Hip Hop Matters - the Sociopolitical Message of Hip Hop Music in the #BlackLivesMatter Era

Abstract

This research project aims to discover the sociopolitical message of hip hop music from 2013 to today: hip hop of the ‘#BlackLivesMatter Era’. The thesis argues that analyzing hip hop songs helps to reveal key issues in America’s sociopolitical environment. The aspects explored are (the history of) hip hop music as a protest genre, themes in hip hop music from the 1980s, and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. Through finally analyzing case studies of Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole and connecting these analyses to #BlackLivesMatter rhetoric, this thesis concludes that the sociopolitical message of hip hop music in the #BlackLivesMatter Era is that black lives matter and that changing America’s racist society is necessary.

Keywords: hip hop music, protest music, racism, #BlackLivesMatter Movement, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole.