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Not much changed in the world of commercial hip hop from the time Ice Cube came out of Compton to the time 50 Cent came out of the hospital, according to Bakari Kitwana.
What has changed is the amount - and diversity - of the people listening, he said.
Kitwana, an author and co-founder of the National Hip Hop Convention is scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. tonight in Neckers Hall's Van Lente Auditorium on "Why White Kids Love Hip Hop." He said the speech would focus on the ability of hip hop artists to bring about a political message, among other things.
Kitwana said he intends to show those in attendance the power of the genre.
"I'm trying to convey to young people that they have the power to change this society and shape it into what they want it to be, and hip hop right now, more than any other force on the national scene, is offering hope and possibility," he said.
He said commercial hip hop has continued to follow the same formula for decades, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
"I think it's very easy to dismiss all corporate hip hop as just this kind of pimps, players, g's and hoes music, and I think that that's true much of the time, but I don't think it's true all of the time," he said. "Even within the corporate manifestation of hip hop, sometimes there are political messages that slip through, whether it's Kanye West making statements that George Bush doesn't like black people or Jadakiss saying why did Bush knock down the towers?"
He said increasing amounts of young people of all races are attracted to hip hop because, in its truest form, it portrays a message about society.
"American society has failed young people, and it doesn't look for ways to incorporate them into society but to view them as problems," he said. "As society has done that, hip hop has embraced young people and given young people the tools to survive within American society."
He said these tools include a much-needed cynicism and perspective that hip hop provides. He said he found an example of this in a young woman he spoke with from an affluent area of California.
"As a young white girl growing up in an elite American society, she had this belief that the government is always going to be right and is never going to mislead you, but listening to hip hop made her begin to challenge the idea," he said.
Letrent Catchings, an undecided freshman from Champaign, said hip hop artists do have power over their listeners, and they should keep this in mind.
"If a rapper says something, they may get the kids to think about it and dig for their own answers instead of something somebody throws to them," he said. "A lot of people are only in it for the money, but you've got to have the message, something that people can think about. They'll say something, but three minutes later you're going to forget it."
He said most popular artists lack this message because they want to sell records.
"Most of it is what America wants," he said. "They'll buy into riding big, I got rims, I got all this, because its got a catchy beat; people buy into that. They don't want to hear what other people have to say if it goes against the grain."
Necolby Harris, a sophomore from Chicago studying business and administration, said a variety of people appreciate hip hop simply because it is good musical expression.
"It's speaking your mind basically, and everybody can respect that," she said. "If people come out there and be real with themselves and it sounds good and you can dance to it, that's just a lot of things we have in common."
Valerie Rieben, an undecided freshman from McHenry, said she listens to hip hop when she is out dancing or getting ready to go out.
"I like how you can dance to it," she said. "I don't really listen to the words, I just kind of listen to the beat."
Even so, she said all kinds of people embrace hip hop for its message as well.
"I think they understand what the artist is saying," she said. "People can relate if you're black or white. It doesn't really matter."
sean_mcgahan@dailyegyptian.com 536-3311 ext. 254
