The use of Black Nationalist theories and goals has been used in hip hop since the early ‘70s. One online dictionary defines Black Nationalism as a member of a group of militant Black people who urge separatism from white people and the establishment of self-governing Black communities (dictionary.com). Black Nationalist theory generally promotes uni

Despite the many efforts of The Last Poets, the message still didn’t seem to reach the African American community. Ten years later, one militant group, Public Enemy, shook the nation with their controversial song “Fight the Power”! “Although it never made it to the Top 40 in music ranking, this song became the theme to 1989’s summer of rage (Black).” That year, director Spike Lee released Do the Right Thing, a movie he wrote to depict the violence of the time. As Chuck D mentions in an interview with writer Johnny Black, “Spike put the song in the movie, like, 27 times. We thought it would be in there one time, but it became the theme that held the movie together (Black).” The film came out portraying the problems of law-enforcement violence in New York’s black communities. It focused on the often fatal clashes between African Americans and the New York Police Department.

Although they brought a lot of press to militant rap, this phenomenon did not start with Public Enemy. As hip-hop emerged on the hard streets of New York, mainly the Bronx, the experience of urban life for African Americans was expressed by many artists. The first synthesis of self-conscious music can be traced, most directly, to the Black Nationalist Last Poets. The Last Poets were rappers of the civil rights era and used confrontational lyrics to blame mainstream society for their tendency to maintain the white American supremacy hold over oppressed African Americans. They took their name from a poem by South African poet Willie Kgositsile, who put forward the idea of putting aside poetry in the face of revolution (Henderson). One member makes reference to moving from non-violent approaches to violent advances from the black community. He states:

Some topics in this essay:
African Americans, African American, Public Enemy, Black Nationalist, Sékou Touré, Black Nationalism, Ahearn Fricke, Ellen-Cathryn Nash’s, Bronx Harlem, Willie Kgositsile, african americans, black nationalist, public enemy, hip hop, “fight power”, hip-hop artists, black communities, black community, ahearn fricke, african american, self-governing black communities, song “fight power”, african american community, hip hop artists, separatism white people,