Hip Hop and the Institution

The relationship between Hip Hop and the Institution is a thorny one. On the one hand, Hip Hop has gained recognition and financial support from institutions and it has also contributed to institutional change. To some extent, we can even say that Hip Hop has become an institution itself, if we think for example of hip-hop themed record labels, clothing brands, youth outreach programmes or university courses.

On the other hand, though, Hip Hop activists have consistently critiqued the way the Institution uses resources, knowledge and aesthetics created by communities of Hip Hop heads without giving back anything of value to them. The Institution’s appropriation of Hip Hop has also led to divisions within the Hip Hop community, for example, when certain people and groups receive institutional funding but others are excluded. It has also exposed larger questions relating to Hip Hop’s participation in colonialism and capitalism.