How has hip-hop influenced the fight against AIDS?
Hip-hop has had a profound role in shaping their attitudes about promiscuity and about sexuality that hasn’t really been a good thing for the community. I think a lot of our hip-hop artists have been grossly irresponsible in not framing their messages responsibly with regards to safe sex and having an understanding about a lot of different social issues, AIDS just being one of them. If more hip-hop artists came to the forefront to combat AIDS, would more young people listen? Absolutely. Black people have survived the Middle Passage, slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Era; all of those things to get to the place that we are today and the only way we have been able to do those things is through mobilizing, coming together to effectively address a problem. I don’t really know why there is such a disconnect in our community. I mean; we’re talking about basic human life. So, why aren’t there any essays from the hip-hop community in the book? None were interested. We approached a few and go
