Hip-hop has been one of the most influential forces of the last 50 years. From Run-D.M.C to Talib Kweli to Missy Elliot to Kendrick Lamar, hip hop has had a global impact that stretches far beyond music into everything from fashion to activism to language and art. Yet, it’s historically been excluded from traditional archives and academic spaces as a legitimate source of literature, education, and cultural preservation. At the same time, access to literature itself faces growing threats from censorship, exclusion, and erasure. Across the United States, libraries and schools face increasing pressure from bad political actors to remove stories that deal with race, gender, sexuality, and identity. These politically motivated book bans disproportionately target works by Black, queer, and other marginalized authors.

Storytelling — specifically in hip-hop — has always been a tool for passing down history, organizing resistance, and shaping a collective identity. In a time of weakening social bonds and cultural erasure, community-rooted art and literacy are not luxuries; they are the infrastructure for a better future. By recognizing hip-hop as literature and libraries as sites of cultural preservation and community connection, Rapbrary addresses a critical need: creating an educational space where hip-hop culture, Black history, queer artistry, and literacy are preserved, connected, and celebrated.