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.
DALLASPENN dot com is for the children.
DALLASPENN dot com is HIP-HOP.
bam. great post dallas,
mta has been in cahoots with nyc schools for years…..kids paying to get to school is unheard of anywhere else.
dear summer school…wish i had thought of that….nice.
PEACE
“reduction in the consumerism ethos of these artists we won’t see any progress”
Damn if that’s not true as Hell.
I have no idea who coined the term “Bling” but they need to be slapped. Better yet, it’s completely true that Hip-Hop has underwent an almost anti-intellectual phase for far to long. No wonder KRS-One always seems like he wants to fight.
Seriously, it’s a shame that somehow it became cliche to say something in a rap song . . . Even if it was just the NWA reporting style that bordered on glamorization. If I hear one more rapper make a list of luxury items in a song I’m afraid I’m gonna take it out on an innocent woman at a Gucci counter.
LOL. Dallas, it seems like no one cares about Hip-Hop Honors Week.
This is another excellent post. I wish more folks would have these serious discussions on the implications of this garbage that is force fed to these kids every day. Funny thing is when I was driving in to work today, I was at a red light and as I watched these kids on the bus stop. I realized that they all look a like, from a distance at least. I saw so much underwear and dudes AND chicks were just mean muggin’…Why? It was like watching a hip hop video on the bus stop.
My main issue with rappers today, with the exception of a few, is that no one has absolutely anything of importance to say. How many times can we hear about a car, rims, getting burried six feet under, and a brand of liquor? If you just browse the net, kids are having lengthy discussions for hours about who the best rapper of all time is and are failing in school miserably.
Forget being entertained. These kids believe a lot of what they hear rappers say. They have so much mind control over the youth. People need to start speaking up about this. As long as these folks keep selling cd’s about poppin’ collars and chicken noodle soup, and adults don’t get involved, books will continue sit on the shelves.
We used to have to qualify for bus tickets when I was in school and used them things til the turned to ashes. The trick is you have to get it stamped for atheletics so you can K.I.M. after 5:00.