The Breakdown: Hip Hop becomes the ‘Scapegoat’

Is Hip Hop really to blame for the state of our youths psychological issues, decrease in spiritual awareness, misogyny, poor qualifications and ultimately, violence? Or is it being used as a sacrifice, carrying the sins of the corporate world?
Join me as I explore how Hip Hop came to play the Scapegoat for the state of young Britain. Naturally, this article alone carries a subject that could create a 500 paged book or even a whole library! As tempting as it is to write forever, I think its best to just view proposals and case studies provided by Psychologist, Kathryn Seifert, and Theologian, Creige Lewis and an exploration of the UK’s educational state…at least to begin with.
Psychologist, Kathryn Seifert argues, what occurs during a child’s development is usually the make-or-breaking point for whether they will grow up to be violent adolescents and have serious mental and psychological issues throughout life. She speaks of; ‘substance abuse by families’ ‘family violence’ ‘family gang membership,’ ‘lack of school success,’ ‘delinquent peer groups,’ ‘a history of delinquency,’ ‘excitement-seeking,’ ‘drugs’ and ‘childhood trauma’ in her book ‘How to stop youth’s from becoming violent.’
It is true that some artists do speak of these issues, but, is this really enough to blame Hip Hop if it is merely a reflection of our western society?
Although the need for reflection and expression is paramount in desuetude circumstances, escapism is imperative also. As explained in ‘The Gangster Fairytale…’ article, major record labels implement this notion when storyboarding gangster videos and verses without fully appreciating a child’s propensity to absorb information like a sponge. Seifert believes it is because of this a child is likely to withdraw into a world of fantasy, fear and misinterpretation. This is where Hip Hop erosion begins.
Seifert goes onto suggest the depiction of the American dream which is now global, has been badgered into our young to the point of; ‘encouraging the desire for the tangible signs of prosperity.’ Which is naturally more appealing to those in poverty and poor schooling which effects pro-social success to be blocked or unavailable leaving teens to seek other, often antisocial means to have money and power. It is fair to say this may explain a link between the corporate world’s spin on Hip Hop, but not authentic Hip Hop itself.
It is clear that a combination of our environment and what we absorb from childhood to adolescence can have a lasting effect ton the way we live our lives. But does it all just stop there? Can our surroundings and cultures such as Hip Hop go beyond the realms of us as physical beings? Are our souls affected by Hip Hop? And yet again, does this create a direct link to youth crime?
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According to Theologian, Minister Creige Lewis, Hip Hop has been a strategic plan devised throughout the ages with the intention to destroy young people spiritually and thus, shares a large amount of responsibility for youth demise. Lewis analyses ‘subliminal max messaging’, biblical references and religious mockery’s within Hip Hop. In his seminar, ‘The Truth Behind Hip Hop 2004’
Lewis’ suggests that the psychology of the mind affects the spirit and thus has the potential to execute anti social behaviour in this powerful quote: “Music is not confound to the boundaries of interpretation…music is the only thing that can go into the mind of a man and disturb his conscience without his consent…that’s why advertisers pay millions for jingles…it takes 15-30 seconds for the human mind to do something it had not intended to do… Satan waited till now to release his greatest weapon....”
Interlinking with the fore mentioned arguments on Hip Hop, sexuality, misogyny and psychology, Lewis claims that the effects visual and explicit lyrical content in commercial Hip Hop is to blame for the speed at which adolescents develop. He believes the body and mind develop at the same time, therefore, if your mind is exposed to adult behaviours such as sex, then it will absorb this information and have an affect on how you behave, appear and develop throughout puberty.
Without attempting to create a science lesson, I will briefly explain that the brain is made of two hemispheres. The right hemisphere influences the left hemisphere when transferring information and according to Lewis, this causes one to act and respond to what the brain has absorbed. Therefore, if a child watches adult movies and sexual activity, they’re going to mature faster which according to him is why children have adult problems such as the emotional strain of a sexual relationship and/or teen pregnancies.
He then extends his message by taking an extract from Roy H Williams theory ‘The Wizard of Ad’s. Williams contests that despite nihilism dictating that music is ‘just music’…‘thought particles’ are transmitted from a song or a vision to the right
hemisphere of the brain which is always ‘receiving’ and ‘recording’
and the left hemisphere eliminates what it doesn’t want. ‘Through music’, one’s right hemisphere is influencing the left hemisphere which has an effect on one’s behaviour, even if you do not want it to.
Additionally, Lewis expresses his belief that Satan who was the praise and worship leader in heaven named Lucifer and when he turned against God, used his talents to corrupt youths. He goes on to say that: “Satan has been planning the Hip Hop culture since the days of Pharoh and Zulu Nation.”
Lewis goes on to suggest that even Afrikaa Bambaataa, whose intentions to make Hip Hop a positive alternative to violence, is a culprit for the negative effects the culture has on young people. He first argues that despite Hip Hop initially being a form of expression, it was a culture conceived by anger, depression and oppression. Therefore, if the message is angry, you too will be angry.
Subsequently, he states: “The teachings of Hip Hop say God is black and there is no Jesus Christ…same as in ‘Five Per Cent Nation of Gods and Earths’...”-a religion that believes that White people are demonic (ironically, this includes the same white suburban, North American youths who statistically buy more commercial Hip Hop than any other demographic). However, the idea of a ‘white collared, capitalist society’ (namely the superior members of major record labels) being the evil that corrupts Hip Hop culture and thus, its listeners, synchronizes well with the fore mentioned argument- ‘From Culture to Corporate.’ But is this really enough grounds for him to rubbish Hip Hop all together? Surely this cannot be the only thing Hip Hop has given youths? Surely this cannot be a core reason for youth crime? Society in many respects has failed young people which is clear just by looking at the education system alone.
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Statistics show that only 27.3% of Afro Caribbean boys gain GCSE grades A-C compared to the national average of 52.3%. African Caribbean pupils who are four times more likely to be excluded from school than white pupils…” Indirectly, these shocking statistics have an impact on the lives of their peers (who are usually of the same class status). In some neighbourhoods twice as many Black youth are in prison than University. These shocking statistics are evidently a result of behaviour triggered by the impact within a child’s development, but is this impact really Hip Hop?
The report states that if exclusion was not distributed so easily, multicultural education was taught earlier and not an option, the statistics would improve: Take the Moseley School in Birmingham for instance; they have been successful in integrating the supplementary school approach into the school day. Teaching Meditation, Black History, African Drumming and British Black Poetry replicated across Britain. This is something more schools around Britain have yet to consider.
Clearly, the state of education can have a domino effect on how young men in particular live their lives. If motivation to learn leads to qualifications which leads to better employment and thus a better lifestyle, why is Hip Hop under the spotlight?
It was not too long ago I had confronted my history teacher about the lack of Black history in a predominantly Black school. After weeks of petitioning, we had one lesson on how slaves were made to fit in a ship that would bring them to England and/or the States. What’s more, a portion of the lesson was a debate for or against slavery. I was made to go in the ‘for’ team which won the debate in less than five minutes. This brought about feelings of confusion and shame despite being told sarcastically that I should have been proud of my debating skills. There was no sense of Black pride- just an abundance of stereotypes that some of us have lived up to and others had rebuked. What spoke to us during these testing times, was Hip Hop, our parents Reggae music and later on, Garage. We became a part of what we thought understood us, but we were also tricked by the corporate world that taught us guns, knives, bikinis and too much make up was an accessory to hip hop.
To conclude, low grades, low employment and high crime rates amongst the less privileged communities- particularly young Black adolescents, is largely affected by the education system failing to cater to these students. Similarly to the Governments failure to be attentive to psychological issues in child development and the corporate worlds abuse of ‘Subliminal Max Messaging’, Hip Hop has become the ‘Scapegoat’ in order for Capitalists to maintain their pathological power.
As can be seen, these factors have done more to defend Hip Hop rather than to rubbish it. Join me next week when I’ll be expanding on this ‘defence’ and exploring why Hip Hop is not libel for youth crime. Some of you may agree, some may disagree- either way, your comments are more than welcome.
Stay blessed,
Nadia Gasper.