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Peacemaking In Hip Hop

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CREATIVE COMMONS
Self Destruction was made by Boogie Down Productions as a part of the Stop The Violence movement, started by KRS One in 1987

Fri. 7/6 8a: Peace Talks Radio: When we talk about music that promotes and celebrates peace, hip hop often gets left out of the conversation. Critics speculate about the genre's negative influences, from hypersexual music videos to lyrics that glamorize guns and drugs. A recent Washington Post headline quoted jazz musician Wynton Marsalis calling popular hip hop "more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee." But what about the positive impacts the music has had on countless fans? 

Harry Allen, Hip Hop Activist & Media Assassin
Harry Allen, Hip Hop Activist & Media Assassin

In this episode of Peace Talks Radio, Hannah Colton speaks with one artist and one documentarian about hip hop's peacemaking legacy. Hip Hop Activist & Media Assassin Harry Allen explores the art form's place in black culture and history, the aesthetics of hip hop and reasons why mainstream white American culture doesn't consider it "peacemaking" music. 

Credit Colleen Eversman
Brother Ali is a rapper with the Rhymesayers label out of Minneapolis.

Rapper, community organizer and spiritual leader Brother Ali talks about his 2017 album All The Beauty In This Whole Life, hip hop's origins in the South Bronx, and his recommendations for hip hop peace songs.   

The hour-long version of the show is available here. Read a partial transcript of both interviews here

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Hannah served as news director at KUNM and reported on education, Albuquerque politics, and anything public health-related. She died in November 2020.
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