Hip-Hop Music Influences Activism and Social Progress in Athens
On a Saturday night it’s not a surprise to see the bars of Downtown Athens filled to the brim with college students. What is a surprise though, are protesters gathered outside of these same bars, spearheaded by Athens hip-hop curators and supporters.
Although this may be surprising to see — this was in fact the case on November 17th of 2017. This protest was hosted by the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement, and the call to action was discriminatory bars in Downtown Athens. Leaders of the protest include Mariah Parker, a doctoral student, political activist, and rapper in Athens, as well as Mokah Johnson, president of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement.
“Don’t even sweat it man it’s going to get better — and better, and better, and better, and, and better” are Parker’s lyrics which she said into the crowd as they proceeded to repeat them back to her. Hip Hop music and social activism go hand in hand in Athens. This is largely because the genre represents both a platform for social issues to be discussed, and a representation of progress in the city as well.
Parker’s chants represent hope for not only cases of discrimination getting better in Athens, but also the opportunity for hip hop music to be better represented.
According to recent Nielsen reports, hip hop has reached an all-time high, now ranking as the dominant music genre in the United States, beating Rock and Pop. Although this popularity is true for the country overall, hip hop in Athens has been overshadowed and welcomed with less than open arms.
“When I moved to Athens in 2014 I didn’t see a very unified hip hop scene. I met some people here and there, but I didn’t feel like these people had a centralized place where they were celebrated or elevated” said Parker.
This prompted her to begin Hot Hip Hop Corner, a community group for hip hop lovers who supports its presence downtown by facilitating collaborations between performers and patrons. Hot Hip Hop Corner also claims to “push back against racism and classism in downtown Athens through organizing events which build a creative, multicultural community.”
Pushback from the genre was initially because venue owners in Downtown Athens didn’t think hip hop would bring crowds large enough to make sense financially. President of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement Mokah Johnson openly disagreed.
“The concept that hip hop wouldn’t do numbers made no sense. You can hear hip hop and rap music being played outside of the bars as you walk Downtown, but these are the same bars that will quickly reject African American individuals — some of the main curators of this music. It then becomes a question of whether it’s really about the music, or the people. That is why we protest.” said Johnson.
Johnsons concern was whether venue owners Downtown resisted hip hop because it didn’t make financial sense, or because they were afraid of the urban crowds the genre would attract.
“Hip hop isn’t very accepted within the general music scene, or often not easy to book because people have conceptions about what a hip-hop show might bring in terms of crime or rowdiness.” Said Parker. This made her go further than just creating Hot Hip Hop Corner for the community and actually getting involved politically.
“I’ve started thinking a lot about more about policy and how it created those conditions where people didn’t feel welcomed. So, I’ve been using the skills I learned through hip hop organizing to help organize a political campaign.” Said Parker. The political campaign she joined was for Tommy Valentine.
Valentine is running to get elected to the County Commissioners office for district 9, and he is another example of hip hop support in Athens being transformed into activism through politics. “He was the touchstone for helping create hip hop spaces and greater inclusion back in 2006, 2007, and 2008” said Parker.
Parker makes it a point to exercise her political and social activism not only through leading protests, but in her personal music as well.
“In the aftermath of the 2016 election I wrote a lot of music that came out of my own reflections about what’s wrong with how people engage in the political process. In my song called the Khan of the Ken I talk about how people want to use social media platforms as like a megaphone without really making sure their voices are being heard in the most productive way. Through voting, through getting involved in electoral politics, through getting in contact with their legislatures, which can be intimidating because we’re not taught how to do that in school. So, I definitely felt a greater responsibility in the aftermath of the election to create music that inspired people to do something productive.” Said Parker
UGA students have also taken steps to help initiate hip hop into the music scene of Athens. Rashad Pierre and Jalen Boutte created an online radio station called TheOx. This exclusively hip-hop station features music and interviews from local Athens artists, which helps bring light to the growing hip hop scene in Athens.
“We started TheOX about a year and a half ago because when you’re in your car you can’t really get a good taste of hip hop music here in Athens…that gave us the feeling that we were misrepresented. We knew that there was a hip-hop scene in Athens that people weren’t really paying attention to, so we wanted to bring that culture to the spotlight.” Said Boutee, the co — founder of TheOX.
Boutee revealed that another driving force for the TheOX was to create a sense of community around hip hop music because it is a major part of the culture for black youth. TheOx airs every other Thursday at http://theoxradio.caster.fm.
The majority of hip hop music in Athens is driven by local artists such as Javae Chapman, Squale, King Blanco and Nando Smooth. Chapman is one of the most popular artists currently on the scene, with music featured on sound cloud and soon to be featured on iTunes. He promotes social growth and activism through his music movement Eat Your Greens.
“Eat Your Greens is a movement to push you reaching your higher self. It’s about feeding yourself spiritually, mentally and physically and this involves being aware and conscious of the political scene as well” said Chapman.
Each of these artists can be heard during open mic nights at clubs like 40 Watt, and World famous which has hip hop nights the first Tuesday of every month. Events like this bring in a lot of support from local listeners, as well as University of Georgia hip hop lovers.
Athens has since seen progress with local breweries supporting hip hop music. Creature Comforts and Southern Brewing Company have recently dedicated nights to hip hop music.
“That is definitely the progress we need to see. The only issue is whether hip hop is being seen as this novelty that is on display for people who aren’t genuinely involved in the culture, rather than attempting to foster an environment where everyone is actually welcome. Said parker”
University of Georgia Music Director and producer David Barbe can attest to the progress that has been achieved thus far with hip hop in Athens.
“There’s a lot of hip hop fans out there and when there’s a big hip hop show that comes to Athens, it does great — so I think that there’s a lot of potential for the growth of the hip hop scene in Athens and certainly a lot of potential for recognition of it” Said Barbe.
The future of hip hop in Athens looks to events like the Athens Hip Hop Awards to continue the progress of the scene. The Hip Hop Awards are Sunday March 25th this year and will feature several local artists.
Parker believes that although the Hip Hop scene in Athens is still emerging, progress in Athens hip-hop means progress in Athens socially and overall acceptance as well.
“We will continue to have social issue improvement in Athens so long as we continue to grow Athens Hip Hop.” Says Parker.
