Channeling Hip Hop's True Culture for Peace and Empowerment with Chosen Zulu King, PRiZM

[00:00:00] The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful.

[00:00:08] The way that they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

[00:00:16] And a lot of these kids, they're not going to be reading the New York Times.

[00:00:19] That's not how they're getting their information.

[00:00:30] So hip-hop didn't invent anything, but hip-hop reinvented everything.

[00:00:46] Welcome to the stage, my man PR-ism Prism Chosen Zulu King.

[00:00:50] What up, sir?

[00:00:51] Peace, peace, brother.

[00:00:52] How you been?

[00:00:53] Been a minute.

[00:00:54] Peace and love.

[00:00:55] How you been?

[00:00:56] It has been a minute.

[00:00:57] You're always lurking in the background of the show and I appreciate you for all that.

[00:01:01] But face to face, it's been a minute.

[00:01:03] How are you?

[00:01:04] Maintaining, maintaining.

[00:01:05] God is good.

[00:01:06] We've made it through the COVID years.

[00:01:07] That's right.

[00:01:08] We were connected over the COVID years and we still rocking.

[00:01:12] All right.

[00:01:13] I like my backdrop but your backdrop is pretty formidable.

[00:01:15] So, you know, I'll give you some props on the backdrop.

[00:01:18] You know what I mean?

[00:01:21] All right.

[00:01:22] Listen, so like I said, normally when I start these things off, I could, I

[00:01:25] gave folks a little heads up in the beginning of the show, you know, who you are and what

[00:01:28] you do.

[00:01:29] But as I like to do instead of just read a bio or do something like that, ask you

[00:01:32] how today, how in this moment you feel, introduce yourself to the world the way you

[00:01:38] like to be expressed to the world if you would.

[00:01:41] Sure.

[00:01:42] I'm Prism but I also go by PR-ism.

[00:01:44] Back when I first took the name, I was the only one.

[00:01:47] But over the years there have been a few others.

[00:01:49] So I am PR-ism, AKA Prism Chosen Zulu.

[00:01:53] Hip hop advocate, hip hop cultural specialist for over 30 years now.

[00:01:57] And that's one of the main monikers I use because under that umbrella fits everything.

[00:02:02] You know, I've been an emcee, I've been a DJ, I'm a freestyle dancer.

[00:02:05] Like you said, I'm a hip hop life coach.

[00:02:08] So, you know, we came from Chosen Zulu.

[00:02:10] That's how we started in 1993 but by 1994 we had so many different individual

[00:02:16] community connections with organizations.

[00:02:18] We started our own branch called Chosen, C-H-O-S-E-N.

[00:02:21] And that was an acronym that stands for children having opportunity to satisfy every need.

[00:02:26] And we were about 14, 15, 16 at the time but we were seeing our friends and family

[00:02:31] and cousins get involved in street gangs and crime and drama.

[00:02:34] So we started to decide to create a program that would give them an alternative.

[00:02:39] So we did things at the Bronx River Community Center starting in the parks wherever we

[00:02:43] could to have an event to bring them together whether it was freestyle cypress,

[00:02:48] DJ battles, B-Boy cypress and we always did hip hop knowledge and knowledge of self.

[00:02:54] So it was never one or the other.

[00:02:56] We would talk about the culture but we would also talk about the benefits of

[00:02:59] learning the culture and how you can apply that to your relationships and your career.

[00:03:03] So in a nutshell that's what we're doing now is ChosenHipHop.com.

[00:03:07] It's personal and professional development for the hip hop community starting with

[00:03:11] teaching the fundamentals of the culture.

[00:03:13] Well, you got the elevator pitched down.

[00:03:17] Pat, what was it that took you from being a practitioner and an artist and an MC

[00:03:22] and a dancer and being out there just doing the arts to say there's something more to this?

[00:03:29] Because when we were first doing, I might got a few years on you.

[00:03:32] When we first started doing this stuff like we didn't,

[00:03:35] and you hear pioneers talk about this all the time, they didn't know it was a culture.

[00:03:39] They didn't know it was bigger than just kind of having fun and kicking it

[00:03:43] and doing what they do, music or something music associated.

[00:03:48] What was it for you personally that lets you know this is bigger than just the thing I'm doing?

[00:03:54] This is a bigger thing.

[00:03:58] Definitely. For me, a big part of it was I was a musician as a kid.

[00:04:04] I played six different instruments.

[00:04:06] I listened to all different kinds of music between my mother and father.

[00:04:09] Then I had 10 aunts and seven uncles, and they all grew up down Washington Avenue in the Bronx.

[00:04:14] They had the mixtapes and the CDs and the 8-kilometer films and all of that.

[00:04:19] That's very Bronx.

[00:04:22] I was exposed to the culture from a very young age and all different kinds of music.

[00:04:28] In the early 90s when I started hearing conscious hip hop, it stood out to me more than the others

[00:04:32] because that was the type of stuff that I was always telling my friends and my cousins

[00:04:36] how we got to use this knowledge in our crew.

[00:04:40] One example, I would use things like World War II as an example for how we got to bring them to our territory

[00:04:45] and this way we know the terrain better than they do.

[00:04:49] When I heard conscious hip hop, applying that through music and knowledge,

[00:04:53] my cousin Asa, he's probably in the check-in, he lived and grew up in Bronx River Projects,

[00:04:59] home of Zulu Nation, home of hip hop.

[00:05:02] For years he was telling me about the nation and the culture and how it was similar to what I was doing with my crew,

[00:05:07] except we were using sports and they were using hip hop.

[00:05:10] Once I heard conscious hip hop, I finally said let me go check out one of these universal meetings.

[00:05:14] This is where they bring guest speakers from around the world to share knowledge.

[00:05:18] That was the eye-opener to me.

[00:05:20] That was the moment where it wasn't about the music, the knowledge that these people were speaking.

[00:05:24] One man in particular was talking about how we're all connected

[00:05:27] and you can see in indigenous cultures around the world, the similarities,

[00:05:31] even though there are different parts of the world, there's things that are similar

[00:05:34] and even words that are similar.

[00:05:36] That was evidence that he used to show how we were all connected.

[00:05:40] For me, that was like, alright, who started this? Where did it come from?

[00:05:44] I immediately learned from the pioneers, Popmaster Fable, Crazy Legs,

[00:05:49] Afrika Bambaataa, TC Islam, Afrika Islam.

[00:05:52] Because I was in the Bronx, I got to bump into and be at meetings where Grandmaster cries,

[00:05:56] Grandmaster Theodore, Grandmaster DXT and so many others came and shared their knowledge and wisdom

[00:06:02] to the point that I realized Zulu had all these knowledge and lessons

[00:06:06] but they didn't really have any information on hip hop culture.

[00:06:09] So when I started to ask the elders about it, they said,

[00:06:12] that's because that's on you brother, that's your job, that's your responsibility,

[00:06:16] your generation has to do it.

[00:06:17] So we started putting together what we call the chosen fundamentals of hip hop

[00:06:21] and that's how we started organizing the difference between the musical part,

[00:06:24] the cultural part, the business and industry part,

[00:06:27] and then the way of life which is the virtues of peace, love, unity, and fun and respect.

[00:06:32] Yes, indeed.

[00:06:33] The principles of the Declaration of Peace is what we've used not only with our members

[00:06:38] but with street gangs and street organizations and peace rallies

[00:06:41] to bring peace between these organizations

[00:06:43] and then use that to introduce them to knowledge of self, personal, professional development.

[00:06:47] And that turning point was when I went to that meeting

[00:06:50] and I realized that if I didn't step in as a leader and start to teach this,

[00:06:54] there were too many that were caught between the gang life and the conscious life.

[00:06:58] And because we had leaders that were living both of those lifestyles at the same time,

[00:07:03] oftentimes it was confusing.

[00:07:04] One moment you're a street soldier representing consciousness,

[00:07:07] next moment you've got to be a G doing some thug stuff.

[00:07:10] And for me, I saw that we could take this to a way where we can lead them

[00:07:15] to street soldiers instead of thugs.

[00:07:17] And that sort of became where I felt the responsibility for my cousin Acer

[00:07:21] and then my other cousins.

[00:07:22] I was the oldest of them, so I felt like we had to set a good example for them.

[00:07:26] And that became the fundamentals for the organization, Chosen Networks,

[00:07:29] which focused on personal professional development.

[00:07:31] And now we've merged it all together with chosenhiphop.com.

[00:07:34] I want to ask you what that looks like in practice.

[00:07:37] I'm going to come back to that in a second just because I want to say

[00:07:39] there's probably people who are listening.

[00:07:41] You and I are real inside baseball

[00:07:43] and there's a lot of folks listening that are real inside baseball when it comes to this.

[00:07:46] The Declaration of Peace that was delivered to the United Nations back in 19...

[00:07:53] 2001.

[00:07:54] 2001. See, you're even more inside baseball than I am.

[00:07:58] There's folks who don't know that exists, right?

[00:08:00] And they don't know what that is.

[00:08:01] And what I point to that document, not everyone abides by it.

[00:08:05] Not everyone has it on their wall.

[00:08:07] I mean, not everyone in the culture supports every aspect of the culture.

[00:08:10] But I do love that document, that concept,

[00:08:14] because it breaks down this...

[00:08:16] Again, you're going to correct me.

[00:08:17] There's 19...

[00:08:18] 18.

[00:08:19] Damn it!

[00:08:20] I'm not so close.

[00:08:21] There's 18 different tenants of this Declaration of Peace,

[00:08:26] which is saying hip hop is at its core.

[00:08:30] We're telling you as participants, as people of the culture,

[00:08:33] I don't care what your media says, what your TV says, what your newspaper says,

[00:08:37] we're telling you we are conveyors of peace.

[00:08:41] And here's a document to show how we spell it out.

[00:08:43] Give a synopsis if you don't read all 18 of them,

[00:08:47] but let people know what that Declaration of Peace signifies in its entirety.

[00:08:54] Sure.

[00:08:55] So you can actually check out more information on our website

[00:08:57] at chosenhiphop.com slash principles, I believe.

[00:09:00] The full 18 principles are listed there,

[00:09:03] along with the video from the Temple of Hip Hop

[00:09:05] about how it got started and why it was created.

[00:09:09] But long story short, the Declaration of Peace is like our hip hop constitution.

[00:09:14] It not only outlines what the elements are, the tenements are,

[00:09:17] but how we should live and abide by these principles of the culture,

[00:09:21] how hip hop is a culture that is not just a culture of peace,

[00:09:25] but that appreciates and respects the sanctity of all life,

[00:09:30] no matter where it's from, that protects the youth, the women, the children,

[00:09:33] and the benefits of the cultures and the countries which it abides by.

[00:09:37] So that's just a small summary, but it's one of those things where we learned as young,

[00:09:42] one of the things that saved us from the street life

[00:09:44] was having what we call the laws and regulations.

[00:09:47] And that was the guidelines for how we were to conduct

[00:09:50] and represent ourselves and the organization that we represented.

[00:09:54] Hip hop took the same approach and took those laws and regulations

[00:09:57] as an inspiration for the Declaration of Peace,

[00:10:00] because we needed to provide it to more than just this organization,

[00:10:03] but the culture as a whole.

[00:10:05] And you know, Thurman League 1 is in the chat, Peace and Respect from the Temple of Hip Hop.

[00:10:10] He was one of the men that was involved with the Declaration of Peace,

[00:10:13] bringing it to the United Nations, getting it recognized as an international document,

[00:10:18] as well as a co-founder of the Temple of Hip Hop.

[00:10:21] And he also wrote a book, Peace in Time of War,

[00:10:24] which is basically an international document showing why the Declaration of Peace is important

[00:10:30] and how it's impacting or not impacting depending on how it's used around the world.

[00:10:35] So these are the people that are in our network that we bring on as specialists.

[00:10:39] So I can teach you an introduction to the culture,

[00:10:41] but I'm not a specialist of every facet.

[00:10:43] So we'll bring in somebody like him to speak more on the Declaration.

[00:10:46] We'll bring in somebody like Pluto7 to teach on hip hop, you know, B-boy history rather.

[00:10:52] And actually this is an announcement to everybody.

[00:10:55] First, you know, first announcement, we actually...

[00:10:58] World premiere.

[00:10:59] Yes, sir.

[00:11:00] We just made a lot of those interviews live on our page on Chosen Hip Hop on YouTube.

[00:11:06] So we have interviews with Sir Malik I, with Jason Kirkman, with Pluto7, with Disco Daddy, with Martha Diaz, EJ Williams.

[00:11:14] That's what I was about to say.

[00:11:16] So you know, you can check those out to hear more about those specifics directly from the people who were involved with the creation and inception.

[00:11:23] I was going to mention it, even though I do interviews, I'm not trying to gatekeep and be the only interviewer in this hip hop game.

[00:11:28] You all need to put that knowledge out there.

[00:11:30] I love it. I watched Martha Diaz.

[00:11:31] Martha Diaz is a friend of the room, of course.

[00:11:33] And Wiz I know also.

[00:11:35] So it's dope to like get a little bit more insight from those journeys and those...

[00:11:40] So thank you for breaking that down.

[00:11:41] Like I said, a lot of people don't know about the Declaration of Peace.

[00:11:43] And that's why I wanted to make sure we had it kind of on the record so people who are watching this casually may not understand that.

[00:11:49] Like I say, some of the reasons why we advocate for this stuff so much is because we know this is a peaceful journey.

[00:11:56] You know what I mean?

[00:11:57] We know this is a way to bring people together and to solve some of the societal ills that a lot of people blame hip hop for.

[00:12:04] And we're like, no, hip hop's not the problem.

[00:12:06] Hip hop is the solution.

[00:12:08] You just got to kind of flip the mindset, right?

[00:12:11] Right, right.

[00:12:12] Yeah. Tell me about some of the things that you do in practice.

[00:12:16] In practice, again, you know, you bring speakers, you bring people, you have practitioners that are sort of experts and such.

[00:12:21] Just give me a couple of other ideas.

[00:12:23] Give folks a couple of other ideas like what are the in practice, what it looks like workshops or integrations with schools or integrations with community groups.

[00:12:30] Just give me a couple of ideas on what y'all do.

[00:12:32] Sure.

[00:12:33] So for the most part, for most of the past 30 years, most of what we've done has been word of mouth through our network and people that come to our network.

[00:12:40] They don't, you know, promote us to schools and other organizations.

[00:12:43] And we work with individuals and groups, you know, through that.

[00:12:46] Now we're actually because so many people have asked for things like what we do in other countries and states is why we launched chosen hip hop dot com.

[00:12:53] Right.

[00:12:54] Choosing underscore hip hop on Instagram to actually connect and promote all of these international groups doing the amazing work.

[00:13:00] So we'll meet with them either through Zoom sessions where we'll have discussions about specifically what they're trying to do, putting together a plan.

[00:13:08] One of the tools I showed with you and I shared before with some of the people on the call is the personal cipher, which has six aspects of personal development.

[00:13:15] We also apply that to your company or to your organization and put you on a scale of one to 10 on each of those and figure out where you want to be and what are the steps to get there.

[00:13:24] So we can do that one on one.

[00:13:25] We can do that with group coaching.

[00:13:27] And then we do that through some of the discussions that we shared.

[00:13:29] We'll bring in a specialist that we know a lot of people have questions about this subject.

[00:13:34] So one of our lessons we teach is go to the source.

[00:13:36] So we'll go find either who invented it, who created or somebody who's mastered it and can share their knowledge and insight with you.

[00:13:43] And through that, we built networks and connections with people over the years, young entrepreneurs.

[00:13:50] I checked out your show last week and, you know, for the first minute, I'm like, that looks like Yogi.

[00:13:56] I'm like, I know that brother.

[00:13:58] I'm like, so 10, 12, 15 years ago, Yogi was one of our young brothers that we went through one of their events and the same thing.

[00:14:04] We just try to encourage them, inspire them, show them how to set a standard for belief in themselves.

[00:14:09] Yeah. You know, give them that encouragement to become what Yogi's become him and another brother, Big Veg.

[00:14:15] I got to shout him out.

[00:14:16] He's doing his thing in interviews and red carpet type events and they built themselves with that passion.

[00:14:23] And we just try to be one of those sources to encourage them, to give them direction, to give them resources.

[00:14:28] We'll share with them books and videos and articles.

[00:14:31] And I'm not getting a commission off these books, but I know this book will help them.

[00:14:35] So that's what we've been doing for 30 years and now we're making it public.

[00:14:39] So I love it. Thank you for giving us the platform to share that.

[00:14:42] Of course. And Yogi's a dope. I know dope people.

[00:14:44] So, you know, it's just, you know, it's no surprise that it all comes through here.

[00:14:47] But now that's it. I love you. Yeah, I love what you're doing.

[00:14:49] I love that it's public.

[00:14:51] Give the person who's not attached to our culture, right?

[00:14:56] I know you get this a lot. They don't understand it.

[00:14:58] They don't get it. They were like, I don't understand how hip hop, because I have a particular perception, can be an empowering force for young people.

[00:15:09] But also as you talk about older people, you can bring into a company, you can bring into any setting and say, no, we can use these lessons we've learned.

[00:15:17] But but there's why am I losing everyone tonight? What's going on?

[00:15:20] What's happening here? They'll be right back.

[00:15:23] Well, such a good question.

[00:15:25] Peace to Randy Mason again for checking in earlier.

[00:15:28] Pista business piece of business culture with Acer up in a building piece to I got you.

[00:15:35] Prism piece to I'm not going to try to say it.

[00:15:38] Mel, I just say Mel.

[00:15:40] I'm going to try to say all that.

[00:15:42] It's late.

[00:15:44] Peace to Andrew Wang on a check in.

[00:15:48] Peace to chaos D.

[00:15:50] Chosen Networks.

[00:15:51] I guess you part of the family.

[00:15:53] It's good to see you here tonight.

[00:15:54] We'll get them back.

[00:15:55] Prism, Chosen Hip Hop.

[00:15:58] We'll bring you back in.

[00:16:00] You got you.

[00:16:02] The devil is busy tonight.

[00:16:04] Yes, sir.

[00:16:06] Stop us and get another information.

[00:16:08] I call him Loki, my little techno demon.

[00:16:10] He does things with my computer.

[00:16:12] It's actually it's actually it's actually it's Randy Mason's kids.

[00:16:16] They're all over the place.

[00:16:17] They're everywhere, bro.

[00:16:19] They're everywhere.

[00:16:20] You had a bra and he had a bra.

[00:16:21] It's just Randy Mason's kids unplugging Internet wires everywhere.

[00:16:26] What else?

[00:16:28] Anarchy. That's what's up.

[00:16:29] Anarchy Mel in the place.

[00:16:30] Anarchy Mel.

[00:16:31] I mean, you know, I'm trying to read it, but I had some drink.

[00:16:35] Listen, so what I was saying was how do you how do you punch through some of the resistance,

[00:16:41] some of the hesitation from folks who aren't part of the culture?

[00:16:43] But they may have got their ear.

[00:16:45] But you know, what do you say to them?

[00:16:46] What would you say to them if you're like, hey, listen, I got a secret sauce to help empower people in a way that hasn't really been approached much in your world.

[00:16:54] Let me into your world and let me break this knowledge down.

[00:16:58] What do you say to folks?

[00:16:59] So sure.

[00:17:00] So first, hip hop knowledge and knowledge itself is how we presented and produce it now.

[00:17:06] But the knowledge of self part can be presented universally to anyone.

[00:17:09] It's not about hip hop culture.

[00:17:11] It's just for me, it's personal professional development.

[00:17:14] Like you see somebody like Tony Robbins or Eric Thomas or these are people that I looked at and said, hey, this is the same things that hip hop taught us.

[00:17:21] So I put it together in a way that I know it can reach our culture to start.

[00:17:25] But first, first things we do is the reason why we created the chosen fundamentals of hip hop is because it's an introduction to understanding hip hop as a culture and not just music.

[00:17:35] You know, so when we look at, you know, the logo behind me, you see in the middle, we have the musical and artistic elements.

[00:17:41] DJ, MC, B-boy, B-girl, graffiti and beatboxing.

[00:17:44] But that's just the musical aspect.

[00:17:46] The cultural aspects are knowledge, language, fashion, and the beliefs is part of the knowledge.

[00:17:52] The principles, the stories, the history, the empowerment is part of that knowledge.

[00:17:57] And then we break that down into knowledge of self.

[00:17:59] So that becomes awareness on your physical site for how to build your body to the perfect 10.

[00:18:05] Health wise, exercise, vitamins, minerals, medication if necessary.

[00:18:10] Your mental is your development of knowledge, whether it's a school or reading books or research, getting certifications and knowledge.

[00:18:16] Your spiritual is not only connection to the higher power, but to people, to the universe, to soul, to energy, to the understanding that you're not just a physical being having a human experience.

[00:18:27] You're a spiritual being.

[00:18:29] All right.

[00:18:30] You're a spiritual being having a human experience, not a human being that sometimes has a spiritual experience.

[00:18:35] OK, so these are part of the things that we can introduce in the beginning.

[00:18:39] And now through that, hip hop is one of these things that teaches empowerment, discipline, practice, work ethic, ingenuity, and then teaches marketing and graphic design and all these things you have to do to market yourself.

[00:18:53] Right.

[00:18:54] And that can apply not just to being a B-boy or a DJ or MC, but to being a sales executive or a marketing rep or customer service rep or even things in your relationship, an at home mother or husband.

[00:19:06] You know, one of the things we teach in that cipher is emotional, emotional intelligence, how to properly express yourself so that way people you're speaking to understand you and how to effectively understand them.

[00:19:16] So even when your wife is yelling at you about spending too much time on your podcast and too much time doing this, what she's really trying to say is I miss you.

[00:19:24] I want you to spend more time with me instead of these other things.

[00:19:26] Right.

[00:19:27] So that's emotional intelligence that we teach is part of that development as well as financial literacy, not only saving and investing, but understanding the market finances as a whole.

[00:19:38] You know, and then social, your social connection is your relationships to your friends, your family, your community, your place in it, your role in it, what society tells you you are and then your true identity of who you really are.

[00:19:49] Society wants to tell me I'm a Puerto Rican from the Bronx. That ain't probably never going to make past this much in income and make it this far.

[00:19:56] So my true identity says I'm a hip hop cultural specialist that can use this information to empower thousands and save them from the street life and gang life.

[00:20:05] One of the quick ways I'll summarize this whole thing is where we teach the difference between rap music or gangster rap music and hip hop culture is the virtues that we spoke about before.

[00:20:15] Hip hop music is the bed, is the instrumental and that invokes the feeling of peace, love, unity, fun and respect.

[00:20:23] When you listen to music and it makes you feel that way even if it's just an instrumental, that's hip hop.

[00:20:28] When you add rap to it, it now puts it in a genre.

[00:20:32] So now the genre, the content of your rap is going to determine is it radio rap worthy and radio rap consists of only gangster rap, party rap, drugs rap and sex rap.

[00:20:44] That's just four different genres of rap that is considered part of radio rap.

[00:20:49] But those principles of gangster rap, the virtues of gangster rap are drugs, crime, violence, money and sex.

[00:20:56] So if you're listening to any rap music that's talking about those five topics, that's radio rap.

[00:21:01] That's not hip hop. If it makes you feel peace, love, unity, fun and respect, that's hip hop.

[00:21:07] And that's a simple way we can help the layman's person understand the difference between rap music and hip hop, the culture and the feelings that it invokes.

[00:21:15] Yeah, that's brilliant. My next thing was talk to me about commercial versus the culture.

[00:21:21] Well, you just did that. So I hit a button to make some music happen. It wasn't necessary.

[00:21:27] So I appreciate that insight because that's part of the struggle.

[00:21:31] Even our hip hop heads get lost in the sauce. They're jaded.

[00:21:35] They've been beat over the head with the commercial aspect of it, the radio aspect of it for so long that even our folks in the Bronx that might be right beside you came up right with you that you are trying to say, hey, remember the culture?

[00:21:49] And they're like, nah, B, I'm done. I'm off that. Hip hop, I don't even listen.

[00:21:54] I still listen to my EPMD CDs and that's it. And it's like trying to get through, understand that not just folks outside of culture, but some of these folks inside the culture, our own folk that have become jaded and lost to these ideals.

[00:22:07] And so part of that struggle is getting them back into the mix because they're in positions where they can then you can each one teach one their ways into helping benefit their community, their family members, their next of kin, their community, their job, their employment.

[00:22:22] That's part of the that's part of the work too, right?

[00:22:25] Exactly. I mean, because part of the thing is you have people from our generation and younger that listen to nothing but rap music.

[00:22:33] So they think I'm a hip hop head. I'm part of the hip hop culture.

[00:22:36] But when you're listening to radio rap or gangster rap, you're actually practicing the tenets of gangster culture, not hip hop culture.

[00:22:45] Gangster cultures were focused on drugs, crime, violence, money and sex.

[00:22:48] That was the focus on gang culture that got put into rap music and they got treated like almost like we America did with Muslims for a while where they only showed extreme Muslims when they talked about it.

[00:22:59] Now they only show extreme gangster rap when they talk about hip hop as a culture.

[00:23:04] But that's the tenets of that culture. Hip hop culture is not about that.

[00:23:09] So for those of you listening and those of you and a lot of what we do is teaching to teachers and educating educators and leading leaders.

[00:23:16] Those that have students and followers and listeners helped them to understand the difference between practicing gangster rap culture and hip hop culture.

[00:23:25] And this will help them understand the difference of, wow, I've been part of this gangster thing all this time, but hip hop is really about this.

[00:23:33] And that's the empowerment part.

[00:23:35] Yeah, indeed. Teachers as well as parents sometimes, you know, as parents got to do the same thing and remember that, you know, these other things still exist.

[00:23:42] It's great that you're out here doing it. What are some of the as you say, you're but you're kind of turning it public in a way.

[00:23:49] So what's on the agenda? What are y'all trying to do in the next, you know, what does the next six months looks like for chosen hip hop?

[00:23:55] What are some of the things you want folks? You just mentioned it.

[00:23:58] Hey, you know, if your teachers, if your authority figures, if you if you're in have children within your purview, if your parents reach out, you know, what are you trying to like?

[00:24:09] What's the focus for the next few months for y'all?

[00:24:12] So I mean, right now, our first step is we want to start introducing people to the fundamentals of hip hop culture.

[00:24:17] So right now on our website, if we go to the Learn More page, you can actually register to do a live introduction to the chosen fundamentals of hip hop.

[00:24:24] We outline a sort of table of contents of what we teach about, and that's over a six week or nine week or 10 week course, depending on, you know, what you and your constituents are looking for.

[00:24:33] So that's our first step beyond that.

[00:24:36] We're also building our YouTube page to not only for the discussions that we shared, but we're going to start doing international hip hop discussions where we talk with people like EP from France and Francesca and others from Canada.

[00:24:49] Canada. And real quick, I want to do some shout out.

[00:24:52] Emil Y. X in South Africa is part of our family.

[00:24:55] You know, Ruben Samson in West Africa, Shondi Alaki and Roz Bernard are part of our extended family.

[00:25:03] You know, the brothers out in Germany and Austria and Norway and Sweden and Brazil and Uruguay and Chile and France and so many.

[00:25:13] And across the United States and Canada that are part of our network and our team that we want to help them bring their part of the hip hop international hip hop story to the forefront.

[00:25:22] So look forward, follow us on the chosen hip hop YouTube page.

[00:25:25] We're going to be sharing more of those discussions.

[00:25:27] But we really want to connect with the people in the culture that have this same passion, that want this understanding and that have people in their network or their groups.

[00:25:35] And we also want to start getting into school.

[00:25:37] We're going to be working with Yogi and Creative Expressions.

[00:25:40] We work with the Hip Hop Education Center.

[00:25:43] The Lincoln Center event on April 5th, I was supposed to be there.

[00:25:46] I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it.

[00:25:48] But if not, you guys, if you can attend, definitely check it out.

[00:25:51] These are the different organizations we work with.

[00:25:53] We worked with the Universal Hip Hop Museum a couple of years back to help them put their timeline together as well.

[00:25:59] So we're connecting with different international organizations that are about the culture, making sure our voices are heard, making sure that

[00:26:06] you know, one of the examples I use is a very different understanding when somebody goes to the Amazon and studies it for three months and then come back and says,

[00:26:13] hey, this is the Amazon. This is where they do this.

[00:26:15] How it is. Right. A child that was born and raised in the Amazon coming out and telling you, this is who I am.

[00:26:22] I'm a child of the Bronx Amazon coming out and telling you this is our culture.

[00:26:26] This is how we learn. This is how I saved our lives. This is how it empowered us.

[00:26:29] This is how we're using it to teach our brothers and sisters to be young entrepreneurs, not just in a business sense, but in their life where they take ownership of their life and their relationship for the betterment of themselves and their community.

[00:26:40] Yeah, yeah. That's what's up. I mean, this is what we talk about.

[00:26:43] We say hip hop can save America because hip hop can teach a bunch of people to do a bunch of great things that they may not have been totally confident that they could do.

[00:26:53] But we know they can. We know we can. And this is a great avenue for doing that.

[00:26:58] When I call this show that, that's part of what I have in mind.

[00:27:02] Let me ask you one of the things I asked folks at the end of these interviews and I appreciate your time tonight.

[00:27:07] Kicking it with me. It's just such an inspiration to hear how organized you are and how well thought out and well planned these things are.

[00:27:15] I don't like to talk to this is between you and me. Nobody else listening.

[00:27:18] I don't like to talk to all the hip hop nonprofits. You know what I mean?

[00:27:21] Like a lot of them are like, oh, we have a nonprofit and we're donating toys to kids or whatever.

[00:27:26] I don't really know if you're like really part of the thing the way, you know, I would want to amplify that message.

[00:27:32] I'm not calling anybody else specifically. I'm just saying I don't jump to those because a lot of times I want to make but I follow you.

[00:27:37] I see you for such a long time and I, you know, I'm trying to tell the stories of the folks that are doing this kind of work.

[00:27:43] They're so well thought out and well organized and passionate about it.

[00:27:46] I get the feeling that the way the reason why you and I, you know, align sometimes mentally is that the hip hop could save America thing resonates with you a little bit.

[00:27:55] And so I'd like to know your thoughts about that idea of hip hop's ability to save America, to uplift and improve and do all the things to kind of reverse the, you know,

[00:28:10] trauma that's been served upon so many communities by America. Just your thoughts on that.

[00:28:16] Definitely. No, you know, as somebody who came up, you know, I was in a gifted and talented program.

[00:28:22] So I got to go into schools where I got, you know, good teachers, good advantages that a lot of kids in the Bronx didn't get a Christian family.

[00:28:30] And I was gifted in understanding language and communication.

[00:28:33] So at a young age, I understood the King James Version.

[00:28:36] So I was leading adult classes and Sunday school classes translating the King James Version to the adults by the age of eight, nine years old.

[00:28:43] And all these things were part of my life. I had a grandmother who guided me and loved me.

[00:28:47] And you know, she always told me that I was the one that had to teach my cousin and save them and make sure they're correct.

[00:28:53] So I had this on me from a young age.

[00:28:55] But it wasn't any of those things that saved my life from the streets, right? At the point I'm getting to.

[00:29:00] Living in the streets, it's like and it's like I said before you lived in a world of duality, right?

[00:29:05] Where in your household, you know, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not do any of these things that are wrong and negative.

[00:29:11] As soon as you step out into the street, it's cold in the streets. Right?

[00:29:15] It's kill or be killed sometimes, you know?

[00:29:17] So knowing that it wasn't any of those things that saved me, it was when I came across conscious hip hop and then the Zulu Nation and the laws and regulations and principles and beliefs that they taught that to be honest,

[00:29:28] like I said, some of the elders were still caught in the gang life while trying to teach us this way of life.

[00:29:33] And I was one of the young brothers that would be like, hey, the lessons say we're not supposed to do that anymore.

[00:29:38] We're supposed to do it like this.

[00:29:40] And because I got tested at a young age and granted my kingship by a lot of those men that I mentioned at 15 years old because I manifested it.

[00:29:48] It was me important to me to know that this is what this organization is supposed to be.

[00:29:52] These are the lessons and principles is supposed to be teaching you.

[00:29:56] So this is how I'm going to teach everybody that comes through chosen.

[00:29:59] And because of that, that's what saved me.

[00:30:01] That's what saved the people that came through.

[00:30:03] So I used the principles that I learned from hip hop culture, the way that it was intended to be not necessarily by the way that it was being practiced by the men who invented it,

[00:30:12] but the way they intended it to be when they wrote these lessons and even many of them years later told us you are the true Zulu's.

[00:30:19] We wrote this stuff down as an idea of what we wanted it to be.

[00:30:22] But you guys really manifested it and made it what it is.

[00:30:25] And that became, you know, what we call the new Arizona who we're in the school.

[00:30:30] We're in the community. We're doing the peace rallies.

[00:30:32] We're making sure that we're stopping violence between the Bloods and the Crips and the Kings and the Nyetha's out there in the community.

[00:30:38] We're reaching those youth that are not in the schools anymore because, you know, they dropped out or whatever.

[00:30:44] So all these programs are going on in schools now more than ever because they weren't back then.

[00:30:49] We were the ones that were out in the streets making sure they weren't killing each other,

[00:30:52] giving them alternatives, teaching those same organizations to look at themselves as entrepreneurs and how they can start DJ groups,

[00:30:58] hosting their own parties and effect sharing what we learned.

[00:31:01] So for me, there's some people that are going to be reached by Islam or Christianity or the Boy Scouts or the Boys Program.

[00:31:08] But some people might not be. And for some, this might be the way.

[00:31:12] This hip hop knowledge and knowledge of self might be the way that we can save them

[00:31:17] and now introduce them and open their minds to these other opportunities, these other resources, these other programs.

[00:31:23] And that's our function here at Chozen is to give them the opportunity.

[00:31:27] Like I said, children having opportunity to satisfy every need by introducing them to what's aware.

[00:31:32] I'm not trying to convince you that my way is right or that this book is 100 percent truthful.

[00:31:37] I'm just sharing the information with you. What you do and it's up to you.

[00:31:40] I know I did my job by sharing, and that's what we do.

[00:31:43] Yeah, indeed. And like you said, for some people, this may be the way.

[00:31:48] And that in of itself is worthy enough to pursue this way.

[00:31:53] All right. So tell people once again how they can get in touch with you.

[00:31:57] Obviously, they can reach out to you because you provided the program, but also let people know what it is you might need.

[00:32:05] I mean, we need support. We need more support like this, more people sharing and promoting the things that we're doing.

[00:32:11] Chozen Hip Hop on Facebook, Chozen Underscore Hip Hop on Instagram is where we're sharing talent from around the world.

[00:32:18] Amazing talent. And some of it doesn't get as much love as I think it should.

[00:32:22] But like I said, all I can do is share, hey, look at these people doing this from Germany, from France, from Austria, from Brazil.

[00:32:29] Some of it I don't even understand, but the flow is dope when the dance is hot.

[00:32:33] So I'm going to share.

[00:32:34] Real recognize real baby.

[00:32:36] So I just ask that people return the favor and share us, promote us and also connect with us and build with us because we want to bring this information to the world at large and make it more common knowledge and make it more accessible.

[00:32:48] And at the same time, I don't want to have to do other things and then do this on the side when I know there's people that have taken from our culture and are doing this full time and they ain't living.

[00:32:58] So somebody like me, some people go to school for four years to get a degree.

[00:33:03] Some people go to school for eight years to get a degree.

[00:33:05] We've been going to school for 30 years to get this degree and coach certification that we've developed that we're putting together in courses to share with you that even when I share with Ph.D.'s, they're like, oh my God, this is amazing.

[00:33:18] So that's the level that we're operating on.

[00:33:20] But we break it down simply so we can do first grade.

[00:33:22] We can do it with sixth grade.

[00:33:24] We can do it with junior high.

[00:33:25] We can do it with college.

[00:33:26] So right at the crescendo, the technology demons are out tonight.

[00:33:36] Tell Randy Mason kids to stop pulling the levers.

[00:33:39] Shouts to Francesca on a check in.

[00:33:41] I've seen you.

[00:33:43] All right.

[00:33:44] I'm just giving the shout outs.

[00:33:45] I'm covering for time because you got cut off again.

[00:33:49] I'm giving some shout outs.

[00:33:50] That's Francesca in the building.

[00:33:51] Once again, I'm man Jason Kirkman shouting you out as well.

[00:33:56] Also, the great and mighty minister server down here in the ATL with me.

[00:34:04] We're going to get him on this show soon.

[00:34:06] We've been talking about it.

[00:34:07] And again, Randy Mason on a check in saying good looks.

[00:34:10] He loves that 30 year degree.

[00:34:12] The 30 year degree.

[00:34:13] We might have to borrow that one too.

[00:34:15] That was dope.

[00:34:16] So that's what's up.

[00:34:17] So support and the check in on the website, which is again, chosen hip hop dot com.

[00:34:23] There it is.

[00:34:24] So this is wonderful.

[00:34:25] And I do see you sharing stuff.

[00:34:27] Obviously, you've always been checking in with this show.

[00:34:30] And so I appreciate and I will amplify anything y'all doing up in the coming up.

[00:34:35] Please let me know what you're doing as you do.

[00:34:38] We'll make sure we play the same game and amplify and signal boost anything y'all doing.

[00:34:43] Yes, sir.

[00:34:44] Yes, sir.

[00:34:45] Real quick shout out to Tasha Glacier.

[00:34:46] She said to say what's up to you.

[00:34:47] Of course.

[00:34:48] Of course.

[00:34:49] Arthur Diaz and the whole hip hop education committee.

[00:34:53] That's part of our extended family now.

[00:34:55] Like I said, Emile Y.X. and Cernan Malik and you know.

[00:35:03] Dang it.

[00:35:04] What's happening?

[00:35:05] Ah, we are we are struggling tonight.

[00:35:08] Anyway, I appreciate y'all.

[00:35:10] EP got the shout out out there in France.

[00:35:13] Thank you, Jamie.

[00:35:14] Is it Jamie?

[00:35:15] Is it Jaime Hernandez?

[00:35:17] Is it Jamie or Jaime?

[00:35:19] I got a bunch of Jaime's in my family, so I'm just doing that with all respect.

[00:35:22] I need to know to who to us.

[00:35:25] We say in prison to rear at the rough.

[00:35:28] I heard the Ray Ray is my West Coast.

[00:35:31] I'm glad last man.

[00:35:34] Mexico.

[00:35:35] You're doing your thing.

[00:35:36] I know how Chile left out.

[00:35:38] You're the great.

[00:35:39] I mean, we got family all over the place.

[00:35:41] And of course, my brother, my twin Acer, you know, without him, I might not be

[00:35:46] here today.

[00:35:47] He's the one who convinced me to get involved in this culture.

[00:35:49] And it's where I've been headed ever since.

[00:35:51] Well, listen, my man, I personally am glad you're here today.

[00:35:54] So thank you for your work and for what you're doing.

[00:35:57] And please hit me offline.

[00:35:59] I know we've you know, we talk every now and then.

[00:36:01] But if we can connect on something more substantial, make something work,

[00:36:03] whatever I can lend to the cause or, you know, we can work on something together.

[00:36:06] Let me know.

[00:36:07] All right.

[00:36:09] All right.

[00:36:10] That's it.

[00:36:11] I'm done.

[00:36:12] He's done.

[00:36:13] We're done.

[00:36:14] This is too much.

[00:36:15] It's too much to handle.

[00:36:16] See, man, many faces.

[00:36:17] I hope you like what I'm doing.

[00:36:19] If you like what I'm doing, please tune back in every Monday night, 9 p.m.

[00:36:23] Eastern time.

[00:36:25] Oh, my God.

[00:36:26] You sick for this one.