QuoteMass Incarceration

"Rap is black America's TV station. It gives a whole…" — Chuck D

c. 1988(Approximate date)· Chuck D (speaker)

“Rap is black America's TV station. It gives a whole perspective of what exists and what black life is about.”
Speaker
Chuck D
Occasion
Interview, SPIN ("Armageddon in Effect," John Leland), September 1988

Chuck D's characterization of rap as a news medium for Black America. His original 1988 formulation was "Rap is black America's TV station"; the famous "the black CNN" phrasing is a later crystallization of the same idea.

Sources & citations

  1. 1.spinmagazine.comwebsite
  2. 2.quoteinvestigator.comwebsite