(MP3 Format) Reacting to 'It Takes a Nation of Millions'
Added 2022-12-23 15:22:22 +0000 UTCEnjoy! I'm hoping the video will be ready around noontime (PST), but that's purely a guess on my part.
Comments
To add a little more historical landscaping for you, as you mentioned how radio was the big gatekeeper: at this time in many parts of the country you'd have to actively seek out this music to hear it. For example, if you lived in Nebraska there would just be no stations playing any rap music ever. MTV played a few rap artists very occasionally (YO! MTV Raps started in 1988 and was a big deal), but you might be able to catch someone perform on Soul Train. West Coast rap was still in it's early infancy. I guess my point is that when this album was released, rap was still what I'd consider kind of underground/niche but reasonably bigger and more accepted in the NYC area. The critics of rap at the time (and who tried to prevent it's spread) were kind of similar to the anti-woke crowd of today: how dare you point out racial and economic disparities and give light to what conditions are really like?--America is perfect and you're making it look bad and upsetting people, etc.
Craig Manning
2022-12-23 17:42:57 +0000 UTC
