Summary: Can't Stop Won't stop is a novel about the history of hip hop in all areas and aspects. From hip hop legends who changed the world. The Dj's and Mc's who set out the blueprints and let the younger generation add more floors to what has become a lovely building. First starting out with the African Americans, Afro-Caribbean, and Latino families taking over the formerly known neighborhoods of the Jews, Irish, and Italian. The white gangs preyed on the new arrival of their neighbors, which resulted in beatings and running street battles. The blacks, as a form of self defense, formed their own gangs, but later their purpose started to change. It went from being only for self defense to power and sometimes just for kicks. Political organizations like the Black Panther party and the young lords competed with the neighborhood gangs for the hearts and minds of the youth. However, all of this meaning the whole world of Hip Hop started in the roots of Jamaica. Reggae has been referred to as rap musics elder kin. The story behind it runs deeper than just music, but music does play a key role in the history. Especially during the 70s, Bob Marley and the roots generation had developed after Jamaica had received its independence from Great Britain in '62. They reacted to Jamaica's national crisis, its global reconstruction, and its intensified violence and so on through music. They pulled global popular culture into the third world. Their story can be viewed as " the prelude to the hip hop generation." (Chang 23). The formation and beliefs of Rastafarian was also a key factor in this development. A popular genre in Jamaica now, reggae, was also talked about as it came into power after World War 2. The ranks of live musicians had decreased and sound systems started to take over. The sound systems, with their powerful amplifiers, democratized sound pleasure and leisure by making dance entertainment available to downtown sufferers and strivers. Also played a key role in politics, as Jamaica's Labour Party and National party fought for dominance and the stress that came from that had people turning to music; the melodies were " like political polls set to melody and riddim." Which showed that politics was involved in music and artists expressed their stance on situations like this in a calming way, by using music. However, in the Bronx, things were going a little bit differently. At the time of the sixties and seventies, there was a lot of violence going on and many revolutions. Different gangs and or ethnic groups were fighting to stop racism and to create a better life for the blacks and Hispanics living in the Bronx. The only problem was that everyone was for themselves, the black gangs were against the Hispanic gangs and if they weren't against them than they would be against the whites that were trying to get their land back. Soon all the violence and retaliation came to a closing as police became more involved. The NYPD's Bronx Youth Gang Task Force came and was back in business, these police officers talked to to gangs and told them that they ultimately were the biggest and most powerful gang in the city and would that they would lose. Cops even tried to join gangs but were not successful, so they went to different measures. They would arrest a group of men that they thought were too large and charge them with unlawful assembly. The gangs soon started to ease up and change was starting to occur. The peace treaty made before was starting to show progress as the leaders of some gangs like the Ghetto Brothers had been signed to a label and recorded songs. They even came out with an album that had a strong message to the world about the Ghetto Brothers and what they represented.
Quote: " If the Ghetto Brothers' dream comes true, the 'little people' will be 'little people' no more, and make their own mark in this world." ( Chang 64).
Reaction: This quote is very strong, because it came from a gang member who was going through a lot at the time. People were being killed from left to right and the fact that they had each other to overcome the violent times of the 60s and 70s was great. However, in this message, i see the Ghetto Brothers leader talking about the "Little people" as being everyone and not just the little people in their area or town. The messages that they were sending i think summarized the hardships that they have been through, but at the same time, they try to make it out to what the other gangs have gone through as well. And the fact that they continued to sell more and more records was very moving to me because even though their records weren't number 1 or top selling they continued to make songs that people can listen to for entertainment as well as to gain knowledge about what was going. It was also empowering to look at what Afeni Shakur said about how the government was trying to destroy them because they couldn't control them and how "wars against oppression are always successful" (Chang 46). Her whole statement and mindset i think made a small connection to what the Ghetto Boys were/are doing and that was to send the message to their audience and to show the government or whoever was trying to control them that they would be successful and ultimately get their message across about fighting for what is right and showing the hardships and obstacles that they had to go through in order to become successful and equal.
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