Listen to the show

We spend the hour this morning taking a look at the rise of hip hop music and culture in response to the social and economic devastation of American inner cities. We’ll hear from a variety of interviews from Uprising, with Michael Eric Dyson, Afrika Bambaataa, Jeff Chang, and Bakari Kitwana. We’ll also feature a new documentary on this subject called Letter to the President. It’s directed by Thomas Gibson and focuses on the rise of the Republican right wing in America, and how this has impacted the African-American community. Letter to the President explores the different way in which the policies Reagan and Bush administrations have damaged the lives of black youth, from the government-approved distribution of crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods to economic policies that have widened the divide between the rich and the poor. Gibson’s film also parallels this phenomenon with the rise of rap and hip-hop music, and how these styles have provided a voice for disenfranchised youth. Letter to the President includes interviews with KRS-One, 50 Cent, Damon Dash, Ghostface Killah, Dick Gregory, Amiri Baraka, and many more; Snoop Dogg narrates.