By: Emmanuel Koutsouras Music is a powerful thing, it brings people together, makes them feel emotions, and in some cases has been used as a tool for activism. The 1967 song by Aretha Franklin “Respect” was a massive hit. All aspects of the song combined to make a powerful, universal message. Recording engineer and producer Tom Dowd said that “It could be a racial situation, it could be a political [or gendered] situation, it could be a manwoman situation. Anybody could identify with it. It cut a lot of ground.” ( Muhanji , Straton, 2005) . Hip-hop has been used most commonly in recent history as the primary genre for which you can find activism. Hip -hop has transformed the popular landscape of modern youth identity and created a new form of self-expression. In three decades hip-hop has expanded from a Bronx youth subculture into a global commodity, driving a multibillion-dollar industry that reaches into music, fashion, movies, and much more. That's not ...