Filed under: Daily Drama
This documentary chronicles the parallel rise of Hip Hop and Crack. Hip Hop was influenced by what was happening on the streets and in the mid-eighties it was all about crack. The infamous Los Angeles Police Chief, Darryl Gates introduced a new weapon in the "War on Drugs', the BATTERAM. The Batteram was a modified tank with a long battering tool, a ram, which crushed houses and lives at the same time all in the name of justice. Darryl Gates' Batteram helped to cement him in Hip-Hop history and in the black community as an overbearing force for destruction. "Crack cocaine was used as an excuse to militarize the police force", according to Dr. Todd Boyd, Professor at USC. Nancy Reagan was a part of the publicity campaign used to advertise the Batteram. The streets reacted in their own way against the police tactics. Ice T had a lot to say about the police and it was around that time he quit his hustle and jumped into the Hip-Hop world.
Planet Rock the Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation, Sunday, 10PM on VH1