The Hip Hop World News

0:00:02 > 0:00:09This programme contains very strong language and contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

0:00:09 > 0:00:10# Uh

0:00:10 > 0:00:12# Uh, one, two, one, two

0:00:12 > 0:00:13# Uh

0:00:13 > 0:00:15- # Uh - All my dogs

0:00:15 > 0:00:16# It's bigger than hip-hop, hip-hop... #

0:00:16 > 0:00:20'I love hip-hop. I love everything it stands for.'

0:00:20 > 0:00:23I love its art, its beauty, power.

0:00:23 > 0:00:27And I love its ability to transform people's lives, people like me.

0:00:28 > 0:00:33'Hip-hop has given me the tools to see the world in new ways and a

0:00:33 > 0:00:35'powerful language to express it,

0:00:35 > 0:00:38'but I know that from the outside, some people see the culture

0:00:38 > 0:00:42'I represent as shallow, brash and even violent.'

0:00:42 > 0:00:45But I think they couldn't be more wrong.

0:00:45 > 0:00:48'The hip-hop I know gives a voice to the voiceless.

0:00:48 > 0:00:51'It's a place where the disenfranchised feel heard

0:00:51 > 0:00:54'and stories that you may not hear in the mainstream'

0:00:54 > 0:00:58can be voiced and shouted and roared!

0:00:59 > 0:01:02'I want to show you what the world looks like when it is seen through

0:01:02 > 0:01:04'the lens of hip-hop.

0:01:05 > 0:01:08'And I'm going on a journey to meet some of the stars and key

0:01:08 > 0:01:11'players who have helped shape that view.

0:01:11 > 0:01:15'My Hip Hop World News talks about issues that matter to me.'

0:01:15 > 0:01:17MUFFLED SHOUTS Whether it be police brutality...

0:01:17 > 0:01:20It's been happening to black people in America for 400 years.

0:01:20 > 0:01:22..or the latest conspiracy theory...

0:01:22 > 0:01:25Things like the prison industrial complex,

0:01:25 > 0:01:27it's not even a conspiracy theory!

0:01:27 > 0:01:28It's our reality.

0:01:29 > 0:01:33'I want to show how hip-hop empowers and educates...'

0:01:33 > 0:01:37Rappers and MCs, I think, had this sense that they were teachers,

0:01:37 > 0:01:39you know? That they were schoolin' you.

0:01:39 > 0:01:42..how it celebrates the things we all aspire to

0:01:42 > 0:01:46and now wields influence at the very highest levels.

0:01:46 > 0:01:49When you look at the ascension of Barack Obama, there were

0:01:49 > 0:01:52elements of hip-hop that helped to get him elected, for sure.

0:01:52 > 0:01:54- BELL RINGS - # Oh, my gosh

0:01:54 > 0:01:55# Look at her butt... #

0:01:55 > 0:01:58The Hip Hop World News covers difficult issues too,

0:01:58 > 0:02:00like the treatment of women...

0:02:00 > 0:02:02- LAUGHS:- It's misogynistic as hell.

0:02:02 > 0:02:06..using images and language that even I find challenging.

0:02:06 > 0:02:09It's like there's some board somewhere, that's like,

0:02:09 > 0:02:11you know, "No hip-hop song can be released

0:02:11 > 0:02:14"unless there is at least 3.5 'niggas' in that song."

0:02:14 > 0:02:18'Above all else, The Hip Hop World News shows how

0:02:18 > 0:02:22'and why for people like me, this culture isn't just the soundtrack

0:02:22 > 0:02:23'to our lives.

0:02:23 > 0:02:25'It has changed them forever.'

0:02:25 > 0:02:27Where I'm from, at 16 years old,

0:02:27 > 0:02:31you're supposed to be on drugs, in jail or dead.

0:02:31 > 0:02:34So, if you are prepared to embrace a hip-hop state of mind,

0:02:34 > 0:02:38or maybe adjust your goggles a little bit to hip-hop vision...

0:02:38 > 0:02:40'you might just discover there's a whole new reality out there

0:02:40 > 0:02:42'waiting for you.'

0:02:42 > 0:02:45And once you've seen the world from this perspective,

0:02:45 > 0:02:48you may never want to go back to your own reality.

0:02:48 > 0:02:51This is The Hip Hop World News.

0:02:51 > 0:02:54# Hip-hop, hip It's bigger than hip-hop,

0:02:54 > 0:02:56# Hip-hop...#

0:02:57 > 0:02:59# We was on 46... #

0:02:59 > 0:03:01Cold rockin', innit?

0:03:01 > 0:03:04- TV:- # Spoke a few words they was on our dicks

0:03:04 > 0:03:07# London Posse, we don't choke... #

0:03:07 > 0:03:08Wow, I find that... I'm looking at that,

0:03:08 > 0:03:12I'm finding that hard to imagine that's me. Look at how sweaty I am!

0:03:12 > 0:03:1616 years old, I had more facial hair and I was a couple stone heavier

0:03:16 > 0:03:17than I am now.

0:03:17 > 0:03:19You all look so young!

0:03:19 > 0:03:22'My name is Rodney P and I'm an MC.

0:03:22 > 0:03:25'And as a rapper, I've been part of the game since the early days

0:03:25 > 0:03:27'of hip-hop culture.'

0:03:27 > 0:03:30'It was in the early '80s that we first heard these American

0:03:30 > 0:03:34'kids talking about their lives and decided we would do the same.'

0:03:35 > 0:03:37And I've been doing it ever since.

0:03:39 > 0:03:41Hip-hop started out as party music,

0:03:41 > 0:03:45but it has always operated on two levels - making people dance

0:03:45 > 0:03:48while carrying messages, ideas and news.

0:03:48 > 0:03:52Chuck D of Public Enemy once said that hip-hop was the CNN of

0:03:52 > 0:03:55the streets and there is one story that

0:03:55 > 0:03:57has always been the lead item of our news...

0:03:57 > 0:03:59# Whoop-whoop, that's the sound of the police

0:03:59 > 0:04:01# Whoop-whoop, that's the sounds of the beast... #

0:04:01 > 0:04:04For most people, the police are seen as a force for good.

0:04:04 > 0:04:08They are there to protect people and property, and serve the community.

0:04:08 > 0:04:11But when you look at the police through the lens of hip-hop,

0:04:11 > 0:04:13it's a very different picture.

0:04:13 > 0:04:16Hip-hop comes from a place where the police are seen as...

0:04:16 > 0:04:17well, the enemy.

0:04:17 > 0:04:20# Overseers, overseers overseers, overseers

0:04:20 > 0:04:22# Officer, officer officer, officer, officer

0:04:22 > 0:04:24# Whoop-whoop, that's the sound of the police. #

0:04:24 > 0:04:29Hip-hop has been talking about police brutality for decades.

0:04:29 > 0:04:34In 1988, an unknown group called NWA took the conversation to

0:04:34 > 0:04:37a whole new level with a track that changed the game.

0:04:37 > 0:04:39# Fuck the police

0:04:39 > 0:04:41# Fuck-fuck Fuck the police

0:04:41 > 0:04:43# Fuck-fuck Fuck the police

0:04:43 > 0:04:46# Fuck-fuck Fuck the police... #

0:04:52 > 0:04:55First time I heard Fuck Tha Police,

0:04:55 > 0:04:59the first thought in my head was, "Is this allowed?"

0:04:59 > 0:05:01# For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun

0:05:01 > 0:05:02# To be beatin' on... #

0:05:02 > 0:05:04It was revolutionary.

0:05:05 > 0:05:06We were shocked.

0:05:06 > 0:05:09We were shocked that someone,

0:05:09 > 0:05:11young people, young black men,

0:05:11 > 0:05:16were actually expressing publicly, loudly, what we felt.

0:05:16 > 0:05:18# You'd rather see me in the pen

0:05:18 > 0:05:20# Than me and Lorenzo rollin' in a Benz-o... #

0:05:20 > 0:05:23The way NWA did it was brand-new.

0:05:23 > 0:05:26They spoke about the police the way that people speak about

0:05:26 > 0:05:30the police in the barbershop, on the road, on the street corners.

0:05:30 > 0:05:34Yeah, fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you for handling me a certain way.

0:05:34 > 0:05:36Fuck you for treating me a certain way,

0:05:36 > 0:05:37talking to me a certain way.

0:05:37 > 0:05:41Fuck you for actually making me feel like I can't come to you.

0:05:41 > 0:05:42# Eazy is his name and the boy is comin'

0:05:42 > 0:05:44# Straight outta Compton

0:05:44 > 0:05:46# Is a brother that'll smother your mother

0:05:46 > 0:05:48# And make your sister think I love her. #

0:05:48 > 0:05:52They were just so mad aggressive and full of expletives and cussing

0:05:52 > 0:05:53and the N-word and F this

0:05:53 > 0:05:55and shoot this and kill this.

0:05:55 > 0:05:58I'm like, "Wow! These guys are really mad about something."

0:05:58 > 0:06:00# ..Creep a while

0:06:00 > 0:06:02# And when I see a punk pass, I smile... #

0:06:03 > 0:06:06And on the one hand, your snobby, purist instinct is like,

0:06:06 > 0:06:10"These dudes with Jheri curls... They can't rap."

0:06:10 > 0:06:14And on the other hand, there's such a...

0:06:14 > 0:06:18intrinsic, like, power to what they are saying.

0:06:27 > 0:06:30The language that they used to describe how they felt about

0:06:30 > 0:06:34police was the language a kid like me could absolutely relate to.

0:06:34 > 0:06:36Now, I was growing up in South London, I didn't have a gun

0:06:36 > 0:06:39or have any intentions of shooting at any policemen or...

0:06:39 > 0:06:44I hadn't even actually had that much personal contact with police.

0:06:44 > 0:06:48But my history and my lifestyle meant that

0:06:48 > 0:06:51these were the stories that I had grown up listening to.

0:06:51 > 0:06:54I remember Dale Earnhardt Junior,

0:06:54 > 0:06:58who's a great NASCAR driver, right?

0:06:58 > 0:07:02And he said that it was in Fuck Tha Police,

0:07:02 > 0:07:06hearing that song, that he realised that some people in America

0:07:06 > 0:07:09have a difficult relationship with the police, that he didn't know.

0:07:09 > 0:07:12He lived in a rural community where he would drive

0:07:12 > 0:07:14and there would be a cop and he'd be like,

0:07:14 > 0:07:16"Hey, Terry, how you doing?" You know.

0:07:16 > 0:07:20"Cos I know Terry, cos he's a nice guy. He's been a cop in this area

0:07:20 > 0:07:23"for 20 years, along with, you know, Jim and Bob and whoever

0:07:23 > 0:07:25"and it's all good."

0:07:25 > 0:07:28You know, you come up to the big city and things are a lot different.

0:07:28 > 0:07:31We don't know them, they don't know us, you know?

0:07:31 > 0:07:34And it gets pretty dramatic at times. But he did know that.

0:07:34 > 0:07:37We've got kids in the hood in Baltimore, in Chicago, in Philly,

0:07:37 > 0:07:41they look at the police the same way the little Iraqi kids look at

0:07:41 > 0:07:42the American soldiers.

0:07:42 > 0:07:46It's an outside force occupying a community.

0:07:46 > 0:07:49You ain't saving no streets, you ain't saving nothin'!

0:07:49 > 0:07:53F Tha Police, by itself, by itself, you know,

0:07:53 > 0:07:55is challenging the power structure.

0:07:55 > 0:07:57It's challenging racism in this country.

0:07:57 > 0:08:00It's challenging the reckless disregard for our lives

0:08:00 > 0:08:02by police forces.

0:08:02 > 0:08:06NWA took our everyday reality of police brutality

0:08:06 > 0:08:08out of the hood and into the charts.

0:08:08 > 0:08:09Their debut album, Straight Outta Compton,

0:08:09 > 0:08:11sold three million copies

0:08:11 > 0:08:14and introduced the world to so-called gangsta rap.

0:08:14 > 0:08:17Now they consider it to be gangsta rap.

0:08:17 > 0:08:19I never considered it at the time.

0:08:19 > 0:08:23As extreme as it was, it was still real. It felt real.

0:08:23 > 0:08:26The dysfunctional behaviour of the police towards black

0:08:26 > 0:08:30Americans continues to resonate when Philando Castile was

0:08:30 > 0:08:33shot dead by the police of Minnesota during a traffic stop.

0:08:33 > 0:08:36Shocking footage of the event was live-streamed on Facebook

0:08:36 > 0:08:37as it happened.

0:08:37 > 0:08:39I will, sir. No worries. I will.

0:08:39 > 0:08:40- COP:- Fuck!

0:08:40 > 0:08:43He just shot his arm off.

0:08:43 > 0:08:46- We got pulled over on... - I told him not to reach for it.

0:08:46 > 0:08:48I told him to get his hand off it!

0:08:48 > 0:08:50You told him to get his ID, sir.

0:08:50 > 0:08:52His driver's licence.

0:08:52 > 0:08:54Now we have iPhones, now we have documentation

0:08:54 > 0:08:56and they're like, "Oh, my God, how's that happening?"

0:08:56 > 0:09:00It's been happening to black people in America for 400 years.

0:09:00 > 0:09:04The abuse of people of colour is an American phenomenon.

0:09:04 > 0:09:06- ERIC GARNER:- A fight break out, I stop it, so you can run up on me?

0:09:06 > 0:09:08- That's all right... - The people that's fighting,

0:09:08 > 0:09:11you just let 'em walk away?! Are you serious?

0:09:11 > 0:09:16How many years have we been talking about police brutality and

0:09:16 > 0:09:18the media is like, "Fuck you guys. You guys are savages, we are not

0:09:18 > 0:09:23"going to pay attention to you, until it's media worthy."

0:09:23 > 0:09:27- ERIC:- Do not touch me. - INDISTINCT SPEECH

0:09:27 > 0:09:29Let him go! He ain't do nothing.

0:09:31 > 0:09:33We are very upset with the situation

0:09:33 > 0:09:34that's been going on in our neighbourhoods.

0:09:34 > 0:09:36We are upset with, you know,

0:09:36 > 0:09:37the way we've been treated.

0:09:37 > 0:09:40I mean, you don't even have to just rattle off names like Eric Garner,

0:09:40 > 0:09:43Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, you know, Mike Brown,

0:09:43 > 0:09:44the list goes on and on.

0:09:44 > 0:09:49You know, it's heartbreaking to feel helpless in a society that you live.

0:09:49 > 0:09:51I respect the law enforcement officers very greatly.

0:09:51 > 0:09:55I have a problem with the way that they have been...

0:09:55 > 0:09:56in the black community.

0:09:56 > 0:09:59- ERIC GARNER:- I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

0:09:59 > 0:10:03I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

0:10:04 > 0:10:06# Nigga, when our pride was low

0:10:06 > 0:10:09# Looking at the world like, "Where do we go?"

0:10:09 > 0:10:11# Nigga! And we hate popo

0:10:11 > 0:10:13# Wanna kill us dead in the street for sure

0:10:13 > 0:10:15# Nigga, I'm at the preacher's door

0:10:15 > 0:10:17# My knees gettin' weak and my gun might blow

0:10:17 > 0:10:20# But we gon' be alright Nigga, we gon' be alright... #

0:10:20 > 0:10:23Even now, more than a quarter of a century

0:10:23 > 0:10:25after NWA's ground-breaking track,

0:10:25 > 0:10:27the police are still the top item

0:10:27 > 0:10:29on the Hip Hop World News.

0:10:29 > 0:10:31As this footage shows, Kendrick Lamar's Alright

0:10:31 > 0:10:35has been adopted as a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

0:10:35 > 0:10:39- ALL:- We gonna be alright! We gonna be alright!

0:10:39 > 0:10:41Coming from a place where experience shows

0:10:41 > 0:10:43that the authorities may well kill you,

0:10:43 > 0:10:46it's not surprising that hip-hop culture is sceptical

0:10:46 > 0:10:47about the official story

0:10:47 > 0:10:50and receptive to alternative explanations

0:10:50 > 0:10:52of, "What's really going on?"

0:10:52 > 0:10:55# I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit

0:10:55 > 0:10:58# Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets

0:10:58 > 0:11:01# How much money does it take to really make a full clip?

0:11:01 > 0:11:04# 9/11, Building 7, did they really pull it? #

0:11:04 > 0:11:05Seen from the outside,

0:11:05 > 0:11:08the hip-hop mind-set can seem overly suspicious at times,

0:11:08 > 0:11:10but it's a bit like the old joke -

0:11:10 > 0:11:12"Just cos you're paranoid

0:11:12 > 0:11:13"doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

0:11:13 > 0:11:15# In the first place That's on the up and up... #

0:11:15 > 0:11:21Hip-hop taught me to look for the extra narrative in anything.

0:11:21 > 0:11:23So, when I look at the news, I look for the extra narrative.

0:11:23 > 0:11:27I look for what I'm not being told as well as what I am being told.

0:11:27 > 0:11:29# And that ain't Jersey Shore

0:11:29 > 0:11:31# Homey, that's the news

0:11:31 > 0:11:33# And these the same people supposed to be telling us the truth... #

0:11:33 > 0:11:36If you listen to a lot of hip-hop,

0:11:36 > 0:11:40and you're not fully understanding institutional racism, then, yeah,

0:11:40 > 0:11:43a lot of the things that they talk about

0:11:43 > 0:11:46may seem like conspiracies.

0:11:46 > 0:11:49"The police are out to get us," "The schools are out to get us,"

0:11:49 > 0:11:51"The Government is out to get us."

0:11:51 > 0:11:54"Oh, my God, these guys think everyone is out to get them."

0:11:54 > 0:11:56Well, actually, yeah.

0:11:56 > 0:11:59They live in a matrix of institutional racism

0:11:59 > 0:12:02that is constructed to keep them

0:12:02 > 0:12:06at a low level of having no status in America.

0:12:06 > 0:12:08It's not like these theories come from hip-hop.

0:12:08 > 0:12:10It's just that hip-hop in general,

0:12:10 > 0:12:13hip-hop teaches people to be more open-minded anyway.

0:12:13 > 0:12:15I wouldn't say that hip-hop loves conspiracy.

0:12:15 > 0:12:17I would say that in a lot of ways,

0:12:17 > 0:12:19the truth has been deemed conspiracy.

0:12:19 > 0:12:23You know, ten years ago I was telling people, you know,

0:12:23 > 0:12:26I think that the Government is tapping our e-mails

0:12:26 > 0:12:28and I think they're keeping a registry of that.

0:12:28 > 0:12:31And people were like, "That's paranoia.

0:12:31 > 0:12:34"That's conspiracy. You're crazy."

0:12:34 > 0:12:36Edward Snowden comes out,

0:12:36 > 0:12:39and now what was conspiracy is documented fact.

0:12:39 > 0:12:42Hip-hop often provides a platform for theories

0:12:42 > 0:12:44before they become generally accepted.

0:12:44 > 0:12:47One idea now finding more traction outside of hip-hop

0:12:47 > 0:12:50explains why black people represent less than one in eight

0:12:50 > 0:12:53of the American population, but nearly 40% of its prisons.

0:12:53 > 0:12:55# Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles

0:12:55 > 0:12:57# Like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex... #

0:12:57 > 0:13:00There's conspiracies and then there are things

0:13:00 > 0:13:02that have a paper trail, have a history -

0:13:02 > 0:13:05things like the prison industrial complex.

0:13:05 > 0:13:10The prison industrial complex really is this interconnected web

0:13:10 > 0:13:15of entities that profits from mass incarceration.

0:13:15 > 0:13:19Right, there are more people in jail in the United States

0:13:19 > 0:13:22than during the gulag in USSR,

0:13:22 > 0:13:25during apartheid in South Africa combined.

0:13:25 > 0:13:29You've got Fortune 500 companies using prison labour, right,

0:13:29 > 0:13:31and they're basically paying prisoners nothing

0:13:31 > 0:13:34and they're able to say that these products are made in the USA.

0:13:34 > 0:13:36The reason why they can do this, right,

0:13:36 > 0:13:38is because the 13th Amendment says,

0:13:38 > 0:13:43"Slavery is illegal, except in the form of punishment,"

0:13:43 > 0:13:47so if someone is being punished, they can essentially be a slave

0:13:47 > 0:13:49but you don't have to pay them minimum wage.

0:13:49 > 0:13:51So, you got prisoners making 12 cents an hour.

0:13:51 > 0:13:55So, it's all these new ways, and it's kind of like colonialism,

0:13:55 > 0:13:56then you have neo-colonialism.

0:13:56 > 0:14:00It's a new way to kind of achieve the same result, right?

0:14:00 > 0:14:06How do we still take the bulk of the young, black talent -

0:14:06 > 0:14:09males, women - and incarcerate them, essentially, and enslave them?

0:14:22 > 0:14:26So, conspiracy theory? It's not even a conspiracy theory.

0:14:26 > 0:14:31It's all reality. It's a luxury to have a conspiracy theory.

0:14:31 > 0:14:33HE LAUGHS

0:14:35 > 0:14:37Before we go any further,

0:14:37 > 0:14:40I just need to make one thing very clear.

0:14:40 > 0:14:43Hip-hop is much more than just a style of music.

0:14:43 > 0:14:45There are five elements to this culture.

0:14:45 > 0:14:48DJ-ing,

0:14:48 > 0:14:50MC-ing,

0:14:50 > 0:14:53graffiti art, break dancing,

0:14:53 > 0:14:57and the fifth element that often is forgotten, knowledge.

0:14:57 > 0:14:59So, if you're going to look at the world

0:14:59 > 0:15:03through the lens of hip-hop, you have to take in all of this.

0:15:03 > 0:15:06Not just rap music, but the entire culture.

0:15:10 > 0:15:14Rappers, people like me, we're the front men,

0:15:14 > 0:15:16and we tend to get all the attention.

0:15:16 > 0:15:19But the engine of hip-hop is the DJ,

0:15:19 > 0:15:22and I'm going to meet one of the most important.

0:15:26 > 0:15:29In hip-hop, DJ skills are essential.

0:15:29 > 0:15:32It's using the turntables as an instrument.

0:15:32 > 0:15:35There's no guitars. There's not a drummer.

0:15:35 > 0:15:37There's not a guy on the keyboard.

0:15:37 > 0:15:40There's a DJ and he's got two turntables

0:15:40 > 0:15:42and a mixer with a mic plugged into it,

0:15:42 > 0:15:45and from there, everything stems.

0:15:45 > 0:15:46Primo!

0:15:49 > 0:15:53DJ Premier is one of the most highly regarded DJs in the world.

0:15:53 > 0:15:56As well as being half of the '90s hip-hop group Gang Starr,

0:15:56 > 0:15:59he's also produced tracks for everyone from Jay-Z and Kanye West

0:15:59 > 0:16:02to Snoop Dogg, but it all comes from humble beginnings.

0:16:02 > 0:16:03When I was a kid,

0:16:03 > 0:16:06we used to go to all the local spots where I lived in Texas,

0:16:06 > 0:16:09and they had a jukebox and I'd watch the machine

0:16:09 > 0:16:11look for the record and the record would drop.

0:16:11 > 0:16:13So, I thought it was like a toy.

0:16:13 > 0:16:16So, that's what got you into DJ-ing, the technology of it?

0:16:16 > 0:16:17Absolutely.

0:16:17 > 0:16:19And when it spins, as a kid,

0:16:19 > 0:16:21you're just sitting there, mesmerised.

0:16:21 > 0:16:24My mother used to always go, "It's not a toy, it's not a toy."

0:16:24 > 0:16:26But for me, it intrigued me

0:16:26 > 0:16:30that music came from the source of those toys.

0:16:36 > 0:16:38Then I saw the Buffalo Gals video,

0:16:38 > 0:16:40Malcolm McLaren and the World's Famous Supreme Team,

0:16:40 > 0:16:44and just seeing them cutting the 45, just the era-era-era-ah!

0:16:47 > 0:16:49- In the UK, we credit that record... - Really?

0:16:49 > 0:16:51..as the record that introduced us

0:16:51 > 0:16:53- to hip-hop culture.- Wow, wow.

0:16:54 > 0:16:57Now we knew exactly what the culture looked like

0:16:57 > 0:17:02in terms of the dancing and how they dressed and how the art looked.

0:17:02 > 0:17:04Two turntables and a microphone.

0:17:04 > 0:17:08The imagery for that comes from the Buffalo Gals video

0:17:08 > 0:17:09with Malcolm McLaren.

0:17:11 > 0:17:12It was extraordinary because

0:17:12 > 0:17:14the sound coming out was totally inarticulate.

0:17:14 > 0:17:16It was a load of rough noises,

0:17:16 > 0:17:18noises that sounded a little like guitar

0:17:18 > 0:17:21but had a sort of concrete chisel sound, right?

0:17:21 > 0:17:24And the sound, I realised, was actually coming from the way

0:17:24 > 0:17:26they were messing around with their hands on the decks,

0:17:26 > 0:17:28moving records backwards and forwards.

0:17:28 > 0:17:30But they weren't just doing it with one record,

0:17:30 > 0:17:32they were doing it with two.

0:17:32 > 0:17:35They took the part that we like, you know,

0:17:35 > 0:17:37because there's always a part of the record

0:17:37 > 0:17:38you wish you could play again and again.

0:17:38 > 0:17:42And they're catching that same part and extending it,

0:17:42 > 0:17:44and I was like, "I got to learn that."

0:17:47 > 0:17:49That was a real eye-opener to me.

0:17:49 > 0:17:53This English guy who introduced the world to punk rock music

0:17:53 > 0:17:58is also the same guy who introduced the world to hip-hop.

0:17:58 > 0:18:00That's an incredible story.

0:18:05 > 0:18:09No matter what kind of beats I do, it always has a DJ mentality.

0:18:09 > 0:18:12I consider myself an artist, producer,

0:18:12 > 0:18:16but I always say, for me, DJ-ing is always number one.

0:18:16 > 0:18:21The DJ aspect of it is the reason why I'm nice.

0:18:24 > 0:18:26After meeting DJ Premier in LA,

0:18:26 > 0:18:29I feel like I need to go back to the roots,

0:18:29 > 0:18:30to the birthplace of hip-hop.

0:18:30 > 0:18:33New York City is a big part of my story in hip-hop.

0:18:33 > 0:18:36The name London Posse came from our trip to New York.

0:18:36 > 0:18:38We were going on tour with Big Audio Dynamite

0:18:38 > 0:18:39and they needed a name for the poster.

0:18:39 > 0:18:41So, it was a two-minute phone conversation.

0:18:41 > 0:18:44"We're going to press in a minute. We need a name for the poster.

0:18:44 > 0:18:45"What's the name of your group?"

0:18:45 > 0:18:48"Uh...London Posse." That's how the name came about.

0:18:48 > 0:18:51And we are credited with being the first crew

0:18:51 > 0:18:55to really rap with genuine UK accents.

0:18:55 > 0:18:58A big part of the reason we did that is cos we went to New York

0:18:58 > 0:19:00and quickly realised that rapping in fake American accents

0:19:00 > 0:19:02is a stupid idea.

0:19:02 > 0:19:05So, you know, New York is part of my DNA

0:19:05 > 0:19:07in this hip-hop life that I'm living.

0:19:07 > 0:19:09Just, we're doing a film about hip-hop.

0:19:09 > 0:19:11You can't make a film about hip-hop and not go to New York.

0:19:11 > 0:19:15I figure for many people, that's the Mecca, so here we go.

0:19:15 > 0:19:17Nah, that can go in my hand luggage.

0:19:17 > 0:19:19# New York girls, dem a mad ova wi

0:19:19 > 0:19:22# New York girls, dem a mad ova wi

0:19:22 > 0:19:24# New York girls, dem a mad ova wi

0:19:24 > 0:19:27# New York girls, dem a mad ova wi

0:19:27 > 0:19:30# Nas the don, Nas the don, Nas the don, Nas the don

0:19:30 > 0:19:32# Nas the don, Nas the don,

0:19:32 > 0:19:33# Nas the don inna New York City... #

0:19:33 > 0:19:35To understand hip-hop,

0:19:35 > 0:19:37you have to understand the Civil Rights Movement.

0:19:37 > 0:19:39Dr King was killed in 1968.

0:19:39 > 0:19:40Well, a year before,

0:19:40 > 0:19:43someone named Clive Campbell came from Jamaica

0:19:43 > 0:19:45in the West Indies to New York to the Bronx -

0:19:45 > 0:19:48Kool Herc, one of the founding fathers of hip-hop.

0:19:48 > 0:19:49Dr King was talking about

0:19:49 > 0:19:51a poor people's campaign at the end of his life.

0:19:51 > 0:19:52Who created hip-hop?

0:19:52 > 0:19:54Poor African-Americans, poor West Indians,

0:19:54 > 0:19:58poor Latinos in a place called the Bronx, New York.

0:19:58 > 0:20:00And so, in a lot of ways, hip-hop was a response

0:20:00 > 0:20:02to the failures of the Civil Rights Movement,

0:20:02 > 0:20:06people moving away from what Dr King was urging people to do -

0:20:06 > 0:20:09"Pay attention to poverty. We got to deal with poverty."

0:20:09 > 0:20:11And so, when you think about hip-hop,

0:20:11 > 0:20:14its very essence is a social commentary.

0:20:14 > 0:20:16It doesn't matter what the lyrics say.

0:20:16 > 0:20:19You've got two turntables and a microphone,

0:20:19 > 0:20:20some spray paint and magic markers.

0:20:20 > 0:20:23Some sneakers, some cardboard, linoleum.

0:20:23 > 0:20:24That's nothing.

0:20:24 > 0:20:27These are poor people taking what they had

0:20:27 > 0:20:29and creating something out of that. You know what I mean?

0:20:29 > 0:20:33So, the very act of doing that is revolutionary.

0:20:34 > 0:20:37For me, as a teenager in early '80s Britain,

0:20:37 > 0:20:40discovering this amazing new thing called hip-hop culture

0:20:40 > 0:20:42was definitely revolutionary.

0:20:42 > 0:20:45But a few years earlier, in 1979,

0:20:45 > 0:20:48one song truly blew our minds.

0:20:48 > 0:20:51- COMMENTATOR:- Here is Wonder Mike, Hank and Master Gee -

0:20:51 > 0:20:53The Sugarhill Gang!

0:20:53 > 0:20:54# I said a hip hop, the hippie, the hippie

0:20:54 > 0:20:56# To the hip, hip hop, and you don't stop

0:20:56 > 0:20:57# A rock it... #

0:20:57 > 0:21:00'Around 11, 12 years old, I heard Rapper's Delight.'

0:21:00 > 0:21:02I heard it and I saw it, it was on Top Of The Pops.

0:21:02 > 0:21:04# I'm rappin' to the beat

0:21:04 > 0:21:05# And me, the groove... #

0:21:05 > 0:21:07And, the next day in school,

0:21:07 > 0:21:09that song had changed the playground.

0:21:09 > 0:21:11It was all about learning the words to that song.

0:21:11 > 0:21:14And, if you knew the words to the whole 13-minute version,

0:21:14 > 0:21:16you were that guy.

0:21:16 > 0:21:18Of course, I knew those words quite quickly.

0:21:18 > 0:21:21I learnt and rehearse them often and knew them well.

0:21:21 > 0:21:23# Let's rock, you don't stop

0:21:23 > 0:21:26# Rock the rhythm that'll make your body rock... #

0:21:26 > 0:21:28'Rapper's Delight introduced me,

0:21:28 > 0:21:30'and everyone else who didn't live in the Bronx,

0:21:30 > 0:21:32'to a brand-new thing called rap.

0:21:32 > 0:21:36'Rap turns MCs from people who talked over records at parties

0:21:36 > 0:21:38'into pop stars.

0:21:38 > 0:21:40'When we talk about the Hip Hop World News,

0:21:40 > 0:21:43'the MCs are the anchors who deliver the message,

0:21:43 > 0:21:47'and they all came with their own unique presentational style.

0:21:47 > 0:21:50'I took inspiration from rappers like Grandmaster Caz

0:21:50 > 0:21:52'from the Cold Crush Brothers.

0:21:54 > 0:21:56'And Run from Run DMC.

0:21:56 > 0:21:58'I like the flow of Just-Ice

0:21:58 > 0:22:00'and the lyrical content of Kool G Rap.

0:22:01 > 0:22:05'It takes a lot of skill, knowledge and wordplay to be an MC.

0:22:05 > 0:22:08'And one of the continual debates hip-hop is...

0:22:08 > 0:22:10'who's the greatest?'

0:22:10 > 0:22:11HIP-HOP INTRO PLAYS

0:22:16 > 0:22:17# To all the ladies in the place

0:22:17 > 0:22:18# With style and grace

0:22:18 > 0:22:22# Allow me to lace these lyrical duches in your bushes... #

0:22:22 > 0:22:25You know what? I think, in terms of lyricism,

0:22:25 > 0:22:27I don't think anybody

0:22:27 > 0:22:29could beat Biggie.

0:22:29 > 0:22:31But, in terms of consistency, total package,

0:22:31 > 0:22:34music, lyrics, business, everything,

0:22:34 > 0:22:35I'm going to go with Jay-Z.

0:22:35 > 0:22:38# You're now tuned into the motherfucking greatest. #

0:22:38 > 0:22:42It's talent, it's societal impact...

0:22:42 > 0:22:44it's longevity.

0:22:44 > 0:22:47So, for me, if I had to say the greatest MC of all time,

0:22:47 > 0:22:48I'd have to give it to Jay-Z.

0:22:48 > 0:22:50# If you feelin' like a pimp nigga,

0:22:50 > 0:22:52# Go and brush your shoulders off

0:22:52 > 0:22:55# Ladies is pimps too, gon' brush your shoulders off

0:22:55 > 0:22:56# Niggas is crazy, baby... #

0:22:56 > 0:22:58Since Reasonable Doubt,

0:22:58 > 0:23:02nonstop with hits.

0:23:02 > 0:23:04Like, shit that changed the game.

0:23:04 > 0:23:07Everything about him just says

0:23:07 > 0:23:09the greatest of all time.

0:23:09 > 0:23:12# Middle finger to the law, nigga gripping my balls... #

0:23:12 > 0:23:13I'll go with Kendrick.

0:23:13 > 0:23:15Kendrick is fucking killing it.

0:23:15 > 0:23:16# Biatch!

0:23:16 > 0:23:18# This your favourite song

0:23:18 > 0:23:20# Translation: Ven aqui mami... #

0:23:20 > 0:23:24Kendrick has given you great, great albums with diverse concepts,

0:23:24 > 0:23:27that tackle them from a perspective that no-one has explored yet

0:23:27 > 0:23:29in his own unique way.

0:23:29 > 0:23:31And I think it's fucked up people are hating on him

0:23:31 > 0:23:32just cos he's newer.

0:23:32 > 0:23:33# Let's get it nights like this I'm a knight like this

0:23:33 > 0:23:35# Sword in my hand, I fight like this

0:23:35 > 0:23:37# I am more than a man, I'm a god

0:23:37 > 0:23:38# Bitch, touche, en garde

0:23:38 > 0:23:40# Toupee drop and her two tits pop

0:23:40 > 0:23:41# Out of that tank top and bra

0:23:41 > 0:23:43# And when I say, "Doo Doo Doo Doo!"

0:23:43 > 0:23:44# Bitch, that be K. Dot... #

0:23:44 > 0:23:46The greatest MC of all time, for me...

0:23:48 > 0:23:50..for me, I'd say Rakim.

0:23:50 > 0:23:52You know, I would say Rakim.

0:23:52 > 0:23:53For me, it's Rakim.

0:23:53 > 0:23:55# Rakim...#

0:23:55 > 0:23:59Rakim is just the greatest rhyme writer,

0:23:59 > 0:24:01lyricist in the hip-hop period.

0:24:20 > 0:24:24Rakim completely reinvented the way you rapped.

0:24:24 > 0:24:26It was so advanced then.

0:24:26 > 0:24:28Nobody sounded like him.

0:24:28 > 0:24:29Nobody.

0:24:29 > 0:24:31# This was a take, I wasn't supposed to break

0:24:31 > 0:24:33# I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate

0:24:33 > 0:24:36# I wanna see 'em keep followin' and swallowin'

0:24:36 > 0:24:38# Takin' the makin', bitin' and borrowin'... #

0:24:38 > 0:24:40He's the one who takes us from...

0:24:40 > 0:24:43you know, really monosyllabic rhymes to polysyllabic rhymes,

0:24:43 > 0:24:45adds internal rhymes.

0:24:45 > 0:24:50I mean, he is the beginning of the modern rapper

0:24:50 > 0:24:51and the way we rhyme today.

0:24:51 > 0:24:53# What could you say as the Earth gets further and further away

0:24:53 > 0:24:55# Planets as small as balls of clay... #

0:24:55 > 0:24:57Rakim shifted the paradigm, man.

0:24:57 > 0:25:00Like, for me, that's my greatest ever.

0:25:00 > 0:25:01# And turn around and look

0:25:01 > 0:25:03# As you stare into the darkness

0:25:03 > 0:25:04# Your knowledge: took!

0:25:07 > 0:25:09The attraction of Rakim was his flow,

0:25:09 > 0:25:12his lyrical dexterity, his content.

0:25:12 > 0:25:15But also what he represented as a man.

0:25:15 > 0:25:17He wasn't afraid to be smart.

0:25:17 > 0:25:20He wasn't trying to dumb himself down,

0:25:20 > 0:25:24or present the image of the street thug.

0:25:24 > 0:25:27But, lyrically, he touched on those things.

0:25:27 > 0:25:31But that's not what he wanted to bring to the table.

0:25:31 > 0:25:34He was bringing much more positivity, much more empowerment

0:25:34 > 0:25:37to the table, as well as making some fantastic party music.

0:25:37 > 0:25:39That's why he was the greatest.

0:25:39 > 0:25:41It's not one thing. It's all of them.

0:25:44 > 0:25:46'I'm supposed to be meeting Rakim today.

0:25:46 > 0:25:49'The only thing is, he hasn't shown up.'

0:25:49 > 0:25:50This is New York City.

0:25:50 > 0:25:52We're living on hip-hop time.

0:25:54 > 0:25:57MCs like Rakim were more than entertainers.

0:25:57 > 0:25:59They were the people who taught us to see the world

0:25:59 > 0:26:01from a different perspective.

0:26:01 > 0:26:04MUSIC: I Can by Nas

0:26:04 > 0:26:07# I know I can

0:26:07 > 0:26:08# Be what I wanna be... #

0:26:08 > 0:26:09Hip-hop gave us an education.

0:26:09 > 0:26:14It opened our eyes to what was really going on around the world.

0:26:14 > 0:26:17But hip-hop did more than just tell us what was happening.

0:26:17 > 0:26:19It taught us new ideas on how to construct and compose

0:26:19 > 0:26:22a language to express them.

0:26:22 > 0:26:24# I'll be where I wanna be (I'll be where I wanna be)

0:26:24 > 0:26:26# Be, B-Boys and girls, listen up

0:26:26 > 0:26:28# You can be anything in the world

0:26:28 > 0:26:29# In God we trust

0:26:29 > 0:26:31# An architect, doctor, maybe an actress

0:26:31 > 0:26:34# But nothing comes easy, it takes much practice... #

0:26:34 > 0:26:36The greatest lesson hip-hop ever taught me

0:26:36 > 0:26:39absolutely is the power of words.

0:26:39 > 0:26:43The complexity that's displayed by some lyricists in hip-hop is really

0:26:43 > 0:26:45at the forefront of American writing.

0:26:45 > 0:26:48Where's poetry being consumed in the 21st century?

0:26:48 > 0:26:50How is it being consumed?

0:26:50 > 0:26:52It's in the poetry of Kendrick Lamar,

0:26:52 > 0:26:53it's in J. Cole's lyrics.

0:26:53 > 0:26:56That's where poetry is being consumed by the masses.

0:27:09 > 0:27:12That's when metaphors and double entendres and triple entendres

0:27:12 > 0:27:16and similes and all these lyrical devices are being employed.

0:27:16 > 0:27:18Hip-hop is as important as Shakespeare. I would even argue

0:27:18 > 0:27:20it's probably more important than Shakespeare at this point.

0:27:20 > 0:27:22And I love Shakespeare.

0:27:22 > 0:27:24- HE RAPS:- # I run laps around the scholars of tomorrow

0:27:24 > 0:27:26# Because their new schools of thought

0:27:26 > 0:27:27# Are merely our histories borrowed

0:27:27 > 0:27:29# And they label me militant

0:27:29 > 0:27:30# Black, national, radical

0:27:30 > 0:27:34# Yo, they try to put my learning process on sabbatical

0:27:34 > 0:27:35# But I don't apologise

0:27:35 > 0:27:36# I spit truth into those eyes

0:27:36 > 0:27:38# That have been infected by those lies

0:27:38 > 0:27:40# Then, they tried to get me to see

0:27:40 > 0:27:42# Their point of view from a cat that looked like me

0:27:42 > 0:27:44# But he don't walk like me, talk like me or act like me

0:27:44 > 0:27:46# And homie started running

0:27:46 > 0:27:48# When I asked if he was black like me

0:27:48 > 0:27:50# Mastering their thoughts and forgetting our own

0:27:50 > 0:27:52# And you wonder why we always feel alone

0:27:52 > 0:27:54# From the media to academia

0:27:54 > 0:27:56# Hanging brothers like coats

0:27:56 > 0:27:58# That's why in their schools

0:27:58 > 0:28:00# I take two sets of notes. #

0:28:00 > 0:28:04Rappers and MCs, I think, had this sense that they were...

0:28:04 > 0:28:06that they were teachers, you know?

0:28:06 > 0:28:07That they were schooling you.

0:28:16 > 0:28:18When it came to subjects like black history, you know,

0:28:18 > 0:28:20and sort of the notion that...

0:28:20 > 0:28:23here is the stuff you were never taught in school.

0:28:23 > 0:28:25You know, here is who we are, here is where we come from.

0:28:37 > 0:28:42But I think that the idea that music can give you a sense of

0:28:42 > 0:28:47consciousness and root you in a sense of self is really important.

0:28:47 > 0:28:50You know, when I was growing up,

0:28:50 > 0:28:52to have a rapper mention something like

0:28:52 > 0:28:54Frances Cress Welsing, you know,

0:28:54 > 0:28:57or Frantz Fanon, you know,

0:28:57 > 0:28:59or one of these sort of great thinkers is...

0:28:59 > 0:29:02Malcolm X, you know, it made me think,

0:29:02 > 0:29:04"Well, maybe I should check that out.

0:29:04 > 0:29:07"Maybe I should read that Malcolm X book, or that Frantz Fanon book.

0:29:07 > 0:29:11"I want to know what that rapper is talking about".

0:29:11 > 0:29:13I mean, I know that

0:29:13 > 0:29:16Public Enemy was really critical to me,

0:29:16 > 0:29:19as a person who was a teenager

0:29:19 > 0:29:22when their records were coming out.

0:29:22 > 0:29:25It was like, here's the guide for, you know,

0:29:25 > 0:29:27where you need to go as a black intellectual.

0:29:27 > 0:29:28# Bass!

0:29:28 > 0:29:30# How low can you go?

0:29:30 > 0:29:31# Death row

0:29:31 > 0:29:32# What a brother knows

0:29:32 > 0:29:34# Once again, back is the incredible

0:29:34 > 0:29:36# The rhyme animal, the uncannable...

0:29:36 > 0:29:38# D! Public Enemy Number One

0:29:38 > 0:29:40# Five-O said, freeze!... #

0:29:40 > 0:29:42'Most of us have a teacher who was especially important to us

0:29:42 > 0:29:44'at an early age.

0:29:44 > 0:29:48'For me, one of those teachers is someone who inspired me from afar -

0:29:48 > 0:29:50'Chuck D from Public Enemy.'

0:29:51 > 0:29:54I saw nothing but positivity

0:29:54 > 0:29:57within the message that Public Enemy brought.

0:29:57 > 0:29:59In terms of...I felt like...

0:30:01 > 0:30:02This sounds quite silly.

0:30:02 > 0:30:06But I felt like Chuck D wanted me to be a better person. You know?

0:30:08 > 0:30:11And I feel like he helped make me a better person.

0:30:12 > 0:30:16Chuck D was a massive influence on me when I was in my teens.

0:30:16 > 0:30:18And, to be honest, I'm feeling a little bit daunted

0:30:18 > 0:30:20about going to meet him in his childhood home.

0:30:20 > 0:30:22# Never badder than bad, cos the brother is madder than mad

0:30:22 > 0:30:24# At the fact that's corrupt like a senator

0:30:24 > 0:30:26# Soul on a roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope

0:30:26 > 0:30:28# Cos the beats and the lines are so dope

0:30:28 > 0:30:31# Listen for lessons I'm saying inside... #

0:30:31 > 0:30:33HE LAUGHS Wow.

0:30:33 > 0:30:37The walls are covered in all kind of plaques and memorabilia.

0:30:37 > 0:30:39There's gold discs, there's gold...

0:30:39 > 0:30:40there's gold tapes.

0:30:40 > 0:30:42They don't even make tapes any more.

0:30:42 > 0:30:45And Spectrum City was the name of the crew before Public Enemy.

0:30:45 > 0:30:48They used to do a radio show here in Long Island.

0:30:48 > 0:30:50And, yeah, man...

0:30:50 > 0:30:52this is it. This is what it is.

0:30:52 > 0:30:55The record that first connected with me was

0:30:55 > 0:30:57Miuzi Weighs A Ton. Fantastic.

0:30:57 > 0:30:59# Rock, get up

0:30:59 > 0:31:00# Get down

0:31:00 > 0:31:01# Miuzi weighs a ton

0:31:01 > 0:31:02# Hold it! #

0:31:02 > 0:31:05That tune was earthmoving. Earthmoving.

0:31:05 > 0:31:06# It was war they wanted

0:31:06 > 0:31:07# And war they got

0:31:07 > 0:31:09# But they wilted in the heat

0:31:09 > 0:31:11# When Miuzi got hot

0:31:11 > 0:31:13# Come on! Get up! #

0:31:13 > 0:31:15They made us feel so good about ourselves.

0:31:15 > 0:31:18And it was the two sides of the coin.

0:31:18 > 0:31:20There was Chuck D and there was Flavor Flav.

0:31:20 > 0:31:22He was like, you know, sweetening the pill.

0:31:22 > 0:31:25You know they say "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"?

0:31:25 > 0:31:27Well, that was what Flavor Flav did,

0:31:27 > 0:31:30while Chuck D was feeding us this hard information.

0:31:30 > 0:31:32And we were eagerly sucking it up.

0:31:32 > 0:31:34Ah!

0:31:34 > 0:31:37I'm so emotional right now. I feel like crying, swear down.

0:31:37 > 0:31:39Fuck!

0:31:39 > 0:31:41I'm feeling very... Give me a minute. Give me a minute.

0:31:41 > 0:31:42HE WHISPERS: Oh, fuck!

0:31:44 > 0:31:45I ain't ever done this before.

0:31:45 > 0:31:46HE SNIFFS

0:31:46 > 0:31:47HE SIGHS

0:31:49 > 0:31:51You know, up until Public Enemy,

0:31:51 > 0:31:55my favourite rappers had been Run DMC and LL Cool J.

0:31:55 > 0:31:57And there's nothing wrong with those guys. I still love those guys.

0:31:59 > 0:32:02But Public Enemy came with something else.

0:32:02 > 0:32:04They made me...made me feel...

0:32:04 > 0:32:08proud of who I was, where I came from, what I had to offer.

0:32:08 > 0:32:10No other group had ever done that.

0:32:10 > 0:32:11Public Enemy did, though.

0:32:13 > 0:32:14HE SIGHS Oh.

0:32:17 > 0:32:18Hip-hop...

0:32:18 > 0:32:20hip-hop...

0:32:20 > 0:32:21has given me so much.

0:32:25 > 0:32:28And, within that, on a personal level...

0:32:28 > 0:32:30I'm going to burst into tears in a minute.

0:32:33 > 0:32:36I feel like Chuck D actually helped change

0:32:36 > 0:32:38the direction of my life.

0:32:38 > 0:32:40Jesus Christ!

0:32:40 > 0:32:42HE SNIFFS

0:32:42 > 0:32:44Unashamedly - I'm shedding these tears unashamedly.

0:32:44 > 0:32:45These are happy tears.

0:32:45 > 0:32:48Cos I feel lucky and thankful to be here.

0:32:50 > 0:32:51Yeah.

0:32:51 > 0:32:52Hip-hop did this.

0:32:52 > 0:32:54Hip-hop changed the direction of my life.

0:32:54 > 0:32:56And Chuck D is...

0:32:56 > 0:32:59is one of the most important men in my life.

0:32:59 > 0:33:02And I say that from the position of a fan

0:33:02 > 0:33:04and as a hip-hop fan.

0:33:04 > 0:33:07You know, hip-hop is often

0:33:07 > 0:33:10just negated as just this childish thing

0:33:10 > 0:33:13that these black kids from the ghetto started.

0:33:13 > 0:33:14And it's actually so much more.

0:33:17 > 0:33:19Yeah. It's so much more.

0:33:20 > 0:33:22Oh! I'm done. I'm done.

0:33:22 > 0:33:24HE SIGHS HEAVILY Phew!

0:33:24 > 0:33:27# I got a letter from the Government the other day

0:33:27 > 0:33:30# I opened and read it, it said they were suckers

0:33:30 > 0:33:32# They wanted me for their army or whatever

0:33:32 > 0:33:35# Picture me givin' a damn - I said never... #

0:33:35 > 0:33:40Your music came to me at a time when... It feels like we needed to.

0:33:40 > 0:33:44It really set me on a journey, and, in a lot of ways,

0:33:44 > 0:33:46changed the direction of my life.

0:33:46 > 0:33:50So firstly, I have to say thank you to you for that, but also,

0:33:50 > 0:33:52how do YOU feel about it?

0:33:52 > 0:33:55I'm supposed to do that.

0:33:55 > 0:34:01You don't actually tell a parent who does a great job parenting,

0:34:01 > 0:34:06"Oh, man, you're doing an incredible job," the parent would be like...

0:34:06 > 0:34:11"I got to do it, and my love is unconditional."

0:34:11 > 0:34:14# Well, I'm all in, put it up on the board

0:34:14 > 0:34:17# Another rapper shot down from the mouth that roared... #

0:34:17 > 0:34:20- Public Enemy No- 1... Mm-hmm.

0:34:21 > 0:34:23- ..when that came out...- Mm-hmm.

0:34:25 > 0:34:28- ..it was so revolutionary.- Mmm.

0:34:28 > 0:34:29# Like a Tyson bolo

0:34:29 > 0:34:32# Make the fly girls wanna have my photo... #

0:34:32 > 0:34:35Me and my group of friends, it sent me to the library,

0:34:35 > 0:34:37it made me go and look for that Malcolm X book,

0:34:37 > 0:34:41- it made me want to find out who Louis Farrakhan is, you know?- Mmm.

0:34:41 > 0:34:43We knew what we were doing when we did it. Of course.

0:34:43 > 0:34:46Cos we grew up in the '60s, we didn't grow up in the '70s.

0:34:46 > 0:34:48Growing up in the '60s,

0:34:48 > 0:34:53from assassinations to the Vietnam War, we seen impact,

0:34:53 > 0:34:56we saw impact of the resistance against that,

0:34:56 > 0:34:58the fight for civil rights.

0:34:58 > 0:35:01What we didn't know was what was on the other end of the message,

0:35:01 > 0:35:03until we travelled there.

0:35:03 > 0:35:07So when we first came over to the UK, it was like, OK, you know,

0:35:07 > 0:35:10they're not getting enough of who they are,

0:35:10 > 0:35:14and let's talk about the similarities of all us.

0:35:14 > 0:35:18Let's talk about things they don't know about us here, so it was

0:35:18 > 0:35:22really a message to everyone saying that we're connected.

0:35:22 > 0:35:27Hip-hop culture is a thing that ties us together as human beings,

0:35:27 > 0:35:31cos of our similarities, and knocks aside the differences.

0:35:31 > 0:35:34This is where culture and governments

0:35:34 > 0:35:36are diametrically opposed.

0:35:36 > 0:35:39Governments want to control people...

0:35:41 > 0:35:44..culture wants to be able to free them.

0:35:44 > 0:35:47Describing hip-hop as an extension of the Civil Rights Movement

0:35:47 > 0:35:50might sound a bit strong, but it makes perfect sense to me.

0:35:50 > 0:35:52It does the same job -

0:35:52 > 0:35:55bringing people together under the banner of collective action

0:35:55 > 0:35:56for social justice.

0:35:56 > 0:36:01The music has meant everything to a people

0:36:01 > 0:36:04who are considered voiceless.

0:36:04 > 0:36:06In the United States of America, if you want to teach black history,

0:36:06 > 0:36:11you don't even have to have a history class, just teach them

0:36:11 > 0:36:15the music, the musicians and how it was made and what they were saying.

0:36:15 > 0:36:19And you got half the job accomplished. My brother.

0:36:19 > 0:36:22# Knowing what I know, and while the black bands sweating... #

0:36:22 > 0:36:25Public Enemy came about at a time when I was at

0:36:25 > 0:36:28a real crossroads in my life.

0:36:28 > 0:36:31I wasn't sure what direction it was going to take,

0:36:31 > 0:36:38and Public Enemy really helped cement my way of thinking, you know?

0:36:38 > 0:36:40It...

0:36:40 > 0:36:42It really, as a group,

0:36:42 > 0:36:46they really explained to me what I felt and couldn't articulate.

0:36:46 > 0:36:49And I think hip-hop does that for a lot of young people,

0:36:49 > 0:36:52that's what the MC does when he's really good, they tell the story

0:36:52 > 0:36:55that young people have in their hearts but don't know how to say.

0:36:55 > 0:36:57And Chuck D did that for me.

0:36:57 > 0:37:00Yet hip-hop is often denigrated.

0:37:00 > 0:37:05Could that be because hip-hop is somehow seen as...lesser?

0:37:05 > 0:37:07You know what sounds like.

0:37:07 > 0:37:15Racism is about doubting the mental capabilities of black people.

0:37:15 > 0:37:19Physically, we are supposed to be superior, right?

0:37:19 > 0:37:23Sexually, athletically, the way we dance and move,

0:37:23 > 0:37:25these things are, like, lionised.

0:37:25 > 0:37:28So really, we're only talking about white people feeling like

0:37:28 > 0:37:33their mental capabilities are greater than black people,

0:37:33 > 0:37:38so then it becomes anything that black people do is lesser,

0:37:38 > 0:37:42so yeah, this rapping is somehow lesser,

0:37:42 > 0:37:45even though a rap song contains

0:37:45 > 0:37:51four to five times more words than your average R&B or rock song!

0:37:51 > 0:37:55So a lot more thought and writing has to go into it,

0:37:55 > 0:37:58but let's not let facts get in the way(!)

0:37:58 > 0:38:01# Just like music... #

0:38:04 > 0:38:07Hip-hop is the most democratic art form.

0:38:07 > 0:38:10You never know where the next household name

0:38:10 > 0:38:11is going to come from.

0:38:11 > 0:38:14Hip-hop is street music, it comes from the ground up,

0:38:14 > 0:38:17so I want to find out what it's like to be part of

0:38:17 > 0:38:20the New York hip-hop scene from the bottom.

0:38:20 > 0:38:22I'm talking about the foundation of hip-hop,

0:38:22 > 0:38:27groups of guys getting together and showing their lyrical skills,

0:38:27 > 0:38:30it's what hip-hop was built on, and it's places like this,

0:38:30 > 0:38:33Union Square Park, where every Friday the hip-hop kids

0:38:33 > 0:38:36come out, they'll get together, cypher,

0:38:36 > 0:38:38and put their skills on show.

0:38:38 > 0:38:41Let's go and see what kind of skills they got, innit?

0:38:41 > 0:38:43# Turning into Marvin Gaye, I do this all day

0:38:43 > 0:38:46# Coming out of BK, I bumped on some heads and they fucked with my brains

0:38:46 > 0:38:49# Oh, you came up out of Brooklyn, we'll show you how it's lookin'... #

0:38:49 > 0:38:51Yo, this is Legendary Cyphers, man.

0:38:51 > 0:38:55Anybody can get in, regardless of skill level.

0:38:55 > 0:38:56If somebody's not that nice,

0:38:56 > 0:39:00they gon' get a couple bars off and somebody gon' cut them off.

0:39:00 > 0:39:03# ..verses like this

0:39:03 > 0:39:06# Another vocalist, so sick they call me syphilis

0:39:06 > 0:39:08# The flow is sweeter than liquorice

0:39:08 > 0:39:10# You 'ready seen our shit, like hickory

0:39:10 > 0:39:13# You know I'm feeling it every time I start spittin'

0:39:13 > 0:39:15# I do it early, I love music, spitting out Erick Sermon

0:39:15 > 0:39:18# Like I'm a preacher, understand I had to reach you

0:39:18 > 0:39:20# I had to beat you, put me up on a feature

0:39:20 > 0:39:22# You already seen, I'm never slacking

0:39:22 > 0:39:24# I feel like Poseidon, let's get it crackin'. #

0:39:24 > 0:39:27OTHERS: Ohhh!

0:39:27 > 0:39:30It's the purest platform to be out ever.

0:39:30 > 0:39:34Your reputation, your name and all that means nothing out here.

0:39:34 > 0:39:38# Causing revolution, burn constitution, mental institution

0:39:38 > 0:39:42# Coming through stupid, no, we love this music... #

0:39:43 > 0:39:46This is New York.

0:39:46 > 0:39:49There's such a proud feeling to know that my city changed the world.

0:39:49 > 0:39:52You know what I mean? And that's really real,

0:39:52 > 0:39:53particularly because growing up,

0:39:53 > 0:39:56all you hear is, "You ain't gon' be shit."

0:39:56 > 0:39:57They would tell us,

0:39:57 > 0:40:01"Statistically speaking, you'll be dead or in jail by 21." You know?

0:40:01 > 0:40:03So I think that despite all these challenges and adversities,

0:40:03 > 0:40:05the fact that we birthed something

0:40:05 > 0:40:06that changed the world is incredible.

0:40:06 > 0:40:10Yo, for real, we free, off the top of the mic, how it happens.

0:40:10 > 0:40:14- It's all good. Is it OK if I start, Blackie?- Of course.

0:40:14 > 0:40:16# Latin assassin, make you listen

0:40:16 > 0:40:18# I get love from the US to Brixton... #

0:40:18 > 0:40:20Dunno!

0:40:20 > 0:40:24# So right now I'mma pass to my man, he reppin' London

0:40:24 > 0:40:25# Yo, Lord forgive me, I'm trying

0:40:25 > 0:40:27# But I'd be lying if I said

0:40:27 > 0:40:29# I didn't find the finer things inspiring

0:40:29 > 0:40:32# And why did I have to climb out of the environment?

0:40:32 > 0:40:34# I had to play with fire, but I desire a higher 'ting

0:40:34 > 0:40:35# But they ain't hirin',

0:40:35 > 0:40:37# That's why I'm up on a hustle till I'm perspirin'

0:40:37 > 0:40:39# Cos I'm a man that's trying to win

0:40:39 > 0:40:42# I'm on tour, hear me roar, I'm the Lion King

0:40:42 > 0:40:44# I'm the guy your momma told your sister, "Keep your eye on him"

0:40:44 > 0:40:46- OTHERS:- Ohh!

0:40:46 > 0:40:47# "Cos he's a keeper"

0:40:47 > 0:40:49# Coming live through your speaker

0:40:49 > 0:40:52# Me lickle mates, lickle miz, lickle tweeter

0:40:52 > 0:40:55# Pour the brown sugar, make the whole thing sweeter... #

0:40:55 > 0:40:56- OTHERS:- Woo!

0:40:56 > 0:40:59Yo, show some love for the Cypher, big up Majesty.

0:41:03 > 0:41:06Yo, this is the real thing.

0:41:06 > 0:41:09See that, for me, as a hip-hop fan, this is what I came to New York for.

0:41:09 > 0:41:14This is where the real vibe of the hip-hop culture is, and I love it.

0:41:14 > 0:41:16I'm going back in the circuit.

0:41:22 > 0:41:25One of the things I love most about how we report the world

0:41:25 > 0:41:28through hip-hop culture is that there is no editorial control.

0:41:28 > 0:41:31Once you have proved yourself smart enough,

0:41:31 > 0:41:34entertaining enough or original enough to win an audience,

0:41:34 > 0:41:38you can report from anywhere, about anything,

0:41:38 > 0:41:41with no-one telling you what you can or can't say.

0:41:42 > 0:41:45You can't have hip-hop if you give a fuck.

0:41:45 > 0:41:46Hip-hop gives no fucks.

0:41:46 > 0:41:50If we gave a fuck, we wouldn't have created hip-hop.

0:41:50 > 0:41:52# So when you see me on your block with two Glocks

0:41:52 > 0:41:54# Screaming, "Fuck the world", like Tupac

0:41:54 > 0:41:55# I just don't give a fuck

0:41:55 > 0:41:57# Talking that shit behind my back, dirty mackin

0:41:57 > 0:41:59# Telling your boys that I'm on crack

0:41:59 > 0:42:01# I just don't give a fuck... #

0:42:01 > 0:42:04When you have freedom and you don't use the gift of freedom

0:42:04 > 0:42:08and tell people how you feel, I think you're doing an injustice

0:42:08 > 0:42:12to the people before us who didn't have that freedom.

0:42:12 > 0:42:14By not speaking your mind.

0:42:14 > 0:42:17But the freedom to not give a fuck means that you can't really complain

0:42:17 > 0:42:21when YOU'RE offended, and there's one word I really struggle with.

0:42:21 > 0:42:24I'm doing work in Yola, Nigeria.

0:42:24 > 0:42:26Young woman asked me, she was innocent, she meant no harm,

0:42:26 > 0:42:29she said, "Do you have a problem with me saying to you,

0:42:29 > 0:42:32" 'What's up, my N-I-G-G-A?' " In Africa.

0:42:32 > 0:42:33I was like, "Dang."

0:42:33 > 0:42:36This is when you know something has been totally corrupted,

0:42:36 > 0:42:38that even in Africa people are just throwing the word around.

0:42:38 > 0:42:41Meanwhile, your ancestors were taken out of Africa and made into

0:42:41 > 0:42:45slaves because someone saw them as N-I-G-G-A-S.

0:42:45 > 0:42:47And now, we have embraced all of that, that mind-set.

0:42:47 > 0:42:50# So I ball so hard motherfuckers wanna fine me

0:42:50 > 0:42:51# First niggas gotta find me

0:42:51 > 0:42:53# What's 50 grand to a motherfucker like me?

0:42:53 > 0:42:55# Can you please remind me? #

0:42:55 > 0:43:00A word like "nigger" and everything it historically represents

0:43:00 > 0:43:03has no attraction for me.

0:43:04 > 0:43:07And I get that black America has a different relationship

0:43:07 > 0:43:10with the word historically.

0:43:10 > 0:43:14And the problem I find with a lot of mainly American hip-hop

0:43:14 > 0:43:18is they don't appreciate the relationship

0:43:18 > 0:43:21the rest of the world has with the word.

0:43:21 > 0:43:24Someone like Jay-Z and Kanye West making

0:43:24 > 0:43:27a record like Niggas In Paris, and you hear it in the supermarket,

0:43:27 > 0:43:30on the main road - you hear it everywhere.

0:43:30 > 0:43:35Hit record. But actually, what are they saying?

0:43:35 > 0:43:37What are they actually saying?

0:43:37 > 0:43:41For them, yeah, it may be, "Me and my mates in Paris",

0:43:41 > 0:43:45but for the rest of the world, it still means "niggas in Paris".

0:43:46 > 0:43:50# That shit cray, that shit cray... #

0:43:50 > 0:43:53I get white folk coming up to me asking for N... In Paris.

0:43:53 > 0:43:54What do I do?

0:43:54 > 0:43:56And they don't know any better, not to say,

0:43:56 > 0:43:58"Can I have the Paris song by Jay-Z?"

0:43:58 > 0:44:00They don't know that it's not necessarily something

0:44:00 > 0:44:02they shouldn't say, even though they know.

0:44:02 > 0:44:05But because it's on the radio, on TV, they hear it everywhere,

0:44:05 > 0:44:07what are they supposed to do?

0:44:07 > 0:44:11It's uncomfortable to see people enjoying that word,

0:44:11 > 0:44:13and I know it's not something they should really be saying.

0:44:13 > 0:44:15But you can't put a caveat on every song -

0:44:15 > 0:44:17- AMERICAN ACCENT: - "Yeah, I made this word,

0:44:17 > 0:44:20"I made the song, but it's only for people

0:44:20 > 0:44:21"in the 'hood to sing that word.

0:44:21 > 0:44:24"If you ain't from the 'hood, you don't know me, you can't sing that."

0:44:24 > 0:44:26How does that work?

0:44:26 > 0:44:28It's all about context.

0:44:28 > 0:44:30So when me and my niggas use it, it's totally fine.

0:44:30 > 0:44:33When I see my brother, I'm like, "Yo, that's my nigga."

0:44:33 > 0:44:34Know what I'm saying?

0:44:34 > 0:44:37It also has a lot to do with freaking the language.

0:44:37 > 0:44:39That's what hip-hop is about, right?

0:44:39 > 0:44:42Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good.

0:44:42 > 0:44:44We freak the language.

0:44:44 > 0:44:47The subversive nature of hip-hop requires it,

0:44:47 > 0:44:51and the sort of aggressive nature of hip-hop requires it.

0:44:56 > 0:44:58When people talk about recapturing the word, I'm like,

0:44:58 > 0:45:01"Come on, you really serious?"

0:45:01 > 0:45:06Why are we the only ones trying to turn around certain types of word?

0:45:18 > 0:45:21And it's like there's a board somewhere that's like,

0:45:21 > 0:45:26"No hip-hop song can be released unless there's at least 3.5 'niggas'

0:45:26 > 0:45:28"in that song," so you don't have enough niggas,

0:45:28 > 0:45:31go back to the studio and put more in there!

0:45:31 > 0:45:33Me, I don't have a context to use it in.

0:45:33 > 0:45:37I don't call anybody I know it, I don't expect to be called it.

0:45:37 > 0:45:39It's a difficult one.

0:45:39 > 0:45:43It's a valuable marker for our generation, or for this moment

0:45:43 > 0:45:45in American history, the people who will say it

0:45:45 > 0:45:47and the people who won't say it.

0:45:47 > 0:45:50And there's strong groups on both sides,

0:45:50 > 0:45:54not necessarily generational, and the rappers who put their flag

0:45:54 > 0:45:58in the ground and can say "nigga" in the right way...

0:45:58 > 0:46:00It feels good, it's part of hip-hop, man.

0:46:00 > 0:46:02# Cos I'm the nigga

0:46:02 > 0:46:04# The nigga, nigga, like how you figure? #

0:46:04 > 0:46:07Why do we feel the need to claim it? I don't want it.

0:46:07 > 0:46:11Let it stand as what it is and let no-one be allowed to use it.

0:46:11 > 0:46:13Just because it's another black guy saying it

0:46:13 > 0:46:15doesn't make it any less offensive to me.

0:46:15 > 0:46:17# But at least a nigga-nigga rich

0:46:17 > 0:46:19# I be fuckin' broads like I be fuckin' bored... #

0:46:19 > 0:46:23The word is poison to the majority of black people on this planet.

0:46:23 > 0:46:27And even to the ones who say they use it as a term of endearment,

0:46:27 > 0:46:30they'll tell you, "But I spell it with an A on the end."

0:46:30 > 0:46:32Well, you may SPELL it with an A on the end,

0:46:32 > 0:46:34but you still say it with an -ER.

0:46:34 > 0:46:40I don't want to give anybody the opportunity to come and use

0:46:40 > 0:46:44that word in my presence and think it's OK.

0:46:44 > 0:46:48It's not OK. It never will be for someone like me.

0:46:48 > 0:46:51# But this long-dick nigga ain't for the long-talking, I beast

0:46:51 > 0:46:53# I love bad bitches, that's my fucking problem... #

0:46:53 > 0:46:56I know this kind of language and imagery can make people look

0:46:56 > 0:46:57at hip-hop in a negative light.

0:46:57 > 0:47:01And I'll be honest, there's another subject that can get people

0:47:01 > 0:47:05fired up about hip-hop, and that's the portrayal of women.

0:47:05 > 0:47:08# How many licks does it take till you get to the centre of the...?

0:47:08 > 0:47:09# Yes, I got to know

0:47:09 > 0:47:12# How many licks does it take till you get to the centre of the...?

0:47:12 > 0:47:13# Tell me... #

0:47:13 > 0:47:15In the '90s,

0:47:15 > 0:47:18Lil' Kim embodied the place women occupied in hip-hop culture.

0:47:18 > 0:47:22A strong female artist using highly sexualised imagery

0:47:22 > 0:47:23to get to the top.

0:47:23 > 0:47:25# This verse goes out to my niggas in jail

0:47:25 > 0:47:28# Beating they dicks to the XXL...Magazine

0:47:28 > 0:47:30# You like how I look in the aqua green?

0:47:30 > 0:47:34# Get your Vaseline, roll some weed with some tissue and close your eyes

0:47:34 > 0:47:36# Then imagine your tongue in between my thighs

0:47:36 > 0:47:38# Jailer, open up

0:47:38 > 0:47:40# Cell Block Eight... #

0:47:41 > 0:47:43It's complex, it's complicated.

0:47:43 > 0:47:46Firstly, I don't want to point the finger at hip-hop and say

0:47:46 > 0:47:50hip-hop is doing something that society is not doing.

0:47:50 > 0:47:53But... But that's no...

0:47:53 > 0:47:56Two wrongs don't make a right, as they say. In a lot of ways,

0:47:56 > 0:48:01hip-hop has its foot on the neck of women, you know?

0:48:01 > 0:48:04It's not showing a lot of love.

0:48:04 > 0:48:07Women have had to historically fight for their voices in this culture,

0:48:07 > 0:48:11in this industry, just like they've had to do in the larger world.

0:48:11 > 0:48:14# Oh, my gosh, look at her butt

0:48:14 > 0:48:18# Oh, my gosh, look at her butt... #

0:48:18 > 0:48:20Women have felt the need, for whatever reason,

0:48:20 > 0:48:24be it Nicki Minaj or Lil' Kim, that, "In this sexist world,

0:48:24 > 0:48:26"do I have to be basically be from the neck down

0:48:26 > 0:48:28"in order to even be noticed?"

0:48:28 > 0:48:30We don't ask dudes to do that, but we expect the women to do it.

0:48:30 > 0:48:34And then we diss her for doing it and call her names.

0:48:34 > 0:48:35# My anaconda don't

0:48:35 > 0:48:40# My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hun... #

0:48:40 > 0:48:44Pretty much everything in life uses sex to sell,

0:48:44 > 0:48:47so when hip-hop became this huge commercial commodity,

0:48:47 > 0:48:51the fact they used sex to help sell it is no big surprise.

0:48:51 > 0:48:57There is a better hustle for us. The naked hustle ain't always it.

0:48:57 > 0:48:59I never wanna see anyone degrade themselves,

0:48:59 > 0:49:02compromise their integrity for anything.

0:49:03 > 0:49:06Not for no man, not for anything materialistic,

0:49:06 > 0:49:08not for a better lifestyle.

0:49:08 > 0:49:10Know what I'm saying? There's other ways to go about it.

0:49:10 > 0:49:12# U-N-I-T-Y

0:49:12 > 0:49:15# U-N-I-T-Y, that's-a unity

0:49:15 > 0:49:17# U-N-I-T-Y

0:49:17 > 0:49:19# Love a black man from infinity

0:49:19 > 0:49:21# Who you callin' a bitch? #

0:49:21 > 0:49:23Back in the 1990s, women rappers DID find

0:49:23 > 0:49:25a different way to go about it, with some

0:49:25 > 0:49:29of the biggest names coming together under the banner of Ladies First.

0:49:30 > 0:49:33When you had Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Yo-Yo, MC Lyte

0:49:33 > 0:49:35and that whole Ladies First movement,

0:49:35 > 0:49:37when you had that it was more like,

0:49:37 > 0:49:40"This is who we are, respect us for who we are."

0:49:50 > 0:49:55That's Queen Latifah empowering sisters, educating brothers.

0:49:55 > 0:50:00There's a legacy there, the best MC in hip-hop ever was a female,

0:50:00 > 0:50:03IS a female. And that's Lauryn Hill.

0:50:05 > 0:50:07# My friend, come again

0:50:08 > 0:50:12# Guys, you know you better watch out... #

0:50:12 > 0:50:15You show me, in the history of hip-hop, one or two

0:50:15 > 0:50:18or three albums better than The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

0:50:18 > 0:50:22Seriously, from every angle imaginable - musically,

0:50:22 > 0:50:25lyrically, she could sing and she could flow with any dude out there.

0:50:35 > 0:50:37What IS it like as a woman

0:50:37 > 0:50:39navigating the male-dominated hip-hop world?

0:50:39 > 0:50:42Let's face it, the female perspective

0:50:42 > 0:50:44has been missing from my journey so far.

0:50:44 > 0:50:47Luckily, my mate Estelle made it big in the American hip-hop world,

0:50:47 > 0:50:50and she didn't take her clothes off to do it.

0:50:50 > 0:50:53# Take me on a trip, I'd like to go someday

0:50:53 > 0:50:56# Take me to New York, I'd love to see LA

0:50:56 > 0:50:59# I really want to

0:50:59 > 0:51:01# Come kick it with you

0:51:01 > 0:51:04# You'll be my American boy

0:51:04 > 0:51:06# Tell 'em wagwan, blud... #

0:51:06 > 0:51:08Female-wise, who were the ladies who inspired you to say,

0:51:08 > 0:51:10"I can do that"?

0:51:10 > 0:51:12You had Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim, and for me,

0:51:12 > 0:51:15it wasn't about them being naked, it was just the words...

0:51:15 > 0:51:17They could spit!

0:51:17 > 0:51:19Right, they said something that resonated with me,

0:51:19 > 0:51:22that made me feel good as a black woman, as a young black girl.

0:51:22 > 0:51:25# I'm the most critically acclaimed rapstress in the game

0:51:25 > 0:51:28# Coast to coast, stashed the gat in holster girl

0:51:28 > 0:51:30# Dark skinned, Christian Dior poster girl

0:51:30 > 0:51:33# Mo'rockin Timbs chick, and the Gucci loafer girl... #

0:51:33 > 0:51:36Did you ever feel pressure to sex it up?

0:51:36 > 0:51:39I always felt like I'm from London, this is what we do, is we dress.

0:51:39 > 0:51:42So I'm good. I don't have to be out here arse-naked,

0:51:42 > 0:51:44you're going to pay attention to my words,

0:51:44 > 0:51:47and if you need something to look at, well, I look fresh.

0:51:47 > 0:51:48So look at that.

0:51:48 > 0:51:52There's nothing wrong with being sexy, and this is just as a woman.

0:51:52 > 0:51:57Be as sexy as you want, but know that you have to keep that up,

0:51:57 > 0:52:00and as tight as you get keeping it up on a regular day

0:52:00 > 0:52:04for your dude, you have to keep it up for the whole world.

0:52:04 > 0:52:06You will get bored of it, and the minute you get bored of it,

0:52:06 > 0:52:08there goes your career.

0:52:08 > 0:52:10What do you say to people who say, "This whole thing

0:52:10 > 0:52:12"is just misogynistic, there's no respect shown"?

0:52:12 > 0:52:13How do you feel about that?

0:52:13 > 0:52:17It kind of is true, it's misogynistic as hell!

0:52:17 > 0:52:21So how do you balance that out with being a fan of the music?

0:52:21 > 0:52:24You just listen to what you want to listen to and don't to the rest.

0:52:24 > 0:52:26# Missy be puttin' it down, I'm the hottest 'round

0:52:26 > 0:52:28# I told y'all mother...

0:52:28 > 0:52:30# Y'all can't stop me now

0:52:30 > 0:52:32# Listen to me now, I'm lastin' 20 rounds

0:52:32 > 0:52:33- # And if you want me - Nigga

0:52:33 > 0:52:35# Then come and get me now... #

0:52:35 > 0:52:36I fully believe that women should be able to

0:52:36 > 0:52:38do what they want with their bodies.

0:52:38 > 0:52:41I'm not one of these girls that's like, "No, cover it up!"

0:52:41 > 0:52:45No, once you are past a certain age, it's your choice.

0:52:45 > 0:52:47# The embezzler, chrome treasurer

0:52:47 > 0:52:49# The U-N-O competitor

0:52:49 > 0:52:50# I'm ten steps ahead of ya

0:52:50 > 0:52:52# I'm a leader, y'all on some followin' shit

0:52:52 > 0:52:55# Comin' in this game on some modelling shit

0:52:55 > 0:52:57# Bitches suck cock just to get to the top

0:52:57 > 0:53:00# I put 100% in every line I drop

0:53:00 > 0:53:03# It's the Q to the B, with the M-O-B-B

0:53:03 > 0:53:05# Queensbridge, Brooklyn and we D-E-E-P... #

0:53:05 > 0:53:09So what does hip-hop look like if you take women out?

0:53:09 > 0:53:12It looks like a very one-dimensional cockfight.

0:53:12 > 0:53:14THEY LAUGH

0:53:14 > 0:53:16# When you bump this, drugs to your eardrum... #

0:53:16 > 0:53:19Looking at the world through the lens of hip-hop,

0:53:19 > 0:53:20I do think Estelle is right.

0:53:20 > 0:53:23Hip-hop can often look like a big cockfight,

0:53:23 > 0:53:26and there was a point in the '90s when it became

0:53:26 > 0:53:29this real testerone-fuelled game of one-upmanship.

0:53:29 > 0:53:34It used to be, "Look how fly my trainers are."

0:53:34 > 0:53:38Then it was, "I've got a plane, I've got a yacht."

0:53:38 > 0:53:41That presentation became the overriding thing,

0:53:41 > 0:53:43the bling lifestyle.

0:53:45 > 0:53:48In hip-hop, it's all about the Benjamins, baby.

0:53:48 > 0:53:51# Save money for the drinks, I'm about to buy the bar... #

0:53:51 > 0:53:55The music and the culture has gone to this point of

0:53:55 > 0:53:57huge pop culture dominance.

0:53:57 > 0:54:02It's like this huge behemoth, but still, at its core,

0:54:02 > 0:54:08are a bunch of kids who yesterday lived in shit

0:54:08 > 0:54:11and today they're swimming in champagne.

0:54:22 > 0:54:26Imagine being a 17-year-old kid trying to navigate that divide,

0:54:26 > 0:54:28that change in your life.

0:54:28 > 0:54:30It's not an easy thing.

0:54:30 > 0:54:31This is new money.

0:54:31 > 0:54:33You could read about this in The Great Gatsby,

0:54:33 > 0:54:35about how people act with new money.

0:54:35 > 0:54:38New money looks a lot different than old money.

0:54:38 > 0:54:42If you have money for years and generations of money,

0:54:42 > 0:54:47you're not so flashy, you know, you do other things with your money.

0:54:47 > 0:54:50Hip-hop has always had a "fake it till you make it" ethos.

0:54:50 > 0:54:53The cars may be rented, the plane might be a prop,

0:54:53 > 0:54:57but it all looked great, and lots of those artists went from

0:54:57 > 0:55:01looking like they had a lot of money to ACTUALLY making a lot of money.

0:55:01 > 0:55:04The idea is always to push

0:55:04 > 0:55:10the ideal of, "I'm bigger, badder, richer than YOU."

0:55:10 > 0:55:11That's the idea.

0:55:21 > 0:55:24We do talk about money a lot,

0:55:24 > 0:55:26but who doesn't?

0:55:26 > 0:55:29Where is the conversation that money doesn't get spoken about in?

0:55:29 > 0:55:31Who's having it?

0:55:31 > 0:55:32Maybe people who have money.

0:55:32 > 0:55:34# Cash rules everything around me

0:55:34 > 0:55:37# C.R.E.A.M, get the money dolla dolla bill, ya'll... #

0:55:37 > 0:55:39Hip-hop is obsessed with money

0:55:39 > 0:55:43because America is obsessed with money. Hip-hop was born in America.

0:55:43 > 0:55:46Hip-hop is simply the latest cultural manifestation

0:55:46 > 0:55:49of American values.

0:55:49 > 0:55:51Money in hip-hop represents freedom,

0:55:51 > 0:55:54the ability to be able to take care and provide for your family.

0:55:54 > 0:55:58The reason why I live in this shitty house, in this shitty apartment,

0:55:58 > 0:56:02and on this side of town and not in this nice house with grass and...

0:56:02 > 0:56:04is why? Cos of money, right?

0:56:04 > 0:56:06The reason I don't have any money is because my momma had no money.

0:56:06 > 0:56:09Why does my momma have nothing? Cos her momma ain't had no money.

0:56:09 > 0:56:12Why did her momma have no money? Cos her momma ain't had no money.

0:56:12 > 0:56:13How come her momma ain't had money?

0:56:13 > 0:56:15Oh, cos she was a slave.

0:56:15 > 0:56:19So black people inherited the legacy of slavery, which is poverty,

0:56:19 > 0:56:23so money represents this vehicle of freedom.

0:56:23 > 0:56:25# California love... #

0:56:25 > 0:56:27MUSIC: California Love by 2Pac

0:56:32 > 0:56:35A handful of key players took the opportunity hip-hop gave them

0:56:35 > 0:56:38to generate huge amounts of wealth.

0:56:38 > 0:56:40Those people became known as the hip-hop moguls.

0:56:40 > 0:56:45# California knows how to party... #

0:56:45 > 0:56:47I'm just on the way to go and meet Russell Simmons,

0:56:47 > 0:56:50who's arguably the first real hip-hop mogul.

0:56:50 > 0:56:54He's the guy behind Def Jam Records alongside Rick Rubin.

0:56:54 > 0:56:56They're the guys who really brought

0:56:56 > 0:56:59this commercial hip-hop to the world.

0:56:59 > 0:57:01# City of Compton... #

0:57:01 > 0:57:03Russell's been there from the beginning

0:57:03 > 0:57:06and showing a lot of the guys who came after them

0:57:06 > 0:57:08just how you can build a brand.

0:57:08 > 0:57:10Russell was the first to do that.

0:57:12 > 0:57:15I know, I know, I'm talking about a New York mogul

0:57:15 > 0:57:17and playing a West Coast anthem,

0:57:17 > 0:57:21but we are in LA and I had to get 2Pac in somewhere.

0:57:21 > 0:57:24- Victor. Victor Syng.- Glad to meet you. My name's Rodney P.

0:57:24 > 0:57:26My pleasure, my pleasure.

0:57:26 > 0:57:28Russell must be an important man or something, huh?

0:57:28 > 0:57:29Absolutely, absolutely.

0:57:29 > 0:57:31He's the original hip-hop mogul,

0:57:31 > 0:57:34so we're definitely glad to get an opportunity to speak to him.

0:57:34 > 0:57:36- He's every bit of that.- Yes, indeed.

0:57:36 > 0:57:37- Well, let me show you around a little bit.- OK.

0:57:37 > 0:57:39# ..I robbed Liberace

0:57:39 > 0:57:41# It's all good from Diego to tha Bay

0:57:41 > 0:57:44# Your city is tha bomb if your city makin' pay

0:57:44 > 0:57:47# Throw up a finger if ya feel the same way... #

0:57:47 > 0:57:49This film we're making is about looking at the world

0:57:49 > 0:57:50through the lens of hip-hop.

0:57:50 > 0:57:55As someone who has really been a part of bringing money to hip-hop

0:57:55 > 0:57:59and hip-hop often being looked at as money-obsessed -

0:57:59 > 0:58:01do you think that's a fair thing to say?

0:58:01 > 0:58:02No!

0:58:02 > 0:58:03I mean, materialism -

0:58:03 > 0:58:07all they say is, they want the shit Americans are selling.

0:58:07 > 0:58:10The stuff that is high-end and aspirational

0:58:10 > 0:58:12equals the American Dream.

0:58:12 > 0:58:15That's what hip-hop says they want, a lot of hip-hop says that.

0:58:15 > 0:58:18Some people are not that interested in it,

0:58:18 > 0:58:19but certainly...

0:58:21 > 0:58:25..wanting a Rolls-Royce or some obnoxious car, a big house,

0:58:25 > 0:58:26every American talks about that.

0:58:26 > 0:58:29They're looking at Donald Trump like he's a genius

0:58:29 > 0:58:30and nobody is more obsessed with money

0:58:30 > 0:58:34and talking about how wealthy they are and buying stuff they don't need

0:58:34 > 0:58:35than Donald Trump.

0:58:35 > 0:58:37I wouldn't put that on hip-hop.

0:58:37 > 0:58:40I'd put that on the American psyche

0:58:40 > 0:58:44and its effect on hip-hop is that expression.

0:58:44 > 0:58:48I would say a lot of people who embrace hip-hop

0:58:48 > 0:58:52see business as an opportunity and an alternative

0:58:52 > 0:58:55to whatever's in the street.

0:58:55 > 0:58:57In other words, we didn't have a culture

0:58:57 > 0:59:00that promoted entrepreneurship

0:59:00 > 0:59:01except for drug dealing.

0:59:01 > 0:59:07That's how I came to be a business guy, through selling drugs -

0:59:07 > 0:59:11but finding hip-hop was safer, it was cool still,

0:59:11 > 0:59:13put money in my pocket

0:59:13 > 0:59:15so I could buy bullshit,

0:59:15 > 0:59:21so that experience is old now. The new one is now that we have people

0:59:21 > 0:59:23like Jay Z, like Puffy,

0:59:23 > 0:59:29like Dr Dre, who are the image of what we can be, you know,

0:59:29 > 0:59:34without compromising - having an idea and going out and selling it.

0:59:34 > 0:59:36The sponsorship deal Russell pulled off with Adidas

0:59:36 > 0:59:38for his brother's group Run-DMC

0:59:38 > 0:59:40was a watershed moment in hip-hop.

0:59:40 > 0:59:42Compared to his earlier life in the streets,

0:59:42 > 0:59:45it must have seemed like an easy hustle.

0:59:45 > 0:59:49Run-DMC rapped about the Adidas sneakers

0:59:49 > 0:59:52and where they had been and what they represented.

0:59:52 > 0:59:54# I stepped on stage, at Live Aid

0:59:54 > 0:59:56# The people gave and the poor got paid

0:59:56 > 0:59:57# Out of speakers I did speak

0:59:57 > 1:00:01# I wear my sneakers but I'm not a sneak... #

1:00:01 > 1:00:05The fact is that rappers chose products that they liked

1:00:05 > 1:00:06and they did things,

1:00:06 > 1:00:09they rapped about those products and made those products more popular.

1:00:09 > 1:00:12# ..around together, rhyme forever

1:00:12 > 1:00:14# And we won't be mad when worn in bad weather

1:00:14 > 1:00:16# My Adidas... #

1:00:16 > 1:00:18Russell paved the way for other entrepreneurs

1:00:18 > 1:00:20to turn the skills they learned in the streets

1:00:20 > 1:00:23into legitimate business empires.

1:00:23 > 1:00:25# Y'all know me, still the same OG

1:00:25 > 1:00:26# But I been low-key... #

1:00:26 > 1:00:28Dr Dre was once part of NWA,

1:00:28 > 1:00:31who we met earlier saying "fuck the police" -

1:00:31 > 1:00:32but in 2014,

1:00:32 > 1:00:35after selling his headphone brand Beats By Dre to Apple,

1:00:35 > 1:00:39singer Tyrese posted an online video in which Dre boldly claimed

1:00:39 > 1:00:41to be hip-hop's first billionaire.

1:00:41 > 1:00:43They need to update the Forbes list.

1:00:43 > 1:00:45Shit just changed!

1:00:45 > 1:00:47- In a big way.- Oh, my. - Understand that.

1:00:49 > 1:00:50First billionaire in hip-hop

1:00:50 > 1:00:53right here from the motherfucking West Coast, believe it.

1:00:53 > 1:00:55Oh! Oh, shit!

1:00:55 > 1:00:57# I told 'em all, all them little gangstas

1:00:57 > 1:00:58# Who you think helped mould 'em all

1:00:58 > 1:01:01# Now you wanna run around talking 'bout guns like I ain't got none

1:01:01 > 1:01:03# What, you think I sold 'em all? #

1:01:03 > 1:01:07Hip-hop is now associated with such huge wealth that Forbes Magazine,

1:01:07 > 1:01:11the Bible of the super-rich, and the creator of the Forbes rich list,

1:01:11 > 1:01:13now publishes an annual hip-hop rich list.

1:01:16 > 1:01:19Hip-hop is not just a musical genre, it's a lifestyle,

1:01:19 > 1:01:24so in addition to music-related things like Beats headphones,

1:01:24 > 1:01:27you also have things that have nothing to do at all with music.

1:01:27 > 1:01:29Akon says that he owns diamond mines.

1:01:29 > 1:01:32It's a pretty broad spectrum of holdings.

1:01:33 > 1:01:36Who do you think is going to be the first hip-hop billionaire?

1:01:36 > 1:01:39At the very top, you have Diddy, Dr Dre and Jay Z and they're all

1:01:39 > 1:01:43a little over half a billion, up to three quarters of a billion,

1:01:43 > 1:01:46far and away the top three in the race to one billion,

1:01:46 > 1:01:51then after that, a long drop to Birdman, around 100-150 million,

1:01:51 > 1:01:54then it's a mix - we've got Drake in there, Drake is the closest,

1:01:54 > 1:01:56but there's some other names.

1:01:56 > 1:02:00Eminem, Pharrell, people like that are doing pretty well.

1:02:00 > 1:02:04# Mmm, yeah... #

1:02:04 > 1:02:06Puffy, also known as Diddy,

1:02:06 > 1:02:09currently sits at the top of the hip-hop rich list.

1:02:09 > 1:02:10It's Revolt TV,

1:02:10 > 1:02:14it's AQUAhydrate water, it's Sean John, it's Bad Boy,

1:02:14 > 1:02:17it's Ciroc vodka - that's a huge part of his net worth,

1:02:17 > 1:02:20which is about 750 million.

1:02:22 > 1:02:24# It's big pimpin', baby... #

1:02:24 > 1:02:28For Jay Z, it's Roc Nation, Armand de Brignac, Tidal.

1:02:28 > 1:02:30Tidal's a really interesting one.

1:02:30 > 1:02:33In a lavishly choreographed presentation in 2015,

1:02:33 > 1:02:35some of the world's biggest stars

1:02:35 > 1:02:37signed up to Jay Z's latest acquisition,

1:02:37 > 1:02:40and artist-owned music streaming platform.

1:02:40 > 1:02:42He bought it for 56 million

1:02:42 > 1:02:45and took it up to now three million subscribers.

1:02:45 > 1:02:49Those are numbers that Wall Street or Silicon Valley investors

1:02:49 > 1:02:50would put a multiple on.

1:02:50 > 1:02:52A year from now, it could be gone,

1:02:52 > 1:02:56or it could be sold to Apple for 500 million.

1:02:59 > 1:03:01So, is Dr Dre really a billionaire?

1:03:02 > 1:03:05The final deal went down at three billion.

1:03:05 > 1:03:10He owned, I think, 20-25% and then you've got to figure in taxes.

1:03:10 > 1:03:15As it stands, we've got him at 710 million, not too bad at all.

1:03:15 > 1:03:18Not too bad for a producer who made his money with gangsta rap,

1:03:18 > 1:03:21but I think when the potential rewards are so vast,

1:03:21 > 1:03:23it creates a conflict between hip-hop as art

1:03:23 > 1:03:25and hip-hop as a money-spinner.

1:03:25 > 1:03:27# Hittin' off licks in the bando... #

1:03:27 > 1:03:30You have the hip-hop industry and you have the hip-hop community.

1:03:30 > 1:03:32Those are two different entities

1:03:32 > 1:03:34working for two different missions and goals and purposes.

1:03:34 > 1:03:36You've got the hip-hop industry,

1:03:36 > 1:03:38a billion-dollar industry,

1:03:38 > 1:03:41and it is designed to make money off of hip-hop culture.

1:03:41 > 1:03:42That's what it does.

1:03:42 > 1:03:45The people who control the hip-hop industry

1:03:45 > 1:03:47aren't necessarily in the hip-hop community.

1:03:47 > 1:03:48In fact, they might not even give a shit

1:03:48 > 1:03:51about the hip-hop community at all, you know what I mean?

1:03:51 > 1:03:53Then you have the hip-hop community

1:03:53 > 1:03:56that cares vehemently about the culture,

1:03:56 > 1:03:59that cares vehemently about, passionately about,

1:03:59 > 1:04:01the direction of the people.

1:04:01 > 1:04:05It cares about oppression and Black Lives Matter

1:04:05 > 1:04:06and all of these things,

1:04:06 > 1:04:08but that's the community.

1:04:08 > 1:04:12You have two different entities, and that creates conflict.

1:04:12 > 1:04:19In the '80s, the primary consumer was black people in urban centres.

1:04:19 > 1:04:23Public Enemy sold a lot,

1:04:23 > 1:04:25NWA sold a lot, right?

1:04:25 > 1:04:29People who were talking, who were somewhat intellectual,

1:04:29 > 1:04:31NWA talking about political issues,

1:04:31 > 1:04:34even though they were tough and wild too,

1:04:34 > 1:04:38but smart rappers could have a career.

1:04:38 > 1:04:41# People think they diss my person by stating I'm darkly pack

1:04:41 > 1:04:44# I know this so I point at Q-Tip

1:04:44 > 1:04:46- # And he states... - "Black is Black"... #

1:04:46 > 1:04:48You get into the '90s,

1:04:48 > 1:04:52the dominant consumer is the young white male, 15-25,

1:04:52 > 1:04:56and they have made a choice for something that is the opposite

1:04:56 > 1:05:00of what we were choosing when an urban black audience was the core.

1:05:00 > 1:05:03# Rollin' down the street, smokin' indo

1:05:03 > 1:05:06# Sippin' on gin and juice

1:05:06 > 1:05:07# Laid back

1:05:07 > 1:05:10# With my mind on my money and my money on my mind... #

1:05:10 > 1:05:12That is the end of Afrocentrism

1:05:12 > 1:05:15and the end of sort of what we call "conscious rap", really,

1:05:15 > 1:05:21and the rise even more of drug rap and you saw more rappers who say,

1:05:21 > 1:05:23"I was a drug dealer," whether they were or were not.

1:05:23 > 1:05:26"I was a drug dealer - that's my persona."

1:05:26 > 1:05:28Hip-hop culture was created to be about life,

1:05:28 > 1:05:31to be about possibilities, opportunities.

1:05:31 > 1:05:32Like I've said many times,

1:05:32 > 1:05:34make something out of nothing, winning on your own terms.

1:05:34 > 1:05:38What's hip-hop culture? The DJ, MC, graffiti writing, the dance element.

1:05:38 > 1:05:42The fifth element of hip-hop - knowledge, that's the culture.

1:05:42 > 1:05:45The industry is about death.

1:05:45 > 1:05:48Death of the spirit, death of the mind...

1:05:49 > 1:05:51..death of a culture.

1:05:51 > 1:05:55You know, taking the MC and separating her or him away

1:05:55 > 1:05:58from the other four elements, like the DJ doesn't matter any more,

1:05:58 > 1:06:00the graffiti writer doesn't matter any more,

1:06:00 > 1:06:01the b-boy or b-girl, the dancers don't matter,

1:06:01 > 1:06:03the knowledge doesn't matter.

1:06:03 > 1:06:07The industry is about hyper-materialism, hyper-capitalism.

1:06:07 > 1:06:10The industry is about sex and violence

1:06:10 > 1:06:14and drugs and this ridiculous overuse of the N-word

1:06:14 > 1:06:17and a ridiculous disrespect for women,

1:06:17 > 1:06:19a disrespect for gay sisters and brothers,

1:06:19 > 1:06:21gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender sisters and brothers.

1:06:21 > 1:06:24It becomes a mirror of the ugliness of the larger society,

1:06:24 > 1:06:26that's the industry.

1:06:26 > 1:06:29# Need a brick, miss my free throw

1:06:29 > 1:06:30# Stay away

1:06:30 > 1:06:33# I'm in love, just like Ne-Yo

1:06:34 > 1:06:35# Bustin' shots... #

1:06:35 > 1:06:37What happened?

1:06:37 > 1:06:40Why all of a sudden does everybody look like a gangster, a thug, man?

1:06:40 > 1:06:43All of us are gangsters and thugs? Are you telling me that blackness,

1:06:43 > 1:06:45cos that's what hip-hop really represents, people of colour,

1:06:45 > 1:06:47even though it belongs to everyone,

1:06:47 > 1:06:49but still the face and the body of hip-hop

1:06:49 > 1:06:51are the same people of colour who created it.

1:06:51 > 1:06:54Are you going to tell me that the only example of who we are

1:06:54 > 1:06:58is we got to be gangsters and thugs and murderers and thieves and pimps

1:06:58 > 1:07:00and prostitutes and swinging from poles?

1:07:00 > 1:07:02That's it? That's all we are?

1:07:02 > 1:07:05Come on, man. You know what I mean?

1:07:05 > 1:07:07# I don't know what you heard about me

1:07:07 > 1:07:10# But a bitch can't get a dollar out of me... #

1:07:10 > 1:07:13I always felt that there was a major difference

1:07:13 > 1:07:16between what I love about hip-hop

1:07:16 > 1:07:19and what I see represented commercially about hip-hop.

1:07:19 > 1:07:22I understand the forces in play -

1:07:22 > 1:07:25hip-hop is a really good tool to sell stuff.

1:07:25 > 1:07:26I get it.

1:07:26 > 1:07:29Lots of people who don't necessarily come from the places

1:07:29 > 1:07:32where the culture began now love the culture and love the music,

1:07:32 > 1:07:34they love this rap music stuff, I get it.

1:07:34 > 1:07:39So I understand why, in some ways, change is inevitable,

1:07:39 > 1:07:42but we have to respect the root and we have to respect the core

1:07:42 > 1:07:46and we have to respect the culture and that's what for me

1:07:46 > 1:07:50is often missing and it is a big loss, because the culture brings

1:07:50 > 1:07:55more empowerment and more education and more spirituality.

1:07:55 > 1:07:58These are the things that the culture brings with it.

1:07:58 > 1:08:00# That I'm a motherfucking P-I-M-P

1:08:00 > 1:08:02# You need to switch over and ride with a star

1:08:02 > 1:08:04# It'll get you far... #

1:08:04 > 1:08:07I do worry that hip-hop is seen as some kind of money-making machine,

1:08:07 > 1:08:11when I know it can be so powerful culturally and spiritually,

1:08:11 > 1:08:13but I guess it's not as simple as having to come down

1:08:13 > 1:08:15on one side or the other.

1:08:15 > 1:08:17The world seen through the lens of hip-hop

1:08:17 > 1:08:20has room for the body and the soul.

1:08:20 > 1:08:22# Bitch, don't kill my vibe

1:08:22 > 1:08:25# I can feel your energy from two planets away

1:08:25 > 1:08:29# I got my drink, I got my music, I will share it but today I'm yelling

1:08:29 > 1:08:30# Bitch, don't kill my vibe... #

1:08:30 > 1:08:35If anyone really wants to understand post-Dr King America

1:08:35 > 1:08:37and religion and spirituality,

1:08:37 > 1:08:40I recommend you spend some time studying hip-hop.

1:08:40 > 1:08:43# Look inside of your soul and you can find out it never exist... #

1:08:43 > 1:08:45Hip-hop was my church, was my masjid,

1:08:45 > 1:08:47was my mosque, was my synagogue.

1:08:47 > 1:08:49That's what I worship at.

1:08:49 > 1:08:50# I could say that I like a challenge... #

1:08:50 > 1:08:53We've constantly talked about good and evil, spirituality,

1:08:53 > 1:08:56what does the world look like after I leave this world,

1:08:56 > 1:08:57that kind of stuff.

1:08:57 > 1:09:00We've talked about life and death throughout hip-hop.

1:09:00 > 1:09:02HE SHOUTS COMMAND

1:09:02 > 1:09:05Religion and spirituality is so much intertwined with hip-hop,

1:09:05 > 1:09:08whether it's Kanye doing Jesus Walks...

1:09:08 > 1:09:10# Jesus walks

1:09:10 > 1:09:13# God, show me the way because the Devil's tryin' to break me down

1:09:13 > 1:09:16# Jesus walks with... #

1:09:16 > 1:09:19..whether it's Mos Def, who's a devout Muslim...

1:09:19 > 1:09:20# Even if I'm locked up North... #

1:09:20 > 1:09:26..whether it's the Wu-Tang Clan, right, and the Five-Percent Nation.

1:09:26 > 1:09:28# That's how it is, I could be your Noah... #

1:09:28 > 1:09:33The Five-Percent Nation, also known as the Nation of Gods and Earths

1:09:33 > 1:09:35and not to be confused with the Nation of Islam,

1:09:35 > 1:09:39is a belief system which shares a deep cultural bond with hip-hop.

1:09:39 > 1:09:42Like hip-hop, it was born in America's black inner cities

1:09:42 > 1:09:46in the 1970s and many hip-hop artists subscribe to its mission

1:09:46 > 1:09:47to promote knowledge of self

1:09:47 > 1:09:50and spiritual enlightenment.

1:09:50 > 1:09:53The whole concept of the Five-Percent Nation is this,

1:09:53 > 1:09:58that 85% of the population out here is deaf, dumb and blind,

1:09:58 > 1:09:59they don't know what's going on, right?

1:09:59 > 1:10:03Then there's 10% of the population that knows that

1:10:03 > 1:10:05and is manipulating that.

1:10:08 > 1:10:14And there's the 5% who know who the true living god is,

1:10:14 > 1:10:16they know what's up and they're here

1:10:16 > 1:10:19to teach and enlighten the rest of the 85.

1:10:19 > 1:10:22That's where the term Five-Percent comes from.

1:10:22 > 1:10:26# Allahu Akbar... #

1:10:26 > 1:10:30Lord Jamar of the much-respected New York rap group Brand Nubian

1:10:30 > 1:10:32is one of the leading representatives

1:10:32 > 1:10:35of the Five-Percent Nation within the hip-hop community.

1:10:35 > 1:10:38# Goddamn right, the L-O-R-D, J-A-M-A-R

1:10:38 > 1:10:41# Says peace and Allah U Akbar

1:10:41 > 1:10:43# Back like a motherfuckin' head to crack

1:10:43 > 1:10:45# Brand Nubian tracks are filled with black facts... #

1:10:45 > 1:10:49Exactly what is the philosophy of the Five-Percent Nation?

1:10:49 > 1:10:52It teaches that black man is God,

1:10:52 > 1:10:56he's the original man on this planet Earth and that 5%

1:10:56 > 1:11:00of the people on this planet Earth know the truth and teach that.

1:11:00 > 1:11:01So it's literally, "We are gods"?

1:11:03 > 1:11:05It's literal, it's a metaphor, it's everything.

1:11:05 > 1:11:08God is not necessarily just a physical thing

1:11:08 > 1:11:13and we in the Five-Percent Nation represent, we liken ourselves...

1:11:13 > 1:11:18The black man is likened to the sun, the woman is likened to the Earth.

1:11:18 > 1:11:20So when it's like, "What up, sun?",

1:11:20 > 1:11:23it's S-U-N, not S-O-N.

1:11:23 > 1:11:25See, a lot of people don't know that.

1:11:25 > 1:11:28I wanted to understand how the Five-Percent Nation

1:11:28 > 1:11:29influences hip-hop.

1:11:29 > 1:11:34Just a lot of terminology and a lot of philosophy, even, of hip-hop.

1:11:36 > 1:11:40The Five-Percent Nation has embroidered itself into that.

1:11:40 > 1:11:43Even what they called b-boy stance,

1:11:43 > 1:11:45that comes from the Five-Percent Nation,

1:11:45 > 1:11:46cos we do something called...

1:11:46 > 1:11:49You stand on your Truth or Square,

1:11:49 > 1:11:51you have your right hand over your left,

1:11:51 > 1:11:54you'd have your feet,

1:11:54 > 1:11:55like, a 45-degree angle.

1:11:55 > 1:11:58We're up in the jams and we're standing like that.

1:11:58 > 1:12:01If you're God, you know what that means, you see?

1:12:01 > 1:12:05But if you're 85, you just think that's just a cool guy standing,

1:12:05 > 1:12:07that's just how a cool guy stands.

1:12:07 > 1:12:10You see? Then it ended up being a "b-boy" stance,

1:12:10 > 1:12:14but really that was the gods standing in their Truth or Square.

1:12:14 > 1:12:17# I guess I'm like the Verbalizer for the fact I'm moving blackwards

1:12:17 > 1:12:19# This Asiatic black man is a dog spelled backwards

1:12:19 > 1:12:22# The maker, the owner, the cream of the planet Earth

1:12:22 > 1:12:25# Father of civilisation God of the universe... #

1:12:25 > 1:12:29The hip-hop was meant to empower the alpha males

1:12:29 > 1:12:34who felt powerless at the time, who had no voice.

1:12:34 > 1:12:38You know, who could identify with certain music,

1:12:38 > 1:12:41but it really wasn't saying it

1:12:41 > 1:12:48in that raw, unadulterated street, black, alpha way.

1:12:48 > 1:12:53So who would do something that's customised for the black alpha male

1:12:53 > 1:12:55but other black alpha males?

1:12:55 > 1:12:56Like, no-one...

1:12:56 > 1:13:01We were just supposed to be forgotten, you know what I mean?

1:13:01 > 1:13:02Like...

1:13:03 > 1:13:06We're definitely not supposed to express ourselves

1:13:06 > 1:13:08other than in anger,

1:13:08 > 1:13:09you know,

1:13:09 > 1:13:12or, you know, making money on the street and all of that type of shit.

1:13:12 > 1:13:16We weren't supposed to vocally express ourselves

1:13:16 > 1:13:19and talk about how we saw things.

1:13:21 > 1:13:24No-one expected that to happen.

1:13:24 > 1:13:28Make no mistake about it, this is the black man's art form.

1:13:28 > 1:13:31This is a black art, and although

1:13:31 > 1:13:34all kind of people around the world can do it,

1:13:34 > 1:13:37and some people are technically proficient at it...

1:13:39 > 1:13:40..it's still not theirs.

1:13:42 > 1:13:43This is still ours.

1:13:45 > 1:13:47I could cook Italian food all fucking day

1:13:47 > 1:13:50and be a master at it - it's still Italian food.

1:13:50 > 1:13:53It still belongs to the Italians.

1:13:53 > 1:13:55Is the Five-Percent Nation hip-hop's religion?

1:13:57 > 1:14:00I don't know if I'd say religion. I mean...

1:14:01 > 1:14:03..you know,

1:14:03 > 1:14:10we put a spirituality into hip-hop, we put certain morals into hip-hop,

1:14:10 > 1:14:12certain ethics,

1:14:12 > 1:14:17you know, certain pride as being, you know,

1:14:17 > 1:14:21especially young black males, um...

1:14:23 > 1:14:28I think that's what we do. We help guide hip-hop...

1:14:29 > 1:14:32..but we're definitely not the religion of hip-hop.

1:14:34 > 1:14:38For a black man to stand up and say,

1:14:38 > 1:14:40"I am God,"

1:14:40 > 1:14:41is almost a revolutionary idea.

1:14:41 > 1:14:45When you think about the history of black people in America,

1:14:45 > 1:14:48to go from being the lowest of the low to say,

1:14:48 > 1:14:52"When I look in the mirror, I see God,"

1:14:52 > 1:14:54to me, that's a beautiful thing.

1:14:54 > 1:14:57But I didn't agree with everything that he said.

1:14:57 > 1:15:00This culture that we absolutely created

1:15:00 > 1:15:05has gone on and touched and infected and empowered the globe

1:15:05 > 1:15:07and we should be proud of that.

1:15:07 > 1:15:09We shouldn't be trying to hold it

1:15:09 > 1:15:11and grab it and keep it to ourselves.

1:15:11 > 1:15:12We should be saying,

1:15:12 > 1:15:16"Look at this beautiful thing that we have - come and share."

1:15:16 > 1:15:19I really respect his honesty and his ability

1:15:19 > 1:15:21to be able to just say it how he sees it.

1:15:21 > 1:15:23I consider that to be very hip-hop.

1:15:25 > 1:15:29There is one Five-Percent Nation member I really want to meet,

1:15:29 > 1:15:33and he happens to be the best MC of all time.

1:15:34 > 1:15:37'Rakim didn't show up last time I arranged to meet him,

1:15:37 > 1:15:40'but this time, he's here before I am.'

1:15:40 > 1:15:43- Good to meet you, my brother. - No doubt, no doubt.

1:15:44 > 1:15:47# It's to my real ill niggas, heavyweight hitters

1:15:47 > 1:15:49# Dough getters fifty ways to make figures

1:15:49 > 1:15:51# My niggas, that come on the spot to feel sisters

1:15:51 > 1:15:54# Like they hear real spitters and kids on the zigga-ziggas... #

1:15:54 > 1:15:56One of my favourite tunes of all time,

1:15:56 > 1:15:58one of the Eric B and Rakim tunes, In The Ghetto,

1:15:58 > 1:16:02where you start with the line, "Planet Earth was my place of birth,

1:16:02 > 1:16:06"Known to be the sole controller of the universe."

1:16:17 > 1:16:20The rapping that I do, I had to work hard for that.

1:16:20 > 1:16:22You know, I play saxophone.

1:16:22 > 1:16:28One of my favourite, uh, saxophonists was John Coltrane.

1:16:28 > 1:16:32And there was this joint, My Favourite Things.

1:16:32 > 1:16:35And in the song, man, he's, like,

1:16:35 > 1:16:38soloing through most of it, man, and...

1:16:40 > 1:16:43..it just hit me, like, yo, that's your style, right there.

1:16:52 > 1:16:54# Me and Eric B was coolin' at the Palladium

1:16:54 > 1:16:57# Seen a all world covered girl I said, "Hey, lady, I'm

1:16:57 > 1:16:59# Sorry if you're in a rush

1:16:59 > 1:17:00# Don't let me hold ya up

1:17:00 > 1:17:03# Or intervene or interrupt but... #

1:17:03 > 1:17:05You know, I came up on Cold Crush 4,

1:17:05 > 1:17:11Grandmaster Caz, Furious Five, Melle Mel, Treacherous Three,

1:17:11 > 1:17:14Kool Moe Dee - that was my favourite MC.

1:17:14 > 1:17:15# Telling everybody hanging out on the block

1:17:15 > 1:17:17# It's time to wake up and check the clock

1:17:17 > 1:17:19# Punch it

1:17:19 > 1:17:20# I go to work... #

1:17:20 > 1:17:23And I remember I heard this rhyme he said,

1:17:23 > 1:17:27and it just made me look at MCing a little different.

1:17:27 > 1:17:28He said, uh,

1:17:28 > 1:17:30# Somebody like Kool Moe Dee

1:17:30 > 1:17:33# MCs rate me, at the top of the key... #

1:17:33 > 1:17:34something like that.

1:17:34 > 1:17:36# MCs who suck, you're outta luck

1:17:36 > 1:17:39# I got a whole book of rhymes and I ain't no duck

1:17:39 > 1:17:41# When it come to creativity

1:17:41 > 1:17:45# Can't none of you MCs fuck with me

1:17:45 > 1:17:47# I got a brain like Dr Spock

1:17:47 > 1:17:49# Huh-huh, get down with the Moe Dee Rock! #

1:17:49 > 1:17:51I heard that shit, I was like...

1:17:53 > 1:17:55# Each rhyme's a dissertation

1:17:55 > 1:17:57# You want to know my occupation

1:17:57 > 1:17:58# I get paid to rock the nation

1:17:58 > 1:18:00# I go to work... #

1:18:00 > 1:18:03What were you like before you were Rakim?

1:18:03 > 1:18:04Like, what's life like,

1:18:04 > 1:18:07when you're listening to these early rap records?

1:18:07 > 1:18:11Coming up in the hood, being at the parks and, you know, sneaking into

1:18:11 > 1:18:15the basement parties, getting kicked out of the, you know,

1:18:15 > 1:18:18the motorcycle club downtown when they have hip-hop nights

1:18:18 > 1:18:20because, you know, I'm too young.

1:18:20 > 1:18:21But they knew I could rhyme,

1:18:21 > 1:18:24so they sneaked me in half the time, you know what I mean?

1:18:24 > 1:18:26That's the microphone feeling that's coming to life.

1:18:26 > 1:18:27You know what I mean? Let him in!

1:18:27 > 1:18:29# Cos I grabbed the mic and try to say "Yes, y'all!"

1:18:29 > 1:18:32# They tried to take it and say that I'm too small

1:18:32 > 1:18:34# Cool, cos I don't get upset

1:18:34 > 1:18:37# I kick a hole in the speaker pull the plug, then I jet... #

1:18:37 > 1:18:41I had my first gun charge when I was 11, 12 years old.

1:18:41 > 1:18:45That's why, you know, I knew that I needed something, started studying

1:18:45 > 1:18:51Islam, which prepared me to get in, you know, this hip-hop world, man.

1:18:51 > 1:18:53# ..vocabulary, your verses you're stuck in

1:18:53 > 1:18:55# The mic is a Drano volcanoes erupting... #

1:18:55 > 1:18:59So, how did studying Islam affect you?

1:18:59 > 1:19:01It made me a lot more conscious,

1:19:01 > 1:19:03it made me a lot more, uh...

1:19:05 > 1:19:07..creative, it, it...

1:19:09 > 1:19:13..it, you know, it centred me, it made me a better man.

1:19:13 > 1:19:16So, of course, I think, when anybody, um...

1:19:17 > 1:19:20..you know, looks to something greater than themselves

1:19:20 > 1:19:24to, uh, you know, see them through, man,

1:19:24 > 1:19:27I think that's a consciousness within itself,

1:19:27 > 1:19:30if it's Islam, if it's Christianity, if it's Buddhism,

1:19:30 > 1:19:31you know, whatever it is,

1:19:31 > 1:19:34as long as they know that there is something higher than them.

1:19:34 > 1:19:38And I think that just makes us better, you know, people,

1:19:38 > 1:19:40as a whole.

1:19:40 > 1:19:42As I got a little wiser,

1:19:42 > 1:19:48I picked a name that suited what I believed in, you know what I mean?

1:19:48 > 1:19:51And Rakim, you know, Ra means Sun God,

1:19:51 > 1:19:54Kim was another word for Egypt,

1:19:54 > 1:19:58before it was called Egypt it was called Kimet,

1:19:58 > 1:20:03and, you know, I put my name together from that.

1:20:03 > 1:20:06I didn't know at the time that Rakim also means writer.

1:20:06 > 1:20:09So, you know, things happen for a reason,

1:20:09 > 1:20:14and I think I was blessed with, uh, having reason, man.

1:20:14 > 1:20:19Hip-hop culture sent me, as a young man, to the library.

1:20:19 > 1:20:22How important is it that artists actually take responsibility

1:20:22 > 1:20:24for the words coming out of their mouths?

1:20:24 > 1:20:27Well, the duty that I've been through, when hip-hop got,

1:20:27 > 1:20:29you know, real...

1:20:29 > 1:20:32real, you know, they called it gangsta,

1:20:32 > 1:20:34gangsta rap, when it got real gangsta,

1:20:34 > 1:20:38it was like, yo, I can't do that.

1:20:38 > 1:20:42Like, they don't expect Rakim to, now,

1:20:42 > 1:20:49after I've been telling you to, you know, be conscious and...

1:20:49 > 1:20:52you know, be a better person and all these things,

1:20:52 > 1:20:56now telling you I'm about to come up in your house, pull that thing out,

1:20:56 > 1:21:01you know, rob the crib, tie the babies up, you know what I mean?

1:21:01 > 1:21:05I'm like... I don't make that kind of music, you know what I mean?

1:21:05 > 1:21:08I listen to it, I don't have a problem with it,

1:21:08 > 1:21:10but I don't make that kind of music, man.

1:21:10 > 1:21:13And no disrespect, but I'm going to take my music and I'm going

1:21:13 > 1:21:15to go knock on the door next door.

1:21:15 > 1:21:19We've spoken to a lot of people and your name always comes up,

1:21:19 > 1:21:21and about how much you've done for hip-hop.

1:21:21 > 1:21:25But the question I want to ask now is, what has hip-hop done for you?

1:21:25 > 1:21:28It gave me a voice, and, um...

1:21:28 > 1:21:33saved my life, it made my life, um,

1:21:33 > 1:21:35you know, a lot better.

1:21:35 > 1:21:36You know, I'm proud of who I am.

1:21:36 > 1:21:39I get around certain people sometimes

1:21:39 > 1:21:41and they might say, "Yo, what do you do?"

1:21:41 > 1:21:43And I might say, "I'm a musician."

1:21:43 > 1:21:47You know, you don't wanna tell certain people, "I'm a rapper,"

1:21:47 > 1:21:50- you know what I mean?- Because of the connotations that come with it.

1:21:50 > 1:21:51Exactly, man.

1:21:51 > 1:21:55So, it's like, you know, at this point, you know,

1:21:55 > 1:21:59I'm real proud to say, yeah, I'm an MC, man.

1:21:59 > 1:22:01I'm in the hip-hop business.

1:22:01 > 1:22:03You know what I mean?

1:22:04 > 1:22:05# There it is

1:22:05 > 1:22:08# Hardcore, real ill

1:22:08 > 1:22:10# I'm internationally known when I be on the mic

1:22:10 > 1:22:13# Hardcore, real ill

1:22:13 > 1:22:16# I'm internationally known, yo

1:22:16 > 1:22:17# Hardcore... #

1:22:17 > 1:22:18We are asking the question,

1:22:18 > 1:22:21what does the world look like through the lens of hip-hop?

1:22:21 > 1:22:26And one of the people who helped create that vision was Rakim.

1:22:26 > 1:22:30It is strange for me to hear someone like Rakim say,

1:22:30 > 1:22:32"When people ask me, I say I'm a musician,"

1:22:32 > 1:22:34because he doesn't want to say he's a rapper,

1:22:34 > 1:22:36because of the connotations that brings.

1:22:36 > 1:22:39But actually, that's really fucked up.

1:22:39 > 1:22:43Because as a rapper, as an MC, as a lyricist and a wordsmith,

1:22:43 > 1:22:45he is the greatest.

1:22:45 > 1:22:48I consider myself lucky to have seen hip-hop evolving from

1:22:48 > 1:22:51something people are hesitant to admit they are involved with,

1:22:51 > 1:22:55to become a cultural powerhouse with influence that goes to the very top.

1:22:57 > 1:23:00Something that Tupac said to me when I was at Vibe, he said,

1:23:00 > 1:23:02"Me and Snoop, we've got five or six million listeners

1:23:02 > 1:23:04"buying our CDs and records.

1:23:04 > 1:23:08"Imagine if we turned them into a political army. That's power!"

1:23:08 > 1:23:11When Barack Obama became the American President in 2008,

1:23:11 > 1:23:14his secret weapons were social media,

1:23:14 > 1:23:16youth culture and the power of hip-hop.

1:23:19 > 1:23:21When you look at the ascension of Barack Obama,

1:23:21 > 1:23:25there were elements of hip-hop that helped him to get elected, for sure.

1:23:25 > 1:23:26Who you voting for?

1:23:26 > 1:23:28- ALL:- Obama!

1:23:28 > 1:23:29I said, who you voting for?

1:23:29 > 1:23:31- ALL:- Obama!

1:23:31 > 1:23:33I went on the road with Jay-Z,

1:23:33 > 1:23:36Beyonce, Mary J Blige,

1:23:36 > 1:23:40Puffy and Kevin Liles.

1:23:40 > 1:23:43Footage of hip-hop stars speaking at rallies helped Obama's

1:23:43 > 1:23:46campaign reach tens of millions of young voters.

1:23:46 > 1:23:49The President's agenda was our agenda, there's no question.

1:23:49 > 1:23:54And we travelled from city to city to city, promoting his agenda.

1:23:54 > 1:23:56Yes, we can.

1:23:56 > 1:23:59Thank you, and may God bless the United States of America.

1:23:59 > 1:24:02CHEERING

1:24:05 > 1:24:08Has the ghetto changed since Barack Obama became president,

1:24:08 > 1:24:10anywhere in America? No, man.

1:24:10 > 1:24:13You know, have poor people stopped being poor? No.

1:24:13 > 1:24:15And what we need to understand

1:24:15 > 1:24:19is that politicians don't change the world, people do.

1:24:19 > 1:24:21The President himself recognised the power of hip-hop

1:24:21 > 1:24:24to communicate a message eloquently.

1:24:24 > 1:24:28The thing about hip-hop today is its spark.

1:24:28 > 1:24:31I mean, you know, it's insightful.

1:24:31 > 1:24:35And, you know, the way that they can communicate

1:24:35 > 1:24:40a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

1:24:40 > 1:24:42That's why hip-hop is so powerful.

1:24:42 > 1:24:45And that's why some people try to make it seem like

1:24:45 > 1:24:47it's not powerful, like it's just entertainment,

1:24:47 > 1:24:50because they understand the power of it.

1:24:50 > 1:24:54Hip-hop can change, it has changed the world, but it has the ability

1:24:54 > 1:24:59to mobilise young people in a way that nothing else can.

1:24:59 > 1:25:00# ..with no honour

1:25:00 > 1:25:02# My raps ignite the people like Obama

1:25:02 > 1:25:04# The karma of the street says needs and takes

1:25:04 > 1:25:07# Sometimes we find peace in beats and breaks

1:25:07 > 1:25:09# Put the bang in the back so the seats can shake

1:25:09 > 1:25:12# Rebel Cadillac music for the people's sake

1:25:12 > 1:25:14# The people... #

1:25:15 > 1:25:16For the last stop of my journey,

1:25:16 > 1:25:20I'm meeting someone who really embodies the evolution of hip-hop.

1:25:20 > 1:25:23Kevin Liles is at the top of the hip-hop tree.

1:25:23 > 1:25:26I found him at the offices of his label, 300 Records,

1:25:26 > 1:25:30listening to a demo from someone just starting out.

1:25:30 > 1:25:33# It's all for the night make sure you keep the light on... #

1:25:33 > 1:25:35Like the culture itself,

1:25:35 > 1:25:40Kevin has come from the streets to having a voice with real clout.

1:25:40 > 1:25:42I remember, I get a call, and Barack said,

1:25:42 > 1:25:45"Hey, I'm coming to New York,

1:25:45 > 1:25:47"I'm making a run for the President of the United States."

1:25:47 > 1:25:50I dropped the phone, I had never received a call from somebody

1:25:50 > 1:25:56to say that, "I want you to know, before I tell anybody else..."

1:25:58 > 1:26:00When you talk about hip-hop and power,

1:26:00 > 1:26:04I think hip-hop equals power, I think power is hip-hop.

1:26:04 > 1:26:07I've seen it from the perspective of going from a street corner,

1:26:07 > 1:26:09to the corner office, then to the Oval Office.

1:26:09 > 1:26:13And you're talking about a kid who grew up in hip-hop.

1:26:15 > 1:26:16You got a little D'Angelo in there!

1:26:19 > 1:26:21Just do me a favour, and for our culture,

1:26:21 > 1:26:23make sure it's not just a record, make it a movie.

1:26:23 > 1:26:26Live it, make sure people around you live it,

1:26:26 > 1:26:29make sure anything that's influenced by people should feel different,

1:26:29 > 1:26:31not just about hearing the song, but what it means to you.

1:26:31 > 1:26:35Hip-hop is in everything that we do. As long as the spirit is there.

1:26:35 > 1:26:38I think it's by any means necessary in a lot of cases,

1:26:38 > 1:26:43I think it's, if you don't have it, don't go without - create it.

1:26:43 > 1:26:46You know, put yourself... empower yourself.

1:26:46 > 1:26:50Hip-hop is a way of life. I don't think it's just a music.

1:26:50 > 1:26:52That message you were talking about,

1:26:52 > 1:26:56we got to make sure that that message gets across.

1:26:56 > 1:26:58I think it would cut through a lot of the clutter out there right now.

1:26:58 > 1:27:00Like, I'm already right there.

1:27:00 > 1:27:03Thank you, good to meet you. Bless you. It was good, man.

1:27:03 > 1:27:05Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

1:27:05 > 1:27:07'I tell everybody, hip-hop saved my life.'

1:27:07 > 1:27:09Where I'm from, at 16 years old,

1:27:09 > 1:27:12you're supposed to be on drugs, in jail, or dead.

1:27:12 > 1:27:16So, you're talking about being able to change the statistic

1:27:16 > 1:27:17into a success story.

1:27:17 > 1:27:19I can't... That's all hip-hop to me.

1:27:21 > 1:27:24Meeting Kevin really nails for me the journey of this culture,

1:27:24 > 1:27:28which has come from nothing and is now so powerful.

1:27:29 > 1:27:30Let's go take a walk.

1:27:30 > 1:27:33It makes me realise how important it is

1:27:33 > 1:27:37for hip-hop culture to be recognised and celebrated.

1:27:37 > 1:27:40I always look at the world through the perspective of hip-hop,

1:27:40 > 1:27:42and I think, in these uncertain times,

1:27:42 > 1:27:46we all need to hear the message of hip-hop, now more than ever.

1:27:46 > 1:27:50SHE RAPS IN ARABIC

1:27:52 > 1:27:56You know, globally, hip-hop still does for me what it does best.

1:27:56 > 1:28:00Which is give a voice to the people.

1:28:02 > 1:28:06You could be anywhere on the planet and find young people

1:28:06 > 1:28:10using hip-hop to empower themselves and get their point across.

1:28:10 > 1:28:12# Emi lon so leko bi okada Jasper

1:28:12 > 1:28:14# Eyin old school Isuzu Tiger

1:28:14 > 1:28:17# Gone are the days t'olopa ma'n gba fiber... #

1:28:17 > 1:28:20Now, looking at the world through the lens of hip-hop is like

1:28:20 > 1:28:21looking at it through any other lens.

1:28:21 > 1:28:23There's going to be lots of differences

1:28:23 > 1:28:24and lots of similarities.

1:28:24 > 1:28:28But there's one thing that I think is unique to this point of view,

1:28:28 > 1:28:31and that is that people who have nothing matter,

1:28:31 > 1:28:36and the stories of the voiceless are important and deserve to be heard.

1:28:36 > 1:28:39The question is, are we prepared to listen?

1:28:41 > 1:28:44# It's the L-O-N-D-O-N in case you were wondering

1:28:44 > 1:28:47# London has never been the one thing it comes in

1:28:47 > 1:28:49# Many different shapes and forms it's all things to all men

1:28:49 > 1:28:52# Paupers and kings, they all blend in the city where the Thames is

1:28:52 > 1:28:55# The inner cities where most of me and my friends live

1:28:55 > 1:28:56# Is what they call the endses

1:28:56 > 1:28:58# You try now, the rewards can be endless

1:28:58 > 1:29:01# If you hustle and your hustle is relentless

1:29:01 > 1:29:03# But listen, on these here Roman roads

1:29:03 > 1:29:05# Is the souls of the people they sold, they're called old money

1:29:05 > 1:29:07# And built parliament and bought armaments

1:29:07 > 1:29:10# To settle all arguments they built an empire, yo

1:29:10 > 1:29:12# They all thought that was a boost for them

1:29:12 > 1:29:13# But them chickens coming back home... #