| Hip-Hop | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Dead Prez |
| Album: | Let's Get Free |
| Released: | March 30, 1999[1] |
| Genre: | Hip hop |
| Length: | 3:34 |
| Label: | Loud |
| Producer: | Hedrush |
| Chronology: | Dead Prez |
| Prev Title: | Police State |
| Prev Year: | 1998 |
| Next Title: | 'They' Schools |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
"Hip-Hop" is a song by American hip hop duo Dead Prez, released on March 30, 1999 as a single from their debut studio album Let's Get Free (2000). Produced by production group Hedrush and Dead Prez, it is the duo's best-known song.
The production of the song features a "warped, wobbly" bassline. Lyrically, Dead Prez criticizes the capitalist functions of the music industry and its exploitation of black people ("These record labels slang our tapes like dope / You can be next in line and signed and still be writing rhymes and broke"),[2] and encourages the idea of using hip hop music as a means to promote social change.[3] In the first verse, M1 promotes staying true to oneself as a rapper, and Stic.man echoes the song's message in his final lines.[4]
The song received positive reviews from music critics. Andy Capper of NME described it as "A truly remarkable, inventive track - with its crazy, twisting boa constrictor bassline and blazing, call-to-arms chorus - it's a fierce declaration of war on hip-hop capitalists and an urgent reminder for rappers and fans alike to consider the bigger picture, asking them: 'Would you rather have a Lexus or justice?'" Billboard ranked it as one of the greatest songs of 1999.
A remix of the song "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" appears on Let's Get Free. This version features Tahir (of Hedrush) and The People's Army and was produced by Kanye West and Dead Prez.[5]
The song served as the opening music for Chappelle's Show (where the instrumental version of the song is used) and the documentary series Hip-Hop Evolution.