Poet Nikki Giovanni (right) performs during a panel discussion on hip-hop at West Virginia State University on Tuesday. The panel included camp director Chris Kessell (left), Gail Mosby, Crystal Good, Norman Jordan and Jessica Care Moore. The discussion was part of Hip Hop Camp, a 4-H camp that focuses on hip-hop tradition.
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- The rising generation of hip-hop artists met some of the older generation to learn about the evolution of the art Tuesday on the West Virginia State University campus.
Dubbed the Hip Hop Summit, the meeting in Wallace Hall, part of WVSU's Hip Hop Camp, featured nationally and locally known panelists such as poets Nikki Giovanni and Jessica Care Moore, "Affrilachian" poets Norman Jordan and Crystal Good, radio personality Leeshia Lee, sociology professor Gail Mosby and local hip-hop producer Chris Kessell, who spoke to the campers Tuesday about the roots and future of hip-hop.
"I'm a big fan of hip-hop because I see hip-hop as a continuum," Giovanni said.
Giovanni, author of several books including "Hip Hop Speaks to Children," traced the roots of hip-hop back to ancient Roman times, when they used opera as a way to tell stories. She said preachers in America during the time of slavery used the same method to preach their sermons so the slaves could remember what was said. She said people continued the rhythmic way of speaking, and that eventually evolved into what we know as hip-hop.
"Hip-hop is a vernacular," Giovanni said. "Hip-hop does not speak American."
Kessell, director of the camp, said empowering the new hip-hop generation with background knowledge is important.
"We wanted to give them the basic knowledge that they can springboard from instead of thinking everything they're doing is new," he said.
The panel discussed topics such as old school vs. new, crime and the thug life, media and the future of the art. Kessell said that while these topics are discussed throughout the camp, hearing comments from professionals in the field really drives the point home.
"This helped reinforce the fact that what we're telling them and what they're learning in their classes is true," Kessell said.
The panelists agreed that hip-hop gets a bad name because of things associated with it. But Moore said responsible artists should not try to negatively influence their audiences.
"You have to be responsible as an artist," she said. "You have to know and care about your audience."
Kessell cautioned the campers, mostly middle- and high-school students, against living out the lyrics of popular rap songs. He said just as you wouldn't act out an action movie, you shouldn't live out the lyrics.
"They are giving you a movie for your imagination," he said. "You shouldn't take that as a blueprint of how you should live your life."
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- The rising generation of hip-hop artists met some of the older generation to learn about the evolution of the art Tuesday on the West Virginia State University campus.
Dubbed the Hip Hop Summit, the meeting in Wallace Hall, part of WVSU's Hip Hop Camp, featured nationally and locally known panelists such as poets Nikki Giovanni and Jessica Care Moore, "Affrilachian" poets Norman Jordan and Crystal Good, radio personality Leeshia Lee, sociology professor Gail Mosby and local hip-hop producer Chris Kessell, who spoke to the campers Tuesday about the roots and future of hip-hop.
"I'm a big fan of hip-hop because I see hip-hop as a continuum," Giovanni said.
Giovanni, author of several books including "Hip Hop Speaks to Children," traced the roots of hip-hop back to ancient Roman times, when they used opera as a way to tell stories. She said preachers in America during the time of slavery used the same method to preach their sermons so the slaves could remember what was said. She said people continued the rhythmic way of speaking, and that eventually evolved into what we know as hip-hop.
"Hip-hop is a vernacular," Giovanni said. "Hip-hop does not speak American."
Kessell, director of the camp, said empowering the new hip-hop generation with background knowledge is important.
"We wanted to give them the basic knowledge that they can springboard from instead of thinking everything they're doing is new," he said.
The panel discussed topics such as old school vs. new, crime and the thug life, media and the future of the art. Kessell said that while these topics are discussed throughout the camp, hearing comments from professionals in the field really drives the point home.
"This helped reinforce the fact that what we're telling them and what they're learning in their classes is true," Kessell said.
The panelists agreed that hip-hop gets a bad name because of things associated with it. But Moore said responsible artists should not try to negatively influence their audiences.
"You have to be responsible as an artist," she said. "You have to know and care about your audience."
Kessell cautioned the campers, mostly middle- and high-school students, against living out the lyrics of popular rap songs. He said just as you wouldn't act out an action movie, you shouldn't live out the lyrics.
"They are giving you a movie for your imagination," he said. "You shouldn't take that as a blueprint of how you should live your life."
Moore said young people do try to live out the lyrics because they can identify with the rappers who make them famous.
"These kids don't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger," she said, "but they can look at 50 Cent and want to be like him."
The panel also discussed the difficulty local artists have making it big on the national level.
"In West Virginia, it's hard for local artists to get on the radio," said Lee, a disc jockey with 98.7 The Beat in Charleston.
Lee used to host an on-air competition called Battle of the Beat, where local artists would compete nightly for airtime. If a song beat out its competitor, it would compete again the next night against another song. However, Lee said local artists eventually stopped giving her music to play.
Despite the difficulties, a couple of the camp's counselors have produced and sold their own hip-hop albums.
Tiffany Finkton, who teaches dance at the camp, produced the album "Dopetry" in her dorm room at WVSU with some friends. She said she hit some roadblocks while marketing her album.
"You're always going to have some negativity, especially when it comes to hip-hop," she told the campers.
Another counselor, Brandon Spencer, produced an album while living in South Korea with his dad, who was in the military. He said he got into trouble as a young teenager and had a lot of anger built up inside. He turned that anger into poetry and that inspired him to get involved in hip-hop.
"I like to express myself in a truthful way," he said. "Be real in your music and it will show."
The camp will end Thursday with a ceremony featuring performances by the campers.
For more information on Hip Hop Camp, contact camp administrator Gregg McAllister at 304-766-4285.
Reach Whitney Burdette at whitney.burde...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5100.
