The above quote "rap music is the CNN of the ghetto" is credited to Chuck D, lead rapper of the Rock in Roll Hall of Fame group Public Enemy. While Chuck D said the quote in 1989, it came to me as I was watching an episode today of The Evolution of Hip Hop, Season 3 Episode 4 (Netflix). The episode focuses on the history of Hip Hop in the South and highlighted the lyrics of a song by Kilo Ali of Atlanta, Georgia, during the height of the cocaine epidemic and mass incarceration of African Americans. The song is entitled Cocaine (America Has a Problem, 1990) and is a cautionary tale about the impact of crack cocaine on African American Communities. Some of the Lyrics are below.
Cocaine says she loves you, but she really don't. She say she'll always be there, but she really won't. She'll make you buy an Uzi, say go kill your brother or you're gonna lose me.
Click below to hear the entire song.
Click here to listen to other songs that serve as cautionary tales on the impact of drugs on African American communities for a half century. These artist should be hailed as prevention specialists