Hip hop: a ‘positive and generous force in our society’

Hip hop culture has a bad reputation in some quarters, mostly because of its association with rap. The two have been bundled together with a range of negative connotations: bad language, misogyny, glorifying crime, violence and drug use.

But according to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music's Dr Alexander Crooke, disregarding it without seeing its potential does everyone in society a disservice.

Hip hop is a ‘positive and generous force ' that school counsellors, psychologists and social workers are now using as a tool to promote mental health, he says.

Connecting with young people

Hip hop is accessible and has a culture that young people resonate with. Dr Crooke says he often hears people refer to it as the ‘language of younger generations’.

It's also the most downloaded genre online and this year overtook rock to become the most popular music genre in the US.

“So in that sense, it’s a no-brainer. If you want to connect with these young people … it’s a really important way to say ‘I’m speaking your language'.”

It’s not only about bringing marginalised kids back into society, Dr Crooke says.

“It’s about providing them with a space to be able to celebrate who they are. Sometimes that’s about saying, ‘It’s okay if you don’t feel like you fit into mainstream Australia'.”

Hip hop and resistance

Rapper Lawrence ‘Kris’ Parker, better known as KRS-One, is an example of a hip hop artist who is conscious of social issues and the role hip hop can play in speaking to those issues.

KRS-One started the Stop The Violence movement, but is also infamous for the controversy he caused when he told a crowd at The New Yorker Festival that he and other African Americans ‘cheered when 9-11 happened’.

Is it possible to be confrontational like that, and at the same time connect?

Yes, says Dr Crooke.

“I think one of the really important things about hip hop is that it‘s a form of resistance and that resistance can and does necessarily take many forms.

“I’m not going to say that all of them are always positive because life is just not that cut and dry.

“I think that the ability to be able to disrupt society … is sometimes very necessary, especially when you’re speaking form the position of communities that have been marginalised and dispossessed or who have been subject to inter-generational and structural racism.

“To be able to disrupt that sort of thing is sometimes the point and sometimes it’s not always about doing stuff that is going to please wider society … it’s about doing stuff that is actually making them pay attention.”

Capitalism and violence

A lot of hip hop music glorifies capitalism with lyrics and videos that feature expensive cars, clothing, champagne, and jewellery or ‘bling’. There’s also a huge amount that glorifies gangs and violence.

How can music like that be used to help young people?

“Like anything in this day and age … [it’s] complex. Hip hop culture started out in the Bronx in the 1970s. It came out of a socio-political situation of marginalisation, disadvantage, all that kind of stuff, and was really speaking to that and still does.

“[Then] the record labels and the big corporations … find out that it’s got cultural capital – there’s an element of cool, and young people want to buy it.”

That’s when things start to change.

“The 1990s saw the emergence of gangster rap, which did a lot to expose the issues that black inner-city communities were dealing with in the US, but the record labels took that and glorified it.”

“There were artists trying to get record deals, who were turned away because their message was too positive.”

That attitude had a huge impact on the kind of hip hop that was being released and it's the reason why a lot of the hip hop people see contains what Dr Crooke calls ‘that ghetto-fabulous kind of stuff’.

Hip hop with positive messages doesn’t sell as well, but ‘positive stuff has always been in the background’ according to Dr Crooke.

And the tide is starting to turn.

Because people are now accessing music digitally and no longer having to rely on ‘what’s fed to them by mainstream media’, they’re choosing music with more positive messages.

Dr Crooke sites a recent study that looked at themes within music that is accessed online: “They’ve shown that the majority of stuff that’s been downloaded these days has more positive content.”

Is hip hop a placebo?

Hip hop can create a sense of community, build pride and teach values, but some say that’s not enough – the kids listening to it can’t afford the lifestyle portrayed in the music.

Dr Crooke argues that doesn’t necessarily matter. He cites Dr Raphael Travis of Texas State University, author of The Healing Power Of Hip Hop, who says all music is conscious.

Hip hop connects with fundamental notions of identity and purpose, but it also influences the decisions young people make about their lives, lifestyles and health, according to Dr Travis.

Every hip hop song or rap song contains something that we can learn something that can help us grow, Dr Crooke says.

"Sometimes it needs someone to help us think through what that could be.”

“That kind of commercial, materialistic rap with the bling and the cars and all that … stuff that people can’t necessarily afford and a lot of the time is fake in the music videos, anyway … that could be used as a way to empower young people and get them to think about dedication to art, dedication to hard work.

“A lot of the hip hop artists – the ones that have made it be multi-millionaires – they have worked very hard at it.”

That’s a great way to open up conversations about hard work and perseverance, Dr Crooke says.

Hip hop and knowledge

“Knowledge is a really important part of hip hop – knowledge of self, knowledge of culture and knowledge of the history of hip hop,” says Dr Crooke.

KRS-One talks a lot about the connection between hip hop and knowledge. In his song ‘9 Elements’ he lists nine elements of hip hop, one of which is knowledge.

‘9 Elements’ is a great way to learn about hip hop culture, according to Dr Crooke.

“I think that’s what a lot of hip hop songs provide, a way for people to learn about stuff.”

Rappers often cover themes and stories that aren’t necessarily presented in the classroom.

Dr Crooke cites Australian group AB Original as an example: “[They] talk about indigenous issues that are relevant to Australia that aren’t necessarily taught in schools. So it’s a way to get that knowledge across.”