How TV learned to take hip-hop seriously

Los Angeles Times

"Television has co-opted, mangled and embraced hip-hop culture through every phase of its history, ever since MTV 'discovered' a group called Run DMC and began using the word 'Yo!" says Lorraine Ali, pointing to shows ranging from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Love & Hip Hop. "The novelty of baggy pants, gold grills, twerking and Lil Jon’s “Oooookayyyyy!” appearing on any sort of series TV has been just that — a novelty," says Ali. "Hip-hop has historically been represented in scripted and unscripted fare alike as a colorful collection of fads, there to sell whatever happened to be the main show." As The Roots leader and The Tonight Show bandleader Questlove -- who is producing AMC's docuseries Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America -- explains: "Hip-hop was often seen as a low-level art form, or not even seen as actual art. People now see there’s value in hip-hop, but I feel like that’s based on the millions of dollars it’s generated. Like its value is like that of junk bonds or a Baltic Avenue Monopoly property. A money generator. But there’s a different story that needed to be told." Hip-hop has become more important on TV thanks to shows like Empire, Atlanta, Insecure and Power.