Latasha Harlins

Many regard hip hop as offensive noise but many of the music’s elements have roots deep in American history and helped shape the country as we know it today. It’s earliest roots date back to the rhythmic music of tribal Africa. Much of the music consisted of drum beats and rhythmic chanting accompanied by melodic vocals and other minor instruments, such as, shakers, string instruments, and flutes. Today’s rap music is also centralized around heavy beats and the same rhythmic chanting, which we…

We first witness this with regards to the death of Latasha Harlins (17:00-20:38). Smith first performs as Charles Lloyd (who acts as defendant for liquor store owner), then morphs into Queen Malkah (who launches a diatribe against the cowardliness of Charles Lloyd, and eventually Joo Wang Yang (a former liquor…