Tricia Rose explains the factors that impede or expand hip hop, social justice potential in this age and argues that mainstream commercial hip hop no longer primarily tells stories about communities that are dispossessed. She questions what are the factors that impede or expand hip hop, social justice potential in this age and posits that hip hop can and should carry this torch of popular music that has created meaningful cross racial imagination, conversation and action.

“We're consuming all of these hyper stereotypical images of black people for great profit, but we don't want to talk about any of the social conditions and circumstances around it. We're not interested. That's a very troubling concept… We live in a market economy that we're not changing anytime soon, but we have to stop letting the market economy live in us.” - Tricia Rose