Robert Johnson, Tupac Shakur, Queen Latifah are all important because they used their music
and influence to shed light on social injustice. In this essay, Powell argues that compared to
today’s hip-hop, the older songs were unrestricted by corporate control and therefore were more
creative and were able to represent the struggles of the poorer generation at the time. By
comparing and contrasting these differences in music, it is illustrated that large corporations
have effectively restricted Black culture by preventing what they deem as too controversial from
succeeding. As a result, Black music has been reduced to generic melodies and simple lyrics
rather than being a tool for protest as originally intended.
The source of the title “My Culture at the Crossroads” is significant because it reinforces the
author’s belief that at the current moment in society hip-hop is more corporate and soulless than
ever before. He believes that people have forgotten hip-hop was once more than cursing and
misogyny, rather it was reflective of the lower class’ struggles in an unfair social system. To
Powell, it seems as though hip-hop has lost its ability to initiate conversations of change through
its creative lyrics, and instead has fallen victim to complying with a corporate formula.
Additionally, the title serves as a metaphor for this soulless compliance by alluding to Robert
Johnson’s song “Crossroads” which critics have speculated to be about a man selling his soul to
the devil. In this case, the devil is synonymous with corporate labels that trade an artist's
freedom of expression in return for financial success.
Blanchard and Powell’s positions are very similar in that they both believe hip-hop and rap
music is more than just melodies, rather tools for fighting oppression. Blanchard argues that
ignorance is just as dangerous as outright malevolence. That is, when people sing along to rap
or hip-music with all the intricacies and emotion of the original singer, yet do not understand the
weight of the lyrics that they sing, it undermines the entire song by reducing it to simple popular
music. “They know enough to mimic our melody, but they don’t really hear what the song is
about.” This connects to Powell’s argument about modern hip-hop being soulless because both
authors recognize that traditionally Black music has been reduced and restricted so much that it
has lost its original power to initiate change.