I cannot believe hip hop turned 50 years old this year. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are looking at Run DMC and their shell toe Adidas sneakers and big gold chains. As I got older I fell in love with the likes of Queen Latifah, A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, Missy Elliott, and my ultimate favorite, the Notorious B.I.G.
I was recently cleaning out some closets and bookshelves and realized there are certain artists where I have purchased their album on tape, CD, and even vinyl. I have traveled all over the globe and heard hip hop music blasting from restaurants and car stereos from Iceland to Vietnam to southern Africa, and all over Europe. The reach of hip hop is global and to think, it all began in New York City with turntables, MCs, break dancers, and graffiti artists.
I often think of the genius of some of my favorite rappers. The way they can take simple words from the English language, rearrange them, and make pure poetry. I often wonder what Langston Hughes would think of some of the creativity of the language, similes, metaphors, and double entendres used in so much of hip hop.
As we reflect on the past 50 years of this important artistic contribution, I am allowing myself to (re)discover some of the regional diversity that exists. When Andre 3000 famously said, “The south got something to say!,” it made me think about all of the locales in which Black people reside throughout this country. It also made me think of my time living in the suburbs with very few Black people and hip hop was my lifeline and connection to a Blackness that I knew existed and felt connected to, even though I was not in proximity to my people.
I get nostalgic thinking of the first time I heard Snoop Dogg’s first album in a tape in my car leaving school. Or the first time I listened to Old Dirty Bastard’s solo album and realized he was my favorite member of the Wu Tang Clan. Or better still, cutting class and leaving school early to get The Fugees’ first album from the mall and ripping open that large plastic CD casing to play it in my car on the way home on a snowy afternoon.
There are so many ways that hip hop has been the soundtrack of my life and I am so thankful for the genius that begat a genre that has changed the course of history. So, for the remainder of the year I am going to revisit some of the classics, listen to some of the new artists who are making music (I have been quite reticent), and celebrate hip hop turning 50. We made it!
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an Associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”, and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.