Hip-hop has been a political hotbed since its inception, broadcasting messages about equality and oppression that were as powerful as the beats, flow, and delivery. In the beginning, there were artists like Grandmaster Flash reporting on the conditions of the communities where they lived. Then groups like N.W.A. and Public Enemy came onto the rap landscape in the mid-’80s issuing direct challenges to authority figures like the police and politicians. And while the ferocity of messaging hasn’t died down, the lens has widened, with artists like Common and Slum Village delivering rhymes about romance as resistance.