"You gotta fight the power..." Public Enemy's Chuck D saw hip-hop as the "Black CNN," and he set about broadcasting a relentless, militant assault on all vestiges of racism, championing the nationalist politics of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and creating some of the most politicized popular music in America since Woody Guthrie. While the group eventually faded from a hip-hop scene increasingly dominated by gangsta fantasies, PE had pioneered a tradition of activist hip-hop that is today maintained by acts such as Common and Mos Def.

S.I.N./CORBIS

Copyright © Time Inc. All Rights Reserved. PRIVACY POLICY