In the 70 though the 90’s, Hip-hop gained massive recognition as an underground movement rallying thousands against societal issues through means of ground-shaking beats and cutting-edge rhymes. In modern times, many have critiqued it under commercial persuasion to the point of “losing its agenda”.
There are, however, a remarkable few who have remained within the movement, and there stands no artist as radical as Monsta Kodi.
Born in Harlem, raised in the Bronx, Monsta Kodi ranked prominence with his distinct activist-induced artistry, much significantly through his hit-single “No More Killin”, a song tracing its roots off the tragic Mike Brown shooting gunned by Ferguson, Missouri police forces.
Since then, the young rapper took frequent commutes to Ferguson, New York, and Baltimore to actively voice against police brutality. In his journeys, Kodi collaborated with numerous politically-active groups including a Beatnik-based poetry group, Loss Voices.
Monsta Kodi’s much-anticipated documentary No More Killing, takes the issue of police brutality under an unfiltered lens, perhaps the first to do so. The young rapper seeks to rally the generations into an organic realization of how the issue at hand affects society. Kodi, being familiar to the issue since childhood aspires to be “the voice for those who can’t speak, the eyes for those who don’t see hurt and pain, caused by the people who were sworn to protect us”.
On the other hand, Monsta Kodi provides an accurate embodiment of “musician by day, vigilante by night”. When he’s not on streets voicing against inequality, he’s in the studios synthesizing magnum opus woven with his political views—the classic Hip hop movement.
Teaming up with DJ Montana and DJ Tiny Tunes, Strictly Kong Entertainment has released the debut mixtapes featuring Monsta Kodi omnipresent in both music and activism, many of which can be streamed via Soundcloud and ReverbNation.
https://soundcloud.com/user-76
https://www.reverbnation.com/m
With tumultuous times shrouding the nation in modern times, I’d say it’s due time we trace back to the roots of Hip-hop, and take to the Hip-hop icons boldly blazing a path towards change—thankfully, we have artists like Monsta Kodi.
By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com
