Today, May 19, 2025, marks the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth—a century since the arrival of a revolutionary figure whose voice would forever alter the landscape of race, identity, and resistance in America and beyond. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925, he transformed his life while incarcerated in the 1940s by joining the Nation of Islam and adopting the name Malcolm X, signifying the rejection of his ancestral name lost to slavery.
While he was assassinated in 1965 at just 39 years old, Malcolm X’s legacy endures—not only in politics and social movements but deeply embedded in the fabric of music, hip hop, and film.
Few figures outside of music have had such a lasting influence within music. His teachings and speeches have been sampled by generations of hip hop artists, including Public Enemy, KRS-One, Tupac Shakur, Nas, and Jay-Z, whose lyrics often reflect Malcolm’s ideals of self-determination, Black pride, and systemic critique. Artists have drawn on his words to inspire cultural awakening and to give voice to communities confronting racism, poverty, and mass incarceration.
The iconic X hat became a staple in 1990s hip hop fashion, popularized by groups like Public Enemy, whose album Fear of a Black Planet was as much an homage to Malcolm as it was a manifesto. The very genre of hip hop owes much of its militant edge and political consciousness to Malcolm X’s intellectual and rhetorical legacy.
In film, Malcolm’s story was immortalized by Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic “Malcolm X,” starring Denzel Washington in a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination. The film introduced a new generation to Malcolm’s evolution—from street hustler to revolutionary thinker to globally-minded human rights advocate—and cemented his image as a cultural hero.
