How Law Enforcement Has Historically Targeted Hip-Hop Artists

By Rodney Carmichael,

Published October 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM EDT

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and hip-hop is its most consumed genre of music. A new podcast from NPR Music looks at how those two facts are interconnected. The podcast is called Louder Than A Riot, and it's hosted by journalists Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden.

Carmichael and Madden join Morning Edition's Noel King to discuss the premise of the show and the long-running connection between rhyme and punishment in America.

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Rodney Carmichael

Rodney Carmichael is NPR Music's hip-hop staff writer. An Atlanta-bred cultural critic, he helped document the city's rise as rap's reigning capital for a decade while serving on staff as music editor, culture writer and senior writer for the defunct alt-weekly Creative Loafing.

See stories by Rodney Carmichael

Sidney Madden

Sidney Madden is a reporter and editor for NPR Music. As someone who always gravitated towards the artforms of music, prose and dance to communicate, Madden entered the world of music journalism as a means to authentically marry her passions and platform marginalized voices who do the same.

See stories by Sidney Madden