Mike Ford, the “Hip-Hop Architect”, is “shedding light on how the historical failures of urban planners and policy-makers working in black and Latino communities actually led to the creation of hip-hop”, according to FADER.

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Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message”, Wutang Clan’s “S.O.S”, and Nas’s “Project Window” demonstrate the importance of understanding the role that these conditions created in influencing hip-hop. “Hip-hop lyrics are [filled] with first-hand accounts of living conditions in the projects,” Ford states. “The hip-hop MC used lyrics to create a dialogue, to give commentary and counterpoints to the modernist vision [that birthed towers like 1520 Sedgwick Ave]. The MCs served as a voice for disenfranchised communities and often un-consulted end users of public housing.”.......Continue Reading

Top image: Grandmaster Flash ''The message'', courtesy of yaheard.com

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