One of the issues that I’ve been pondering for quite some time is the issue of manhood in Hip Hop. As a man, this is something that I’m quite interested in because I interact with a lot of young men who tend to see manhood through the lens of Hip Hop. Moreover, I have three godsons that I know are looking at how I do manhood. I guess I’m really interested in how manhood translates for the African American. There are so many dimensions to this. Where does one start? Where does one begin to affect change?

 

 

If you haven’t already seen these two videos, take a look at them before you read the rest of this blog.

 

Video 1

 

Video 2

 

To begin, I grew up listening to Hip Hop in a dadless vacuum.  I saw first hand the effects of having no father in the household. I grew up at a time, in the 1980’s, where the ‘hood was going through much change and change was for the worse it would seem. Now, my mom and grandmother did a great job of raising me and doing what she could to give me what I needed. That said, I still had no real male role model.

 

I remember seeing Run-DMC and seeing how I thought a Black male should act. I then remember seeing the first NWA videos and embracing that image as well, after all, a lot them looked the way my community looked, so it was quite natural to adhere to their message.

 

In middle school, I was one of the few kids that did not have a dad. It was hard going to “father son” picnics with no one there. Moreover, I did not really grasp the power of having a male role model. Not all the men I knew were that great to look up to— but the funny thing about that is, I did not know that at the time.

 

High school was a little different, for the first time I really started hanging around other young men who also did not have their father. I saw different images of “fathers:” coaches, teachers, principles, security guards. But none of them “fit” what I was looking for. Over the years, I would typically have some sort of older male to look up to—be it positive or negative. When I first got to high school, it was rough. Gang violence was high and things we’rnt exactly easy for a boy trying to find his way.

 

I remember Vince. Vince was a senior when I was a freshman. My mom knew Vince’s mom and had helped raise Vince. When I first got to high school, Vince looked out for me. I didn’t know the “ropes” coming from small rural town in Texas. Moreover, I was easy “bait” for those who wanted to take advantage of me. I remember Vince being there for me and really being that “father” role model. I should probably mention Vine was a big player in the city we lived. Vince had a name in the ‘hood, and whoever hung with Vince was down. Moreover, Vince was a football star and that is always “win win” in high school. Vince provided for me some of the first education on how to be a “man” in the ‘hood. Vince was there for me….

 

At the same time, I was being influence by Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and Too $hort. I saw them as some men who could take almost anything on and deal with life head on. I saw them really “having it” and I too wanted to “have it.”

 

By the end of my freshman year, Vince had murdered a 15 year old boy in a drug deal gone bad. A month later, he was caught and is now spending the rest of his life in jail. I lost that role model. Was he a role model? What did I learn in those days there? Is Dyson right in the video about hyper-masculinity in Hip Hop? Did Hip Hop create these gender paradigms? Do movies show men to use guns as the symbol of manhood? Deep stuff.

 

Let me stop here….and ask y’all how you all first learned how to be a man or a woman? This stuff has been on my mind and just wanted to get the community in on it….so what do you all say to all this?