(We must first learning the rules if we are to break them)
The Setup:
Chess is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks and denoted with numbers 1 to 8 ) and eight columns (called files and denoted with letters a to h) of squares. The colors of the sixty-four squares alternate and are referred to as “light squares” and “dark squares”. The chessboard is placed with a light square at the right hand end of the rank nearest to each player. The pieces are divided, by convention, into white and black sets. The players are referred to as “White” and “Black”, and each begins the game with sixteen pieces of the specified color. These consist of one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns.
(Opening)
2008 and 2009 seemed to not only be great years in the history of American electoral politics, but a break out year for hip-hop activism. I think 2008-2009 marks the official graduation of hip-hop from college. In the mid to early 90’s due to the efforts of students like Yvonne Bynoe and Timothy Jones at Howard University, hip-hop invaded campuses all over America with opportunities for emerging scholars, artists and activists to begin the process of bringing hip-hop discussions out of college dorm rooms, dinning halls and athletic locker rooms into classrooms. It was the work of pioneer scholars and artists like Nelson George and Tricia Rose that made it possible for hip-hop to be brought into classrooms and became the subject of countless syllabi, discussion groups and research papers.
Many thanks to those who labored under insurmountable burden of convincing dismissive elders and peers of the power of hip-hop to transform university classrooms. In far to many instances, elders of a previous set of generations still do chart the direction of most African American studies and Africana studies departments around the country, but even that is changing. Thank to curators like Kevin Powel for his groundbreaking instillation at the Brooklyn Museum. It was the actions of these pioneers that elevated hip-hop to not only study, but to preservation in museums, websites and publications the world over. It was their labor that made a way for Dr. Jared Ball, Jeff Chang, OG and so many next generation scholars, who have taken the helm of hip-hop scholarship back to its Black Arts Movement and Harlem Renaissance roots of art to elevate, promote change and in some instances work to radically undermine the power of empire.
(The Middle Game)
Today, hip-hop has come back to the community, back to the parks, recreation centers and primary schools. A new generation is doing the work of promoting love, peace, happiness and having fun. A generation for whom food, clothing and shelter are more than a sacred trinity, but rather the foundation for any just society. It is this trinity that paves the way for freedom, justice and equality.
Literally, hip-hops’ second and third generation, are moving beyond the conscious label to describe themselves as balanced, and the music that they love is more than awake, aware or conscious, it is balanced. Interestingly enough, the inspiration for this introduction was a series of questions posed to me by a pioneering funder called Zero Divide. I along with a roster of artists, activist and scholars with far more extensive credentials that I, were asked about how to engage the hip-hop generations in electoral politics. How do we? How can they? What do they use? What do they need? Balance seemed to be my answer to all those questions.
It was for the first time in my career as an employer and visionary leader that I finally saw what is really happening in full bloom. This current generation of hip-hop activists, social entrepreneurs and non profit leaders are not working to take the place of a civil right generation. We see through their vain attempt to sell themselves as the leaders of our communities, well past their prime, now we are building what we see as absent and necessary. We are taking the best of the methods of our mothers and grandfathers to build the next phase of the movement.
(End Game)
We have learned from the Panther, and the Civil Rights Generation, baby boomers, the women’s movement and the womanist movement. We are trying to build organizations that reflect the diversity of opinions and approaches found in our community. We are not trying to take the torch from our elders. It seems that their graves will be in need of light, so we are becoming blacksmiths and lumberjacks, smelting steel and shaping wood to create the torches that will light our way.
