Hip-Hop: Word On The Street

"The Message" is widely regarded as the first socially conscious hip-hop single, an electro-backed call for an end to the crack cocaine crisis of the early '80s. Since then, Public Enemy has provided a prototype of megaphone rapping and relentless production values, while while N.W.A. showed us what was really happening in those L.A. neighborhoods.

For every "slow down before you crash" plea in rap, there's a carefree response. It's all part of growing up in the streets, and it brings with it a million stories, from attitudes related to drugs (Redman) to struggles with day-to-day living (K'naan) to the glorified gangsta ways of sex and violence (N.W.A.).

Both mainstream and alternative news sources are offered in our Deep Cuts: "Mr. Wendal" is a pop song with a poignant storyline; Ice T and Ice Cube speak for "High Rollers" and the "Projects," respectively; while the Streets is somewhere in the middle, scratching his head.

Chuck D once famously referred to rap as the "Black CNN," a statement that's hard to refute after hearing these special broadcasts from the streets and library stacks studied by the socially conscious. Prison, the perils of the drug trade, unplanned pregnancies, police problems, stacks of green-minted paper, and neighborhood violence are all addressed here. And they're conveyed with appropriate sonic texturing, including the sound of sirens, pumping bass cabinets, clicking gun barrels, squealing tires, and concrete courtyard-caliber drum breaks.