The Source has compiled a list of “Malcolm X’s Top 10 Influences In Hip Hop Music.”
Malcolm X, whose eighty-ninth birthday would have been Monday (May 19), was a minister and human rights activists whose pro-Black preachings while he was a member of the Nation of Islam in the 1950s and ‘60s were included on a number of Rap recordings. His image was also featured in and inspired a number of rap videos and images.
Boogie Down Productions, for instance, modeled the cover of its 1988 album, By All Means Necessary, off a famous photo of Malcolm X holding a firearm while looking out of a window. Boogie Down Productions’ album cover was #4 on The Source’s list.
The photograph of Malcolm X also inspired Ghostface Killah’s lyrics on “Malcolm,” a song from the Wu-Tang Clan member’s 2000 album, Supreme Clientele. Ghostface Killah’s song is #6 on the list.
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To read the complete list of “Malcolm X’s Top 10 Influences In Hip Hop Music,” go to thesource.com.
The Malcolm X image that inspired the By All Means Necessary cover, the By All Means Necessary cover and Ghostface Killah’s “Malcolm” are as follows:
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