Hip Hop and African American Memory

I’m Kinda Like W.E.B. Du Bois

Meets Heavy D and the Boyz

–Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, “Get Busy” (The Roots album, Rising Down, 2008)

The world of hip hop provides an interesting place to think about the intersection of intellectual history and popular culture. Today I am going to examine this interplay in the realm of African American memory—that place which houses so much of African American reflection on the American past, both the best and the worst of that past. Hip hop provides a rich lens through which to view the past, and more importantly for the purposes of today’s essay, think about how popular culture remembers that past. Hip hop songs, music videos, and the visual culture surrounding album cover art can all provide avenues of discussion of the past.

This is especially vital when thinking about American history since 1968. As I’ve written about before, scholars such as Zandria Robinson have referred to it as a “post-soul” era, a period of history that begins with the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Hip hop as both worthy of study and as a potential source for historians will be integral to getting at the heart of American history in the “post-soul” period. Historians and music journalists began the process of historicizing hip hop years ago. Today I’ll just offer a few examples of what I’m talking about in terms of hip hop and African American memory. More scholars will, I am sure, pick up on this line of reasoning soon—if they have not already started to do so!

From the earliest days of hip hop, the use of history within lyrics was underway. Afrika Bambaatta and the Soulsonic Force’s “Renegades of Funk,” part of the Planet Rock album of 1986, included the lyrics,

Prehistoric ages and the days of ancient Greece
On down through the Middle Ages
When the earth kept going through changes
There’s a business going on, cars continue to change
Nothing stays the same, there were always renegades
Like Chief Sitting Bull, Tom Paine
Like Martin Luther King, Malcom X
They were renegades of the atomic age
So many renegades

In this way Afrika Bambaattaa and company emphasize how they’re renegades of music, in the way these figures were renegades in their own time. It’s especially interesting to see them put together Chief Sitting Bull and Tom Paine with African American leaders King and Malcolm X. Soulsonic Force melds together the civil religious icons of many different facets of American society through this one section of their song. Coming as it did the year of the first celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday as a national holiday, it also serves as a celebration of resisting the status quo in Reagan’s America. It’s also worth noting that if these lyrics seem familiar to you—but you’re not a fan of Afrika Bambaataa—that may be because the song was re-done by Rage Against the Machine, a rock band that is a symbol of 1990s radicalism and proponents of modern leftist agitprop. “Renegades of Funk” acquired a second life in punk rock that allowed the song to live with a new generation of listeners.

Another group of hip hop artists deserving this look is The Roots. Based out of Philadelphia, The Roots are probably best known today as the in-house group performing for Jimmy Fallon’s late night talk show. Before that, though, they enthralled millions of music fans with their unique sound and their socially conscious lyrics. The band was founded and is still led by its two most prominent members: Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. The Roots have utilized memory of the African American past in a variety of ways.

The cover art for their album Rising Down uses the infamous political cartoon that described the rise of African American political power in Wilmington, North Carolina right before the tragic coup of 1898 there. Coming out in 2008, Rising Down was a commentary on America at the end of the George W. Bush years. While many Americans were filled with a sense of hope due to the political rise of Barack Obama, The Roots’ album—definitely one of the best of their long and illustrious careers—reflects a worry about America’s future.

Another artist who appeals to the past in some of his songs is Big K.R.I.T. Real name Justin Scott, Big K.R.I.T. (King Remembered In Time) hails from Meridian, Mississippi, and is part of a long tradition of Southern hip hop reflecting rural sensibilities and worries. He follows performers such as Goodie Mob and Arrested Development in rapping about life for African Americans in the rural South. His debut album, Live From the Underground, was rich with imagery of the rural South. But the song “Praying Man,” a collaboration with B.B. King (Yes, that B.B. King) featured lyrics about lynching and slavery. They were designed to make the listener think about the long, painful history of being black in America.

These are just three examples of thinking about how hip hop helps to shape American memory of the past. I was tempted to write African American memory, but it’s worth noting just how much crossover appeal many of the biggest hip-hop artists have in modern American music. Kendrick Lamar performed at halftime of this year’s national championship game in college football. Common performed poetry at the White House for President Barack Obama. The lyrics, music videos, and album artwork surrounding hip hop can help us understand how their fans view American history. It is no stretch to say that understanding hip hop helps us to understand modern America—and how modern Americans think about ourselves.