The Darker Side of Black - ACE274.9

Commentary says that the Nation of Islam is a growing force in hip hop, and that Brand Nubian are members of a splinter group, the Five Percent Nation. They say that the role of members of this group is to teach, "to civilise the uncivilised", and that their philosophy is expounded in their music. West says that while Black Nationalist politics offers positive identity on the one hand, it also reinforces the patriarchal system and is therefore against alternatives such as that of the gay and lesbian lifestyle, as well as purporting to speak for some non-existent homogenous black community. Franti on the importance of their music emphasising the wide variety of black experience. Rose thinks that unlike the possibility for change which fuelled the civil rights movement, hip hop says there is no hope for a better future. West wonders how rappers reconcile their own human need for "care, concern and kindness" with what they project. Jones would like black people "to say Bye Bye" to poverty, crime, hatred, drugs, etc., and become powerful by getting rid of the things that do them harm. Commentary wonders if "something of the violence of slavery has been internalised and lives on in these black musical cultures". Credits