I gotta disagree with this. PE and Tribe are routinely heralded as two of the goat groups and a lot of times this is from white folks. The pro black movement in hip hop was very short lived. Maybe from 87-92 at the most and was really a reflection of what was going on in the community at the time. Hip hop has always been super materialistic. But it always reflected where we are as a people at the moment
exactly....plus even at it's peak......afrocentric rap still wasn't at the forefront....
hip hop reflected the streets and from 87-92 we not only had afrocentricty we also had CRACK RUNNING THE STREETS
and sad to say ...most rappers in NYC got thier identity from the DOPE DEALERS of NEW YORK...
thier whole fashion and swag was inspired by crack kingpins and in many cases they were affilated with them
so the afrocentric artists had a losing battle fighting the materialsim in hip hop...
ALL THESE PICS RIGHT HERE are from the "MECCA OF HIP HOP" (NYC) during the era of 87-92.......the so called "afrocentric era"
"you got WEALTHY ARTISTS..spending MONEY LOOSELY..you ask about thier culture THEY TALK ABOUT GUCCI"- KRS ONE "Ya Know the Rules" (1990)
we can't romantize the old school era as everyone having knowledge of self.....and studying lessons and korans and eating holistic diets
we HAD FUKKERY BACK THEN TOO...the late 80s and 90s in NYC was NO JOKE IN THEM STREETS..i know
it was more of a balance back then...yeah we had P.E..and Tribe and the Jungle Brothers ..and Krs One...
but we also had NWA....the Ghetto Boys...Just Ice the Gangsta and Mob Style
and to be honest the scales always tipped in the Gangsta street rap favor....or radio friendly commercial rap
I got my first job in radio in 1991...and pro black afrocentric rap really only get airplay on the late night mixshows.....
i nearly lost my job true story cause i chose to sneak in "YOU MUST LEARN" by KRS ONE inside a playlist that mandated that i mandated that i play songs that resonated well with the female demographic..... (dance orientated..radio friendly)
Public Enemy constantly dissed "black radio" for not showing Public Enemy and black acts any love
"radio stations i question your BLACKNESS..you call yourself BLACK...but we will see if you play this"

- Public Enemy "Bring the Noise"
"RADIO ..suckers NEVER PLAY ME...only on the MIX..they just okay me" - Public Enemy "Rebel without a pause"
cause during the day it was mostly party radio friendly rap...HEAVY D....KID N PLAY..MC HAMMER...SALT N PEPA..THE FRESH PRINCE (WILL SMITH)
and in the streets....NOT EVERYBODY was on that "pro black wave".....along with black medallions and kufis
it was lot of cats in the streets rocking GOLD....and wearing GUCCI....and LOUIE
yeah even though we loved Farrakhan and Khalid muhammad at the time..alot of cats were emulating ALPO and Fat Cat
so let's stop this bullshyt narrative that today's RAP MUSIC made hip hop and the black community as a whole SHALLOW and DESTRUCTIVE....