Since the 1970’s Hip Hop has grown into a huge phenomena as a music genre and a culture. Hip Hop is continuously evolving and has never failed to influence and inspire the youth of each decade. It has affected their social groups, hobbies, fashion style and arguably their language. However, throughout Britain there are growing concerns of the affect that Hip Hop has on our youth today, yet is this really the case case?
Has the ‘rise’ in drugs, gun crimes and violent gang warfare truly been an influence of Hip Hop music? Significantly Metropolitan Police statistics show that gun enabled offences in London have in fact decreased -28% since January 2007 and -42% over the last six years (http://www.met.police.uk/crimestatistics/docs/hist_perf.pdf). Therefore there is no evidence to suggest that the two are connected. The media has continuously been on hand to report these tragic events and analyse the nature of these crimes, influencing many to blame Hip Hop as the prime cause. If you are to read a series of lyrics from influential artists such as Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, you will find that there is nothing to suggest or encourage our youth to commit such crimes. In actual fact there are many artists who have written lyrics discouraging such crimes. Few seem to address the huge number of violent films that we are exposed to– have these affected our behaviour? Did watching Save The Last Dance, 8 Mile or Style Wars affect you? Did watching Rocky make you want to box? Computer games have the same argument. In the early nineties many of us played Street Fighter, yet few of us aspired to be another Ryu or Ken. In 1994 a film was made of the computer game, yet few seemed to be affected by the violence and merely focussed on the spoof quality of this feature film. Surely a film with Kylie in it would not be very violent and it was classified a PG-13. Music is the same as films and video games. It is a medium in which we can express ourselves creatively and escape from reality, not make it one.
There are so many elements of our culture that could be blamed for the way we are. In terms of helping our youth, undoubtedly, it is the socio-economic problems of these areas that must be addressed, not our music, films, or video games. Therefore rather than analysing the problem we must solve it by creating an alternative for them. What can we do to help our communities and prevent these crimes from happening? The answer: create and continue to develop already existing initiatives to take our youth off the streets and into community halls where they can cultivate their passions, whether it is a certain sport, art or music genre. They need something to be excited about and feel that they all have a talent of some kind and can accomplish anything they aspire to.
Throughout the country in cities such as London, Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol communities have been coming together and have founded programs to tackle this growing issue. There are courses, workshops and youth clubs all orientated to develop these existing passions. Point blank youth is a fantastic organisation that has positively made a difference within the UK:
“Point Blank is the most innovative music education centre in the UK, voted for the fourth year running ‘Best Music Production and DJ Courses' by DJ Magazine. All of our tutors have a wealth of experience and have worked with major artists such as: Sugababes, Leftfield, Massive Attack, Neneh Cherry and Natalie Imbruglia to name but a few.
We reach a broad cross section of young people, spanning secondary school pupils to youth who are unlikely to be engaged in education, employment or training. Our non formal learning courses are a fantastic vehicle to get young people back into a learning environment away from destructive influences. In addition to participation on the courses Point Blank also offers young people progression routes in the form of work placements.”
http://www.pointblankyouth.net
There are a huge variety of courses, workshops and projects that young people can do to gain new skills and develop their talents. Artistic areas include MCing, DJing, street dancing, singing, song writing and many, many more. Have a look at the website to get more information. Street Vibes Youth is another brilliant organisation and is the “Number 1” college in singing, song writing, DJing and music production. “Our specialist teaching staff has an aptitude for motivating and engaging ‘at risk’ young people, including youth offenders and disadvantaged youth, and guiding them towards a positive outcome, a formal qualification and further education via our innovative BTEC courses.” (http://www.streetvibesyouth.co.uk)
It is these activities that help our youth to bond with another, as it is natural for people to spend most of their time with those they have a strong common ground with. Their social groups and extra-curricular interests are therefore a key component of the community. Music gives everyone the opportunity and inspiration to creatively express themselves, bringing them together and strengthening their bond through these shared interests. Also, the internet enables music to be more accessible through downloads and uploads, as well as creating opportunities for individuals to widen their network and meet others who share the same passions, such as through myspace.
The media also creates a huge awareness of what is popular and what isn’t. We are all susceptible to advertising and the celebrity culture. Television programmes, films and magazines all contribute towards the influence and ultimate attitudes of the consumers. Hip Hop is a huge genre and culture; therefore it is not surprising that fashion tycoon H&M has recruited established role models such as Timbaland, Rihanna and Ziggy Marley to represent their own labels for the store. These celebrities plus many others have combined forces to broaden the awareness of the campaign “Fashion Against Aids” (http://www.hm.com/fi/press/pressreleases). These celebrities can positively make a difference and through their roles in this campaign this can be accomplished. It is these people that we should encourage the youth in our communities to aspire to. They too can fulfil their dreams and it is up to us to help them.
Therefore we must look to ourselves and act upon how we can help our youth. We must encourage them to find a passion, a hobby, something that makes them feel that they have a talent and then help them develop it. With support and determination they can aspire to anything they set their mind to. Together we can accomplish anything.
By Alexandra Hudson
