Across the country, it seemed a “new Trayvon Martin” would appear on America’s television screen daily. As these high profile cases developed with a rise of Black and Brown women and men dying, Hip-Hop artists took to conscious lyrics and activism to express their dismay of America’s justice system and support for the Black Lives Matter movement. After Michael Brown’s death in 2014, J. Cole penned an open letter demanding an end to injustice stating before flying out to Ferguson’s protests:
"I 'm tired of being desensitized to the murder of black men, We become numb. I became numb. But not anymore. That coulda been me, easily. It could have been my best friend".
Further discussing his frustrations Cole took to his music by creating the song …show more content…
Mike, has used his platform through Hip-Hop to drive supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement to write legislators regarding communal concerns and has tested out his own political career as a Georgia State Representative. Similarly, Russell Simmons in regards to Black Lives Matter has reached out to Governor Cuomo regarding police brutality concerns of New York, and Hip-Hop legend Jay Z has donated more than 1 million dollars to the initiatives of the Black Lives Matter Movement local and nationwide. As noted in an article in Rolling Stone of “Hip-Hop to Black Lives Matter”, “#BlackLivesMatter 's reclamation of hip-hop proper has brought complexity and revolutionary street cred back to the race conversation in commercial rap. So has the best-selling success of lifetime rap devotee Ta-Nehisi Coates ' wake-up call to race-thoughtful younguns everywhere, Between the World and Me. You don 't have to be poetically or polemically down-with-the-cause, my Young Thug lover, or care whether a trial of Baltimore cops yields convictions for the egregious death of Freddie Gray. The real deal, however, is that the public can no longer be sold the noxious and recherché notion that 21st-century rap culture is only about trap-happy nigras getting paid for getting dumb, or coldstoopidwackretarded, even. Thanks to #BlackLivesMatter, the beautiful struggle against racialized injustice once again matters where rap and hip-hop proper live”. However, no matter the successful agents Hip-Hop has had in the sociopolitical movements and latter of Black Lives Matter, Hip-Hop’s political role has been met with
"I 'm tired of being desensitized to the murder of black men, We become numb. I became numb. But not anymore. That coulda been me, easily. It could have been my best friend".
Further discussing his frustrations Cole took to his music by creating the song …show more content…
Mike, has used his platform through Hip-Hop to drive supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement to write legislators regarding communal concerns and has tested out his own political career as a Georgia State Representative. Similarly, Russell Simmons in regards to Black Lives Matter has reached out to Governor Cuomo regarding police brutality concerns of New York, and Hip-Hop legend Jay Z has donated more than 1 million dollars to the initiatives of the Black Lives Matter Movement local and nationwide. As noted in an article in Rolling Stone of “Hip-Hop to Black Lives Matter”, “#BlackLivesMatter 's reclamation of hip-hop proper has brought complexity and revolutionary street cred back to the race conversation in commercial rap. So has the best-selling success of lifetime rap devotee Ta-Nehisi Coates ' wake-up call to race-thoughtful younguns everywhere, Between the World and Me. You don 't have to be poetically or polemically down-with-the-cause, my Young Thug lover, or care whether a trial of Baltimore cops yields convictions for the egregious death of Freddie Gray. The real deal, however, is that the public can no longer be sold the noxious and recherché notion that 21st-century rap culture is only about trap-happy nigras getting paid for getting dumb, or coldstoopidwackretarded, even. Thanks to #BlackLivesMatter, the beautiful struggle against racialized injustice once again matters where rap and hip-hop proper live”. However, no matter the successful agents Hip-Hop has had in the sociopolitical movements and latter of Black Lives Matter, Hip-Hop’s political role has been met with