“Money, Cash, Hoes, Education?” Thursday, March 1, 2007

Efforts are being made to change the image of hip-hop. Mainstays and pioneers in this industry are acknowledging that this business has a negative image that needs some serious uplifting. However, what concerns me is that although people in and outside of this industry are realizing that there is a problem with what hip-hop portrays as important, no one is taking the blame. Both sides (those on the inside of the industry and those judging it from an outside perspective) are blaming each other for the moral downfall of rap and hip-hop music and the sub-culture itself as a whole. Chuck D, a co-founder of one of the groundbreaking hip-hop groups, Public Enemy, speaks out on this topic in an article I read recently. In his speech, he articulated that BET has a large role in the negative portrayal of women by hip-hop because the network (and Viacom) chooses to play those videos with girls hardly dressed, grinding on each other and the rappers in those videos.  He says, “..the images and activities on TV are not real. In hip hop, there is a standard that has to be continuously worked on.” Chuck D. maintains that specifically, it is the head of the network that is responsible for these videos getting airtime, the CEO, Steven Hill. Chuck D. has a positive message for students, warning them, “Watch who you roll with. Hold onto your reality and don’t get caught up in this fantasy world.”

Moreover, he stresses that hard work is necessary for hip-hop to keep growing in a positive manner and that education is the means for that hard work. “Talented artists have to be smart and creative and must continuously hone their skills. There is no such thing, ladies and gentlemen, as a collegiate thug,” Chuck D. states. It seems as if this Public Enemy founder is suggesting that kids must be one or the other: a thug or a student. Maybe this is why so many kids are confused about rap music. In my opinion, Chuck D. is sending a somewhat conflicting message. Granted, when Public Enemy was in its prime, the idea of “thug life” was not as large as it was during Tupac’s reign of the rap/hip-hop world, but it seems to me that there aren’t many rappers attending college. Chuck D. references Tupac in this article, noting that Tupac attended a school of arts as an actor before making it big as a rapper/actor. Yet, the rap and hip-hop lifestyle is what is being promoted as the way to go for many young kids today. How can this be? How many Tupacs can there be out there? I think for many kids this is misleading, a “fantasy world” as Chuck D. calls it- as much as I’d like to believe that students can have the best of both worlds, it seems largely impossible.

Chuck D. indicates that the idea of being a thug and a student cannot be done; they are largely polar opposites . So, why aren’t more rappers pushing the idea of education instead of what Jay-Z terms in one of his earlier songs as “money, cash, & hoes?” While I have to applaud Chuck D. for speaking out and calling for the push of education, I have to wonder: where are all of the hip-hop artists that are storming up the charts right now? Granted, Chuck D. has an influence, but a hot new artist right now could have a larger impact at the moment! Take Jay-Z, Ludacris, Snoop, anyone-their huge influence could be put to better use.

See what else Chuck D. has to say here.

“The Bad Side of Good, the Downside of Up and Everything in Between.” Thursday, March 1, 2007

An interesting couple of articles caught my eye this week as I prepared to write this newest blog entry. In all honesty, I have been trying to present both sides (that is, the pros and cons) of integrating hip-hop music into the classroom. But, I have yet to contrast two articles arguing those sides. This week I am doing this- I have researched articles from both sides of the fence, one promoting hip-hop and one that is critical of this genre as a whole.

At Central Connecticut State University recently, a panel was held discussing “the educational values of rap music, but stressed the lack of positive messages in the genre.” This panel discussed the fact that although hip-hop contains negative messages, the genre itself has qualities that could be useful in the classroom. One member of the panel, Dr. Melanye Price, stated, “I use hip-hop to describe in what ways the powerless use what they have at hand to resist the power structure they have at the time,” Price said. In other words, what used to be a minor sub-culture in America has used its voice (hip-hop) to become one of the more powerful leading cultures that composes are society as a whole today. Price also talks of comparing current rap songs to old slave songs, stating that in both types a political message is being stated subliminally. The author states what I have been insinuating all along and that Price agrees: “Price believes it is way to help students connect to the classroom.”

However, the second article I read takes a contrasting view of hip-hop. This author argues that the mainstream has given rap a bad rap. He claims that “racial capitalism” has brought the songs and artists with songs that are not thought provoking or politically charged because “they” want to suppress the artists who are actually improving the genre by rewarding those artists that write songs about women, making money, and violence.

In the past, I have gotten comments that people not integrally a part of hip-hop do not know the elements of hip-hop and do not know all that makes hip-hop what it is. The author of this second article puts these elements in plain terms. He states, “The four foundational elements of hip-hop are the DJ, break-dancing, graffiti and the MC – not spinners, champagne, grills or strippers. And only two of these foundational elements are evident in the mainstream.” These two elements being the DJ and the MC. The break-dancing and graffiti have fallen to the wayside because of what people in the record companies choose to promote. So, I have to wonder- who is to blame? The artists or the record company executives? 

Read the Connecticut State article here.

Find the rest of the Illini Article here.