Just like the title of an album released by the rap group Boogie Down Productions in 1990, a panel of hip-hop experts hoped to bring “edutainment” - a combination of education and entertainment - to a crowd of more than 200 Wednesday night.
MSU English Professor Geneva Smitherman and several university departments hosted a hip-hop forum in the Fairchild Theatre on the final day of Black History Month. The event’s theme was titled “Understanding Hip Hop Culture & Consciousness,” which Smitherman said could only be done by beginning with the origins of rap.
“For people who don’t realize how old this art form is, we’re going back to the 1970s,” she said.
“Before some of you were even born.”
A video featuring hip-hop DJ Grandmaster Flash and the birth of record-scratching kicked off the forum before Smitherman threw her first question to the panel: What is hip-hop?
That wasn’t easily answered by the panelists.
H. Samy Alim, a hip-hop journalist and co-author of the book “Street Conscious Rap” began by quoting rapper Mos Def, saying one must first understand the origins and cultures behind the music before it can be defined.
“When we ask, ‘what is hip-hop,’ we have to ask ‘what is us? Who are we,’” Alim said. “When you study black street culture, you’re studying something that goes beyond what’s happening today.”
But Harry Allen, another hip-hop journalist, said the music goes beyond just culture.
Racism and poor living conditions must be considered when defining the word hip-hop, he said.
“If you eliminate the problem of racism and white supremacy, hip-hop collapses like a house of cards,” Allen said.
In a counterpoint to Alim’s definition, Allen offered a “counter-racist definition of hip-hop.”
“Hip-hop is A, the practice of white supremacy by white people and B, the reaction or response of black people to A,” he said.
Also featured during the seminar was a step show by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a routine by the Spartan Soul dance team and a performance by student rap group Heirs to the Throne.
Jhamal Swift, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, said the seminar provided cultural awareness to members of the MSU community.
“Hip-hop is representative of the African American community,” the chemical engineering junior said.
“To better understand the culture is to better understand the community.”
While some of the viewpoints varied, most of the panelists had similar opinions when it came to judging good versus bad rap and the presence of racy artists Lil’ Kim and Eminem in hip-hop culture.
Allen said rap songs are significant American art forms acting as a chronicle of the black experience.
“These are books, and books, and books about the black condition at a certain time,” he said.
And Alim agreed: “This is literature.”
Sheena Harrison can be reached at harri188@msu.edu.
