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Keepers of the Art spreading true spirit of music and words
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Published on Sunday, Aug 31, 2008
Hip-hop music is not dead.
Despite veteran rapper Nas' 2006 album title and declaration, hip-hop is definitely alive, though many might argue that mainstream hip-hop could use a couple of good, strong jolts from a creativity defibrillator to shake the doldrums of phony gangstas, rampant materialism, odes to strippers and casual misogyny.
Unfortunately, the kind of mainstream hip-hop common on youth-oriented ''blazing hip-hop and R&B'' radio has become the default style. Record companies happily promote it and rappers looking to quickly pull themselves up play along, offering violence and visions of urban dissolution without any social context, leaving little room for those with more on their minds than money, women, guns and cars.
But there are plenty of hip-hop fans (and nonfans) who are tired of the gangsta cliches and the negativity.
Keepers of the Art Inc., an Akron nonprofit organization, is trying to remind folks that hip-hop is more than tough talk. The group is spearheaded by Donovan ''Don Juan'' Rogers and Ismail ''Big Ish'' Al-Amin, who host and produce 91.3 The Summit's Hip Hop Flavas. The radio show airs at 10 p.m. Saturdays and is dedicated to the spirit of rap's ''True School'' or ''Golden Age'' era (roughly 1980-1996), mixing classic tracks from legends and underground favorites with newer cuts from interesting emcees and local artists.
But the show, which celebrated its second anniversary in January, has just been the jumping-off point for Keepers of the Art's larger mission.
''We provide social and entertainment outlets to showcase hip-hop's true message and images. We are an organization who believes that it is necessary to stand up against the corporate America media machine that imposes and manufactures the negative images and messages in hip-hop music,'' Al-Amin, who teaches at the University of Akron, said in an interview at the Akron Urban League.
Al-Amin, a married father with two sons, and Rogers, the School's In program job developer at the Akron Urban League, who also has two children, have expanded the K.O.A. staff to 10 like-minded friends and have begun to stretch the group's influence into Akron's schools through the Washington, D.C.-based Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (H.E.L.P.)
''One of our primary missions at Keepers of the Art is to encourage educators to use hip-hop as an educational tool. We want to stress the importance and the magnitude that hip-hop can have, not only in the club and on TV, but in the classroom,'' Rogers said.
The organization has joined with the Urban League and the Closing the Achievement Gap initiative to get the program into Ellet, East and North high schools, focusing on ninth- and 10th-grade boys who have fallen below academic standards.
''The connection that we're bringing is the H.E.L.P. curriculum, to make reading and writing fun and to make it culturally relevant,'' Rogers said.
''The response from the H.E.L.P. program was so overwhelming. Teachers loved it, administrators loved it and the students absolutely loved it. We're not looking to replace the standard lesson plan in English classes, but we are offering a type of supplement.''
On Saturday Keepers of the Art will put on the first Akron Hip-Hop Showcase at Lock 3, featuring legends Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, who as a duo and as solo artists have recorded such classics as The Show, A Children's Story and La-Di Da-Di. Also on the bill are MC Asheru aka Gabriel Benn, co-founder of the H.E.L.P. program and creator of the theme to the animated series The Boondocks.
D.C.-based Low Budget (Odissee, Kev Brown and Ken Starr), Cleveland's world-traveling DJ Mick Boogie, Cleveland rap crew the Poetic Republic, Akron rapper/poet Ace Boogie, Random X and Cap C, along with B-Boys Illstyle Rockers, will also perform.
In addition, from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday K.O.A. and Benn will hold a teachers symposium at the Gardner Student Center at the University of Akron, where Benn will present the H.E.L.P. curriculum and stress culturally relevant education. The symposium is open to all social workers and area teachers.
Both Rogers and Al-Amin credit Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville and Deputy Mayor Dave Lieberth with helping them get their foot in the city government's door with the education initiatives and the showcase, and for seeing the positive possibilities in their mission.
''These young men have helped change my perspective on hip-hop music and what it can do to be a positive force,'' Sommerville said.
''If we had gone to the city and said we want to have a rap show downtown, we may not have gotten a great reception,'' Al-Amin said. ''But based on the education initiatives we had been doing in the city and that we were coming from a hip-hop historical and education standpoint, I think that made people receptive to us being able to teach the people what hip-hop is historically, and show people how to differentiate between True School hip-hop and corporate-controlled rap music.''
Keepers of the Art hope to make the showcase an annual event, and to continue to introduce educational initiatives, ensuring that young hip-hop fans are able to tell the difference between gangsta fantasies and the truth.
'''It's important that our kids are offered an alternative side of hip-hop,'' Rogers said. ''There are artists who are more lyrically sound as well as having social content in their lyrics. I think it takes more creativity to talk about how things could be than to consistently talk about how things are.''
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
Hip-hop music is not dead.
Get the full article here.
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