If Hip-Hop has any chance at bringing a lasting and positive influence into the lives of people there has to a return of the mindset that knowledge rules supreme over nearly everyone. I understand that is a wild cliche, but its more truth now than it was in previous years. As a nation we are becoming dumber and dumber. S.A.T. scores are tumbling across the board. If it weren’t for Asian kids we’d be a nation where our next generation is borderline retard.
Hip-Hop has defined the cultural values for American youth for more than a decade. The Hip-Hop music that currently dominates the airwaves of commercial stations is derived from simplistic monosyllabic nursery ryhmes or it tells the story of material aquisition as the benchmark for social mobility. If the kids that listen to and live the Hip-Hop lifestyle are to become viable, responsible adults we will need iconic artists to redefine their values. Books over bling sounds too simplistic, but ultimately without a reduction in the consumerism ethos of these artists we won’t see any progress. At least JAY-Z could maybe write a song about why New York City schools are so miserably underfunded by the State. ‘Dear Summer School’ or some shit.
For VH-1’s Hip-Hop Honors week some NYC public school students may end up hopping trains and buses to get to school because they don’t have transit cards. The city’s schools chancellor JOEL KLEIN has mandated that all students register for their transit cards. The thinking is that many kids receive these passes and they don’t use them. This costs the city millions of dollars since the crooks at the Metropolitan Transit Authority invoice the city for each card they issue. I have a more novel idea, the city should take over the MTA and discontinue the flow of patronage cash it brings to upstate politicians. Charging kids money to get to school is essentially like levying another tax on their parents.
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