The Hip Hop Project
- Mike Gunn
- Jun 20, 2007
- Series: Film
Cast: Doug E. Fresh, Chris 'Kazi' Rolle, Russell Simmons, Sway, Bruce Willis
Director(s): Matt Ruskin
Genre(s): Documentary
Running
Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 on appeal for strong language and some thematic material.
"'I stopped listening to hip-hop 10 years ago'...McDaniels points out that Run DMC rhymed about everything from materialism (My Adidas) and higher education (I go to St. John's University) to Santa Claus (Christmas in Hollis). 'We weren't choirboys, but we had multiple points of view. This past decade it seems like hip-hop has mostly been about parties and guns and women. That's fine if you're in a club, but from 9 a.m. till I went to bed, the music had nothing to say to me.'"
Darryl McDaniels; the DMC in Run DMC[1]
The above quote sums it up! Hip-hop has lost its moorings. Booty and bling has been the formula for success and it has all but destroyed the artistic and socially conscious medium that grows at the roots of the hip-hop culture. Princeton University professor Cornel West calls the sell out version "Constantinian" hip-hop and says that, "Constantinian hip-hop revels in the fetishism of commodities, celebrates the materialism, hedonism, and narcissism of the culture (the bling! Bling!) and promotes a degrading of women, gays, lesbians and gangster enemies."[2] The problem isn't the medium, which is often speculated by older white and black conservatives, the problem is the market, which is 72% white, who as West writes "Long for rebellious energy and exotic amusement in their hollow bourgeois world."[3] No longer does the mainstream hip-hop scene have the prophetic voices of Grand Master Flash, KRS One, Afrikaa Bambaataa or the Furious Five, but we have seen an upturn of the prophetic voice from underground mc's like the Perceptionists, the Blue Scholars, as well as semi main stream rappers like Black Star, Lauryn Hill, Outkast or Alicia Keys.
This is why I can stand up and applaud the Hip Hop
project! An incredibly cool production, and a heart-felt story that only the
semi-dead can't be aroused by. The story centers around Kris "Kazi" Rolle who
was abandoned to the streets of New
York (Via the Bahamas) first by his biological mother
and then his foster mother. Kazi, by his own admission was a boy that got in a
lot of trouble by the time he was 14 years old, and needed an outlet for his
angst and pain. In truth it was the pain that caused the rebellion. Confusion,
fear and anger forced him to steal and to lash out to a society that threw him
away. Most often the Kazi's of the world end up unknown and in our prison
systems, but by the grace of God and a love for music, Kazi got involved with
Art Start, a teen project in New York city to help youth express themselves through
the arts. Kazi soon became the program director of a new project that centered
on his love for hip-hop, and the "Hip-Hop Project" was born, taking various
teens and working closely with them for 4 years to create an album that would
express their voices.
The beauty of the project is that it was much more than a music project. It was a transformation project. It was an expression of the power of one individual making the difference in the lives of others. He began by raising the bar on their art. The youth were raised in hopelessness and anger, and their art was reflective of a mainstream love affair with violence and sex. Kazi matured them, and encouraged them to write about their experiences in ways that uplift, educate and release. He simply asked the question, "If the world would stop to listen to what you had to say, what would you tell them?" That's profound! Their music was born out of that question. What did they want the world to know about their lives, and their experiences and the social ills around them? He simply led them back to the roots of the medium that most of the world does not know, including a whole new generation of fans that know nothing of the legacy of hip-hop.
The movie seemed to steer clear of sensationalism, and the digging in to the ugliness of many of these teens lives, but allowed us to understand it from the outside. It centered on rising above, individual expression and reconciliation. It allowed us to witness the fruit of Kazi's labor create an album with the help of Russell Simmons (Def Jam Records) and Bruce Willis, who footed the bill for the needed studio time for the project.
This movie, as well as movies like "Born Into Brothels," and "Rize," brings out the sublime in humanity! They remind us that when we begin to get outside of ourselves, and to "Give back," as Kazi exhorts, it is then that we begin to heal the hurts not only in the lives of others, but in the lives of ourselves. Kazi had many internal hurts, but he became a healer, a sacrificer of himself for the transformation of others. This alone is a message that we all need to be reminded of. It also reminds us that there are many talents that walk the streets of major cities in this world, never to be discovered or given the opportunity to use their talents and abilities or even get a chance to express the experiences and pain of their own lives in any kind of medium. Kazi reminds us of that when he says that the "Criminal mind is a creative mind. It all depends where you put your energies." How true that may be, and how easy is it to judge when we've been afforded the opportunities to succeed when many haven't.
As much as this movie was about music, and the power of art in broken communities, it was also about reconciliation as Kazi traveled back to the Bahamas to meet up with his foster mom, who sent him to the streets of New York at 14 years old, and finally with his biological mom who abandoned him at birth. These were not only touching moments in the film, but highlighted the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, in spite of the reaction of those that hurt you. Though the movie may have been a bit more powerful to center more on these stories, it did enough to show the integrity and courage of Kazi to reconcile some very hurtful things in his life, and to center its story on how the power of one can transform a broken community into something sincere and beautiful.
There isn't a community that isn't broken and in need of transformation. It is easy to look at the obvious and feel compelled, but it is important for all of us to reach to the broken in our midst, and seek peace and reconciliation.
I would not only tell you to see this movie, but it's one of those movies to think about and dialogue with, and let its ethos penetrate our often lugubrious existence. I'd also say go out and support Art Start by buying HHP Vol. 1 (The first Hip-Hop Project's album, with 17 tracks).
[1] As quoted in Time Magazine ; August 29th, 2005, 59-60
[2] Cornel West, "Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism" 184
[3] IBID, 183
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