At the end of Ralph Ellison's 1953, Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, "Invisible Man," we find the nameless protagonist residing in a sewer to take solace from the riotous Harlem streets. After trying, and seemingly having failed, to form any sort of identity, the young, intelligent African American ends the novel by asking "Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"
Today, hip hop has increased those frequencies. Since its inception in the mid-1970s, this subculture has helped ghetto youth and minorities gain identity by channeling their frustrations and artistic energy into all facets of their larger, surrounding culture: DJ's rythmically and melodically scratching records , MC's rhyming over beats, graffiti artists painting urban-narrative murals, spoken word artists inciting surreal mind-collages of insight and break dancers moving with aggressive surges of elegance. All were on display during "Back to its Roots: Spoken Word and Hip Hop 101" presented by The Langtson Hughes Performing Arts Center (LHPAC) from October 8-10. .
Besides the main performance, the event, sponsored by the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Jasiri Media Group (along with many individual contributions), featured daytime workshops focusing on hip-hop staples such as spoken word creation and DJ skills.
Back to its Roots was the brainchild of LHPAC Arts Director Jacqueline Moscou., who ventured out to different Seattle clubs to see what performance art was important to young people, especially within the African American Community.
"As I started going around town and looked at what was happening there was no question that the hip-hop art form is really the vital art form for our young people," observed Moscou. "I made a commitment early on that we would be the only theater, so far, in Seattle that is attempting to represent this art form where it meets theater."
Moscou thought creating a hybrid between hip-hop culture and theater culture would bring these artists together in a positive way and show the positive aspects of hip-hop.
"That whole art form has a whole different way of proceeding in theater," Moscou said of hip-hop. "The artists get to bond, because that is the art and beauty of theater: It builds communities through its process, not its product."
Although it would be impossible to fully grasp hip-hop culture solely by attending the workshops or the performance, this event does give you a taste, and it also draws an important distinction between hip-hop and commercially infected hip-hop often called rap.
A powerful, positive side
"When hip-hop became commercialized, what they did is extract the rap from it." Said Moscou. "Most commercial hip-hop is misogynistic, racist and negative. The reality is it takes exposure to nurture anything and the mission here [at LHPAC] is to nurture that voice that builds community because that is, to me, what theater does."
"The fact that we are able to take the best of hop-hop and go back to its roots and bring it forward to a 21st-century world is amazing," said LHPAC Media and Information Consultant Art Johnson. "It's the freshest thing to be had, and that allows the artists to connect and reconstruct."
"The idea of this event was to mainly bring hip-hop to the forefront in Seattle: to showcase hip-hop talents in Seattle and all the different components of hip-hop. For instance, when people see break dancing they don't think that's hip-hop," said LHPAC advisory council member Carol Richardson with a laugh.
One highlight of the show was the appearance of the revered local-act, the Blue Scholars, whose self-titled debut earned The Seattle Weekly's 2004 Album of the Year. This two-man crew features MC Geologic and DJ Sabzi.
"It's a good chance to see a lot of hip-hop elements removed from their context and put in an environment that's educational as well as artistic. As a performing artist, this is something that I would invite my older relatives to. It's a good family-type of event," commented Sabzi after the show. "You get to see all the different elements- like you get to see graffiti in a nice place, but at the same time a lot of it is entirely removed from its context, which ironically, is one of the things [that welcomes] people into hip-hop. Picture those type of people and the type of venue and atmosphere that is necessary for the majority to accept hip-hop. It is kind of irritating for it to have to be something like [a more traditional, theatrical environment] instead of on the street...where it belongs. That's the whole purpose of why hip-hop came about."
Respecting the art
Despite his measured criticism however, Sabzi did like the fact that the crowd gave equal attention to both the break-dancers and the MC's, reinforcing Moscou's belief that theater builds bonds between artists and is an important medium for performers to get noticed.
"For example, when you go to a b-boy (break dancing) event, the crowds aren't really paying too much attention to the MC's," observed Sabzi. "We've played at b-boy events before and the crowd really isn't as receptive at a show where it is just hip-hop acts performing."
Other guests included break dance sensation Circle of Fire and the spoken word prowess of internationally renowned Jessica Care Moore. During her set, Moore integrated her own powerful prose with the poetry of Harlem Renaissance legend, Langston Hughes, 1902-1967.
Jonathan Moore, Executive Director of event sponsor Jasiri Media Group, believes LHPAC was vital in getting hip-hop recognized in the greater Seattle community. His involvement with LHPAC stretches back to the 80s, a time he says when hip-hop was virtually absent from the downtown Seattle venues.
"[LHPAC] was the venue where we were able to get all of our formative experience in terms of performing, promoting stage energy, and all those different things," said Moore. "So, it was just a matter of giving back. LHPAC was a place where a lot of people laid the foundation for the scene as it currently exists. Langston Hughes was a principle venue because it was there where we polished what we created and took it in the mid-90s to downtown clubs."
"This is an art form that was born out of the black and Puerto Rican populations in New York, and it has spanned over racial lines and over age lines now," Moscou said. "But the genesis of it still talks about people's voices being heard [that] no one wants to hear."
Ellison wrote in his prologue: "'I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."
Maybe, because of hip-hop, it will become easier for the upper echelons of society to see the struggles and aspirations of minorities and youth. LHPAC invites you to open your eyes at the next "Back to its Roots" performance scheduled for late winter 2005.
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