Cousin
Jeff critiques modern hip hop culture
By Kimberlee Morrison
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
A handful of students meandered into the Beach Auditorium for a discussion about "the
state of hip hop" with cultural critic and host of "The Jeff Johnson
Chronicles" on BET Jeff Johnson, who challenged students to engage in critical
dialogue about hip hop as an art form and how it can be used as a vehicle for
social change, Wednesday.
"
Hip hop was not created to fight the power or to affect social change," Johnson
said. "It was created as a vehicle of expression."
With this idea as the launching pad, he said hip hop was the "neglected
child of the Civil Rights Movement," operating with a false sense of empowerment
but disconnected from any real economic benefits.
Quoting lines from Grand Master Flash and the Furious Fives’ "It’s
Like a Jungle," Johnson described the oppressive conditions that gave way
to the culture of hip hop and the need to express what previous generations could
not.
Hip hop was born in an effort for the youth of the late ’70s and early ’80s
to find their own voices and speak their own truths, Johnson said. The culture
focused on crews, break-dancers and the disk jockeys who were like "ghetto
composers" bringing forth new music. It was not until the focus shifted
to the emcee that hip hop became a marketable commodity.
Johnson said corporations began to control what hip hop’s messages were,
what was marketed, the images projected into mainstream and the voice.
"
It’s sad that the very mode of expression [for urban youth] is taking that
voice away," said Megan King, member of the African Student Union and student
panel member.
According to Johnson, the mainstreaming of hip hop and the use of music videos
in particular has resulted in the dissipation of the culture connected to the
music and instead, those controlling the hip hop industry sell an image of anti-establishment
that can appeal to the youth of all cultures.
With corporations controlling hip hop, it was no longer about the original urban
culture of oppressed blacks and Latinos. Today’s youth is disconnected
from the roots of the art form and are shown through others successes if they
act a certain way or portray a certain image they can make a ton of money, he
said.
"
If I act this way, I’ll get a deal," said Johnson of the mind state
of the current hip hop generation.
"
Black kids are spoon fed this imagery
and don’t know anything about hip hop culture."
Even more than demanding better content, Johnson said students should think critically
about the music and engage one another in conversations that will open the hip
hop industry to analysis.
Johnson also said students must create new institutions in which to resurrect
the tradition of social and political activism, but the key is to make sure there
are long-term possibilities attached to these new institutions.
"
We have failed miserably to prepare the youth of today to be the future Martin
Luther King [Jr.] or Malcolm X," Johnson said. "We have to teach them
that liberation is a lifestyle. Movement is a lifestyle. Service is a lifestyle."
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