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Stirring Consciences with Hip-Hop Youth Conference Puts Spin on Social Awareness and Activism

By Renee Graham, Boston Globe Staff
September 19 2002

Listening to mainstream rap these days, it's tough to remember sometimes that Chuck D once famously dubbed hip-hop "black America's CNN." Now, with its endless displays and testimonials about tricked-out luxury cars, designer clothes, and gleaming jewelry, too much hip-hop seems more akin to black America's Home Shopping Network.

Yet there remain those who believe hip-hop could be - and should be - about more than platinum Jesus pieces, 22-inch rims, and passing the Courvoisier. That's the point behind the first Active Arts Youth Conference, which kicks off with a concert at Somerville Theatre tomorrow. More than 500 people are expected to attend the three-day event, under the banner of "Inspiring, Educating, and Mobilizing the Hip-Hop Generation."

"There's a whole movement that has been termed by many as hip-hop activism. What it is is young people using their interest and involvement in hip-hop culture to address certain social issues in their communities, and issues they're facing as individuals," said Ben Leff, one of the conference's organizers, and managing editor of Redeye, a youth-run political hip-hop magazine, which is also one of the conference sponsors. "Hip-hop has been around for a long time and has influenced multiple generations of young people," he said. "What you have in the post-9/11, post-economic-boom era is a lot of people turning to social concerns. And with young people, one of the most effective ways to mobilize them and get them involved is through hip-hop." In addition to Redeye, the conference is sponsored by American Friends Service Committee's Critical Breakdown, Northeastern's Black Student Association, the Multicultural AIDS Coalition, Agitarte, and JRI Health's Urban Youth Institute.

With hip-hop an integral part of the conference, the event begins with a concert at Somerville Theatre featuring a number of speakers and performers including Dead Prez, Medusa, Davey D, and La Bruja.
On Saturday at Northeastern's Curry Student Center, there are workshops on such topics as AIDS, antiwar resistance, and media stereotypes, as well as a keynote address by Minister Benjamin Chavis Muhammad. The event will conclude Sunday with a networking brunch and art exhibit at the Middle East in Cambridge. "By using hip-hop and spoken word, we can address some of the issues that seem overwhelming at times to young people," said Erik Wissa, another conference organizer. He also heads AFSC's Urban Youth program, which runs Critical Breakdown, an open-mike night at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center in the South End.

"With hip-hop, we can do this in a way that's not boring," he said. "It's experiential, and it's creative."
Hip-hop activism - or "raptivism," as some call it - is hardly new. It's as old-school as Afrika Bambaataa and his Universal Zulu Nation, KRS-One, and Public Enemy in the 1980s, and as current as The Coup, Talib Kweli, and Boston's own Mr. Lif, who rhymes about such political matters as the environment and the nation's education system.

Such renewed activism also got a major boost when hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons founded the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Its June protest against school budget cuts in New York attracted such luminaries as Jay-Z, LL Cool J, and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.

Still, as hip-hop became the dominant sound of youth culture, its political heart seemed to shrink while sales increased. Top-selling rappers such as Nelly and Ludacris usually eschew social comment for party anthems, while Eminem is more concerned with empty provocations, ticking off parents, and scowling all the way to the bank. But, Leff believes, the time is right for a switch in hip-hop priorities.

"If there hasn't been a consumer shift yet," he said, "there's been a shift in attitudes that has resulted in a call for renewed activism and greater accountability among artists."

Organizers hope this weekend's conference will become an annual event attracting participants nationwide. Already, Leff has been in contact with Simmons, whose action network convenes its third summit next month, to discuss ways to collaborate on future efforts.

"Whether it's events like this conference, or the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, it's really the young people in the streets and in the community who are using hip-hop to make their voices heard," Leff said. "We want to bring as many people as possible together, and young people are the force behind that movement." back to top