Hip-hop turns 50: Here's a part of its history that doesn't always make headlines

They're hip-hop artists who weave public-health messages into their rhymes: From left: Sister Fa, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Ali A.K.A. Mind perform at the Skoll World Forum 2023. During this rap, McDaniels called out: "I'm not afraid of the dark anymore/because I am the light./I'll be there at the start of the war/Because I am the fight." (Skoll Foundation)

In 2005, Dr. Olajide Williams felt like he had two jobs. Each evening, he'd finish up his work as a physician at Harlem Hospital Center and walk seven blocks to the studio of hip-hop artist and "The Original Human Beat Box" Doug E. Fresh.

"I would be with Doug for hours and hours into the wee hours of the morning," Williams recalls. "We would be going over different beats, different sounds."