M.K. Asante Jr., 26, a highly-acclaimed professor, filmmaker, poet and author spoke to students on Monday, Sept 14 in the Multicultural Center in the Kehr Union about how hip-hop music originated and its role in generational movements.
His motto, “If you make an observation, you have an obligation,” explains the way he understands injustices in the world and then tries to take the initiatives to solve them.
Asante’s obligation was to make films. “The Black Candle” (2009) and “500 Years Later” (2005) were created to reach audiences and allow more people to become aware of the African culture and history through images. He is also the author of three books, his latest of which was featured in his talk, “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop.”
“One of the things that I wanted to do with this book is use hip-hop as a springboard to get into a lot of social, political issues that I think are affecting youth across the globe,” said Asante, who is a native Philadelphian born in Zimbabwe.
“Hip-hop obviously is an incredibly powerful tool, but it’s often something that, when we use the term we may mean different things, it hasn’t always been clearly defined,” Asante said. Asante was also recently awarded the 2009 Langston Hughes Award. So, people may say ‘hip- hop’ and they might be referring to a genre of music, some people talk about ‘hip-hop’ and they’re referring to a culture, or some people talk about ‘hip-hop’ and they don’t know what they’re referring to.”
Asante explained the misconceptions about hip-hop and also talked about the reason behind the creation of the genre. He stated how Afrika Bambaataa formed hip-hop and how a DJ of the South Bronx wanted to use his music to interrupt the violence and destruction that was happening in New York City and other places in the country during the mid-1970s.
Bambaataa’s formation of a hip-hop subculture allowed young people to not only express their creativity but it also supplied a way for them to “get free” as well, according to Asante.
“It has brought lots of people of different races together, but the other hand of that is, we also have to be aware of what it has brought them together to do,” Asante stated on the significance of hip-hop music.
Asante highlighted a key aspect of Bambaataa’s hip-hop elements, called “building,” which he described as knowledge, wisdom and understanding. This element is supposed to inform all of the other phases of hip-hop. He discussed that it gives people a historical background about the culture.
“You can’t be a MC if you don’t have any knowledge, like what are you going to rap about? You can’t be a DJ if you don’t have any knowledge, how are you going to know what to spin?” Asante said.
When a student asked how Asante views the hip-hop music of today, he responded, “Because it hasn’t been institutionalized, you see a lot of chaos and a lot of people who don’t understand the elements and are just doing it for capitalism reasons.”
“When Bambaataa envisioned hip-hop…it was always more than just the money, it was for a much bigger social purpose,” Asante said.
Asante also stressed the overall need for young people to be informed and aware of social issues of today and to question anything that appears to be unjust.
“Rather than complaining about it, the philosophy suggests to become a part of the solution,” Asante said. “Each generation has to challenge the previous generations, challenge some of the status quos and some of the norms that existed previously and that’s the only way progress can happen,” he said.
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