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Talk13 min

In defense of hip-hop

Roland Fryer · TED

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About

Hip-hop often gets blamed for its controversial lyrics. What if there was a way to actually measure its impact on people's lives? Analyzing 40 years' worth of radio station data and lyrics from rappers like Tupac, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar, economist Roland Fryer puts one of culture's most notorious debates on trial.

The talk

  1. In defense of hip-hop 13 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED2025
Speaker
Roland Fryer
Year
2025
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Music
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed