From a quick listen or a cursory glance it would seem like
rap music and education are ill suited for one another.
This is certainly the prevailing attitude among rap's detractors,
many of whom are members of the baby-boomer generation as
alarmed about their kids' music as their own parents were
about rock in the sixties. Rappers for the most part have
done little to dispel this view, and in fact they often
address it directly in their lyrics, re-enforcing stereotypes
about themselves by reacting defiantly to criticism. A few
examples that spring to mind are the words of the late Notorious
B.I.G.: "considered a fool 'cause I dropped out of
high school / stereotypes of black male misunderstood /
and it's still all good," or the more direct words
of Redman: "I skipped college / for the big wallet."
What these rappers fail to mention is that millionaire
drop-outs are a rare breed, and the vast majority of kids
who try to skip college for the big wallet end up working
menial jobs for life. Looking closer, however, there emerges
in hiphop culture a counter-narrative to the prevailing
school-negative ones above. Back in 1987 KRS-One adopted
the acronym and slogan: "knowledge reins supreme over
nearly everyone!" and this became a calling card of
hiphop's conscious underground, which has forged its identity
around criticizing the ignorance and materialism of mainstream
commercial rap. This push towards consciousness has recently
been bolstered by the emergence of a number of educated
rappers. J-Live was a Brooklyn public school teacher for
years while he polished his style before finally making
the leap to a full-time rap artist, touring and recording.
He takes the opposite approach of B.I.G. both in word and
deed, not only encouraging young people to get educated
but also linking that push to the question of authenticity:
"The illest weapon you can load ain't your nine, boy;
load your brain / you can ask a real live gangster and he'll
tell you the same." Examples abound in support of both
the positive and negative view of education, but more than
anything else this proves that hiphop has become a truly
diverse genre, representing as many perspectives as there
are artists to voice them.
Ultimately, the degree to which any young person is influenced
by the attitudes of rappers towards education, positive
or negative, will depend on their own affinity for it. The
greatest contribution rap has made to education is not limited
to what rappers say, but rather is found in the way the
culture spreads as a whole. All you need to do to get started
as a rap artist is pick up a pen and begin writing rhymes
and performing them. Anyone who takes this first easy step
will soon encounter a series of challenges. The first will
be an awareness that there are millions of other young people
out there doing the exact same thing, all competing for
the same space on stage or in the stereo. The second will
be an awareness that the only way to distinguish yourself
in this mob is by polishing your skills to the point where
you stand out, which means building your vocabulary and
your narrative powers, pushing the boundaries of your creativity,
and generally increasing your language skills. However far
you progress in the rap game, whether it becomes a career
or just a diversion, these language skills can be applied
to any other career or challenge.
Whatever else can be said about the influences of hiphop
culture, it has arguably been responsible for inspiring
more young people to pick up that pen and start writing
on their own initiative than any other written or musical
genre in the past few decades. Now rap has spread into every
urban centre around the world and has been adapted to every
culture and every language on the planet, sparking a new
renaissance of verbal creativity with its roots in oral
storytelling traditions. The least we can ask of educators
in the liberal arts is that they acknowledge and nurture
the positive effects of this global movement.
References:
KRS-One "Criminal Minded"
J-Live "How Real it Is"
Redman "America's Most"
Notorious B.I.G. "Juicy"
Baba Brinkman is a rap artist and medieval
scholar who has toured the world with his hiphop/theatre
show "The Rap Canterbury Tales". He regularly
conducts rap lyric writing workshops for students of English
Composition. Baba will be touring in the UK throughout the
summer of 2005. School engagements can be booked through
Dr Sarah James at Cambridge University: Tel: 01223 767 288,
email: sj206@cam.ac.uk.
More info at www.babasword.com
or through the Cambridge Converse website http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/home.acds.
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