H I P H O P M AT T E R S is a disservice to the people of New York that 85 percent of the people want this law changed and that it is these guys’ job to live up to the people’s will.” Simmons’s crusade for what he called social and political justice did not start or stop with the repeal eƒort. A few years earlier, in-spired by what he saw as a newfound spirituality from his appreci-ation of hatha yoga, Simmons began devoting more time to social issues and charitable causes. Like the hip-hop movement, Simmons was full of contradictions. While he vehemently defended corporate hip hop—the misogyny, violence, and ghetto-fabulous excesses— as artists simply staying true to themselves and their hard knock ex-periences, he also readily acknowledged that he was packaging urban style and culture for mainstream consumption. Simmons told a re-porter once, “I have never targeted any of my products to African-Americans. . . . What I do is for cool Americans.” Maybe it was age or simply the realization that the indulgent lifestyle he was living as a result of his ability to package “ghetto culture” for more upscale markets smacked of hypocrisy. Or maybe it was simply time to give back to a movement that had given him so much. In 2001 Simmons launched what he hoped would be his bold- est and most important initiative ever, The Hip Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN). The organization, in his words, was dedicated to “helping provide a voice for those who did not have a voice.” Though the HSAN would receive considerable press and public- ity, it was, in truth, just one of a number of eƒorts under way to make hip hop matter in the realm of politics. . . . Whatever social or political impact hip hop has had on young people has come primarily in the world of popular culture. Hip hop’s evolution launched a revolution in youth culture. All the things that traditionally matter to young people—style, music, fashion, and a sense of generational purpose—have come under the spell of hip hop. 148