Hip Hop Doesn't Need 'More Balance' in the Mainstream! (Wait. What??)

[00:00:00] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:00:30] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:01:00] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:01:30] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:02:00] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:02:30] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:03:00] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:03:10] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:03:20] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:03:50] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:04:20] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:04:50] I am Brother Cornel West and this is Hip-Hop Can Save America

[00:05:20] Then this was for the most part the only place we could get that kind of information easily in a way that connected with us and for free thanks to the radio, the mainstream.

[00:05:30] So today we give a casual look at what the music industry is morphed into. We listen to what's on the radio right quick and we're appalled.

[00:05:37] We hear very little if anything that reminds us of that time in our lives when we were so inspired by what we heard when we turned on the radio.

[00:05:44] And here's an understatement alert, times have changed.

[00:05:47] The diverse rap could survive during those times I think largely because record companies and radio stations had little idea what they were working with.

[00:05:54] We can debate whether there's been a purposeful dumbing down of the music over the years, a theory that many subscribe to, but to be honest reducing popular music to the least possible common denominator has always been the strategy for these industries.

[00:06:07] It's what sells the most music, every genre, every era, every time. Hell it's what sells the most movies and books. Any type of art will be reduced to the least common denominator.

[00:06:19] It's just a way of capitalism.

[00:06:21] Now luckily for us rap music on the radio is no longer the only free way to obtain this sort of knowledge and it's certainly not the only place where we can find music that speaks to these values.

[00:06:31] Yet somehow many of us still feel that it needs to go back to the days when young people would get their music from one free source and that that source needs to be balanced.

[00:06:41] The fact is mainstream, which to many usually just means radio, is not as ubiquitous as it once was.

[00:06:47] Young people get exposed to new music through TikTok and YouTube at least as much as terrestrial radio.

[00:06:52] So A, the idea of mainstream being a thing anymore and that B, we need balance there are honestly outdated concepts.

[00:07:00] So what's my point? Again, we need that balance. But we need it before our young people even get exposed to social media in the first place before the YouTube algorithms get them and before they whenever this happens now for young kids when they turn on the radio.

[00:07:13] We need that balance in life.

[00:07:16] Young kids need to see the lyricism and brilliance and intellectualism and creativity and uplifting ability of rap music and hip hop culture.

[00:07:23] But they need to see it in schools as the hashtag hip hop ed movement and other culturally connected pedagogical approaches have been preaching about with positive receipts for a while now.

[00:07:32] They need to see this balance in therapeutic settings where outdated and Eurocentric styles of therapy are being replaced by hip hop based practices that are much more culturally aligned and honestly seem to be more effective with all of today's youth than any of those outdated methodologies.

[00:07:45] They need to see hip hop as a fun, engaging, inviting, inclusive and exciting way to connect to other aspects of life and society in camps, in kinder care, in more community based nonprofit organizations, in church.

[00:07:57] At home wouldn't hurt either.

[00:08:00] Look at that Alabama law that dropped recently banning public colleges from funding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

[00:08:06] Look at how underfunded school districts, particularly school districts in primarily black or Hispanic or poor communities continue to be.

[00:08:13] Look at how anyone trying to do the kind of work I'm hinting at has to scrounge for grant money.

[00:08:18] Look at how folks like me who share this knowledge can't get enough people or institutional support to sustain my independent media scholarship and advocacy work that helps promote these ideas.

[00:08:28] Sorry, got personal there for a minute, but it's true.

[00:08:31] What I'm really trying to say is that we need to not be so focused on the music business if we're looking to find ways to expose our youngsters to a more positive representation of hip hop music and culture.

[00:08:42] That used to be our only outlet, and then biased bigoted and or simply uncaring greedy corporate overlords took it over.

[00:08:49] True.

[00:08:50] But it's not our only outlet anymore.

[00:08:52] It's not our only tool.

[00:08:54] We need to be at school board meetings asking why we don't have those hip hop based education programs and our local districts.

[00:09:01] We need to vote locally to stop these handmade tail laws from continuing to limit the rights and access for folks that have always been oppressed.

[00:09:08] We need to financially support independent outlets, yes like mine, but other well intentioned, well run and reputable outlets and organizations as well.

[00:09:17] We need to finally start to turn hip hop community into hip hop constituency.

[00:09:22] We need to learn who to listen to when it comes to hip hop as a force for good, because it's often not the superstars or bigger organizations that you've heard of doing the real work.

[00:09:31] Don't get me started on where our quote unquote hip hop moguls have been with their philanthropic efforts to help do some of this.

[00:09:37] We need to listen to the people on the ground who are doing that work.

[00:09:40] Me and the people I talk with on this podcast and our new live stream version on Mondays at 9pm Eastern on YouTube.

[00:09:47] The people who are using their authentic connection to hip hop coupled with their work in traditional fields to help push back against the folks who want to take our education system, our political system, our country, humanity back hundreds of years.

[00:10:00] The great Audre Lord taught us that the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

[00:10:05] Well if the music industry has now become a tool of the master, the solution can't be to push for balance in the mainstream.

[00:10:11] It has to be to use the tools that the master has ignored to invoke that same ingenuity and innovation that helped the oppressed survive in America and that fueled the creation of hip hop itself despite nearly insurmountable odds by infiltrating the systems at play.

[00:10:25] Like they did when they siphoned electricity from the lamp post by touching and manipulating the vinyl records in audibly blasphemous ways by circumventing the behemoth music industry with mix tapes and so many more examples.

[00:10:37] We can't counter what's being distributed in the mainstream trying to play by the master's rules.

[00:10:43] What we can do is to amplify the positive influence it can have from day one in schools, in other programs, in communities, in churches and at home.

[00:10:52] This is what will create the balance we want by showing our babies all of the brilliance, beauty and balance that hip hop possesses long before they even get exposed to the damn mainstream in the first place.

[00:11:06] My name is Manny Faces. Follow me on Instagram at Manny Faces official, visit my site to find out more of what I do, find out how to book me or get links to all of my other work.

[00:11:17] Until next time, wishing peace and love to you and yours.

[00:11:36] My name is Manny Faces. You can find out more about the show at hiphopcansaveamerica.com.

[00:11:40] You can watch the show now as a live stream on YouTube hiphopcansaveamerica.com slash watch check back for all the replays as well.

[00:11:47] The interviews from the live stream will be brought here onto the audio feed so you always get the best of the live stream.

[00:11:53] You can also check out our sub stack newsletter it's free at Manny Faces dot sub stack dot com filled with stories of hip hop innovation inspiration and in general hip hop news that isn't about dumb shit.

[00:12:05] Eternal shouts to our consulting producer Summer McCoy. Be sure to check out her dope initiatives hip hop hacks and the mixtape museum.

[00:12:12] We'll be back soon with another dope episode but check us out on the live stream as well Monday is 9pm Eastern hiphopcansaveamerica.com slash watch.

[00:12:20] Until next time, Manny Faces wishing peace and love to you and yours.