Hip-hop means different things to different people. To some, it is an insult to the fundamentals of music. To others, hip-hop is perfect for partying, and really holds no other purpose. Still others view hip-hop as their only means of expression.
But, to Charnessa Paige, the program coordinator at the Center for Multicultural Affairs (CMA), “The music isn’t just the music. There’s a message behind the music.”
In order to help illustrate and discuss that message, the CMA will be hosting a special Rhymes and Reasons session with Professor Griff from the hip-hop group Public Enemy.
This Public Enemy Rhymes and Reason session will be hosted at 2 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 25 in room 300 of the Student Center.
According to Paige, “In conjunction with this lecture is also going to be a hip-hop historical display.”
The session will go until roughly 4:30 p.m. and students are welcomed to wander in as they please.
Professor Griff is the founding member of Public Enemy as well as the author of the book “The Psychological Covert War on Hip Hop.” Griff, who as well as being a music enthusiast, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, proclaims the use of hip-hop as an educational tool as well as a source of entertainment.
The message Griff encourages as a lecturer is exactly the point the CMA is trying to promote with the Rhymes and Reasons sessions.
As Paige said, “We’re talking about the purpose of the music… How can we use the music as a social justice education tool? That’s one of the biggest things I want to pull out, having a series like this come out of the CMA office.”
The Rhymes and Reasons is a unique collection of sessions from of the CMA that started this year.
“When we have a couple of songs that might come on the table, what we do is we’ll YouTube it, we’ll go find the music video, we’ll download the lyrics as well,” Paige said. “And we talk about what did it mean. How are we feeling about this? And we start to self-generate questions.”
With an average of 20-50 students walking in and out within the 2 ½ -3 hours of any Rhymes and Reasons session, Paige said, “We like to keep it organic and informal. Students are structured enough in a classroom. This is just another place to come learn something, but not feel like you’re really learning something.”
The question becomes ‘what exactly is it that a person can learn from hip-hop music?’
“The best way I’ve ever heard it described is that hi- hop is musical news,” Paige said.
She even compared Public Enemy especially as equal to NBC or CBS. She said, “It’s the same kind of reporting, but it is done from a different perspective… and hip-hop speaks from the margin. They’re not necessarily the people that will be anchoring the new. They are just another form of news reporters.”
Though as one to promote education, Paige said, “Our job as consumers of news, whether it be through hip-hop, whether it be written news, whether it be something we’re watching on BBC or CNN; is to piece it all together… it’s our part as consumers to do the research on what’s being reported.”
As part of piecing it together, Paige encourages those who attend the Professor Griff’s lecture, “Question him. Challenge him. Engage him. Don’t take what he says as the truth… Don’t leave the room without having your questions answered.”
The Rhymes and Reasons sessions are an opportunity for EMU students to look at hip-hop in ways they might not have before. It’s an opportunity to view hip-hop as party music, as musical news and as a means of expression. But this opportunity isn’t just for the stereotypical hip-hop enthusiast.
As Paige said, “One thing I know about music is that it crosses boundaries like you wouldn’t believe.”
Music is for everyone. So come, learn and discuss hip-hop and what it means to you Jan. 25 with Professor Griff. Maybe by the end of the day hip-hop will have a whole new meaning for you.
