H I P H O P M AT T E R S
of the most important cultural phenomenons in the second half of
the 20th century,” he told the New York Times in 2003. â€Ĺ›We would be remiss if we did not treat it accordingly,” he added. Before the cre-ation of the archive, his most notable contribution to the movement
came when he testified on behalf of rap’s free speech rights in the 1989
Florida obscenity trial against 2 Live Crew, a Miami-based rap crew.
Berklee and Harvard are two prominent examples of a develop-
ment that has been years in the making. Hip hop’s spreading sphere
of influence knows no boundaries. As the voice of a new generation,
hip hop’s presence is raising hell in arenas that do not necessarily understand or appreciate it. Like it or not, even the nation’s premier places of higher learning are moving to the sway of the movement.
Hip hop’s impact in America, like the vivid cultural imagination it
has spawned, simply put, cannot be denied.
. . .
Over the course of its career, hip hop has produced an impressive
array of thinkersâ€"writers, performance artists, poets, and scholars
â€"who have come to embody its complex ideological makeup.
Though the hip-hop intelligentsia is one of the rarely discussed as-
pects of the movement it is, without question, one of its greatest
achievements. The growing array of hip-hop intellectuals is a spec-
tacular indication of the movement’s multifaceted demeanor and
ceaseless energy. Trying to define or describe the hip-hop intelli-
gentsia is a risky enterprise in part because it is such a diverse group and one that refuses to parrot a uniform, or even predictable ideology.
Naturally, many of hip hop’s â€Ĺ›best and brightest” belie the tradi-
tional definitions of intellectuals. Within this emergent strata a pre-mium is placed on the ability to identify with and articulate the
gritty experiences and irreverent sensibilities that anchor hip hop’s inner soul. What has emerged is a body of thinkers who articulate a
wide range of ideas that, in their unique way, map out the contradic-tory currents, ideas, and worldviews that percolate throughout the
234
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