By Jacqueline Pearce

When N.W.A. first released their hit song, “Fuck tha Police” in 1988, they brought the issue of police brutality into the mainstream consciousness without radio play or flashy music videos.

Though contemporary hip-hop culture is marred by images of bling, Cadallic Escalades and promiscuous women, the genre’s history runs deeper than a bottle of Cristal. One of the main talking points at Monday’s Q’A session with some of music’s prominent hip-hop veterans. The event was held in the Cabral Center of the African-American Institute.

Hosted by the NU Hip-hop Studies Collective, the panel of rappers included YZ, Brother J and Wise Intelligent. It was moderated by DJ Nomadic, who has a radio show on Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 88.1 FM.

The trio is traveling the country as part of their “Time Travel Tour,” intended to highlight the diversity and activism at the roots of hip-hop culture. They spoke on a variety of subjects, ranging from the lack of substance in today’s music to the need to breach “the color line.”

“We need to go back to the first and most essential element in hip-hop, and that is activism,” Wise Intelligent said. “Everyone’s into this isolated individualism