MUSI 2520 Lecture Notes - Urban Planner, Police Corruption, Afrika Bambaataa
Document Summary
By 1975, the south bronx was the most deteriorated place in the u. s. Majority of its residents were black or latino. Horrible infrastructure (eg. public transit, services, community centres etc. ) Very difficult to survive; gangs and drugs were common (heroin, crack, weed) Police corruption was rampant; dealt drugs: police stole worth of drugs from a lock up. Despite the negativity, there was alot more social unity and awareness. Hip hop was born from this very environment. Since most of hip hop was free (monetary sense), this was a good incentive for people to partake in it. Grandmaster flash"s song was a message to the rest of america about what was happening in the bronx (black guys getting arrested for doing nothing video) (called the message) 3 major events that lead to hip hop: robert moses (urban planner) authorized the construction of an expressway through the bronx. Upper/middle class citizens left because they could afford to.
