Secondly, the Telecommunications Act of 1996. First up, the Ice T “Cop Killer” controversy back in 1992 in which Time Warner and it’s affiliates began dropping any artist that was controversial in any way following the threat of a nationwide boycott and fallout from bad press. This current hip hop generation was robbed of the same music that challenged us and made us think and question the world around us (at least on the mainstream level) by three different factors. They were born in the mid to late 60’s or early 70’s themselves so these ideals were still fresh in their minds. The same generation that witnessed the fallout of the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were the ones rhyming about revolution and upliftment in the mid to late 80’s and early 90’s. The turmoil and changes of the 60’s hadn’t yet dissappeared from the conscience of the people in the 70’s. The Black Panther Party, The Young Lords Party, The Weathermen/The Weather Underground as well as AIM and the Incident At Oglala weren’t too far off for that previous generation to relate to. Apartheid was still in effect in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was still serving time in prison. Crack had just hit and ravaged the inner cities of America, they were in ruin and brown people nationwide suffered due to the Reagan/Bush administration and their terrible policies. The world was different back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was amazing because when I was growing up Black people actually bought and listened to intelligent, original, conscious or Afrocentric music en masse.those days are over and now long gone. Believe it or not, it also wasn.t because I got to experience the culture of hip hop in it’s truest and rawest form, either.

Not because I got to be there firsthand when legends like Run DMC, LL Cool J, Too Short, Rakim, KRS One, N.W.A., Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Ice T, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte and Queen Latifah FIRST broke onto the scene.

Not because of the fact that I was old enough to remember clearly and actually buy, read and memorize the liner notes of albums released in both Golden Eras of Hip Hop (96). As an admittedly old ass hip hop fan, I personally got to experience an amazing era in hip hop history.

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