Peacemaking in Hip Hop Music

When some talk about music that promotes peacemaking, hip hop and rap

often get left out of the conversation. Some critics speculate about that

genre’s negative influence - from hypersexual music videos to glamorizing

guns and drugs. A recent Washington Post headline quotes jazz musician

Wynton Marsalis calling popular hip hop “more damaging than a statue of

Robert E. Lee.”

In this episode of Peace Talks Radio, Hannah Colton explores peacemaking

in hip hop culture and history with one documentarian and one artist.

First, Hannah speaks with Brother Ali, a Minneapolis-based rapper,

community organizer and spiritual teacher. Ali, who is white, was born

albino and partially blind, and says as a kid he found belonging in the

black community and hip hop culture. As a young man he converted to Islam,

and he speaks to ideas of spirituality in his 2017 album “All The Beauty

In This Whole Life.”

Then Hannah speaks with Harry Allen, a hip hop activist who has written

for many publications including the Village Voice, The Source, Essence and

Wired magazines.