# In defense of hip-hop

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED2025
- Speaker: Roland Fryer
- Year: 2025
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Music
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/roland_fryer_in_defense_of_hip_hop)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

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.

## Lectures

1. [In defense of hip-hop](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/roland_fryer_in_defense_of_hip_hop/0667bed6a7cb), 13 min (TED's player)