabis, including marijuana, or possessing four ounces (approximately 128 grams) or more of the same substances, was made the same as that for second-degree murder: a minimum of fifteen years to life in prison, and a maximum of twenty-five years to life in prison. As a result New York’s prison population jumped from 12,500 in 1971 to 71,000 in 1999, and is now over 150,000.

  Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets releases his first solo album, Hustlers Convention, under the alias Lightnin’ Rod. The album is a poetic narrative exploring a day in the life of two hustlers and would later be remade by rappers Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.

  Afrika Bambaataa, a student at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx, inspired by a trip to Africa, founds the Universal Zulu Nation, an organization of racially and politically conscious rappers, B-boys, graffiti artists, and other people involved in hip-hop culture. The name “Zulu Nation” was inspired by the images of Zulu warriors attacking British colonizers in the Michael Caine film Zulu.

  1974

  President Richard Nixon, who once complained to Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs John Erlichman that Great Society programs were a waste “because Blacks were genetically inferior to whites,” resigns on August 9 due to the firestorm surrounding the Watergate scandal. He becomes the first president to resign from office. His vice president, Gerald Ford, assumes the presidency and pardons Nixon on September 8.

  Everybody’s a rapper but few flow fatal

  It’s fucked up, it all started from two turntables.

  — NAS, “CARRY ON TRADITION,” HIP-HOP IS DEAD

  Kool DJ Herc, a year after DJing his first gig at his older sister’s birthday party, garners a reputation for his legendary, high-decibel, high-quality mobile sound system and establishes himself as the first hip-hop DJ. Considered the originator of breakbeat DJing, Herc was initially exposed to similar sounds while growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, at dance hall parties.

  1975

  Self-esteem, yo we forgot the dream

  On our Jeffersons y’all but we forgot the theme.

  — COMMON, “IT’S YOUR WORLD,” BE

  The Jeffersons, one of the first sitcoms about an African-American family, premieres on CBS. The show centers around George and Louise Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford) and increases ratings for CBS, climbing the Nielsen Rating�
�s top ten in its first season, and is in the top ten again for three consecutive seasons from 1979 through 1982. During its eighth season, The Jeffersons becomes the number-three show on network television, behind only Dallas and 60 Minutes.

  North Vietnamese forces take Saigon on April 30, reuniting the country. In total, seven million tons of bombs were dropped on Vietnam, more than twice the number dropped in Europe and Asia during World War II. Additionally, the CIA’s Operation Phoenix, a covert intelligence operation and assassination program, kills over twenty thousand civilians.

  1976

  The first three-dimensional graffiti pieces, pioneered by KING 2, show up on subway cars in New York City.

  Afrika Bambaataa, considered the founding father of hip hop, plays his first gig at the Bronx River Community Center and is dubbed “Master of Records” by those in attendance. He soon becomes the center’s official DJ, spinning records on a sound system given to him by his mother as a graduation present the previous year.