Watch Jay Z Explain How Hip-Hop Has Improved Race Relations
“It’s difficult to teach racism when your kid looks up to Snoop Dogg.”
UPDATE 1/7/15 1:59PM: To clarify, this episode of Master Class actually aired four years ago, not recently. But it's still worth a watch.
Jay Z was recently interviewed for Oprah's Master Class, the show that features iconic black artists and thinkers (Dr. Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Sidney Poitier) discussing civil rights. In the above clip, the rapper takes a firm, optimistic stance about the impact hip-hop has had on contemporary culture, particularly in terms of neutralizing racial tensions. "I think that hip hop has done more for cultural relations than most cultural icons," he says. "This music didn't only influence kids from urban areas; it influenced people around the world." He also talks about how he believes prejudices are birthed at home, and the presence of hip-hop has helped avert that. "It's difficult to teach racism when your kid looks up to Snoop Dogg," he says. Not mad at the positivity.
Lead image: Dimitrios Kambouris/ Getty Images
