It’s been a pretty tumultuous year considering rising threats such as gun violence, police brutality, and the ever-recurring struggle against social injustice. Sound familiar?
Indeed, these were the same issues that first kindled the Hip-hop movement in the 1970’s. Fast forward to the current day and age, we still come face to face with familiar difficulties—but just like in days past, the Hip-hop movement calls out to the masses, like a voice chiding against a fierce storm.
We often refer to them as musicians and artists, and we are rightly-so to think that, but we often neglect that they are also revolutionaries, modern-day Luther Kings and Riders’, voicing out against recent crises, such as Alton Sterling and the murder of Mario Woods in San Francisco.
Out of the ashes and dust, however, iconic artists have formed a coalition, taking a stand against unmerited acts of violence. Hiphop4justice began its movement in 2015 in the wake of the Woods tragedy.
Founder Miles Muhammad gathered numerous Hip-hop icons, all hailing from different backgrounds and all carrying different stories, but altogether forming one unified voice against injustice.
The coalition consists of Chuck D, James Bomb, Flavor Flav, Skee-Lo, Mellow Man Ace, Freedom Williams, EA Ski, The Lynch Mob, Zion-I, Big Swift, Rondo, Paris, Yung Bruh, Wise Intelligent, DoltAll from Lords Of The Underground, Jahi, Kango Kid of UTFO, Conscious Plat, and more. Together they measure 20 years of combined experience in the music scene.
“HIP HOP 4 JUSTICE is a movement; one that encompasses Hip-hop as an instrument,” as read on their web bio, “Our mission is to speak truth to power and create social change by using visual art and music to inspire”.
It appears as if time has reinvented itself. Different, but still familiar, we’re living in another Hip-hop era, though we may be unaware of it—but isn’t that how the movement first started anyway? Nevertheless, the movement is there, a voice crying out amidst the storms we face today.
Many have joined the cry, are we going to answer its call?
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com
