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Hip hop

Screenshot from "Cape Flats Kung Fu" by Eavesdrop.

‘Planet Hip Hop’: The music will always be the voice of the people, Samy Alim says

Planet Hip Hop

As we wrap up “Planet Hip Hop,” our summer series celebrating 50 years of hip-hop music around the world, H. Samy Alim returns to talk with host Marco Werman about the next 50 years. Alim is an anthropology professor and the director of the Hip Hop Initiative at UCLA. 

"Timeless," by Tiger JK, feat RM.

‘Planet Hip Hop:’ The evolution of Korean rap

Planet Hip Hop
Senegalese rap artist "Paco Pat Ghetto."

‘Planet Hip Hop’: Senegalese rappers push for social and political change

Planet Hip Hop
Maroon silhouette of two people performing in front of a crowd of people

Mahraganat artists in Egypt are defining hip-hop culture, despite government crackdowns

Planet Hip Hop
"Les Princes de la Ville" by 113, a French rap group.

Planet Hip Hop: How French rappers continue to raise their voices for justice and identity

Planet Hip Hop
rapper

Hip-hop artists in India call out caste discrimination 

Planet Hip Hop

In India, artists are using hip-hop to stand up to one of the world’s oldest forms of discrimination: caste. In recent years, a new wave of Dalit artists is wielding some of the same musical elements that Black artists began channeling decades ago to call out prejudice and injustice.

Several breakdancers perform on stage with a large crowd watching.

K-pop and Chinese hip-hop artists grapple with their responses to BLM 

Global Politics

Given the Black roots of hip-hop, rap, K-pop and other musical genres, BLM is hard to ignore, but artists must straddle all kinds of considerations including restraints on freedom of expression in their respective countries. 

Antonio Castillo, who moved to the US from Mexico at age 9, is behind an effort to field what he hopes will become Team USA for breakdancing in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

This Mexican American immigrant wants the US to win gold in the 2024 Olympics — for breakdancing

Sports

Antonio Castillo, a Mexican American immigrant and breakdancer, is behind an effort to field the first Team USA for breakdancing — which could debut as an Olympic sport as soon as the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. 

A camera man films two rappers battling.

Russia’s rap scene: No place for politics

Generation Putin

Rap is now mainstream in Russia. The sound is everywhere: in clubs, on the radio and in stores. But despite a culture of speaking out on issues in the West, why do many rappers in Russia avoid talking about the country’s big problems?

Stan Lee poses like Spiderman shooting a web from his wrist

The legacy of Stan Lee: ‘Marvel let us dream’

Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, a screenwriter and hip-hop editor, says that Marvel comics gave him a common language with other kids after his family moved from Guyana to Brooklyn, New York, in the 1980s.