Hip Hop is not all bad

Introduction by Simon Woolley:

As many of you know OBV encourages young talent to come through, have a voice and develop its talent. Well what about this young man. It’s only his second week as an intern, and this morning I asked him as he walked through the door, headphones on, ‘What music are you listening to?’ ‘Hip Hop’ he replied. My response was, I love that stuff but the profanities and mysogny are too much’. ‘It’s not all like that Mr Woolley’, he challenged me. A few hours later he’d written this brilliant piece. No doubt you’ll be hearing more from this young man.

As a child on my way to school I remember sitting in my dad's car tuning the radio to Choice FM. I used to look forward to the car journey just so I could listen to the latest songs, then go to school and discuss them with my friends.

My dad never had to worry too much about the message the music put across or how apparent the censorship of the swearing was because most of the music was positive with a few exceptions.

I am a real hip hop enthusiast and have over 9,000 songs on my iPod and 60% of the songs are rap/hip hop. So it hurts me when I have discussions with people (predominantly older) and they have negative opinions about hip hop and the message it conveys.

However, I am beginning to understand. After tuning in to Choice FM on a Wednesday at 4pm  -  the first thing I heard  was a song that oozes with misogyny. At the time when children are likely to be in their parent's car on the way home from school. I can see why people have these conceptions about hip hop.

So I am here to put the hip back in to hop for the doubters.

Music these days is no longer seen as a form of entertainment, it is much more powerful than that. Musicians are one of the most influential people on the earth today. Barrack Obama's 2008 election was testimony of that. Many rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas and Young Jeezy made songs about their support of President Obama. Making people, who had no interest in politics, sit up and take notice.

I have a very strict aunt and she doesn’t let my cousin listen to any music whatsoever, she feels it will spoil him and expose him to bad behaviour and sexist opinions. She feels the only way to protect him from it is to restrict him. But as soon as she is gone, every opportunity he gets, he listens to the music she protects him from. I continuously stress to her that she must provide him with an alternative rather than shielding him completely. For you to find an alternative you have to be pro-active and look for it. Radio and television now, are very profit orientated. They rarely play music that showcases talented musicians at lower or independent labels, because it would not benefit them financially. So they play whatever the multimillion pound record companies give to them regardless of the content.

So it is our responsibility to feed our minds with positive music. Like the Greek philosopher Plato said “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”. So we owe it to ourselves to fill those secret places with positivity.

Many people that are not as into music as I am ask me what songs can they listen to instead? What artists make positive music?

So I have made a list of musicians and songs that I hope will change the mind of some doubters

Mos Def & Talib Kweli - Brown Skin Lady: This song is an ode to black women. It encourages them to be proud of their skin complexion and the texture of their hair!

Nas-Daughters:  This song focuses on the struggles of being a single black father and encourages fathers to pay more attention to their daughters and understand them more.

Lupe Fiasco - Audubon Ballroom: The hook speaks for itself.  “Now white people, you can't say n*****s, so I gotta take it back, now black people, we're not n*****s cause God made us better than that”

Kendrick Lamar – HiiiPower: This song is particularly for young adults. The artists claim the purpose of the song is to lift a generation in a society that they view as destructive. They believe this is done through self enlightenment, reflection and active work.

Lastly,

The Roots – How I Got Over: This song is an encouragement for people in hard times in all circumstances. The song encourages the youth to be positive amongst adversities and a positive outcome can happen!

Hip Hop is not all bad, you just have to find the good stuff.

Anthony Iban