Express Yourself

As the Hip Hop Film Festival storms into Durham this weekend, I'll tell you what the problem is: It's those hooligan thugs and their filthy rap music.

Hip hop has been getting a bad rap ever since the media started focusing on "rapitalism." No longer do you see videos like "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five or NWA's "Express Yourself," where artists provide commentary on the struggles of their neighborhoods and show a genuine concern for social change.

Nowadays, MTV tells us hip hop is defined by materialism. With lyrics like "Pinky ring worth about 50 bling bling/every time I buy a new ride bling bling," rapper BG, one of the Cash Money Millionaires, states the anthem of today's rap climate. When it all began, Grandmaster Flash was representing the streets with flows like this: "Got a bum education, double-digit inflation/Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station."

Although MTV would have you believe otherwise with its force-fed imagery of dudes dancing in front of Lamborghinis in the ghetto, as long as there are social problems, hip hop will still exist in the streets.

And so, it is no big surprise that Durham has a large audience for hip hop.

Recognizing the importance of the art form to the community, the Durham Association for Downtown Arts--with the help of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture at Duke and North Carolina Central University--has brought in the highly acclaimed Hip Hop Film Festival. Completely devoid of the aforementioned "rapitalism," the festival boasts 10 of the hottest independent hip hop films, along with performances featuring both national and local artists. The synthesis of the national and local arts scene and cooperation within Durham (no easy feat) demonstrate the positive impacts of hip hop on the community.

The difficult process of bringing the HHFF to Durham also exemplifies the power of grassroots organizing. Originally, DADA did not have the funding to bring the award-winning filmmakers and national artists, so they enlisted the help of members of the Duke community. Using her university contacts, Paula Cook--a member of the Advisory Board at DADA, an employee in the English Department and a self-described "dirty south girl"--contacted Leon Dunkley at the Mary Lou Williams Center. With the financial backing of the center and the resources at DADA and NCCU working together, this festival has become more than just a Blockbuster night--it became a Durham art event.

The HHFF is a darling example of what happens when the community works together to solve problems, and that, you hooligan thugs, is what takes hip hop back to its roots.