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Hip-hop was born as an underground tongue built from crackling speakers, graffiti-covered walls and improvised rhymes on stoops and street corners. It was the voice of those who counted for little, of those seeking redemption by turning pain into rhythm and poverty into art. Today, however, that language has become the soundtrack of commercials, gym playlists and reality shows. A culture that once championed identity and freedom is now used to sell trainers and energy drinks – a former cry of resistance polished into a mirror of mainstream desires. This is the paradox of a movement created to be rebellious and subterranean, yet now displayed as a global spectacle – transformed from street language into the vocabulary of the most trivial conformism. In this respect, hip-hop’s evolution is not unlike that of rock, which, after igniting generations, eventually became part of the establishment – an industry symbol that sterilised its […]