During a time of debate regarding Hip-Hop’s value to the music corporate world and a report from Billboard stating that there hasn’t been a single Hip-Hop song or album that has topped the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 charts in 2023, which is the first time in 30 years since 1993, Vice President Kamala Harris has voiced an unexpected sentiment.
According to a report from the Associated Press via Yahoo News, on Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris held a Hip-Hop 50th anniversary celebration with appearances from some of Hip-Hop’s biggest and most recognized names.
Common, Jeezy, MC Lyte, and Roxanne Shante were of the artists invited to attend the party at VP Harris’ home.
Hip-Hop's 50th birthday has been the inspiration for numerous anniversary events this year. Hip-Hop historians trace the genre's creation back to August 11th, 1973 during a back-to-school party where an 18-year-old Clive Campbell, a.k.a. DJ Kool Herc, deejayed at a Bronx apartment building in New York City.
Harris said Hip-Hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every aspect of America’s popular culture.”
“Hip-Hop culture is American culture,” she told the crowd.
Hip-Hop has grown into a global artform, becoming one of the world’s most influential cultural forces, and an integral part of social and racial justice movements and a multibillion-dollar industry built on generations of rapping, emceeing, deejaying, breaking, and graffiti.
Harris referenced Public Enemy artist Chuck D as describing Hip-Hop as “Black America’s CNN.”
“It has always channeled the voices of the people. It tells the stories that don’t make the news,” she said before joining her husband, Doug Emhoff, to watch musicians’ performances.
Saturday's celebration was a collaboration with Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective and Live Nation Urban.
“This is a hip-hop household!” Emhoff said.
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