“Fight The Power – How Hip-Hop Changed the World”: a documentary series initiated by Chuck D of Public Enemy on Arte.tv

This informative four-part documentary on the roots and politics of hip-hop is available on demand all summer and through September 30, 2024.

As hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, it is worth taking a refresher on the origins of a movement that not only gave rise to graffiti, DJing and rap, but also breakdancing, which is making its debut at the Olympic Games this year. This is what the four-part documentary series offers Fight The Power – How Hip-Hop Changed The Worldto be seen on Arte.tv until September 30, 2024.

The intention of the authors, in particular Chuck D of Public Enemy, executive producer of this film made by the BBC, was to recall that hip-hop, born in the abandoned and ravaged neighborhoods of New York in the 1970s, is a culture with deeply political roots. In fact, the struggle of minorities in the United States, particularly black and Hispanic minorities, is so intimately linked to hip-hop that they are like the two strands of a double helix of DNA. It is therefore a real history lesson that we are invited to.

Structured around key moments in American history from the 1960s onwards, the epic of hip-hop is divided here into four chapters of around fifty minutes each: The origins, A harassed community, The culture war And The fight goes on.

From the beginning, rap has been a tool to fight against oppression and injustice. It has informed, educated and politically motivated listeners. For several decades, the movement has been the loudspeaker of the voiceless, the best way to get the message across, including beyond borders, a “black CNN” as Chuck D had nicknamed him. Guided by the latter’s pertinent insights, the documentary is punctuated by interventions from a dozen figures, including Ice T, KRS One, Monie Love, Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC, MC Lyte, Fat Joe, as well as a few journalists and historians.

A wealth of archival material punctuates the narrative. We see rare period footage of DJ Kool Herc, the organizer and sound engineer of the back-to-school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, which serves as the official birth certificate of hip-hop in 1973. The Bronx was in a state of incredible disrepair, but young people were finding creativity in the face of adversity.We took the only thing that made music in our house: the turntables”Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian once said. And DJ Kool Herc’s genius idea of ​​only playing the part of the song that had the most dance energy did the rest.

Also notable are the fascinating interventions of graffiti pioneer Lee Quiñones, known for his spray-painted works on New York’s elevated subway trains.We created something from nothing”he sums up.

Politicians parade and change nothing. They even make the situation worse. One of the strong and particularly poignant moments is Ronald Reagan’s famous visit to the Bronx during his campaign for the 1980 presidential election. Challenged by a crowd of desperate and exhausted residents, he multiplies the promises that he knows in advance he will not keep. He will even do the opposite by multiplying the budget cuts. Chilling.Hip-hop is the creativity that emerged from black neighborhoods after they had nothing left, everything had been taken away from them.”emphasizes Chuck D.

The documentary focuses on how hip-hop accompanied and often amplified protest movements, especially from the 1980s onwards. It focuses in particular on the founder The Message of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, on the social chronicles of Tupac Shakur, and on the galvanizing political sallies of Public Enemy, whose anthem Fight The Power gives its title to the documentary. It also discusses the controversial Cop Killer by Ice T with his group Body Count or Fuck Da Police NWA’s responses to police violence against black people and the impunity of its perpetrators. You can’t miss Eminem, fiercely mocking American hypocrisy at the time of President George W. Bush with the slap Moshwhich made him the bête noire of the authorities and the rap hero of the entire planet.

If the industry has tried to erase the political message of rap to make it more presentable and universal, it is nevertheless Allright by Kendrick Lamar, which was the anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of George Floyd, who was suffocated under the knee of a police officer in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. An event that gave rise to a wave of fervent demonstrations around the world, with social media acting as a resonance chamber like never before. The documentary opens and closes with the speech in Atlanta by Killer Mike (from the duo Run The Jewels), determined but in tears, who had shocked America in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

This impeccable and rich history lesson, which does not forget the place of female rappers in this universe that has long remained very misogynistic, nevertheless leaves us slightly hungry. The reason is its title, whose promise is not entirely kept. Because more than “How Hip-Hop Changed the World“, it is mainly about how hip-hop changed the United States and invited itself into American political debates. It is a shame to have only touched on the impact of hip-hop in the world and the way in which rappers of all nationalities have seized upon it until today to express their revolt. Perhaps the opportunity for a sequel?

Fight The Power – How Hip-Hop Changed The World by Yemi Bamiro (2023 UK, USA), four 52-minute episodes on Arte.tv, available until September 30, 2024.