Behind the bling and the glowering crossed-arm poses of rappers are poignant lyrics filled with pain and anguish. Not since the antiwar folk songs of my youth have I heard such intense anger and frustration in music. And no wonder. For a significant number of minorities in this country, life, at best, promises to be little more than decades spent at menial low-paying jobs that ultimately enable others to reap the financial benefits. It’s true that there will always be a few exceptions—the entrepreneur, the politician, the actor, music or sports star—but for each one of them there will also be hundreds of thousands of undereducated and disadvantaged souls trapped in an endless cycle of hopelessness and despair. This acknowledgment is for all the rappers and poets who speak out against the way things are, to let them know that people are listening.