On Saturday, US Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with appearances by some of the music genre’s pioneers and stars like Common, Jeezy, MC Lyte and Roxanne Shante, among the hip-hop artists invited.
During the event at her residence, Harris said hip-hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every aspect of America’s popular culture.”
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“Hip-hop culture is American culture,” she told the crowd. She noted that Public Enemy rapper Chuck D has described rap as “Black America’s CNN.”
Hip-hop has grown into a global artform, becoming one of the world’s most influential cultural forces, an integral part of social and racial justice movements and a multibillion-dollar industry built on generations of rapping, emceeing, deejaying, breaking and graffiti.
“It has always channeled the voices of the people. It tells the stories that don’t make the news,” she said before joining her husband, Doug Emhoff, to watch performances by musicians. “This is a hip-hop household!”
The celebration on Saturday was a collaboration with Live Nation Urban and Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective.
