RAHIEM SHABAZZ: What inspired you to start the Strength In Numbers Hiphop Petition? And can you explain for those who are not in the know what it’s all about?

The Foundation for the Study of Hiphop Consciousness had been established for about a year already before the idea for the petition came about. I was sitting in my living room late one night watching TV. I drifted off into my thoughts about the state of Hiphop and how Rap music is affecting the youth. I was thinking about The Foundation’s goal to use Hiphop as a tool for social change and how we needed to do something big and impactful. I asked God, “What can we do to make a difference in this world and touch the lives of many?” The word “petition” suddenly came to mind and I wondered what a petition had to do with anything pertaining to my question. However, in less than 10 minutes, the purpose and aim of the petition had been formulated in my head. The next day, I ran the idea by my partner who was feeling the whole concept. By the end of the day, we refined and wrote the demands. The day after, we hit the streets and started getting signatures. A couple of weeks later, the petition was online and accessible to the whole world. In essence, with the goal of gathering 1,000,000 signatures, the petition demands that radio stations and record labels give as much exposure to “conscious” Rap artists as their mainstream counterparts. The point being that this number represents a “conscious” Rap artist going platinum. If these demands aren’t met as specifically listed in the petition outline, we will let the public know that by ignoring the voices of a million people, the music industry has made it very clear that they are willing contributors to the corruption of our youth. We will then take further steps to try and address this problem.

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: Why do you believe there is a current unbalance global portrayal of Hiphop Culture? And what can we as consumers do to reverse this trend?

There are a few reasons why Hiphop Culture is portrayed in such an unbalanced way. During the mid to late 80’s, when there was great diversity in Rap music, the industry was still unclear as to where this Rap thing was going. Run DMC had been successful, the Beastie Boys, and some other acts were doing fairly well. Still, to the industry, the future of Rap music was unclear. Then drops NWA. Completely revolutionizes the world of Hiphop. That’s when the industry got its first real taste of how profitable this could get because NWA appealed to a broad range of people. It appealed to those whose life was reflected through NWA’s music and it appealed to those who weren’t living it but who could live out their “ghetto fantasies” through their music. The industry welcomed similar acts and many aspiring artists were happy to oblige. So-called Gangsta Rap blew up and at that time, many “Gangsta Rappers” had controversial but legitimate social commentaries to make. The industry wasn’t really going for the social element that still alienated a large portion of potential consumers who had no interest in hearing about serious issues affecting Black and Latino communities. So the social aspect was slowly phased out, “Gangsta Rap’s” mass appeal grew, and it became a caricature of itself. We haven’t recovered since. Great profit is made while some people high up in key positions are fulfilling their hidden agendas of preventing Black people from progressive communication with each other. When Africans were kidnapped and brought here, one of the first things the oppressors did was to block communication between Africans in order to destroy their hope and neutralize any potential plans of revolt. Today, many artists are naive and become pawns in this vicious game that started centuries ago. We need to recognize that the problem is way bigger than Hiphop. However, as consumers, we can start supporting those lesser-known artists who have something meaningful to say. It’s a simple thing to do yet so many are reluctant to do so.

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: The most prominent conscious rappers we hear about are KRS-1, Mos Def, Dead President and Common. However, there are others that are seldom heard of that reside on the West Coast. Who are these rappers and why are they not as prominent as their East Coast counterparts?

We have to be clear on the meaning of the label “conscious”. Sometimes, merely being creative and different from the mainstream can earn someone that label. Just talking about love, children, personal struggles, and the simple things that make life precious can make one “conscious”. On the West Coast, you have Blackalicious and Latyrx, Aceyalone, Medusa, Zion I, Self Scientific, E-Rule, and hundreds of others. If you’re looking at more straight-ahead political acts, you have Paris, The Coup, Spearhead, etc.… To be honest, I’m not sure why conscious West Coast Rappers aren’t as well known as their East Coast counterparts. I’m not even sure that’s the case!

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: If certain urban and commercial radio playlist consists of songs with degenerate lyrics that degrade women and inspire the use of the "N" word, what could we as consumers and listeners of this genre do to stop the promotion of these type of songs?

Stop buying and listening to those type of songs. Request different artists from your local station or turn off commercial radio altogether! Listen to your local college radio station and find out when their Rap or R&B program is on. You’ll be exposed to a new world of music you never knew existed! Go to the store and search for the 100’s of Hiphop artists who have meaningful music but don’t get as much promotion on TV or on the radio as their mainstream counterparts. Spread the word to everyone you know. Expose your kids or those close to you to these new artists. Ladies, stop going to the club and shaking your asses to songs that you know are degrading to you. DJ’s won’t play songs that don’t move people. Request they play something that doesn’t degrade you. The bottom line is that you’re gonna have to start changing your daily habits. Think about what you’re really listening to and make an effort to seek out new music. That’s really the best you can do as listeners. One of the main problems though is that many people will agree with all this but be too lazy to actually follow through. At that point, you can only blame yourself if things get worse.

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: The Foundation for the Study of Hiphop Consciousness Organization is based primary in Los Angeles are there any other cities we will find your organization in?

At this time, we have no plans to expand The Foundation beyond L.A. However, we have a few people in New York, Denver, and Atlanta, who are assisting us with the Strength in Numbers Campaign, which is only one of the many projects The Foundation is currently working on. And we’re always looking for more people to get on board. It’s gonna take a lot of team work to make this happen, hence the name, Strength in Numbers!

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: To start a organization such as yours with the hiphop generation in mind is no easy task. How did you get started and who are some of the players behind the scene that we do not hear about?

We started about 15 years ago, as a Rap group named Urban Scientists. We always dealt with politics, social issues, spirituality, and history. We sorta left Rap behind but channeled our love for Hiphop and our desire to implement social change into a variety of projects and ventures. Our organization was born out of those experiences. The main players behind the scene are Osun Wali-u’llah and myself, Dome, the founders of this organization, and Queen Mecca Earth Islam. She was referred to us by Daddy-O from Stetsasonic and assisting him on the Self-Destruction 2 project before she became a full-fledge member of our organization. Also, Cathy Harris, an Atlanta-based community activist, has given us incredible support and connected us with many important people.

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: To have a organization that wants to promote change such as yours, it would be sort of unethical to raise funds from the 5 big major record companies. How do you garner the necessary funding? And how has the industry perceives you thus far?

Getting funding from the big 5 companies, that’s obviously not gonna happen! Everything is self-funded right now but we are open to outside funding from like-minded organizations and individuals through donations. It would be dope to get some of these “conscious” artists to help us too. As far as how the industry perceives us; every branch of the industry has individuals who secretly support our agenda but choose to remain on the down low. They wanna assist us but have to do it strategically. They’ve been waiting for something like this. We’re actually motivating them to implement change from within. We’ve had major players in the industry showing us support including Rappers, execs, and singers, some you might be surprised to know about! We’ve also had people from the so-called conscious Hiphop circle who you’d think would jump to support this who haven’t been supportive at all. We’ve had a few industry heads who said we were wasting our time or who ridiculed our project. It’s really amusing to hear what such a wide spectrum of industry folk think about each other and the industry in general!

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: The goal of "The Strength In Numbers Hiphop Petition Campaign is to gather one million signatures? How many signatures have been gathered to date? And what can those who share the same vision and interest as your organization do to help?

We are far from a million but pleased with our progress at this point. With a petition, it’s a numbers game. However, I don’t want people to sign it if they don’t truly agree with it. This campaign has to be built on sincerity and genuine concern for the community. As far as those who may want to help us with The Strength in Numbers Petition Campaign, I suggest they contact us directly. As with any campaign, we are always open to more funding, manpower, resources, ideas, exposure, etc.… If anything, just spreading the word about the petition is good enough. We’re online so anybody can sign anywhere in the world.

We were recently invited to participate in the organization of the 100,000 Man Peace March in Los Angeles to be held in October 2003. With the alarming rise of gang activity in L.A., the organizers of this march were seeking ways in which the increasing violence could be alleviated. When they heard about the petition, they were automatically interested in working with us because they also felt that mainstream Rap music was partly to blame for the rise in street violence and overall thug mentality. They saw our vision and understood the necessity of working together for such an important cause.

RAHIEM SHABAZZ: There are those who may argue that they their lyrics mirror the images they see and live and they are speaking from their viewpoint. What would be your response to such a statement?

This statement is only true for a very small number of Rap artists, like Tupac, who actually rap about legitimate struggles they’ve experienced and what happened as a result. For the most part though, this statement is mostly made by Rappers who try to find an honorable sounding justification for their lyrics that reflect nothing but gratuitous sex and violence They’re not even consistent with that statement. One day they say it’s just entertainment, nothing to be taken literally. The next day, they’re getting arrested for gun possession or shooting at somebody. And the day after that, they’re talking about how they’re not about violence but just victims of the media’s unfair coverage. Make up your minds! Plus, when you’re in the entertainment industry, touring the world 24/7, making movies, starting clothing companies, record labels, living in the suburbs, etc., how do you continuously justify talking about the streets? An artist’s lifestyle and its many responsibilities force even the most thugged out cat to experience other things besides the streets. Here’s another point. 50 cent may say his lyrics reflect what he’s seen in his streets growing up. Nas is from the same Queens streets, just about, but his lyrics, as opposed to 50, reflect that same reality with legitimate consequences and outcomes. If Jay Z says his lyrics mirror his environment, why are Talib and Mos Def who grew up in the same Brooklyn streets, considered conscious MC’s for their social commentaries but not Jay Z. for his reflections on street life. Again, Mos Def and Talib have the tendency to offer a moral to their stories. Bottom line, MC’s who rhyme about what’s considered “gangsta” or “thug life”, do so simply because that’s what they like to rhyme about and it sells records. They could give a damn about the negative influence it may have on their listeners. If they TRULY cared, they’d be more responsible with their lyrics and offer a solution or moral to the story, regardless of the label’s concern that it may diminish the profitable “keepin’ it gangsta” factor!