The Cultural Wealth of the Ghetto Genius Universe

by William Patterson, Ph.D.

Since doing my Ghetto Genius TEDx talk at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I’ve have had quite a few follow-up conversations about the cultural wealth of Ghetto Genius. I’ve been asked, when does culture have value? Who determines the value of a culture? I argue that cultural wealth is acquired when someone outside of the culture appropriates it for their own social and financial gain. For example, when Rock and Roll legend, Chuck Berry, passed away, many of his recordings were revisited. One recording that was a vivid example of the phenomenon was the Beach Boys’ use of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” for their recording “Surfin’ USA.” The success of the song sent composer Brian Wilson into rock stardom while Berry fought for royalties and recognition for his creative property.

Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones, indicated that he stole every guitar lick Chuck Berry ever played. The Rolling Stones reflected cultural appreciation, while the Beach Boys demonstrated cultural appropriation. It will be a few weeks before the talk is available on line. However, I’m publishing the script on Medium for you to be part of this important conversation.

“Look what Hip Hop Can Do.” Those were the words spoken by a SuperNova in the Ghetto Genius Universe, Dr. Dre. What this actually means is, “Look at What Ghetto Genius Can Do,” considering Dre and Jimmy Iovine leveraged the cultural wealth of Ghetto Genius to develop BEATS Audio and sell it to Apple for 3 billion dollars. Hip Hop is just one example of the cultural wealth derived from the Ghetto Genius Paradigm. I am going to share with you how I became a ghetto genius and its historical significance in business and technology, and how organizations like universities, businesses, schools, youth-serving organizations, and individuals like all of you can use this cultural wealth to help create new knowledge that benefits society.

The Ghetto Genius Paradigm is the unique knowledge born and acquired in the ghetto. By ghetto I mean what Joe Madison, the Black Eagle, talks about. People, places, and spaces that are undervalued, underestimated and marginalized. The Ghetto Genius Paradigm is based in the learned and shared practices of that place and time. In the 1970’s, the South Bronx was a vivid example of a ghetto in the US. I want you to take a minute, close your eyes, and think about what it must have been like to survive and thrive in a space like the South Bronx, Now open your eyes and see this image by John Fekner:

Abandoned tenement buildings, broken-down cars, barren lots filled with broken glass and loose garbage, virtually non-existent municipal resources, high unemployment, and defunded education and afterschool programs are a part of the everyday lived experience visualized here by Fekner. Now, I want you to think about how that eco-system becomes your classroom, your springboard, and trajectory to create new knowledge from those chaotic conditions. Think about if a component of the knowledge you acquire forms a culture, a culture that is now known all over the world as Hip Hop. It was my exposure to this culture that peaked my interest to begin unpacking the Ghetto Genius Paradigm and the cultural wealth acquired from the lived experience of ghetto life.

It was 1979 when I was first introduced to Hip Hop by way of the classic track, “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. I will never forget the disruption a big white kid named Kane Beaumont caused when he walked through the halls of Urbana (IL) Junior High School blasting the song on a Boom Box. A “Boom Box” was a portable cassette player with two speakers built into the design. I was blown away by the song, the technology of the radio, and the creativity of Hip Hop, a product of Ghetto Genius. For the next few years Hip Hop continued to disrupt, but it was another recording by legendary Dj, Grandmaster Flash, that would further reflect Ghetto Genius, and the new knowledge young people were producing in the ghetto.

Grandmaster Flash, like all of us in marginalized communities, didn’t have access to instruments and new recording technologies. But he heard magic in his head and was driven to find a way to bring this magic to life. He took two turntables and a basic mixer and engineered a new way of manipulating sound and creating music. Pure Ghetto Genius.

Grandmaster Flash’s recording, “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” was one of the most creative recordings I had ever heard and it moved me from being just a consumer of Hip Hop to being a street djing disruptor. The song introduced me to the art of blending two records on beat and manipulating the sound and tempo by moving my hand back and forth to create a new beat. The new knowledge was incredible and it had me spending time with other street geeks innovating and creating in garages and parks like they did in the South Bronx in the late 1970’s.

In the late 60’s and through the 70’s, the Johnson administration’s War on Poverty programs gave communities like mine funding for the social and academic development of young people. Because of this, the education system was thriving and impacting children from all backgrounds. For example, there was a computer program called PLATO that introduced me to science, technology, engineering, and math.

PLATO exposed us to computer-based learning in a fun and exciting way. When PLATO arrived at my school we were so excited. PLATO was developed in the

University of Illinois’s College of Engineering. We would play on PLATO for hours at King Elementary School on Urbana and get upset when our time ran out. There were two terminals and you could learn math simultaneously with your friends.

Also because of the War on Poverty funding, spaces like parks and community centers became development hubs for young people. From men’s and women’s softball games, outdoor movies, and music programs, the park was the place you learned. It was the place you would see the latest band or dream about being in one. I dreamed a lot and got exposed to many programs and projects during that period.

And then one summer, the programming stopped. It was the early 1980’s, the places and spaces that took care of me were gone. Reagan had come into power with his new economic policy known as Reaganomics. Reaganomics decreased government spending in social programs and education. President Reagan had no appreciation for the impact and social implications his policy reforms would cause in marginalized communities. “Reaganomics” left many of us hopeless and in turmoil.

Reaganomics came in like a sudden tornado and overnight there was no more Drum Corps, softball, movies, or bands playing in the the park. Instead of vibrant life and learning in the park, there were used drug needles and drug dealers. I was lost, confused, and angry. Like many of my friends I became bitter at society for changing my life. I started believing that the world didn’t care about me, so I stopped caring about the world. The only thing I believed in were individuals that thought, drank, and smoked like me.

During this time, a new group of ghetto geniuses arrived doing the same thing that Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five did, but they looked cooler and were the same age as I was. It was the legendary rap group, RUN DMC, and their Dj, Jam Master Jay.

RUN DMC and Jam Master Jay were the by-products of a new era in Hip Hop. They represented the spirit and attitude of many young African American men trying to find their way in the social chaos of the early 1980’s. “It’s like that” and “Hard Times” were a part of the soundtrack that reflected the outcomes of a de-industrializing nation. Their lyrics were so creative and spoke to the chaos of our communities: “Unemployment at a record high, people coming, people going, people born to die, don’t ask me, because I don’t know why, but it’s like that, and that’s the way it is.” The lyrics illuminated the frustration of joblessness in urban America and as a result inspired the next wave of Ghetto Genius, increased cultural wealth and entrepreneurship.

Inspired by RUN DMC and Jam Master Jay, my friends and I pulled together any pieces of equipment we could get our hands on to make our DJ system and we threw parties to demonstrate our DJing skills as well as make money. We were bootstrapping a small business without knowing we were doing that. We were following a common path of entrepreneurship arising from the ghetto. One woman demonstrated this better than anyone; she was the the first self-made American female millionaire in the country.

Sara Breedlove was an African American woman born in 1867 in the delta of Louisiana. As a result of poor hair care, her hair started breaking and falling out. Ms. Breedlove didn’t have any money, so she began using what she had available in her home to create several solutions that would repair her damaged scalp. Those home remedies became the rave in her community and she began selling her products and education program for improving hair care. Think about it, she had no formal training in chemistry, education, or business, yet she had acquired knowledge from living in the ghetto to create the most successful African American owned business in the country. Her cultural wealth was so powerful she changed her name from Sara Breedlove to Madam C. J. Walker. Madam C. J. Walker not only became financially rich, but she also became an advocate for social justice. Her wealth supported the activities of her daughter, A’lelia Walker, who began exposing the brilliance of other ghetto geniuses like Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes, major writers in what is recognized historically as the Harlem Renaissance.

When I was seventeen my cultural wealth was beginning to form. I was experiencing a great return on my activities as a Street Dj. The parties we threw were packed, and I was becoming more convinced that I wanted to make being a Dj a career. The problem was that I was in Champaign-Urbana and there were no outlets that nurtured someone like me to harness my Ghetto Genius and turn it into something greater than my current circumstance. Remember, Reaganomics killed any type of innovative programming that would have connected with me. I was in a very dark space at that point of my life.

I was convinced that I wasn’t going to college so I didn’t spend any time trying to examine ways to achieve that goal. I still had a chip on my shoulder and felt that society owed me something. I felt that most white people were prejudiced and, since they were rich, I justified stealing stereo equipment to achieve my dreams of being a DJ. I began making very poor decisions and ended up getting sent to prison for about two years after I graduated from high school. Think about it, my first two years of college were as a student in the Illinois Department of Corrections! You know, what’s ironic is that it was in that space that I learned that education mattered and even prisoners respected acquired book knowledge. Many of them were like me, Ghetto Geniuses lost in the chaos of a society that underestimated, undervalued, and marginalized them.

The prison industrial complex is filled with Ghetto Geniuses. I was one of them and decided I would use that time to imagine how to become someone who could educate my community and uncover the genius that I saw every day growing up. I knew I wasn’t a bad kid; I got lost in the shifts of social policies and wanted to understand why. I realized that in order to become the educator I envisioned I could be, I needed to get my doctorate. The vision became so real to me that I even began signing my prison letters, William M. Patterson, Ph.D., on four gallery in Joliet Correctional Center, the place where Jim Belushi aka “Joliet Jake” got his claim to fame in the movie “The Blues Brothers.”

I wonder how many ghetto geniuses are in prison today because of horrible social policies like Reaganomics? How many will succumb to the shifts in public education that Trumpnation will bring? How many will be pipelined to the prison industrial complex because there will be limited or no programs in place to celebrate and develop their innovative spirit?

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine launched a school in 2010, the University of Southern California (USC) Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy of Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation. The motivation for the school was their desire to provide support for young people to create the next big thing. I wonder if they thought about the lyrics from Dr. Dre’s song, Lil Ghetto Boy: “Lil Ghetto Boy, growing up in the ghetto streets, what you gonna do when you grow up and have to face responsibility.”

If there are no after school academic and social development programs pipelining students into schools like USC, young people from marginalized areas won’t know what to do when they grow up and they won’t know how to face responsibility. Fortunately, we can change that narrative by rethinking how we value ghetto genius. The next big thing is not a gadget or a software program, the next big thing is the individual that uses creativity to emerge out of chaotic conditions that bad social policy causes and develops the next big thing based on the lived experience that inspired their work. Dr. Dre was one ghetto genius that made that happen over the last 30 years.

We need to recognize the new knowledge which ghetto geniuses are producing in numerous industries. In fact, there is a company based in Atlanta that absorbed the teachings of Madam C. J. Walker to build a haircare company with their science and technology degrees called Techturized, Inc. Not only did Candace Mitchell and Chanel Martin utilize their STEM-based degrees in computer science and chemistry to build a company, they also started an education program called The STEM Haircare Academy to teach young girls science and technology through beauty. Now that is Ghetto Genius.

We also need to recognize the Ghetto Genius of indigenous engineers like Joe Bolton.

Joe has been repurposing technology since we were both young guns attempting to navigate the deep waters of exclusion our community produces. Joe, or Lojoe as we call him, combines art and technology to inspire young people to see science and technology in their own environment. Lately, he’s been producing Boom Boxes. Remember how I talked about the impact Kane Beaumont’s boom box had on me when I was a kid? Well, Joe’s boom boxes are inspiring people all over the country to learn STEM concepts.

His are made of out of old suitcases, discarded toolboxes, and other items that he can imagine sound coming from. Guess what he powers them with? Solar Panels from yard lights that people throw away. His boom boxes also use bluetooth technology to connect with smartphones. His repurposing of technology was so inspiring that I introduced it to students in my University of Illinois Decoding Dr. Dre class last semester.

It was amazing to watch engineering, education, art, and business majors dissect Lojoe’s indigenous knowledge and use it to attract other students to class. Tim Klein was one of those students. Tim, at the left in this picture was also building boom boxes; he doesn’t live in the ghetto, he’s from the suburbs of Chicago.

He was so inspired by Joe’s work he started coming to class everyday to learn about Ghetto Genius, and he wasn’t even registered for the course! At the end of the day, folks, Geekism is Geekism whether it is in the ghetto or in the suburbs. I want you to imagine what happened when I connected Lojoe, students from Decoding Dr. Dre and young people from the local Boys and Girls Club to help me build a new project to teach science, technology, engineering, and math in a fun and exciting way.

Their boom box idea became something I call Tinker Boxes. I want kids to be inspired by the Ghetto Genius of Joe and the commitment of Tim and other students in class to teach them engineering and other science concepts. In addition to bringing Tinker Boxes to the Boys & Girls Club, we started a racing program. We also collaborated with MIT’s Media Lab to teach young people how to write computer code using a program developed at MIT called Scratch. Our goal is to inspire young people in the ghetto to tap into their creative genius to build a new reality when life becomes chaotic. Remember, Dre Dre and Jimmy Iovine are from two different worlds and look at what they built together.

Michael Manson, a professional recording artist and music educator in Chicago, has been teaching young people music and supporting their college dreams. Michael is a Ghetto Genius who has tremendous cultural wealth. He was the band director for two musical greats, Jazz and Funk Master, George Duke, and the legendary Jazz and R & B fusionist, Al Jarreau. Before they passed away each gave Michael two directives, keep funk and jazz alive and help young people connect and preserve the legacies of these great music traditions.

Be intentional and connect with me to build a culturally based STEM initiative to get that done with Michael Manson.

Be intentional in following and learning from Ghetto Genius’s like Chance the Rapper and how he is leveraging his cultural wealth and financial resources to address issues of limited and under-funded educational opportunities. Chance gave $1 million dollars to Chicago Public Schools. His cultural wealth is so inspiring that the Chicago Bulls matched him and gave another million dollars to the school. I believe that will keep happening.

I want you to be intentional in recognizing the cultural wealth of institutions like Chicago State University, a place that is going through some financially troubling times. Yet, they are a place with space in a marginalized community that houses a tremendous archival collection from noted authors such as Lerone Bennett, Jr. and Gwendolyn Brooks. In that archive they have the amassed knowledge and cultural wealth of organizations like Provident Hospital on Chicago’s South Side, the first African American owned hospital in America that was started in 1891 by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a surgeon, and, of course, a Ghetto Genius.

And finally, I want you to be inspired by the words of Dr. Li, the dean of the new Carle Illinois College of Medicine. He indicated that their scholarship will require input from all levels, which includes understanding how to deliver high value healthcare to the underrepresented. Imagine if you became a connector in the Ghetto Genius Universe and you were part of the ecosystem that learned how to hack through the code of silence like Dr. Williams did with Provident in the late 1800’s and help Dean Li develop a high value care health system for marginalized communities. That would be so creative, so Ghetto Genius.

In closing I want you to be intentional in becoming a connector in the Ghetto Genius Universe like I did.

I want you to see value in the cultural wealth inspired by the Ghetto Geniuses of the South Bronx. I want you to appreciate how Grandmaster Flash harnessed that cultural wealth like a scientist and created methods for RUN DMC and Jam Master Jay to inspire folks like me and Dr. Dre to become disruptors with two turntables and a microphone. I want you to appreciate the pathway Madam C. J. Walker provided for Chanel Martin and Candace Mitchell to create Techturized. I want you to be intentional in understanding how to connect social and hard science policies in order explore ways to conduct STEM research with learning tools like PLATO. Take action to seek out partners like Michael Manson and Chance the Rapper to use their cultural wealth to build something creative that supports the efforts of public school education and after-school programs. And, finally I want you to go beyond your comfort zone to learn about the plight of struggling institutions like Chicago State University and how you can work with them to leverage their cultural wealth for new knowledge production.

Dr. Dre showed us what Hip Hop could do. Now, it’s up to us to leverage that cultural wealth and say “look what the Ghetto Genius Universe can do.”

I’m Dr. Will Patterson, a connector in the Ghetto Genius Universe