When I put my verse together, I put it together in real time. It goes back to the mindset of how we were living, the way that we were thinking, the animalistic lifestyle where we’re running around killing people for a chain or a diamond watch. That was that I've seen many people experience. Was that a reference to the Nassau Coliseum show where someone got their chain snatched? In your verse on “Self Destruction,” you rap about a gold chain getting snatched. “Self Destruction” made people more responsible.

And it had a tremendous impact on hip-hop. All of us collectively knew how important it was to get together and use our power to make. That was the beginning of the thought process. We always tried to say, “Yo, calm down.” There was so much of that going on that we felt, collectively, it would be wise to use this power. All the time, from the block parties to the jams, people would have different conflicts. Cats were getting cut by razor blades, pulling guns out, or just beating up. Fresh: We were doing a lot of concerts, and there was a lot of violence. Men's Health: How did the 'Self Destruction' song come to fruition?ĭoug E. His organization, Hip Hop Public Health, uses music and art to raise awareness about health issues facing Black people, similar to how “Self Destruction” put America on notice about the gun violence epidemic plaguing Black men.īelow, the 56-year-old philanthropist chats with Men’s Health about the gun violence epidemic that continues to disproportionately harm Black men today and how hip-hop has stood up to it through its lyrics and advocacy. Fresh is one of the “Self Destruction” disciples still fighting to keep Black men alive. “Self Destruction” topped Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs Chart in March 1989, and the sales of the single and VHS tape of the music video raised over $100,000 for the National Urban League, which partnered with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. It was a devastating thing because he was 18 years old. “Nobody knew where he got shot they just knew that the bullet hit him. “, I performed at Savoy Manor, and a friend of mine got shot,” he says. Fresh, best known for indelible classics like 'The Show' and 'La Di Da Di,” remembers how necessary the song was for young Black men, including himself. The next year, he teamed up with music journalist Nelson George and Jive/RCA executive Ann Carli to gather the biggest rappers of the time and create the most popular anti-violence rap anthem to date titled, “Self Destruction.” MC Lyte, who contributed to the song, tells Men’s Health that its creation resulted from hip-hop leaders’ desire to “make a difference so we could possibly stop violence in our neighborhoods and all over the country.”ĭoug E. La Rock’s Boogie Down Productions co-founder KRS-One channeled his sorrow into change by forming the Stop The Violence movement in 1988 to combat gun violence.

After this, hip-hop collectively as a culture had one response to the gun violence epidemic: Enough is enough. A year later, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a sports arena located in Long Island, banned rap concerts following the death of a 19-year-old Black male at a September 1988 concert featuring hip-hop pioneers Eric B. Hip-hop was shaken by this reality when 25-year-old DJ Scott La Rock of hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions (BDP) was gunned down in the same South Bronx neighborhood where hip-hop was born. To read the rest of the stories, click here.įOR MOST OF the 1980s, young Black males became victims of gun violence twice as often as white men in the same demographic. To celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary and Black History Month, Men’s Health is exploring the culture’s past five decades by highlighting the moments and movements that reflected and influenced Black men’s health. The mental health struggles, sexual awakenings, and aging revelations have been shared worldwide in its lyrics and advocacy. Since 1973, hip-hop has been a megaphone for Black men.

Doug e fresh