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A Forum on the State of Hip Hop

by Melvin Johnson
Photos by Tremon Davis

Al Sharpton Speaks at the Forum

Hip Hop is how you walk, how you talk, how you live, how you dress, how you draw, how you dance. Hip Hop is not just raping to the beat, hip hop was not originated for murder music.

At the National Black Theater on 125th Street, a community forum on the the state of hip hop presented by Co-Motion was held. CO-Motion is a new community oriented hip hop organization founded last spring in the aftermath of the Amadou Diallo murder. Co-Motion's purpose is to raise the level of social awareness and activism. April R. Silver, the organization's founder said, "The world of hip hop, I believe, represents the best and the worst of the this generation." The panel discussion is the first of many public projects that CO-Motion plans to launch in the next few months.

The panel included Damien Walters, Youth director of the Nation Action Network (Al Sharpton's political activism movement); Gerald Smith, marketing exectuive; April Silver, cultural arts advocate, social entrepreneur; Ras Baraka, activist, educator, poet; Kevin Powell, journalist, author, social critic; Ron "Amen Ra" Lawrence, multiplatinum producer (Bad Boy Entertainment); Rha Goddess, activist, hip hop performance artist; James Mtume, Grammy winning producer and song writer; and a brief appearance and statement by the Rev. Al Sharpton, President of the National Action Network.

While everyone scrambled for seats anticipating the arrival of the panel, this reporter mingled in the audience to find out why some people felt it was necessary to attend this event. A young lady from Queens who preferred to remain anonymous heard about the forum on Hot 97's Street Soldiers, and came out to get some added knowledge of where hip hop is at on a political and cultural standpoint. Many others in the e audience had the same though in mind.

The panel discussion started with a welcome and history of CO-Motion by April Silver. April made sure everyone acknowledged the original hip hop heads such as, Afrika Bambaataa, Crazy Legs, DXT and a few others who were in attendance. Then Rha Goddess, host for the evening introduced everyone on the panel (except for Rev. Al Sharpton who was running late). So if we didn't know who someone like James Mtume was, we knew after her introduction.

One of the first questions asked of the panel was "where is hip hop and what concerns you most about it?

Ron Lawrence answered first, saying, " Hip Hop is on top but brothers are not keeping their head on correct once the money comes into play, they think once it starts flowing in, it won't stop." James Maim stressed the fact that originality does not play a big roll in hip hop nowadays. Just about every hit out, c from a hit form the disco era. There is nothing wrong with sampling but you can only repeat "Juicy Fruit" but for so long.

The question and answer period was fantastic. The crowd was motivated and then the big MC of the evening arrived. Rev Al Sharpton, the man who came late but stays great got on the mic and received a standing ovation before he had a chance to say a word.

So who got the juice?

Rev. Sharpton spoke on many things but the one thing that I remember he said is "every morning we have the weatherman, he tells you what is,. If you look at a thermometer in this room, it can tell you the temperature of this room. That is what many artists do. They give the temperature of the community. But it's one step past that. Turn into thermostats so you can change the temp of the room. Don't just be a great thermometer. Be a great thermostat. So you can measure the temp and change the temp to change the room.

Now are these words of a great motivate or what? Young people have the power to change the direction that hip hop is going in, but they don't know they have the power."

Rev Al Sharpton skated from the scene moments after his remarks, but that didn't stop the flow. It was brought to everyone's attention how influential hip hop, especially thug music, has on toady's youth all over the world. Everybody wants to ride or die or be thugged out. Because that's where the respect is and the money is, right?.. Wrong!!

Some rappers do not let you know that all that platinum is rented. Some rappers got everyone's ears wide open listening to the wrong message. I bet people in Europe think you have to wear a bulletproof vest everyday if you live Brooklyn. Hip hop has the ability to change the way teens live life. How long will it take for rappers to realize they can make this a better place?