Music educators often discuss how musical engagement provides multiple opportunities for leadership. This week, Chicago musician Jessica Disu AKA FM Supreme is leading a youth-oriented peace and justice initiative “The Chicago International Youth Peace Movement.” According to a dedicated eventbrite site:
“The goal of the first annual Chicago International Youth Peace Movement Conference, June 4th-6th, 2015 is to mobilize, activate and empower youth and young people, in grades 5th-12th to organize and utilize their voices for peace and social change.”
I mentioned FM Supreme in my article Flipping the misogynist script: Gender, agency, Hip Hop, and music education as an example of the types of artists we ought to bring attention to in music programs. Disu’s skill at merging her music with social justice activism and youth participatory democracy is a great example of the possibilities of Hip Hop and other music for that matter.
Music education has largely kept Hip Hop at the edges of classrooms and ensembles. While a small body of music education scholarship is addressing Hip Hop in relation to pedagogy and curriculum and K-12 educators are integrating Hip Hop in ways they see fit, it is for the most part marginalized. While we can debate and address what is or is not appropriate for classroom contexts, it is unfair to dismiss an entire genre and musical or cultural practice out of hand. We can look to artists such as Jessica Disu as great examples of the positive potential for Hip Hop and music’s ability to bring people together to make a difference in their communities and society at large.
Check out FM Supreme’s musical PSA Still Believe
Perhaps some related discussion on Hip Hop and music education might take place on the recently announced Wednesday #hiphopmusiced twitter meetups organized this summer by music educator Jarritt Ahmed Sheel?
#hiphopmusiced discussions each Wednesday featuring hip-hop (culture, music & pedagogies) in music education. #musiceducation#wednesday
— Jarritt Ahmed Sheel (@jsheelmusic) May 31, 2015
For additional info on Jessica Disu’s work check out:
- A Chicago Tribune interview with Disu
- ABC7Chicago piece on Disu’s PSA promoting peace
- WGNChicago interview with Disu on using music to promote peace
FM Supreme’s No Turning Back
For other examples of Hip Hop connected to politics see the Hip Hop Congress, the work of former Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Rosa Clemente, Davey-D and HipHopPolitics, or Jay Smooth’s Ill-Doctrine Vlog as a starting point.