A National Plan To Take Down The Man? Hip Hop Heads Gather In Chicago To Plot Political Takeover
The Man must be getting nervous. Just when he thought his Hip Hop destruction project, Operation Kill-A-Nation, was on cruise control through mega-media conglomerates like Viacom and Clear Channel, crews of Hip Hop heads from all parts of the US roll deep to Chicago, Illinois to work on a plan to discombobulate his racist, classist and sexist power structure at the recent 2006 National Hip Hop Political Convention (NHHPC).
Money, Power, Respect.
Themed “Money, Power, Respect”, the four day convention held July 20-23, 2006 at various Chicago locales centered around educating Hip Hop generationers on how to successfully earn, demand and work for all three.
The first of the bi-annual NHHPCs took place in Newark, New Jersey in July, 2004, and much like in 2004, the 2006 convention was packed with sessions ranging from “Power Mapping” to the “Evolution of Graffiti”, aimed at attracting heads of all political engagement levels.
In one room, Hip Hop archivist Davey D calls out names of those responsible for programming at major “urban” radio networks; down the hall political organizer Malia Lazu gives advice to those wishing to run for office; in the auditorium, Dr. James White aka “The Ghetto Priest” tells a hushed crowd, “Hip Hop has a role to play in addressing the paradigm of the New World Order.”
The various Soul, poetry and Hip Hop Performances from local legends like Kuumba Lynx and D.A. Smart further enlivened the space between the discussions, with the finale of the convention for most attendees being the free outdoor concert featuring Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, L.E.G.A.C.Y., the Anomalies, and more in Mandrake Park, located in Chicago’s historic Bronzeville district.
Everyone seemed to learn a lot and to have a really good time, but in an era when “Hip Hop”, “youth” and “voting” can combine to form odd monstrosities like Diddy’s "Vote or Die!" campaign or Russell Simmons’ "Hip-Hop Summit Action Network", skeptics wonder whether the NHHPC is proof that the motley crew of thugs, buppies and b-boys (and their female counterparts) known as the Hip Hop generation is really ready to take their share of political cake?
“I tell you what,” says convention spokeswoman La’keisha Gray-Sewell, “that ragtag group of folks that are coming from all walks of life all hold some very basic principles. We all want to be economically empowered. We all want to have a say so in the quality of life in our communities, and to feel like when we talk about something, that someone hears us…so if everybody mobilizes behind those issues it’s a beautiful thing.”
Despite the common assumption that Hip Hoppers are “apathetic” or “lazy” ebonic speaking pound cake stealers, many of the attendees have already been mobilizing behind these issues and more in their hometowns. In Pittsburgh, 30-year-old Khari Mosley leads voter mobilization efforts among the highly influential block of constituents known as “swing voters”. In Cincinnati, 27-year-old Kofi Jones, education director of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention uses art and activism to engage young people to vote and find their civic voice. In Milwaukee, Source Magazine Political Correspondent Robert “Biko” Baker uses Hip Hop and politics to encourage youth to “Stop the Violence” in a city which saw a double digit homicide spike in 2005.
Mosley, Jones, Baker and many others in attendance also participated in the 2004 convention, and through voter registration initiatives in their hometowns were part of a national movement that brought over 4.3 million more voters between 18 and 29 to the polls in November 2004, as voted in the 2000 presidential election. Many of these new voters felt a nagging sense of urgency to “do something” after what they perceived as the “stolen election of 2000” ushered George W. Bush into office. Over half of these new voters were African American or Hispanic.
Movin On Up
The towering tenement Cabrini Green, made famous by the 70s sitcom Good Times, is no longer part of the Chicago skyline. Soon, new condos will stand where James and Florida barely kept their head above water, surrounded by community development initiatives the former – read: poorer and blacker -- residents could only dream about. Casual conversations with Black Chicagoans inevitably veer into talk of the rampant gentrification and forced evictions of poor Blacks in America’s fifth most segregated city.
Chicago, much like the convention attendees, is ready for change.
So much so, that in participant interviews this writer conducted during the convention, one attendee expressed that there “wasn’t enough politics” at the event, which purposely mixed political, social and historical forums to engage various factions of the hip hop community. “Save the Vinyl” is not a valid issue, said another attendee, speaking of one of the panels presented during the convention.
A movement in such a green stage naturally has its kinks, but the general sentiment from most attendees was that the convention was part of a “good start”. “Anybody that can make the efforts to organize such a monster ought to be commended,” said Knock the Hustle author and Chi-Town denizen Hadji S. Williams. At the time of this writing, the exact number of convention goers was unknown, but easily numbered in the thousands.
Overall, there was a feeling of urgency that unified most in attendance. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, education reform, gender rights, and the increasing criminalization of the Hip Hop generation on the minds of many at the convention, the desperate feelings of needing to “do something” that for some first came to a head in 2000, permeated the atmosphere of the panels. A feeling of ‘If not us, who? And if not now, when?’ Especially in the light of the recent deaths of many Black leaders.
“Within a six month span we lost so many of our great leaders,” says Gray-Sewell. “Shirley Chisholm being one of them, Rosa Parks being another, Coretta Scott-King…John Johnson in the media empire, and at [this] point our generation has to say ‘you know what?’ We have to build on what they did. We have to take it a step further.“
Taking it a step further can be difficult however, in the increasingly celebrity driven worlds of media and politics. The July 22 edition of the Chicago Defender – one of the nation’s oldest Black newspapers – featured Russell Simmons, Beyonce, and P. Diddy on the cover beside a headline harking coverage of the convention, despite the fact that both Simmons’ "Hip-Hop Summit Action Network" and Diddy’s "Vote or Die!" campaign were conspicuously absent. When asked why neither Simmons’ nor Diddy’s groups were present at the convention, Chicago Hip Hop Initiative president and convention organizer Amina Norman-Hawkins replied that maybe the convention “was too grassroots,” implying that the NHHPC’s model of non-celebrity focused, local civic participation is perhaps a little too hands on for Simmons' or Combs' initiatives, .
It would have been refreshing to see the Defender put some of the people in attendance at the the final, and most political component of the convention -- the delegate meeting -- on the cover. To qualify as a delegate, participants had to register at least fifty people to vote, among other criteria like being active participants in their community. At the meeting were people like local Chicago emcee Jitu the Jugganot and founding NHHPC organizer Rosa Clemente, and various organizers from over twenty states, many of whom came on their own funds to continue the work began in 2004 of shaping an agenda through which the Hip Hop generation can work towards the quality of life we want on our own terms.
These are the real stars of the convention, who, while they may not put millions of butts in concert seats, quietly do what they can to raise up their communities and bring the masses to the polls, whether or not the cameras are on. And are already planning NHHPC 2008.
Learn more about information about the NHHPC www.hiphopconvention.org.
Cherryl Aldave is a freelance writer from North Carolina. In full disclosure, she is currently working to establish the North Carolina Triad LOC (Local Organizing Committee) for the NHHPC. Visit her blogs, www.thelastnerve.com and www.heavymentalist.com.
The Man must be getting nervous. Just when he thought his Hip Hop destruction project, Operation Kill-A-Nation, was on cruise control through mega-media conglomerates like Viacom and Clear Channel, crews of Hip Hop heads from all parts of the US roll deep to Chicago, Illinois to work on a plan to discombobulate his racist, classist and sexist power structure at the recent 2006 National Hip Hop Political Convention (NHHPC).
Money, Power, Respect.
Themed “Money, Power, Respect”, the four day convention held July 20-23, 2006 at various Chicago locales centered around educating Hip Hop generationers on how to successfully earn, demand and work for all three.
The first of the bi-annual NHHPCs took place in Newark, New Jersey in July, 2004, and much like in 2004, the 2006 convention was packed with sessions ranging from “Power Mapping” to the “Evolution of Graffiti”, aimed at attracting heads of all political engagement levels.
In one room, Hip Hop archivist Davey D calls out names of those responsible for programming at major “urban” radio networks; down the hall political organizer Malia Lazu gives advice to those wishing to run for office; in the auditorium, Dr. James White aka “The Ghetto Priest” tells a hushed crowd, “Hip Hop has a role to play in addressing the paradigm of the New World Order.”
The various Soul, poetry and Hip Hop Performances from local legends like Kuumba Lynx and D.A. Smart further enlivened the space between the discussions, with the finale of the convention for most attendees being the free outdoor concert featuring Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, L.E.G.A.C.Y., the Anomalies, and more in Mandrake Park, located in Chicago’s historic Bronzeville district.
Everyone seemed to learn a lot and to have a really good time, but in an era when “Hip Hop”, “youth” and “voting” can combine to form odd monstrosities like Diddy’s "Vote or Die!" campaign or Russell Simmons’ "Hip-Hop Summit Action Network", skeptics wonder whether the NHHPC is proof that the motley crew of thugs, buppies and b-boys (and their female counterparts) known as the Hip Hop generation is really ready to take their share of political cake?
“I tell you what,” says convention spokeswoman La’keisha Gray-Sewell, “that ragtag group of folks that are coming from all walks of life all hold some very basic principles. We all want to be economically empowered. We all want to have a say so in the quality of life in our communities, and to feel like when we talk about something, that someone hears us…so if everybody mobilizes behind those issues it’s a beautiful thing.”
Despite the common assumption that Hip Hoppers are “apathetic” or “lazy” ebonic speaking pound cake stealers, many of the attendees have already been mobilizing behind these issues and more in their hometowns. In Pittsburgh, 30-year-old Khari Mosley leads voter mobilization efforts among the highly influential block of constituents known as “swing voters”. In Cincinnati, 27-year-old Kofi Jones, education director of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention uses art and activism to engage young people to vote and find their civic voice. In Milwaukee, Source Magazine Political Correspondent Robert “Biko” Baker uses Hip Hop and politics to encourage youth to “Stop the Violence” in a city which saw a double digit homicide spike in 2005.
Mosley, Jones, Baker and many others in attendance also participated in the 2004 convention, and through voter registration initiatives in their hometowns were part of a national movement that brought over 4.3 million more voters between 18 and 29 to the polls in November 2004, as voted in the 2000 presidential election. Many of these new voters felt a nagging sense of urgency to “do something” after what they perceived as the “stolen election of 2000” ushered George W. Bush into office. Over half of these new voters were African American or Hispanic.
Movin On Up
The towering tenement Cabrini Green, made famous by the 70s sitcom Good Times, is no longer part of the Chicago skyline. Soon, new condos will stand where James and Florida barely kept their head above water, surrounded by community development initiatives the former – read: poorer and blacker -- residents could only dream about. Casual conversations with Black Chicagoans inevitably veer into talk of the rampant gentrification and forced evictions of poor Blacks in America’s fifth most segregated city.
Chicago, much like the convention attendees, is ready for change.
So much so, that in participant interviews this writer conducted during the convention, one attendee expressed that there “wasn’t enough politics” at the event, which purposely mixed political, social and historical forums to engage various factions of the hip hop community. “Save the Vinyl” is not a valid issue, said another attendee, speaking of one of the panels presented during the convention.
A movement in such a green stage naturally has its kinks, but the general sentiment from most attendees was that the convention was part of a “good start”. “Anybody that can make the efforts to organize such a monster ought to be commended,” said Knock the Hustle author and Chi-Town denizen Hadji S. Williams. At the time of this writing, the exact number of convention goers was unknown, but easily numbered in the thousands.
Overall, there was a feeling of urgency that unified most in attendance. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, education reform, gender rights, and the increasing criminalization of the Hip Hop generation on the minds of many at the convention, the desperate feelings of needing to “do something” that for some first came to a head in 2000, permeated the atmosphere of the panels. A feeling of ‘If not us, who? And if not now, when?’ Especially in the light of the recent deaths of many Black leaders.
“Within a six month span we lost so many of our great leaders,” says Gray-Sewell. “Shirley Chisholm being one of them, Rosa Parks being another, Coretta Scott-King…John Johnson in the media empire, and at [this] point our generation has to say ‘you know what?’ We have to build on what they did. We have to take it a step further.“
Taking it a step further can be difficult however, in the increasingly celebrity driven worlds of media and politics. The July 22 edition of the Chicago Defender – one of the nation’s oldest Black newspapers – featured Russell Simmons, Beyonce, and P. Diddy on the cover beside a headline harking coverage of the convention, despite the fact that both Simmons’ "Hip-Hop Summit Action Network" and Diddy’s "Vote or Die!" campaign were conspicuously absent. When asked why neither Simmons’ nor Diddy’s groups were present at the convention, Chicago Hip Hop Initiative president and convention organizer Amina Norman-Hawkins replied that maybe the convention “was too grassroots,” implying that the NHHPC’s model of non-celebrity focused, local civic participation is perhaps a little too hands on for Simmons' or Combs' initiatives, .
It would have been refreshing to see the Defender put some of the people in attendance at the the final, and most political component of the convention -- the delegate meeting -- on the cover. To qualify as a delegate, participants had to register at least fifty people to vote, among other criteria like being active participants in their community. At the meeting were people like local Chicago emcee Jitu the Jugganot and founding NHHPC organizer Rosa Clemente, and various organizers from over twenty states, many of whom came on their own funds to continue the work began in 2004 of shaping an agenda through which the Hip Hop generation can work towards the quality of life we want on our own terms.
These are the real stars of the convention, who, while they may not put millions of butts in concert seats, quietly do what they can to raise up their communities and bring the masses to the polls, whether or not the cameras are on. And are already planning NHHPC 2008.
Learn more about information about the NHHPC www.hiphopconvention.org.
Cherryl Aldave is a freelance writer from North Carolina. In full disclosure, she is currently working to establish the North Carolina Triad LOC (Local Organizing Committee) for the NHHPC. Visit her blogs, www.thelastnerve.com and www.heavymentalist.com.
