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All Rap is Local: The Playlist

Published August 10, 2023 at 2:38 PM EDT
Jackie Lay & Connie Hanzhang Jin
/
NPR

Stream the playlist via Spotify or YouTube.

As it celebrates its 50th birthday, hip-hop is a global phenomenon. But to map the music's true impact, you have to look closer. Here's a playlist guide to rap history, charted across more than a dozen cities.

More on the story of hip-hop at 50:

  • All Rap Is Local: A city-by-city guide to hip-hop's first half century

  • Rap at the Tiny Desk: Every hip-hop concert in our long-running series

  • Code Switch looks at how hip-hop has gone from "fight the power" to advertising for the power

  • The story of hip-hop's first night: How a party in the Bronx gave birth to the genre

    • Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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