It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: What Rap Music Tells Us Public Policy | Dope KNife | TEDxEmory

Dope KNife is a Liberian-American MC/producer and self-described “rap junkie”. The son of a diplomat, he spent his childhood hopping the globe before being taken by hip-hop and claiming Savannah, GA as home. As one of the founding members of the Dope Sandwich hip-hop collective, he gained a reputation as a formidable freestyle rapper, as well as honed his unique style of “Progressive Boom Bap” by way of three solo albums including 2017’s Strange Famous Records release NineteenEightyFour. As he prepares a new body of work, his mantra has remained the same: Dope raps, dope beats, dope songs, it ain’t rocket science.

Born Kedrick Mack, to a Liberian mother and American diplomat father, KNife spent most of his early childhood in west and central Africa. It was in high school that he fell in love with hip-hop and began to make music of his own. His style was cultivated in Savannah, Georgia's freestyle heavy scene of the early 2000's. As a member of the collective Dope Sandwich, KNife always stood out with a darker and more abrasive approach. Three solo albums and slew of collaborations and mixtapes has only honed those elements. 2019 will see the release of his most refined body of work today, Things Got Worse, via Brick Records on May 17.

He is a founding member of the hip-hop collective Dope Sandwich and group Happy Thoughts. He is currently the host of "Waiting On Reparations" podcast. It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: What Rap Music Tells Us Public Policy This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx