Who Divided Hip Hop?

Common recently argued that conscious rappers and gangster rappers began arguing with each other and that those divisions eventually hurt hip-hop culture. I disagree. Black America has always been diverse. The same neighborhoods that produced street rappers also produced conscious rappers, jazz musicians, church musicians, athletes, scholars, and entrepreneurs. Many fans listened to Public Enemy and N.W.A., A Tribe Called Quest and Mobb Deep, OutKast and Scarface. So where did the divide come from? Tonight I examine the role of record executives, radio programmers, music magazines, and hip-hop media in creating and reinforcing categories that may have been more useful for marketing than they were for the culture itself. Did the culture divide itself? Or was hip-hop packaged into competing tribes? Let's talk about the real roots of the conscious vs. gangster debate, East Coast vs. West Coast, backpacker vs. mainstream, and why those labels may have changed the direction of hip-hop forever. Support the Black American Music Family Tree Historical Foundation: bamfamilytree.org Read more music history: incensenashtrays.com My website: dwannb.com Website shop: dwannb.com/shop To book readings: breakthroughcards.com Twitter: x.com/dwannb Instagram: instagram.com/dwannb Patreon: patreon.com/dwannb