AUBURN - The goals of Community Wide Dialogue have always been to perpetuate discussion and thinking about a wide variety of people that live in Auburn and surrounding areas. On Monday night, at the Auburn Public Theatre, the group presented a film by Byron Hurt, “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beat & Rhymes.”
The film, which aired on PBS, was made by Hurt, a former college football player, who has since gone on to work as a speaker on sexism and racism, particularly among college athletes and students. In the film, Hurt said that growing up, he has been a fan of hip hop and rap music, but after looking at the career path he chose, he was inspired to take a more serious look at the music he enjoyed and the messages it conveys.
Hurt went to great lengths, speaking to rap and hip-hop artists that span the generations from Chuck D of Public Enemy to current artists such as Busta Rhymes, to discuss the images, lyrics and themes of hip-hop music and what they may convey.
Imam Abdur-Rahim Muhammad, of CWD, said the movie in many ways represented what CWD is about.
“Things have not always been this way,” Muhammad said. “They don't always have to be this way and it is up to us the idea being that there is humanity in every person and it is up to us to change the things we see.”
Through the film, Hurt explored the topics of sexism, racism and masculine images through rap music, but also in a larger historical context. Hurt pointed to images like the western expansion, where the image of masculinity was often represented as men with guns.
The prevailing theme of Hurt's film was the issue of masculinity and the means by which this has become imposed on American culture through images often associated with hip-hop music, of guns, money and scantily-clad women.
While the film was designed more explore issues, rather than propose answers, the round-table discussion afterwards did try to discuss these topics more in depth.
Professor Cathy Leogrande, of LeMoyne College, said this is how she employed the movie.
“I work in development with teens and tweens,” Leogrande said. “I show this to teachers and parents and I ask them to talk with their kids and their students about what they have seen to get this kind of dialogue going.”
Among the panelists, Norman Lee, director of student activities at Cayuga Community College, who grew up in New York City in the early days of rap's evolution, said that he grew up in a way that encouraged diversity.
“I also liked 80s rock,” Lee said. “I had friends that didn't like that I liked both kinds of music. That is something that is at the core of me. I saw friends that were trying to be like some of the guys in the movie and I tried at different times in my life too. So for me this is something I've seen develop over time. This is part of my roots, but in a lot of ways I'm disconnected from where the music has gone since then.”
Other such as Monique Wright-Williams, director of the Booker T. Washington Center, also grew up in New York and saw the development of the music and culture firsthand, something that she said has changed drastically from her own experience.
“We saw women as being beautiful,” Wright-Williams said. “We'd walk 60 blocks to see where everyone was performing and the women had their parts they could get in there and recite too. We didn't see any thing like this, the dehumanizing that is happening today wasn't happening then.”
The film expressed the idea that in many ways it is a catch 22. Consumers buy the music and record companies keep making it because it makes money, and this cycle perpetuates the message.
Kaula McLaurin, was among those speaking from a younger perspective.
“I think a lot of people just listen to the beat,” McLaurin said. “They don't really listen to the words or really hear what is going on.”
This sort of passivity is what Muhammad, hopes the film and groups like CWD can battle.
“You are what you eat,” Muhammad said. “We only digest what we can use and the rest comes out. What we see and what we hear doesn't come out like that. It comes out in these words and images. We are what we feed ourselves; we can't just keep accepting what is being fed to us. It is up to each of us to change who and what we are.”
Hurt went to great lengths, speaking to rap and hip-hop artists that span the generations from Chuck D of Public Enemy to current artists such as Busta Rhymes, to discuss the images, lyrics and themes of hip-hop music and what they may convey.
Imam Abdur-Rahim Muhammad, of CWD, said the movie in many ways represented what CWD is about.
“Things have not always been this way,” Muhammad said. “They don't always have to be this way and it is up to us the idea being that there is humanity in every person and it is up to us to change the things we see.”
Through the film, Hurt explored the topics of sexism, racism and masculine images through rap music, but also in a larger historical context. Hurt pointed to images like the western expansion, where the image of masculinity was often represented as men with guns.
The prevailing theme of Hurt's film was the issue of masculinity and the means by which this has become imposed on American culture through images often associated with hip-hop music, of guns, money and scantily-clad women.
While the film was designed more explore issues, rather than propose answers, the round-table discussion afterwards did try to discuss these topics more in depth.
Professor Cathy Leogrande, of LeMoyne College, said this is how she employed the movie.
“I work in development with teens and tweens,” Leogrande said. “I show this to teachers and parents and I ask them to talk with their kids and their students about what they have seen to get this kind of dialogue going.”
Among the panelists, Norman Lee, director of student activities at Cayuga Community College, who grew up in New York City in the early days of rap's evolution, said that he grew up in a way that encouraged diversity.
“I also liked 80s rock,” Lee said. “I had friends that didn't like that I liked both kinds of music. That is something that is at the core of me. I saw friends that were trying to be like some of the guys in the movie and I tried at different times in my life too. So for me this is something I've seen develop over time. This is part of my roots, but in a lot of ways I'm disconnected from where the music has gone since then.”
Other such as Monique Wright-Williams, director of the Booker T. Washington Center, also grew up in New York and saw the development of the music and culture firsthand, something that she said has changed drastically from her own experience.
“We saw women as being beautiful,” Wright-Williams said. “We'd walk 60 blocks to see where everyone was performing and the women had their parts they could get in there and recite too. We didn't see any thing like this, the dehumanizing that is happening today wasn't happening then.”
The film expressed the idea that in many ways it is a catch 22. Consumers buy the music and record companies keep making it because it makes money, and this cycle perpetuates the message.
Kaula McLaurin, was among those speaking from a younger perspective.
“I think a lot of people just listen to the beat,” McLaurin said. “They don't really listen to the words or really hear what is going on.”
This sort of passivity is what Muhammad, hopes the film and groups like CWD can battle.
“You are what you eat,” Muhammad said. “We only digest what we can use and the rest comes out. What we see and what we hear doesn't come out like that. It comes out in these words and images. We are what we feed ourselves; we can't just keep accepting what is being fed to us. It is up to each of us to change who and what we are.”
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