At a time when rap is the biggest selling genre within music it seemed timely to create a show focussing on the sub culture of Hip Hop that gave birth to rap, graffiti art, DJ'ing and breakin\b boyin, which most people know as breakdancing. A lot of young people think rap begins with Eminem and ends with P Diddy. It actually started in the early seventies with a DJ whose name is DJ Kool Herc.
Hip Hop suffers as do most sub cultures from media assassination, where they use the bits and pieces they want and appropriate it for their own needs. Hip Hop receives a lot of bad press - it is said that it causes gun crime. I totally disagree with this.
At the end of this article are some lines from the show, which talk about this and illustrate some of the themes within the show.
The show illustrates the history of Hip Hop and how gun culture has infiltrated it. Young people are into rap music in a big way and its offspring, RnB. Another reason for creating a show with young people in mind was prompted by my many experiences teaching workshops in hip hop dance and street dance styles. I usually begin a workshop by asking participants what Hip Hop is - the responses range from the rapper Jah Rule to people saying rave dancing. So as well as informing people about the history of hip hop, the show entertains, is interactive and is totally accessible, without losing its artistic integrity.
I wanted to create a meeting ground where an audience of young people, adults, music, dance and spoken word/rap lovers could experience accessible theatre. The key is Hip Hop culture defined as and by those who are part of it.
Hip Hopstory stimulates a young and adult audience. The key ingredients are artists who have hip hop in their daily diet. I haven't trained the cast to be b-boys, or the DJ to be a DJ, or the mc (rapper)/poet to be a poet - they are those things. That's what makes the show so real and at the same time magical.
I also include strong images within the show, as this is how most people remember, through images. The dance can be a mesmerising mix of physical dexterity but all the steps won't be remembered, images generally are. Young audiences and untrained eyes tend to see the bigger picture, whereas dance and theatre connoisseurs tend to have an eye for detail. Being aware of this I wanted the dance to be amazing so I collaborated with another choreographer, Clyde Evans from Philadelphia. We met at a dance festival in Maine in the United States. I immediately clicked with his approach and reasons for teaching Hip Hop, they where very similar to mine but he also had a vast knowledge of the dance styles and the culture itself, it was a perfect opportunity to work together on Hip Hopstory.
I first became immersed in Hip Hop culture in the mid 80's as a b-boy. I have continually been inspired and also turned off by changes in the culture, I have always wanted to make this piece to show those elements that have inspired me, and how it fits into a much larger picture dating way back to the oratory traditions of Afrikan griots (storytellers) musicians and dancers, that created a cyclic energy between, what we know as audience and performer. This is still very much a part of Hip Hop culture and part of Hip Hopstory, the audience has to be interactive, totally the opposite for instance to many a contemporary dance audience. Hip Hop is interactive so I bring the culture to the stage. But this would be impossible without the interaction of the audience. Involving the audience is something I always do in my work; it is really about inclusion and being part of the experience.
This brings me to the concept of using the elements of Hip Hop as a form of education and improvement for young people. Countless times I have arrived at a school to be told 'look out for that boy in the red top he is trouble'. The teachers are surprised when the bad kid becomes a good kid because they are being stimulated in such a way they are not required to solely regurgitate information and formulas, which so much of the curriculum demands. It demands that young people only think along the lines of recall and memory, which then prepares a workforce of robots - I digress but it is totally related. A lot of problems connected to the 'good kid', 'bad kid' syndrome are about their confidence in their ability to excel. This cannot always be illustrated with academic work in the classroom, so the 'bad' kids continue to 'underachieve'.
In actual fact a lot of young people want respect from their peers, some dedicate themselves to soccer, some to music some to academic work to gain that respect. When that respect is earned an individuals confidence grows. It is evident that Hip Hop is no longer a culture that exists solely within the black community, but it still has very strong ties to it, many of the fashion changes, music styles and language is defined by black people, but the culture or elements of the culture are adopted by many races. Black people are still represented or exposed disproportionately in the media as sportsmen, musicians, singers, someone to make you laugh and as criminals. It is still not to far removed from the days of the 1940's pre civil rights protests.
I have lost count the amount of Black people I see on billboards and in magazines that have their mouths wide open, eyes bulging and hands spread wide, reminiscent of the Sambo character of years gone by, one may think this is absurd, but take note of the posters.
My point here is about positive role models particularly for young Black people, particularly young Black men/boys who are disproportionately excluded from the education system. If the current trend is to promote a rapper who disrespects women, disrespects the law and raps about killing, money and crime, this sends a negative message to these boys that this is OK, look we can make a lot of money from being like this. As I said before Hip Hop is not the only place where they receive these messages, it is through the media as a whole. I could go into many theories why I believe this is so, but that is not for this article. If this is the only way young Black people see Black people portrayed then of course they are going to be led astray. Young people generally learn just as much from the TV as they do in school. If young people aren't given the chance to excel in non academic subjects then they will turn there back on the education system because they believe that they can only get that feel good factor/respect away from school. This is not to say they should only be pushed towards non academic subjects as this has happened too often in the past, they should be encouraged to focus on their success and if they want to do so many hours of, for example, dance they have to support it with the same amount of hours with a subject they are failing in.
Again this brings me back to using the TRUE essence of Hip Hop as a bridge to empowerment, achievement and success. One has to give young people something they relate to. If they are underachieving there is obviously a reason for that greater than the teacher and what they are being taught.
Shakespeare versus Rakim or Talib Kweli (two US rappers famed for the 'wordsmithery') who do you think an average class in a comprehensive school would rather study? It all about creating a balance.
I understand the stresses already on teachers to deliver a stifled curriculum in a short time, for most I know it is frustrating. The current curriculum is old and dated, it was set up to create a workforce suitable for jobs that where around at the end of World War 2. Things have changed since then, both in the job climate and what people want to achieve in life. The arts are so important in order to nurture and educate people, where education is defined not solely as academic, it is also has to give the necessary skills to young people to be able interact and 'think' on a creative level.
Different pupils learn in a variety of ways, so I use elements of hip hop including rap, dance that includes b. boying, lockin, poppin and hyping, Djing, and graffiti art.
When I Talk about Graffiti Art I always emphasise the art part of it. I do not mean squiggles on a wall exclaiming 'John woz ere,' no I am talking about works of art that are known as 'burners' - huge murals that cover walls, and in the past whole train carriages. This side of the hip hop culture stemmed from what was known as taggin, where street gangs in the 70's would tag their territory with their gangs name, so rivals would know they where entering another gang's zone. They were simple symbols and words at first, then graffiti writers took it to a higher level, by creating these amazing works of art (1). The above forms can all be utilised in such a way that the individual blossoms and grows in confidence.
I believe so much that Kompany Malakhi can make a difference to academic results of underachievers, building confidence and positive attitudes towards learning, I would challenge any educational establishment or the government to a contest where Kompany Malakhi use Hip Hop culture to improve and advance and the establishments use conventional methods.
The piece is very important at this moment in time when the spotlight happens to be on gun crime and poor education. I want the piece to hit the West End, Broadway and tour internationally, but think that may be too much of a bitter pill for some to swallow. Hip Hopstory speaks the truth, it represents Hip Hop in a true light which gives the innovators control of how the culture is represented. Hip Hop is about people and their freedom of expression, once that is taken away or controlled by external sources it becomes an out of control, out of context monster. We must define and show it in a true light and not allow the media to make Hip Hop Frankensteins.
Your spirit lost connections along the way
Influenced by the flood of drugs from the Crack Import Agency
Whose initials are C.I.A.
The masterplan where guns were flooded into the community
Fighting between themselves they show no mercy
The real suppliers didn't want to get their hands dirty
If the police can't catch them they enlist henchmen
Execution style they observe cold, like remote hangmen
Bullets aren't racist
And the people that dispense them are from all races
We can't solely put the blame here, for that violence and misogyny
Can't forget the ferret style reactions
Automatically firing automatics no questions
Last Boy Scout and all of Stallones Rambo's
Lest we forget the un-broadcast tactics of 5 0 at Waco
Memories of this violence have been rubbed like Arnie's Eraser
We be the victims of a bigger picture, a Holy wood blockbuster
Where the first person to die is usually a Nig...
Where the first person to die is usually a Nig...
Where the first person to die is usually a Nig...
Victim of circumstance
That Blazing Saddle will make you jump down from that high horse
And that cowboy Charlton Heston, may realise there is more than one source
But we don't take a stance, so these frame by framed flights of fantasy
Obviously influence the culture around you and me
The silver screen promotes the gangster
Turning it red with the blood from the dead
But it makes a lot of money
The so-called action movies are a multi-bullion pound industry
Money makes the world go round but is the route of all evil
Doesn't take much to realise what's at the steering wheel
Adding to that infectious madness that marauds the metropolis
Have you been clockin this, 3 6 sickness.
Witness the spit from the clenched fists
Squeezing triggers
Killing Nig...
Nig...
Nig...
Misguided brothers
Caucasians, Asians, and visa waving Jamaicans
Caught in the cross fire of sickness and vexed bullets,
Gun amnesties aint gonna solve this.
The lyrics of hip hop add to this crisis, but ain't the sum total for the basis
To point the finger.
My middle one points skyward
Where I would
Like to fly and mingle with stolen spirits and rap with Osiris.
Asking how we can pull ourselves together and lose that 9mm phallus
Hip Hop hasn't always been like this but has had its phases
So those that dis and say its killing kids
Need to look past their closed eyelids
Hip hop's just a reflection of society
My need to avenge my soul brother
No longer consumes me
Now I've made that journey,
Because the sacrifices there have been to many
Seems like hip hop has always been surrounded in controversy
Because It's the voice of the people
That's why it has to be some part political
Against the grain
About the people
It makes a difference
Not like voting
'Cus if that changed anything it would be illegal
True hip hop was against violence and guns
No one owns the word holocaust that's why we are creating our own
from this hollow cause of wanting to be at the top
But that's part is hip hop
Trying to be at the top
Being the best you can be
It just happens to be part of civilised no c-evilised society
The guns came in 'cause they were free and easy, tempting like a sweety
(1) For an example how graffiti has evolved go to www.daim.org
Further reading 'Fight The Power' Rap Race and Reality by Chuck D
Yes Yes Y'all, History of the fist decade of Hip Hop. Perseus Press
Kwesi Johnson is artistic director of Kompany Malakhi.
Contact malakhi@blueyonder.co.uk