Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning rap music into a call for action and a form of social activism. Inspired by 1970s political preachers such as The Last Poets and musician Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy was the first predominately political hip-hop group.[1] It has helped to create a new form of social expression for subordinate groups to speak about their exclusions, injustices and lack of power.[2] [3] Political hip-hop is the use of hip hop music to send political messages to inspire action or to convince the listener of a particular worldview. There is no all-encompassing political hip-hop ideology; rather, there are multiple perspectives that range anywhere from Marxism to the values of the Five Percent Nation.

Conscious hip hop, or socially conscious hip-hop, is a subgenre of hip hop that challenges the dominant cultural, political, philosophical, and economic consensus,[4] and/or comments on social issues and conflicts. Conscious hip hop is not necessarily overtly political, but the terms conscious hip hop and political hip hop are sometimes used interchangeably. The term nation-conscious rap has been used to more specifically describe hip hop music with strong political messages and themes.[5] Themes of conscious hip hop include afrocentricity, religion, aversion to crime & violence, culture, the economy, or depictions of the struggles of ordinary people. Conscious hip hop often seeks to raise awareness of social issues, leaving the listeners to form their own opinions, rather than aggressively advocating for certain ideas and demanding actions.[4]

Before the emergence of political hip hop, the Black Power Movement and the emphasis on black pride arising in the mid-1960s and blossoming in the early-1970s inspired several commentaries that incorporated Black Power ideological elements. Songs expressing the theme of black pride include: James Browns Say it Loud (Im Black and Proud) (1969), and Billy Pauls Am I Black Enough for