Does Hip-Hop Fail Dr. Martin Luther King's Dream?

Hip-Hop may have started out in the park but the foundation of Hip-Hop is a story of struggle, poverty, and pain. These stories go beyond the story August of 1973, and the agreed upon date of Hip-Hop's beginning. These stories come from the experience of plantations, lynchings, and economic theft that built America since its' inception as a country, or in terms of some people a "world business".

The business of America has been to defraud people. With traits of that past still existing, some people like, Elijah Schaffer for example, believe that Black people in America are not citizens of America because they were slaves. Thoughts and ideals like this have been shown throughout the mental fabric of this country's history and have lead to the rise of people that fight for equality and inspire the movement of change.

One of those inspirations in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who is known for his "I have a dream speech". Being a civil rights leader he used non violence to make the world pay attention to the mistreatment of Black people on American soil. He also brought out the unfair contracts America has given to foreigners (mostly European) that have come to this country to defraud the people that were unjustly enslaved and cheated from land, voting rights and the right to speak using free speech to aid their advancement in society economically. Yes, there has been more growth from the Civil Rights Movement but the most impactful movement since the Civil Rights Movement in our country has been the Hip-Hop Movement.

From the South Bronx out of the economic poverty and social lynching of the inner city, came music and the desire to beat the racism, the nepotism, and the defunding of programs that gave children activities to inspire change and trades for career placement in society. In today's world the mainstream media has taken Hip-Hop and branded it as hateful, sex crazed, murder induced and evil to the conscience of the country. Is it fair to say Hip-Hop failed Dr. Martin Luther King's dream?

My answer is NO! Though I can say there are many hurtful images unfairly shown disproportionately in the mainstream media, Hip-Hop that is positive still exists and the message of freedom and human rights still lives on. It was Hip-Hop that fought for the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday in Arizona to be established. It was Hip-Hop that showed up to celebrate Selma, Alabama and recount the march that changed the world. It is Hip-Hop that aided in unlocking the GOD BOX that reminds the world that Black men stand for manhood, loving God and Family Values over the rhetoric of being drug crazed, over sexed, and violent people that the media tries to paint in the news or in racist one sided dialogue where numbers are used to portray a story not fairly told through the use of institutional racism and more.

Today Hip-Hop has led to growth of communities by giving people the opportunity to create and generate money through the creativity that was lost. Clothing lines, music business, curriculum writing, art, literature and more came out of letting the inspiration of "Letting Freedom Ring", and having every person have the right to fair, equal rights to express and have the chance to have their voices heard and their lives respected.

After reading this article, think of how Hip-Hop was there to aid people in going to college, eating healthy, reading books, and fighting unfair institutions in this country to give education and history to the youth they would have not gotten in the school or even religious institutions this country has built. It is an honor to write this article and to let the World know that no, Hip-Hop has not failed Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. It is still fulfilling it. The mainstream media will promote images of destruction to try to tell you otherwise. But like all great information, take the time to learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and about the people in Hip-Hop culture that have made music about peace ,knowledge of self, positive imagery and love to the world. In the word's of Hip-Hop, "We will be here forever", and "Everything's gonna be alright".

Here are videos to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day:

Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

Dr. Martin Luther King Speaks of unfair money practices done to Blacks in America

Hip-Hop Fighting for the King Holiday - Salute to Public Enemy

The Mantra to over come the world - Salute Kendrick Lamar

Hip-Hop honors Dr. Martin Luther King - Salute Common and John Legend

Today's Hip-Hop Salutes the Dream - Salute Notes82 and Chris Crown

Blerd-Hop: A Second Chance At A New Hope.

@starwars has returned to give us @obiwankenobi on @disneyplus and I was skeptical because the #Jedi movement was spoiled to me by the use of @johnboyega as #Finn in the sequel Trilogy. The misuse of representation of people of color is a hard pill to swallow and hard to forget especially when the movies are trash. I know people looked forward to the "Black" Jedi Hero to take the stage a kin to Mace Windu and have a meaningful purpose on screen or at least in the story and yet they failed us

Salute to them for making up for their sin so far with casting @_mosesingram as #Reva in the #obiwonkenobi show. Her character offers depth and give a plot line that goes beyond having a secret we may never know (so far)

@_mosesingram thank YOU for bringing your #power #beauty and #strength to #StarWars #Reva will be remembered forever to the people that see themselves in a Galaxy Far Far Away....

Subscribe to heritagehiphop.com for exclusive blogs music interviews podcast apparel and more. This is #BlerdHop where we celebrate #Comicbooks #anime #art and #HipHop in all forms of life not just music.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show was Hip-Hop's Stamp Of Power Towards The NFL.

This year the NFL has made it known that they have a serious issue with race relations within its' business and that has hurt relations that they have had with its' consumers and fan base. The Colin Kaepernick movement with kneeling against police brutality was turned into a whirlwind of political rhetoric that turned into a talk about a man kneeling showing an unpatriotic spirit that is disrespectful to the country when that was never the case at all. To be continued.

Then the NFL teamed with Jay-Z and the conversation was to move pass the the Kaepernick situation and move towards the next chapter of moving towards healing the combative sides of Pro kneeling and Anti Kaepernick that led to more urban halftime shows and the NFL stating that the Black National Anthem would play before games to acknowledge they are pledging to help heal with its' "Black Players and Coaches", to show there will be a working relationship to build positive long lasting unions between the league, them and the fans. Erase Racism was painted in the end zones and the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice, was never played not even during the Super Bowl. I guess that olive branch dried up and never fully blossomed. Yet the NFL failed once again in the healing it promised.

The Rooney rule was created so "minority" coaches and executives could get a fair chance to interview and obtain jobs in the NFL. After the 2021-2022 season Brain Flores was fired from his head coaching job with the Miami Dolphins, for peculiar reasons and considered the top coaching candidate. It comes to pass that Bill Belichick allegedly had inside information from the NY Giants office that made him text the wrong Brian to having heard he had the job and instead of the Brian he text being Flores, he text Brian Daboll instead, Race of the coaches is an issue I guess, but the real issue is the timing of the hire and the news when according to the Rooney rule 2 outside candidates had to be interviewed and Brian Flores said he did not interview yet, and received the text that opened up a lawsuit that can cause another martyr in this modern NFL era. Kaepernick has not quarterbacked in the NFL to this point if ever again, and now Brian Flores may never coach in the NFL again. All this while a High school coach that was a former NFL player was considered for a Head Coaching job and not given it to what seems as a save face hiring of "minortiy" coach by the Houston Texans. Now you may say what does this have to do with the halftime show?

The answer is Hip-Hop has always been the representation of the inner city or "minorty" voice that entertained the word through our pain and struggle. Fighting police brutality, unfair wages and hiring practices, has been a mantra in what is deemed as unfair social practices and civil rights violations in the United States of America since the colonizing of this land. So when when Hip-Hop was given its' chance to take the stage not only did the legends come to perform the message was sent that we will entertain and leave a mark on the stage you, America, will never forget.

Dr. Dre brought the soul of West Coast Hip-Hop and music innovation out with his sound while Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blidge Eminem, suprise guest 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar gave us the music we long for. While people will remember the feeling of music, 50 Cent's girth or how beautiful Mary J. Blidge looked. Kendrick Snoop and Eminem gave us the Hip-Hop feeling of saying F the system and be yourself, that the National Football League hoped did not happen. With rumors of Snoop being told not to crip walk or throw his set on the main stage he did just that to tell censorship F You he is who he is and he represents for his people. Kendrick Lamar was dressed as a King and Diplomat and performed his classic song Alright as if to tell the world we gone be good with you or without you cause we are Hip-Hop and God's heritage. Lastly Eminem was told not to kneel but showed agreement with Colin Kaepernick by kneeling and causing uproar in the NFL community and cheers for the people that are effected by the abuse of authority of those that are called to protect and serve. By kneeling Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, George Floyd, The Freedom Riders and so many more people are remembered and Hip-Hop made that happen.

As we move forward from the halftime show the conversation has moved from how good the show was to how dare they and what will the NFL do. Well, if the NFL does not fix it's problems with prejudice, racism, and unfair hiring practices the narrative may never change and while other genres of music does not have the guts and or heart to take a stand to show their stance on important issues that effect the communities that are used to create the number of athletes and student's looking for an opportunity to do more, than Hip-Hop will always be there to voice it's displeasure with the system and to show the world where it stands for/against it. I salute the halftime show for being great and salute the people in the performance for not only a great show but showing who we are and what we do. We ARE the salt of the eat that gives it flavor. We are also the voice of the underrepresented on the field, executive offices and ownership positions also. He ware God's people. If our culture is Hip-Hop then God's Heritage is Hip-Hop and we will be here...FOREVER

Super Bowl Halftime Show Link:

https://youtu.be/gdsUKphmB3Y