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Tellin’ It Raw & Keepin’ It Real 2.0
NADCP 23nd Annual Training Conference July 9-12, 2017
Washington D.C.
P.O. Wallace Green, LICDC
(216) 664-3287
“All I’m offering is the truth.”
Listening: be aware of your filters
Stage of Change:
“Start where ___ ______ __.”
If the client is in the pre-
contemplation phase, very simply
what do you need to do?
• Give them something to think
about!
– Give then something they cannot
walk away from
• If they are in the contemplation
phase than very simply, what do
you need to do?
– Show them how to contemplate!
Stages of Change*
• Interventions that presume that a client is
in the action stage work if the client is in
the action stage
• Interventions geared for action are
doomed if the client is not in the action
stage and will create a very difficult case
DiClemente, C. C. (2003). Addiction and change: How addictions develop and
addicted persons recover. New York: Guilford Press
Prochaska, J.O., & DiClemente, C.C. (1982). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a
more integrative model of change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice,
19, 276- 288.
The advantage of dealing with
pre-contemplation correctly
• Client becomes a willing player in his / her own development
• Rather than you teaching the client anything, you create in them a desire for learning
• Show them how they are being played – Regardless of how far down they are no one likes to be
played
– Use their definitions to help them see where they really are
• Pimp – someone who benefits from the work of others with minimum input / scoring points off of someone else’s back
• Hoe – someone who is being taken advantage of; someone who does the work without getting paid
Presentation Goals
• Participants will be able to help the clients
detect negative culture driven “unconscious”
decisions that can threaten their sobriety.
• Participants will learn how to use the
evidenced-based, “Stages of Change” model
to understand the Hip-Hop culture, and help
their clients progress through the stages
towards long term recovery.
Presentation Goals
• By helping the clients to identify the
“culture vultures” the participants can help
their clients recognize who is getting
“paid”, and who is getting “played” by their
choices.
Goals
• Empathy
• Skills
• Knowledge
Never underestimate the power of
Music
• Can change emotions… drastically
• Cause physical reactions
• Tied to detailed memory
– Pinpoint place and time
• This will be the sound track of the
client’s youth
Gangsta Rap in the 21st Century• Jay-Z is an emeritus figure head; no longer relevant
– Now bigger outside of Hip Hop
• Puffy has been relegated to ‘vodka salesmen’ (Cîroc)
• Dr. Dre scored big with the Beats Headphone buy out
from Apple; dwarfing anything he ever did in Hip Hop
• 50 Cent has declared bankruptcy
• Lil’ Wayne is suing his (fake) Daddy, Brian ‘Birdman’
Williams after finally figuring out he has been ripping him
off all these years
• Rick Ross just settled a case for pistol whipping his
groundskeeper (Pleads to 5 misdemeanors 4/4/17)
• The golden age of gangsta rap is clearly in the rearview
mirror
The 21st Century Gangsta
Rap Transformation
Milestones
Miles Stones
• The rise of Kanye West (August, 2005)
– The first multi-platinum commercial rapper from
the gangsta era that did not fit the gangsta
image or come from a challenging background
– He would open the door for Drake, Kendrick
Lamar, and Chance the Rapper
• Drake; currently the number one selling
rapper does not fit the gangsta rap image
• Roc-A-Fella wasn't the only label to pass on Kanye
(pronounced Kahn-yay; it means "the Only One" in Swahili)
West. Executives at record companies large and small
failed to reconcile West's appearance and demeanor with
their expectations of what a rapper should be. They had no
idea how to market him. "It was a strike against me that
I didn't wear baggy jeans and jerseys and that I never
hustled, never sold drugs says West, 28, who grew up in
suburban Chicago
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1096499
,00.html#ixzz0wA1xtKmO
Time Magazine, Sunday August 21, 2005
– Kanye West
• Roc-A-Fella wasn't the only label to pass on Kanye
(pronounced Kahn-yay; it means "the Only One" in Swahili)
West. Executives at record companies large and small
failed to reconcile West's appearance and demeanor with
their expectations of what a rapper should be. They had no
idea how to market him. "It was a strike against me that
I didn't wear baggy jeans and jerseys and that I never
hustled, never sold drugs says West, 28, who grew up in
suburban Chicago
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1096499
,00.html#ixzz0wA1xtKmO
Time Magazine, Sunday August 21, 2005
– Kanye West
• With the market mired in thuggery, African-
American consumers' could choose to:
A) Propagate a nasty stereotype of themselves for
white kids to pin their libidinous fantasies on;
B) Not care
C) Start patronizing the danger-free, super-nice,
super-boring rappers at the liberal humanist fringe;
D) Give up.
E) Both A and D
Answer: E
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1096499-
3,00.html#ixzz0wA8pnVgz
Time Magazine, Sunday August 21, 2005 – Kanye West
• Statistics consistently show that 70% of
hip-hop is consumed by young white
audiences, but a century of anecdotal
evidence is similarly irrefutable: white kids
think it's cool to be black…
Time Magazine, Sunday August 21, 2005 – Kanye West
• “… Jesus Walks is all Kanye," says
Smith. "When he wrote, 'To the
hustlers, killers, murderers, drug
dealers/ Even the strippers/ Jesus
Walks for them!', I said, 'Wait, it doesn't
matter what you do at all? You can
keep doing bad things, and in the end
it's all good? Don't we need to take a
stand?' And he said, 'It's about
imperfection. Everybody can relate to
that.' Damn if he wasn't right."
Time Magazine Sunday August 21, 2005 – Kanye West
Drake; No.1 commercial Hip Hop
artist 2015-2016
• Breaking the mold
– Canadian
– Raised Jewish
– Uses the ‘n’ word
– Not the ‘’k’ word
• Why do you think?
• Same nihilistic,
street value
braggadocio
Although the major players may
have changed, the content
message remains the same
• Commercial Hip Hop
continues to grind out the
same braggadocio, money
spending, strip club attending,
hyper sexual, ‘I live the life
you wish you could’ lyrics
devoid of most, if not all
reality.
Hyper Masculinity
• Verbally Promise to:
– Dominate many women
– Dominate situations
– Dominate other men
– Be fearless – Criminal activity
– Risk it all at any moment
– No regard for any consequences
– Gay bashing
– Street cred
Milestones (2007)
• The Imus ‘Nappy headed hoes’ controversy would
spark a debate about the ‘n’ word and misogynistic
lyrics exposing the elephant in the recording studio
(April 4, 2007)
– "I may be a white man, but I know that ... young black
women all through that society are demeaned and
disparaged and disrespected ... by their own black men
and that they are called that name." D. Imus
Milestones
• This would be the last time women would
have an opportunity to gain respect in
commercial Hip Hop
• The Hip Hop vs America –BET town hall series
– How the deck was stacked against logic and reason
– The audience was young and impressionable and on the
side of the rappers going against their best interest
BET Series 'Hip-Hop Vs.
America' Sept 25, 2007• Voice to the ignored
• Telling it like it is
• The Hood’s CNN
• Bridged race relations
– RUN DMC
Hip Hop vs. America: The battles
• Young vs old battle
• Hip vs. square battle
• Just a record focus on ‘real crime’ vs.
understand your influence battle
• Republican vs. Democrat battle
• Male vs. female battle
• Book knowledge or Intellect
(‘afrostocracy’) vs. street knowledge
battle
Hip Hop vs. America: The battles
• The ‘got nothings’ who finally got
something vs. the middle class, ‘gate
keepers’ who let them down battle
• Free speech vs. ‘have a since of decorum’
battle
• Rappin’ about it vs. doing it for real battle
• You owe the community vs. don’t like it,
don’t buy battle
• Bad influence on kids vs. Not my job to
raise them battle
The con arguments that weren’t
Pro Gangsta Rap
1. Movies are more graphic
and violent and not held
to the same standard
2. Don’t hate the player
hate the game
3. Just entertainment
4. Not my job to raise your
kids
5. Don’t like it, don’t buy it
Con Gangsta Rap
1. Actors have not had to be
gangsters to get the part1. Movies are not as constant as music
2. Only a player can change the
game
3. Hip Hop is a lifestyle / they are
doing what you do 24/71. They don’t want to be ‘fake’
4. Passing the buck / for a small
minority of men you are the
role model / no fathers
5. It permeates the internet, radio
and award shows
The con arguments that weren’t
Pro Gangsta Rap
1. Product of my environment
2. I could be doing this for real
3. I give back
4. Just keeping it real about
what’s goin’ on in the hood
5. We are like the CNN
Con Gangsta Rap
1. No, you are a product of your
choices
2. We would be better off if you were
doing it for real; you would be
reaching only hundreds instead of
hundreds of thousands
3. That’s like selling millions of packs
of cigarettes and making a
donation to the American Cancer
Society.
4. If we want to know what's going on
in the hood, we could just stick our
head out the window / maybe we
need to know what's going on
outside the hood
5. Read the lyrics more like the SIN
False Arguments that carried the day after
Hip Hop vs. America
(and it was black America that lost)
• We have the constitutional
right to say what we want
to say
• Change the conditions that
created this rap and we will
change the rap
• We are lisening through
our wallets
• (FALSE! You can talk about
killing and degrading
yourselves and your
community. You have
license to do that and you
are)
• False! This rap PROMOTES
these conditions
• TRUE! You are capable of
better, but we have to want
better
Rappers talk black, live white and
think green
Milestones• 50 Cent, after crushing the Terror Squad,
Ja-Rul, and Murder Inc., would lose three
very public battles against:
– Kanye West – for most album sales (2007)
– Rick Ross – for being a ‘fake’ gangsta (2008)
– A lawsuit against Rick Ross’ ex girlfriend
causing him to declare bankruptcy in 2016
• This would mark a seismic shift in a culture
where authenticity is everything
• The fake, name jacking ‘pranksta’ Rick Ross
unseated the ‘real’ gangsta, 50 cent
50’s worth goes from 150 million to
only 4.4 million• Coca-Cola's 2007 purchase of Glacéau, the company that makes
Vitamin Water, netted 50 a tidy sum in return for his equity, likely up
to $100 million. However, it seems he signed an additional deal with
Coke for the continued use of his likeness in ads. The Coke deal,
which ended in 2009, included a clause prohibiting any release of
50's earnings.
• The money going out: $108,000 per month in expenses and millions
of dollars in lawsuits.
– 1,500 for pool maintenance
– There's the $7 million owed to Lastonia Leviston, who won the payment in court
– Sleek Audio, which he owes an $18 million court-ordered payment after a
partnership to produce headphones fell apart.
– claims another $7 million in liabilities.
– $108,000 in monthly expenses, which include his homes and personal expenses.
– 5,000 per month on just the gardening.
– monthly $5,745 Bentley car lease
– $12,000 in child support for two children.
The Golden Age of Gangsta
Rap is in the rearview mirror • Chief Keef (hit single on YouTube (2012)
“I don’t like” deleted due to guns
• Bidding war at 16; trying not be a has
been at 21
Atlanta Rapper, 21 Savage
• Atlanta Rapper, expelled
from every school in
DeKalb county
• Shot 6 times
• He is out of the game, but
encourages others in this
lifestyle
• Suppose his focus was
heroin, would this be
tolerated?
Keepin’ it real vs. Really keepin’ it
Now claim documentary was
‘scripted’
• Offset arrested on felony possession after
incriminating documentary by Noisey
The New Revolutionaries• Kendrick Lamar
• LeCrea
• Jasiri X
• Childish Gambino
• J. Cole
• Lupe Fiasco
Rapper Logic
Chance the Rapper has
changed the landscape
• Internet, stream only
– No contract maintains 100% control
• Apple temp. deal
• Socially responsible
– Million dollar donation to Chicago schools
• Won 3 Grammies, with no label
• Rap mixed with God
Definition of Hip Hop Culture
• A form of popular culture that started in the African American inner-city areas (Bronx), characterized by rap music, graffiti art, and breakdancing. MCing, DJing, spit boxing, fashion, slang and style are also important elements of hip hop. The term has since come to be a synonym for hip hop music and rap to mainstream audiences.
• The 4 elements: Rap, DJ, Grafitti, Dance, later; knowledge
Why Hip Hop is not a Culture
The Cultural Litmus Test
> The unique worldviews, customs,
norms, values and patterns of behavior
that are learned through socialization
to nurture, strengthen and insure the
positive progress and development of
its people.
> The people who benefit from this
culture are the “The Billion Dollar
beneficiaries.” Welcome to Hip-
hopracy
• Cultural Training Institute, prepared by Victoria Winbush. (1996).
Recently uncovered was the
‘Hip Hop to prison pipeline’
What are the cultural values /
norms according to the music ?
• Family
– Raising children
• Women
• Education
• Hustling
• Spirituality
• Getting high
• Brotherhood
• Employment
• Career
• Gangs / Click
• Respect
Is it true?
• Is it entertaining?
• Who is the target audience?
– How do you know?
• Why is it entertaining?
Hip Hop’s current commercial
incarnation promotes the SDS’s
• The music
– Lust
– Gluttony
– Greed,
– Sloth,
– Wrath,
– Envy,
– Pride
Step 4: Take a searching and
fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Sometimes a good 4th step makes
a good 1st step
You are here to prepare for those
to come
Artist appear tough but they
know to stay in the box
• Buster Rhyme apologies to
Arab Americans for using
Muslim prayer in, ‘Arab
Money’
• Steven Spielberg falls out
with Michael Jackson over
lyrics in song, ‘They don’t
Really Care About Us’.
Michael would eventually
change the lyrics
• Jerry Heller enraged for
racial content of Ice Cube’s
song, ‘No Vaseline’
• Jadikis has to remove lyrics to
the song 'Why?‘ that asked,
‘Why did George Bush knock
down those buildings?’
• Ice -T removed Cop Killer
from his album with Body
Count
• Rick Ross would be dropped
by Reebok for lyrics which
talked about date rape
• Would Drake who is half
Jewish, ever refer to himself,
or other Jewish Americans as
K_____?
So negative images are ok now as long as
someone who looks like us gets paid?
Hip Hop’s dirty little secret
• We don’t purchase the product
– Albums, streaming, and few concert ticket
• Should we consider the lyrics as being in ‘code’?
• Rappers don’t want to do a ‘Hammer’
• Rappers who became script flippers
are out of the game
– Master P
– Chamillionaire
– Mace
Hip-Hop cultural values brings out the
culture vultures
• Tennis Shoes
• Clothes
• Cars
• Rims
• Music
• Sex (risky)
• Getting high / drunk
• Being ‘cool’
• Women / Men
• Tattoos
• Jewelry
• Props
• Fads
• Welfare
• Crime ‘Hit a Lick’
prison
• Slang
• Respect / ‘Props’
• Gangs
• Working a ‘job’
• Hustle / quick money
Positive Value System
• Family
• Education
• Career
• Spirituality
• Security
• Freedom
• Health
• Property
HipHopcracy
• The culture was hijacked
and then held hostage by
gansta rap which had a
corporate take over
• We call for equal rights,
but use the N word that
we find offensive if others
use it
• We allow an image to be
projected that is not
positive but get offended
when others cop the
same style
• Women are degraded when
single parent homes in the
A/A community are at 70%
• Police have fear that the
music exacerbates
• A hustler lifestyle is
emphasized when the drop
out rate is at an all time high
in an economy that has been
slow to rebound for us
• We can criticize the music by
day and dance to it by night
How would the Arab-American
Community respond if their rappers
rapped in this manner?
Is today’s music coded?
• Lyrics by 21 savage: “I
grew up in the street
without no heart,
I'm praying to my
Glock and my carbon,
Pockets full of Cheese,
bit%# I got racks,
I’m a real street ni&&a
bit%#,
I'm not one of these
ni&&as bangin’ on wax.”
• Code for : “Look a here,
I ain’t got no good
education, I live in a
forgotten about place so
I’m gonna do whatever I
need to do to improve
my situation. You didn’t
help me when you didn’t
know my name, so don’t
try to stop me know that
you do.”
Moment of Clarity • I dumb down for my audience
And double my dollars
They criticize me for it
Yet they all yell "Holla"
If skills sold
Truth be told
I'd probably be
Lyrically
Talib Kweli
Truthfully
I wanna rhyme like Common Sense
(But I did five Mil)
I ain't been rhyming like Common since
Poor Decisions (2013)
• Poor decision makin' plagued you boyz' lives
You sellin' crack up on your momma porch
While she still goin' through her new divorce
He has a thrill as he raise his voice
When he really needs to raise his boyz
Young thugs with so much talent
Young thugs havin' no balance
Young boyz havin' no fathers
Young boyz catchin' dope charges
Lord help us, my generation come to an end
Cause we all selfish, but livin' shallow,
how we gonna' swim?
I mean really why should I pretend?
Black Lives Matter! Really?
To who?
Homework List
• Films/ Videos
– The House I Live in - Documentary 1hr 48 min. by Eugene
Jerecki (for rent or purchase)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBDvxy5qQY
– Billions behind Bars – YouTube 43 min (free)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tJR81BWe5I
– Prison State – Frontline production 1 hr. 23 min. (free)
• http://video.pbs.org/video/2365235229/
– Slavery by Another Name (free)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCxsLDma2o&t=31s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f7tX5hHpcw
– The New Jim Crow Audio book Chapter 1 (all chapters free)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUbYT9FR7O0
– Thirteenth (free)
• http://watchonline.pro/13th-2016/
