A nation of millions: Hip hop culture and the legacy of black nationalism

This articles explores the political dimensions of black popular and cultural production. A main goal of the article is to consider the legacy of 1960s black nationalism and its relationship to the transformation and com‐modification of black youth expressive culture. The first part of the article examines how the changing state of black popular music in the 1960s and 1970s established some of the key tensions and contradictions that continue to influence the production of black popular music. The next part of the essay considers how the hyperpoliticization of rap music was driven by social, economic, and technological change. The final part of the article considers how a new generation of cultural producers seek to connect sixties‐styled black nationalism to the burgeoning field of digital technology and the online music industry.