N.W.A and the influence of 80’s Rap music on racial equality

Presenter: Manuel Lopez

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Anne-Louise Dierkes

Department: Art

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1ro3eEIkWv0PK01ssKIFzvzP3yopJCWOM

Abstract:
My project talks about the Rap and Hip Hop group called N.W.A. This group was extremely popular during the 80's mainly because they were vastly different than any other group at the time. Their rise to stardom was largely based on police brutality in the city of Los Angeles California at the time and the group used their music to protest. This style of music would then go on to be named "gangsta rap" and laid the foundations for other artists. In today's day and age this message of police brutality is still prominent especially with the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. The artwork I included is tied to these protests and it conveys the same message.