Podcast: What Southern Hip Hop Says About Race, Region and Identity

KENNESAW, Ga. (Feb 16, 2021) — How does southern hip hop fill the historical gap from the civil rights movement until now? Find out on the special Black History Month edition of the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Thought Provoking podcast. Host Shelly Kiser, Communications Manager, welcomes Regina Bradley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English and African Diaspora Studies, to talk about what southern hip hop has to say about race, region and identity. We also find out how hip hop music came to the south, and what makes it an important genre for talking about the southern black experience.

In addition, Bradley discusses the three major historical touchstones that many non-southerners use to understand Black history and how southern hip hop pulls from other Southern musical traditions. How has the romanticized promise of “we shall overcome” clashed with the realities of life for some black Southerners? And how do people water down what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had to say when they talk about black history? That's all covered in this special episode.

Finally, Bradley speaks about how southern hip hop helps to make sense of tragedies like the ones involving George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, and how it also lets people express their rage and frustration.

You can listen to this episode and all of the previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.