FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER
Writer Alex
Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.
"The
media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make
the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power.
Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X
Mission
The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.
Programs
Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com
Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com
Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.
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From Bling to Boom: Where's Hip hop Headed?
by Cheo Tyehimba
Bass! How low can you go?
Death row what a brother knows
Once again, back is the incredible
The rhyme animal
The incredible D. Public Enemy number one
Five-O said "Freeze!" and I got numb
Can't I tell 'em that I really never had a gun?
Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" was probably the closest thing to a coming-of-age soundtrack for my generation. In 1988 it brought political consciousness to hip hop and gave young Black folks fuel for the fight ahead.
We adopted outspoken and uncompromising ideals, many of which were dyed in the fabric of hip hop culture. This culture emphasized "knowledge of self" and the redemptive mantra of "each one, teach one." Sporting high-top fades, red, black, and green "Africa" medallions, and gold chains around our necks we pumped our fists while screaming "Fight the Power" at Public Enemy concerts.
We came of age during Ronald Reagan's repressive eighties, the so-called war on drugs, and a media-driven campaign to vilify us as gun-toting gang-bangers. Set against these times, we created hip hop's Golden Era, from the mid-eighties through 1990. This is considered hip-hop's most creative and influential period. The era produced the dope rhyme skills of Rakim and Slick Rick, the feminist fiery of Salt N' Pepa, MC Lyte, Monie Love, and Queen Latifah, and the gangsta 'hood soundscape of N.W.A.
Today, we witness how far hip hop has strayed from its "message to the grassroots." Slowly, Blackfolks are realizing that all the effort to perpetuate the myth of the American dream is too hard to maintain; the dream itself is as real as all the fake-ass "reality shows" scripted, staged, and shot into millions of households everyday.
But change is a-coming. Given the current fascist-minded policies of the current administration, its heightened internal repression and crimminalization of young communities of color (note: many consider the US Patriot Act as a modern day COINTELPRO), the next generation's contribution to hip hop may indeed take us from Bling to Boom.
I believe that young MCs will once again start to trade political bomb-ass lyrics for the "buy-it-all" blather currently being spit on corporate radio and video channels. Already, anti-war and anti-Bush messages are finally starting to break into the mainstream again.
Of course, there will always be those who say hip hop was never political, that it was only about MCing, DJing, graffiti art, and breakdancing. That, at it's essence, the artform itself comes before the message. Personally, I think this is a romantic, art-for-art's sake, Western-minded and bull-shitted rationale. History shows us that it just doesn't hold up. Everything is political... and Black art is certainly the rule to this axiom.
It is has always been our ancesteral, soul-freeing rite to constantly reinvent our art as a way of deciphering our blues and seeking personal liberation...this is why as soon as the mainstream discovers our cultural codes, i.e. our handshakes, dialect, style, etc, we're on to something new. And me thinks it will be some time before Blackfolks run out of blues. So we keep it moving.
Where is hip hop headed in 2005? Who will lead the change a-coming? From which African-derived rite will the music emerge? Now that the art form has been completely consumed and exploited by the mainstream (want floor wax with your hip hop?), what will Blackfolks come up with next?
BlogON: Where is hip hop heaed in 2005? WhatchTHINK?
Posted on January 20, 2005 10:32 AM
