Fight the Power: Breakin Down Hip Hop Activism

“Fight the Power: Breakin Down Hip Hop Activism is active resistance, the connecting of souls and communities through shared experiences of invisibility, silencing and hate. Fight the Power: Breakin Down Hip Hop Activism allows us to reconnect with our corporal knowledge and those of our ancestors that encountered the same oppression and marginalization for generations. Hip Hop brings us ‘home’.”

–Chelsie Acosta, National Coordinator, National Week of Action Against Incarcerating Youth

“A book of amazing interviews from powerful radical Hip Hop activists that are movers and shakers for social justice and liberation.”

–Arissa Media Group

“A needed book fighting against the violence of white supremacy.”

—Peace Studies Journal

“Beyond the beat and lyric, Fight the Power: Breakin Down Hip Hop Activism boldly shows the kinetic and active forces in Hip Hop that are pushing back on oppressive systems. For the young kids of today, or the aging beatheads, the collection of voices in Fight the Power: Breakin Down Hip Hop Activism inspire and educate its audience in creative and empowering ways to utilize their subcultural knowledge to fight back.”

–Scott Robertson, Singer, Girlband

“Emerging from intersectional activism inspired and informed by the radical teachings of Hip Hop, this anthology offers first-hand accounts of how Hip Hop culture speaks truth to power taking action to address and eliminate oppression. Extremely timely, Fight the Power: Breakin Down Hip Hop Activism is a must read for anyone interested in how diverse scholar-artist activists are taking action in their communities.”

–Johnny Lupinacci, Associate Professor, Washington State University

“Hip Hop paves the way for us to express ourselves in a healthy, positive manner. Through experiences, we are able to tell our story. Through Hip Hop, our voices are heard.”

–VoiceOfHoney

“Packed with foundational knowledge about hip hop activism that scholars and activists involved in social justice movements must learn, this book is ideal for those seeking a solid introduction to the cultural power of Hip Hop. A timely collection of fascinating interviews that highlights how Hip Hop has inspired a broad range of social change initiatives such as criminal justice reform, youth organizing, and other socio-political issues plaguing communities across the world.”

–Amber E. George, Galen College

“The book is a great step eclectic forward for Transformative Justice! A must read for anyone interested in prison abolition.”

–Lucas Alan Dietsche, Former Co-Poet Laureate, Superior, Wisconsin; Editor, Poetry Behind the Walls; Regional Coordinator, Midwest Save the Kids

“This book captures the breath of life, what Native Hawaiians call ‘hā’ and what indigenous Polynesians call ‘manavā, ‘ or power of the breath, through its interview format. Interviews and life writing take us beyond the pure unmitigated ‘lines of flight’ that Gilles Deleuze couldn’t imagine. Its easy-handed editing allows the distillation of the purpose of hip hop: the unmitigated rapture of soul. The end result is direct impact, not only the perpetually-fresh-rooted-to-a-blues-epistemology by a new generation of hip hop artists and activists, but also the impact of highlighting the dispersal of hip hop to the global south, a movement coalescing on the stolen American continent, Turtle Island.”

–Lea Lani Kinikini, Chief Diversity Officer and Special Assistant to the President for Inclusivity and Equity, Salt Lake Community College

“This book has powerful liberating agency with a genuine Freirean Pedagogy for marginalized groups who use hip-hop culture to build critical consciousness and activism. It definitely provides a platform and a voice to the voiceless, by promoting emancipating pop culture narratives/storytelling that counter narrow-minded views of the world by means of offering social, racial, and economic insights to justice, that forces mainstream society to see the invisible/disenfranchised.”

–Cesar A. Rossatto, Professor, University of Texas, El Paso

“This book is a staple for the Hip Hop activist community! Very informative, well written, and educational.”

–SouLyricist, CEO, Acoustic Funk Nation; Regional Coordinator, Save the Kids

“This book is timely, provocative, and insightful as it explores and unravels the relations between hip hop and social change. It should be of interest to both hip hop heads and hardcore activists, as well as a general inquisitive public. Definitely worth the read!”

–Jason Del Gandio, Co-editor, Spontaneous Combustion: The Eros Effect and Global Revolution

“This volume centers the political organizing and political values that make hip hop not only a music genre but a movement. The interviews in this volume are essential reading for everyone interested in hip hop, activism, or the complexities of resistance to white supremacy, capitalism, and the state.”

–Sean Parson, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona University

Arash Daneshzadeh, Ph.D., is a faculty member at the University of San Francisco School of Education, as well as faculty for the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Penitentiary. He currently serves as the Director of Programs at CURYJ (Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice) in Oakland, California.

Anthony J. Nocella II, Ph.D., scholar-activist, is an editor of the Peace Studies Journal and a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Salt Lake Community College. He is the co-founder of disability pedagogy, terrorization, and ecoability and has published over one-hundred articles and forty books.

Chandra Ward, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her research focuses on democratizing and leveraging technology to address extant urban issues.

Ahmad R. Washington, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development at The University of Louisville. He teaches in the School Counseling program, where he works with pre-service school counseling students as they prepare to transition into the profession.