You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day.

I'm your host, Elise Hume. What do hip-hop and economics have in common?

In this talk, Harvard economist Roland Friar shares that while hip-hop often

gets blamed for controversial lyrics, the genre is uniquely primed to reflect on deeper societal

issues. Using the tools of an economist, he analyzed hundreds of thousands of songs, uncovering

how the genre can offer a voice to the unheard.

And if we're willing to listen, shed light on the complexities of race, class, and opportunity

in a way few other mediums can.

Do you remember where you were when you first heard the Sugar Hill gang?

Now what you hear is not a test. I'm rapping to the bee. And me, the groove, and my friends were going to try to move your feet. Okay, you kind of remember it?

Okay, I'm a professor, so here's your quiz.

Everybody say, hotel, motel.

Okay, stop that, stop that.

We can't have that kind of fun.

I work at Harvard. I first heard that song. It's like 1985. It was a block party

in Daytona Beach, Florida, and people were moving in ways I'd never seen before. Now, I'm not

talking about my friend Man Man. I'm talking about my grandmother. She was doing stuff I can't un-see.

She was like down in here.

And I was like, whoa, grandma.

That was 40 years ago.

And hip-hop has taken over.

It is the most popular music genre in the world,

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