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?
