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.
Kristen,
As someone who is preparing for a career in education, I applaud your concern for the things that students care about and are interested in. In terms of when, how, and why hip-hop can be used as an educational tool, a scholar by the name of Ernest Morrell has written plenty of articles on that topic. He tends to think that hip-hop offers social, cultural, and political critique, and can be used as a literary tool for youth. I would do a google scholar search for him.
As for my opinion, I tend to view education as a moral as well as an academic issue. And morally, there are some values within hip-hop that I cannot endorse, let alone subject to students. With that said, however, I do think that there are some songs that address issues that I think students really need to “digest” and “pick apart.” The only time I’ve incorporated hip-hop when working with youth was through providing them with socially and politically relevant quotes from some of the popular artists, quotes from songs that may not get as much attention as the mainstream, “money, cash, hoes” – type songs. If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to continue this dialogue and share ideas on how to incorporate hip-hip, as well as other pop culture mediums in the classrooms. I am currently interested in how comic book superheroes can be used as educational tools and can promote critical thinking. Let me know if you would be interested in doing a link exchange. Take care and I look forward to hearing from you.
I too think that I have mixed feelings on bringing hip hop and rap into the classroom. On one hand I really think that bringing what the students love into the classroom to help them learn better is a very good thing. If you let the students learn something useing something that they love I think that it might help them to learn better. On the other hand I really think that hip hop and rap bring a bunch of bad things into the classroom. Things that hip hop and rap bring forward are morally and socially not always correct and so there for you would be supporting bad things that could be bad for your students and this I think is a bad thing!