|
What
KL thinks about Hip-Hop
KL
defines Hip-Hop as an ever growing urban
arts and cultural movement rooted in the ideology of community
upliftment and self-determination. Hip Hop is a cultural
movement whose roots are in the very traditions of our African
and Indigenous nations. Due to much commercialization and
new demographics, Hip-Hop literacy is often limited to some
very basic artistic elements which include urban dance,
(notably break dancing, however this can be geographically
determined as well), Beat Boxing(notably musicality of mouth
and body), urban inspired art (notably muralism & graffiti),
DJing (notably two turntables) and Emceeing (notably rap
& spoken word). However coupled with consciousness,
and a historical context, Hip-Hop is a mechanism for both
individual & community analysis, empowerment and acknowledgement.
It is a vehicle for expressing our identity, culture and
community experiences as well as a resistive force against
all forms of injustice. Hip-Hop encompasses a lifestyle
that incorporates diverse and alternative lifestyles and
ideologies.
 In
contemporary society, Hip Hop is traced to the early 70’s
and directly tied to very poor and desolate African American
and Latino urban communities. Currently Hip-Hop has become
an international movement both in the commercial world and
in the underground grass root spaces. Beyond the aforementioned
artistic components, the Hip-Hop movement upholds such principles
as knowledge, wisdom, resistance, understanding, freedom,
justice, equality, peace, unity, love and respect. Commercialization
and mainstreaming, HipHop
too often works against the very root of its original form
by sending messages of superfluous wealth, misogyny, and
violence; detaching it from it’s true essence. In
its original form, like many of our early Indigenous and
African traditions of spirituality, creativity, and communication,
Hip-Hop provides opportunities for silenced communities
to regain their voices/their stories through creativity,
community activism and global consciousness.
For over two decades Chicago
Hip Hop has had a presence of its own.
Chicago has strived to preserve the origins of urban and
cultural arts and continued to develop the Hip-Hop tradition.
Chicago has produced exceptional artists in the elements
of dance, visual & performance art, and music production.
Chicago Artists and active Hip-Hop participants have existed
through community groups such as Kuumba Lynx. A critical
component of all KL programs is the ever evolving discussions
not only on the practice of Hip Hop Arts and Education,
but also on the ways in which urban arts can be effectively
utilized as a source of social empowerment on the local
and global level.
|
