Bob Schwartz

Rock and roll was bad enough for millions of American racists. Music that evolved from black sources (“race music” as it was called) infected young people, becoming the dominant sound of pop culture by the 1960s. (For a picture of this, see John Waters’ Hairspray). The haters eventually mostly gave in, at least expressly, as rock melded into other genres. Rock was everybody’s and anybody’s music, color deaf and blind.

But early on, black artists tried to reclaim the music, as messages started to creep in. In 1971, Marvin Gaye defied the Motown get-along ethos with the album What’s Going On. It was filled with protest tracks, epitomized by the cry “Make me wanna holler/throw up both my hands”. Just a few years later came the musical explosion.

This month marks the 50th year of the birth of hip-hop in 1973. By 1982 the message became The Message by Grandmaster Flash: “Don’t push me ’cause I’m close to the edge/I’m trying not to lose my head”. Today hip-hop is the dominant musical genre and style in the world. It not only took over culture. It made millionaires and billionaires out of black artists and entrepreneurs.

In 1990 Public Enemy released Fear of a Black Planet, including Fight the Power:

Elvis was a hero to most, but he
Never meant shit to me, you see,
straight outRacist—that sucker was simple and plain
Motherfuck him and John Wayne!
‘Cause I’m Black and I’m proud,
I’m ready, I’m hyped, plus I’m amped
Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps
Sample a look back; you look and find nothing
But rednecks for 400 years, if you check
“Don’t Worry Be Happy” was a number-one jam
Damn, if I say it, you can slap me right here
Get it—let’s get this party
Started right, right on, c’mon!
What we got to say?
Power to the people, no delay
Make everybody see, in order to
Fight the powers that be

Fear of a black planet. Fear. Hip-hop disturbed millions of Americans in 1990. It disturbs millions of Americans even more in 2023. While there are areas that have little to do with black culture, listening to contemporary music—just as with rock and roll—this is a black planet.

Makes racists wanna holler, throw up both their hands.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz