Vice President Celebrates Hip Hop as ‘Ultimate American Art Form’

WASHINGTON — Fifty years after Clive Campbell, known as D.J. Kool Herc, first created continuous break-beats during a rec room party in the West Bronx, New York, hip hop is being celebrated both as a rich musical genre that defies easy definition and a cornerstone of mainstream American life.

No single event hammered the latter point home more powerfully than the party Vice President Kamala Harris hosted this past Saturday at her official residence at Number One Observatory Circle in northwestern D.C.

A statement from the White House noted that the event was the first time a sitting vice president ever hosted a celebration of this kind, and given the short list of predecessors that have lived in Harris’ Naval Observatory home — a list composed of, among others, George W. Bush, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Mike Pence — it’s not hard to accept this as true.

In all, more than 400 guests attended the event, which was co-hosted by The Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective and Live Nation Urban.

Among the performers who participated in the afternoon-long event were Common, Jeezy, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante, and local artist Black Alley, who performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Among those seen in the crowd were several members of the Congressional Black Congress, including Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and Maryland’s Democratic Gov. Wes Moore.

But it was Harris who set the tone of the celebration, welcoming performers and politicos alike to “the first-ever hip hop house party at the home of the Vice President of the United States.”

She went on to call  hip hop “the ultimate American art form” and a force that “shapes every aspect of America’s popular culture.”

“Born at a back-to-school party in the Bronx, raised on the streets of Philadelphia, Chicago, Oakland, and Atlanta  … it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people,” Harris said as she beamed from the stage.

“To be clear: Hip hop culture is American culture,” she continued. “  It is a genre.  It is music and melody and rhyme.  And hip-hop is also an ethos of strength and self-determination, of ambition and aspiration, of pride, power, and purpose.

“Hip-hop is a declaration of identity.  It says, “I love who I am, I represent where I come from, and I know where I’m going,” she said.

Harris went on to recall growing up in Oakland, California, where, she said, she learned every word to “Rapper’s Delight” and went spent high school nights traveling into the city with her best friend, Stacey Johnson, to a club “where the DJ played and we danced until we needed to take off our shoes.” 

She also revealed that when she later attended Howard University in Washington, bootleg tapes of West Coast rapper Too Short were among her move prized possessions.

“And let me tell you, when I played those tapes, those kids from New York and Chicago and Philly showed up,” she laughed. “And why did we all love our hip-hop so much?  Well, one reason is it speaks truth — raw, unfiltered, without apology.”

Harris acknowledged that hip hop has not been without its critics or controversies, but described that as something all art forms face “especially” when it comes from the streets. 

Harris said among the reasons hip hop has criticized in some quarters is that “it has always channeled the voices of the people.

“It tells the stories that don’t make the news.  But as the great Chuck D once said, ‘Rap is Black America’s CNN.”  And by telling the truth, hip-hop calls us to action,” she said. “From Grandmaster Flash to Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, and Kendrick Lamar, generations of hip-hop artists helped to elevate the collective conscience through their voices. 

“Half a century later, it is clear, hip hop will not be erased. Hip hop is here to stay,” she added, before joining her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to watch the performances.

“I firmly believe hip-hop is one of America’s greatest exports,” the vice president said.

re is American culture,” she said as she beamed from the stage.

Calling the sound one of the world’s most influential cultural forces, Harris observed hip hop not only continues to be a “declaration of identity” for fans and performers alike, but has also become an integral part of social and racial justice movements the world over.

Quoting the rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy, Harris also said hip hop has come to serve as “Black America’s CNN.”

“It has always channeled the voices of the people. It tells the stories that don’t make the news,” she said.

“Half a century later, it is clear, hip hop will not be erased. Hip hop is here to stay,” she added, before joining her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, to watch the performances.

As if to second his wife’s opinion, Emhoff told the assembled celebrants, “This is a hip hop household!”

Earlier in the day comedian Deon Cole, best known for his role on the ABC sitcom Black-ish, told attendees hip hop had helped elevate and place a spotlight on the concerns of Black America, laying them at the door of the United States.

But it was Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of The Recording Academy, the entity behind the annual Grammy Awards, who spoke of hip hop’s impact from a personal perspective.

“Hip hop changed my world,” he said, and today, “there is not a single genre that has not absorbed something essential from hip hop.”

In a nod to Harris, he noted the vice president had been “fighting for our community and for our freedoms” since her days as a district attorney in California.

“Every day, Vice President Harris is fighting for the people. She’s fighting for our people. Our vice president was rooted in hip hop, and it’s essential to who she is. Isn’t that cool?” Mason said.

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