Hi(p-hop)story: Don’t ya dare read dis

B-girl since ’93 tells the hip-hop story like it is

by MARIA JUDICE

FROM ISSUE # 119 (November 2005) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Tupac

People ask me all the time, "What's a hip-hop class?" My response: "Hip-hop is rebellion at its best."

I'm a part of hip-hop's second generation. I teach hip-hop in the US and in the countries that I visit. I teach to share my passion about an art form and culture, and to bring the third generation hip-hop back to its beginnings.

Hip-hop has been around for 30 years. For it to continue and grow, awareness must be built around its core. Hip-hop began way before Jay-Z, Kanye West or 50 Cent ever picked up a microphone. Before hip-hop was a two-billion dollar industry, it was the voice of a community. Before people wore their caps askew and hung their pants low, they spray painted political slogans on public property. Kids today can't remember the greats like KRS-ONE, Rakim, McLyte, A Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School, Run-DMC, or Public Enemy. These masters fought for black music without corporate control. They fought with music, graffiti, and break-dance to tear down the establishment.

Hip-hop is making more money than it ever has. It has broken from the streets of New York, LA, and San Francisco to commercial radio, MTV, and international audiences. The new generation of hip-hop is learning not from the masters and legends but from brands, gimmicks, and clichés. Hip-hop is trapped in a maze. It's repeating the same monotonous hooks. The new school is not learning from the old school but from each other. Instead of reflecting on the plight of the minority, poor, or underprivileged, it only knows what sells—sex, drugs and violence. Hip-hop is learning from corporate America and not its originators.

White American rapper Eminem

Hip-hop began as a voice for change. One side demanded violence as a means to an end. The other offered an organised approach. Both dealt with reality. Gangsta rap in the 90s began with groups like NWA or Ice-T. They asked you to police the police, demanded that you know your rights as a citizen, told of gang violence and poverty on the streets, issues ignored by media, politicians, and the public. Gangsta rap screamed for help. Today, it puts on a facade to sell records and is no different from Britney Spears' pop music because it sheds no light on reality. It sells a gangsta rapper's fantasy life, produced, distributed, and sold by corporate labels–not hip-hop artistes.

Afrocentric rap dealt with the unity of blacks, Latinos, and other minorities. It called for a stop to self-destructive behaviour like drugs, gang violence, and teen pregnancy. The music spoke about self-reliance, education, and determination. By 2000, gangsta rap proved commercially successful but Afrocentric hip-hop was limited to independent labels and public radio.

I've always been a b-girl and hip-hop offered me a way of life. As idealistic as it sounds, hip-hop represents the voice of the minority, misrepresented and ignored. Hip-hop was banned in my home because my parents felt it represented violence. But in the 90s, hip-hop could not be escaped.

B-girl Asia One

Graffiti decorated buses, stereos blared out rap music, break-dancers took over the streets, and DJs took playing records to another level with scratching. In San Francisco, I left my home everyday to attend a private school on the outskirts of a ghetto. During school, I was caged by good education and safe surroundings. When school was over, I was released back on the streets. There were a handful of scholarship kids who didn't have money. We were known as the 'hip-hop' kids because our reality was the buses, streets, ghettos, drive-bys, drugs, single-parent homes, homeless—everything Nas raps about in NY State of Mind.

During riots, police brutality, homeless raids, gang shootings, presidential elections, hip-hop was (and is) a watch guard over the community. It demanded action and empowerment of blacks, Asians, Latinos, the poor and children. It forced politicians to keep their word and set a high bar for hip-hop artistes. Your work had to be good and it had to reflect the community. Hip-hop offered retribution for the corrupt and guaranteed change with the likes of Public Enemy's Fight the power. It gained ground because of the people. The community built a culture they could understand, learn and communicate within.

Hip-hop has become multi-cultural, racially diverse, genderless and global. It began in the late 70s as a new form of party music. DJ Kool Herc used his Caribbean roots to twist commercially dominant disco songs into beats that people could rap and dance to. Though gangsta rap dominates the perception of hip-hop, many artistes (rappers, graffiti artists or otherwise) didn't come from American ghettos. Russell Simmons, a pioneer in hip-hop, and his partner Rick Ruben came from middle-class homes. They brought groups like Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J to the forefront. Simmons grew up in the suburbs of New York. He might not have been a 'gangsta' but he understood the strife of inner city life. The truth is the life of a gangsta peaks at the age of 25.

50 Cent

San Franciso is known for its dynamic 'underground' hip-hop scene, with a viable support system for artistes who are not commercially successful. A group of students at San Francisco State University fought to start hip-hop classes. The administration felt the class wouldn't be beneficial to students and an easy A. They saw no academic merit. In 2000, 400 students enrolled for a lecture and workshop on the history, philosophy, and the culture of hip-hop (after which my class is modelled). The hip-hop class strove to bring support, awareness, and artistic merit to hip-hop. It also forced its students to challenge commercially accepted artistes. Hip-hop represents not only the four main forms (graffiti, DJing, emceeing, and break-dancing) but many artistes (writers, actors, directors, sculptors, painters, animators) incorporate the principles and themes into their work.

Hip-hop demands truth. Whether the artistes come from Chicago, Nigeria or Kathmandu, they must not imitate. Hip-hop must be a reflection of the artiste's truth whether it relates to the environment, politics, love, economics, race or class. Hip-hop artistes firmly believe in improvisation, originality, and healthy competition. To be labelled hip-hop is not easy. Your work must merit the honour.

Maria Judice graduated from San Francisco State University in 2002. She is a graduate film student at California Institute of the Art in Los Angeles, CA and teaches her Hip Hop 101 to interested youth.