‘Healing Through Hip-Hop’ webinar discusses impact of hip-hop culture in understanding social justice
(Posted Feb. 10, 2021)
Dr. Adia Winfrey hosted a webinar on Feb. 9 at Austin Peay State University that discussed the impact hip-hop has had on understanding social justice throughout the years.
Winfrey’s 2 p.m. session focused on the transformation hip-hop has endured during the fight for social justice as well as her Hip-Hop Empowerment Model she created for the education initiative H.Y.P.E. (Healing Young People thru Empowerment).
“It is my love. It is a culture that helped to shape the person that I am today and so it’s just been my life’s work to find ways to use the culture to empower other people,” she said.
Winfrey began by discussing elements of hip-hop and its connection to culture. Some elements included hip-hop’s birthday, the “mother” of hip-hop and how elements of hip-hop first came about.
The birth of hip-hop
Hip-hop was born on Aug. 11, 1973, in the Bronx and the “mother” of hip-hop is Cindy Campbell. Campbell hosted the first hip-hop block party in which she raised money for school clothes. Her brother, Kool Herk, was the DJ and charged people to get in.
“What the party did was it brought all of the four founding elements (deejaying, emceeing, graf writing and break dancing) of hip-hop culture together in one space,” she said. “This set everything in motion for what would happen over the next six years.”
The Zulu Nation took youth involved in gangs and gave them an outlet to express themselves with dance. The Zulu Nation had a significant impact on youth as it allowed them to learn more about themselves and understand how they were connected to the culture.
Graf writing has connections to the hieroglyphics Egyptians used to display messages or stories. TAKI 183 started the trend better known as graffiti. TAKI 183 was a messenger in Manhattan and tagged his name on buildings. Others began following in his footsteps and the trend caught on.
Hip-hop’s ties to history
During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, enslaved Africans found ways to express and defend themselves.
“They created this form of combat that would allow them to fend off people who were trying to attack them,” she said. “That is where breakdancing comes from.”
A pivotal moment in hip-hop history was in 1979 when Sugar Hill’s “Rapper’s Delight” was released. This song became a hit.
“What it did was it shifted what was going on with music, what was going on with fashion and language,” she said. “It did something culturally. Teenagers found a new voice, a new outlet and a new vibe.”
In 1982, “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five shifted the party culture of hip-hop to a more serious one focused on vivid descriptions of a particular place.
“At this time, it was really about bringing a real message about a community that was being ignored,” Winfrey said.
Hip-hop’s ties to social justice
Winfrey introduced the Hip-Hop Declaration of Peace which was enacted May 16, 2001, by activists, pioneers and UN delegates. The Hip-Hop Declaration of Peace recognized hip-hop as a “global cultural piece.”
“It’s on this day that we celebrate the culture, we celebrate the history and really get a clear vision on where we want the culture to go,” Winfrey said.
The declaration has 18 principles, but one Winfrey focused on the seventh, “The essence of hip-hop is beyond entertainment. Hip-Hop in this culture cannot be bought, nor is it for sale.” Originally, there were five elements associated with hip-hop: emceeing, rapping, dj’ing, graf writing, breaking and street knowledge. As the years have gone on, more elements have been included as hip-hop has further evolved.
Winfrey’s work with H.Y.P.E. classifies as a 10th element that did not previously exist under the Declaration. It is a way to use music to further understand a situation affecting many people.
“It was who I was,” she said. “It began as my doctoral dissertation. It includes 12 workgroups that are focused on emotion, wellness and empowerment. It combines psychological theories, hip-hop as a culture, but in every one of the 12 sessions, we look at oppression.”
“Through H.Y.P.E., the curriculum and through really exploring issues connected to social justice, we’re able to develop goals and really move forward in how we live our lives,” Winfrey said.
Winfrey also presented a 7 p.m. session titled “Hip-Hop Empowerment in the Classroom” geared toward music educators to discuss her Hip-Hop Empowerment Model, the foundation of the H.Y.P.E Hip-Hop Theory Curriculum. Educators across multiple states participated.
The Hip-Hop Empowerment model is based on a subject or lesson that is taught. Then the lesson or subject is paired with hip-hop. Young people then engage by answering questions to complete the activity. In the Tuesday afternoon session, the subject focused on the Black American Experience. The presentation used images and music to show the evolution of the Black American experience as well as social justice movements.
“Through this work with hip-hop and the Hip-Hop Empowerment Model, the way to mobilize through emotional wellness is through these discussions,” she said. “We have to be real about what we are experiencing in order to move through life with the appropriate tools that we need to stay emotionally well and healthy.”
The webinar was sponsored by the APSU Department of Music and the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts.
To learn more
- You can read more about Winfrey’s work at .
- For more about the APSU Department of Music, visit .
- To learn more about CECA, go to .