Justice before prom, in those early days of hip hop.

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by Harry "Justice" Traynham

I’m sitting in my cell watching the Grammy’s tribute to 50 years of hip hop with some amazement because I can recall when hip hop was written off as a passing fad, just a mere rebellious expression of a stereotyped subculture of a generation. Yet here we are 50 years later, and hip hop has become intertwined into the fabric of not only America but the world! Yeah, it’s unbelievable! But who would’ve thought that hip hop would have made it this far?

As I watch the various performances, I take a conscious note of the diversity of the artists and audience. Black, White, Asian, Latino, multi-generational, and so many more differences all coming together for the love of an art that surpasses individuality yet infuses that individual into the collective that we now call hip hop. There are now hip hop stars rapping in almost every language in the world. In just 50 years.

Hip Hop allows all, regardless of their background, social status, faith, gender, race, or any other trait to find a space to be. I think that is The Message.

The message is that if we embrace our commonality and set aside our differences, we will find a common melody in humanity that speaks to the greatness of what we can be on the world stage. Hip hop is a measurement of the power of unity and how we can together create something that is not only great but also inspires greatness. Hip hop gives us a message that we have more in common and all we have to do to create a better world is find and embrace a common groove.

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