Best of: Hip hop’s history in Illinois and America
Chicago rapper Da Brat performs at the 2019 Essence Festival at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Sunday, July 7, 2019, in New Orleans. Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Hip hop as a genre is only 50 years old, and its cultural impact in Illinois and America at large is unquestionable. According to Nielsen, hip hop and R&B are the most popular genres in the United States, and it's the subject of a new documentary. Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World premieres tonight on your local PBS station. It features interviews from some of the most prominent Hip Hop acts of all time, including Run DMC, will.i.am and Chicago's Lupe Fiasco.
This conversation originally aired Jan. 31, 2023.
GUESTS:
Courtney Joseph
K. & H. Montgomery Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies, Lake Forest College
Prepared for web by Owen Henderson
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