A Socio-spiritual Snapshot of Hip Hop from the West Coast Between 1992 and 1995

As the elements of Hip Hop were advancing with their eternal and universal purposes, Hip Hop took a look at her community and heard the cries of her people. So, she started to question and lobby for the redressing of Black Economics that was long overdue. The West Coast is know for some brutal stuff--gangs, earthquakes, Hollywood, O.J., Rodney King, and so on, and so forth. So, when observers see the heavy, systemic proportion of Black victims as results of structural poverty, it is not a surprise to anyone who has already seen the news, but for some, it sparked a collective attitude to get things situated economically. The authenticity of Hip Hop cared about and should still be the voice for the holistic need of people who dwell in the poor corners, the ethnic dumps, and recycled areas of the city (i.e.-lower 9th Ward, New Orleans, post Katrina). And this was not just on the West Coast. Statistics doubled and quadrupled themselves in crime databases amongst African and Hispanic Americans in Chicago and D.C. Being in community was seen as riot and gang affiliation (hints to the scowl and indignation of what is now know as"racial profiling").
After the Uprising (the Riots) and The Gang Truce of 1992, authorities were stuck on stupid, beating their nightsticks in their palms, and delirious that crime rates had actually declined. So, the Police beefed up their security and gave themselves the green light to pollutingly harass and mistreat the "Black family." Police questioned the motives of peace treaties between once rivaled gangs in speculation that the fight was now against them, as it rightfully should have been. From here, we can stiffly affirm that the Prison Industrial Complex's Juvenile Division made for the arrest of very young people a very easy thing with the underpinning of petty laws to the busting of youths "beyond reasonable doubt" and/or "on the grounds of suspicion."
The backlash of cosmic opposition pressed down on those who resisted the unjust arm of the law. The communal pieces of the Hip Hop generation (peace, dance, fashion, et alia) were pierced by the sharp infiltration of quasi-Justice in the spirit of COINTELPRO. Being young was now a criminal offense. NO Sagging pants, no more of that breaking bugaloo shh-stuff, and none of that hideous spray painting, saith the Law. Curfews, anti-cruising laws, noise ordinances and restrictions on public displays of affection were strategically placed obstacles that tripped up many youths into the pipeline of The "Justice" Department.
With the attention focused at the bottom of social ranks that were under the heaviness of piss poor politicians, pissed smelling projects, and pissed-off Police persons, the role models--the Rappers--became involved in a hot debate with government officials, and yes, even the President of the Unites States.
A young, Black activist by the name of Lisa Williamson, better known as Sister Souljah, a community organizer, public speaker, as well as a rap mogul, stunned America and the American President of that time, William Jefferson Clinton, with her equalizing rhetoric on the violence of the riots which had beat Reginald Denny to death on national TV.
To this day, the two anacronym blows responsible for the blinding of Liberty were the hands of Hip Hop's Sister Souljah and Ice T's album "Body Count" which underwent vehement protests from disgruntled cops responding to his controversial single "Cop Killer" and was later discontinued from record shelves and media airwaves.
But, also in this cultural snapshot of Hip Hop's timeline is the liberating presence of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan who constructed the historic reconstructing, reconciling Million Man March which happened that Monday morning of October 16th, 1995. Afterwards "a generation went home with themselves, back to the business of becoming," said Jeff Chang in his book "Can't Stop Won't Stop."
Here, we can percieve the cultural aesthetic of Hip Hop calling us back to her undisputed spirituality. Common said he "used to love H.E.R." Love, Peace, Joy, and having fun is ecclessial, and so is Hip Hop. She embodies the healing power for the collective trauma of the oppressed. I deduce here that Hip Hop is the Secular Church; that the Beloved Community has never been clearer when one beholds Hip Hop. It is universal, cross-cultural, even pluralistic. Hip Hop has an inextricable solidarity with the poor. What a compliment it is to the reign of God. A conscious look at Hip Hop can be the social forcasting of where we as people should be headed. Amen.