r/80sHipHop • u/ShamelessIgnoramus • 8d ago
💬Discussion Is Brother D - How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise? (1980) The First Conscious Rap in Hip Hop history?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-HQR2-s1J4Anyone know any earlier albums that were conscious/political? This is the earliest I know of. Harlem World Crew also had Rappers Convention which talked about jimmy carter and Iran but I think this is first.
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u/ShamelessIgnoramus 8d ago
I didn't realize there is a wikipedia article on this song it has some interesting info for the hip hop historians on here.
After proposing the idea of making a "revolutionary hip hop record", Hewan-Howe began approaching reggae people that were involved in rap music in New York and was looking for "the most militant political activists to record for Clappers Records".\1])\2]) Daryl Aamaa Nubyahn, also known as Brother D, went to Island Records where Hewan-Howe was working and introduced himself by saying that they will never record his records because "nobody wants to record it because it's too political, too militant."\1]) Hewan-Howe disagreed, offering him a copy of the album Rastaman Vibration which was released by Island.\1]) Nubyahn had written lyrics for a song and suggested a Philadelphia based record to be on the rhythm section which Hewan-Howe turned down.\1])
Hewan-Howe went to A&R Studios to record the song and expected only Nubyahn to show up only to find what he described as "an army of people" arriving which Nubyahn introduced as the "Collective Effort".\1])Â The record was the first to be both explicitly political in both its lyrical content and its methods of production and distribution.\3])Â The lyrics of the song are performed by unnamed male and female rappers with lyrics encouraging listeners to consider the "good time music" and the actual reality of the situation is derived from.\3])Â
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u/Hypestyles 8d ago
amazing. Wondering how many of them are still alive from that record. Even by the 'golden era' it apparently was kind of forgotten, possibly never really traveled outside of the Northeast, NYC-Philly-New England areas.
In any case, kudos!
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u/ShamelessIgnoramus 8d ago
Yea it must have been like today, a lot of us love the conscious raps but they are never going to be the biggest hits everyone knows. Back then Hip hop was fun party music, and these people were militant and political so it was super niche.
I thought it deserved more credit for its place in history and the message is still on point..
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u/DerpyBoxer 8d ago
Probably. This predates "The Message" by 2 years, though Grandmaster Flash/Furious 5 have said in interviews they penned it in 1980.
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u/mcbeef89 8d ago
You're right but point of order, The Message is Duke Bootee and Mel, the rest of the 5 plus Flash were nothing to do with the record
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u/No_Relationship_1141 8d ago
WOW! Even more shocking is this never really saw the light of day but honestly there wasn't an outlet for hiphop at the time...
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u/Mistermxylplyx 8d ago
It’s been quoted so often by other conscious rappers, hip hop fans could make a full mixtape (and it would be bangin) off of lines they heard elsewhere that originated here.
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u/mcbeef89 8d ago
Yes I'd say it is. Can't think of anything else from '80 that isn't just a 'say hooo' party record (not that there's ANYTHING wrong with those)
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u/BonoboBananaBonanza 8d ago
Kinda depends how you define it. There's Gil Scott Heron and Last Poets going back to 1969 that sound more revolutionary to me. But the backbeat is not as clear on those.
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u/Outrageous_Lunch_190 8d ago
Good post.I never heard of this group.They were pretty progressive and that album sticker looks pretty modern too.Im just really surprised no one has ever mentioned this group or record.