Once upon a time, tracks like “The Message” by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, “Hard Times” by Run DMC, “Unity” and “World Destruction” by Bambattaa with collaborators James Brown and Johnny Rotten, respectively, began to set a pace for a more defined movement that focused on Hip Hop’s role as a potent platform to strike at society’s ills. This empowerment took the form of blaring boom bap that became a mouthpiece for the disenfranchised, and it culminated with the rise of Public Enemy. Unfortunately, impactful Hip Hop fueled to demand social justice has been scarce, at best, over the past two decades. Today we heard “Black Men (Unarmed).”
Icons Kool Keith and Inspectah Deck join forces with lyrical monster Headkrack to revive a movement that Hip Hop was born to propel. “Black Men (Unarmed)” takes aim at the injustice that continues to permeate and soil progress that has been made. It’s refreshing to hear a perspective that motivates instead of denigrates the legacy of Hip Hop. -I. Vasquetelle
