Social
Activism in Hip-Hop — New York’s ReadNex Poetry Squad
By Peter Aaron
CONTINUE....
And
on the heels of Nex to Read has come yet another school workshop,
“Hip Hop and Poetry Saved My Life,” which the group
recently presented to a conference of over 600 educators of the
New York State 21st Century Schools program in Albany.
“What
[the band’s members] are doing is phenomenal,” says
Felicia Watson of the New York State Center for School Safety, who
has worked with the group on getting its concepts into area schools.
“Using hip hop culture, it sends a powerful message to kids
of all backgrounds. It’s education and performance, together.”
It’s certainly hard to square the music and philosophy of
activist-artists like the ReadNex Poetry Squad with the bling-flinging,
gun-toting gangsta stereotypes many identify with the hip hop milieu.
“Well, that’s all those are, stereotypes,” Decora
observes. “Like with food. McDonald’s isn’t real
food, but that’s what gets put in front of most people so
that’s what they end up eating. Everyone has hip hop inside
of them, they just don’t all know it.”
For
more information, go to www.myspace.com/readnex.
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