A little something for the culturally-inclined among us…

We are all Documentarians
By: Hadji Williams

Back in 1999, I taught a college class on marketing and pop culture. I asked every student to bring in their favorite CD because music is a major gateway into a people’s culture; and in order to market to a people you have to understand them and understanding their music is a great place to start. The plan was for everyone to bring in something they were into—ideally everyone’s tastes was a little different—and we’d all learn a little bit about each other then discuss how those insights could apply to marketing.

As the teacher, I brought in my favorite CD at the time—Slick Rick’s The Art of Storytelling. When it was my turn to play my CD I rushed to the end and cranked up the live version of Lodi Dodi and let it bang. As Rick flowed eccentric, the entire class just gawked at the speakers like it was alien talking. Out of about 25 students around 20 were white and all were under 25. They had no clue who or what they were hearing. Not one of ‘em.

About halfway thru the cut “Kelly”, this little blonde girl who couldn’t have been more than 20 smiles all knowingly then screams out, “That’s the ‘Snoop Dogg song’!” A couple other kids chime in with “oh yeah, she’s right” and a couple knowing head nods. She continues, “Why is this guy singing Snoop Dogg’s song?”

I tried explaining that Snoop Dogg’s Lodi Dodi was a cover (a bad one at that) of one of the 3 or 4 greatest songs in the last quarter century but they weren’t hearing it. They knew what they knew and they knew Lodi Dodi was Snoop Dogg’s. Period. And what’s worse is they were then and now, no different from millions of folks who are filled with misconceptions about our culture and communities. Anyway, that’s when I first realized that black folks and the hiphop community at large has to be responsible for documenting and preserving its culture and artforms itself.

“We have an overarching goal–the world of
manifold civilizations animated by the vision of cultural equity.’’
—Alan Lomax, 1977

Last year, I dropped a joint called, “Will the real Documentarians please stand up?” I spent much of that piece complaining about how mainstream America and corporations were misrepresenting our culture and communities. Well, this year I’d like to try something different.

Number One: Stop blaming the obvious. As people of color we (myself included) have to stop blaming white people (or most of them), corporations and the mainstream media for portraying our cultures and communities in negative light. Why? Because for the most part, they’ve established a good 600-year plus track record of marginalizing and commoditizing communities and cultures of color at almost every turn; and that’s just on this continent alone. At some point, being surprised or just angry about something that’s par for the course just becomes a waste of energy.

Number Two: Define yourself first. As black folks, Native Americans and Hispanics, we should all be able to agree on at least one thing: If you don’t tell your story someone else will tell it for you; and if they’re not part of your community and don’t respect your community, they will tell your story wrong until you force them to do otherwise. Consequently instead of waiting for Viacom, Condè Nast, Clear Channel, Rolling Stone, etc. to get it right, we need to commit to getting it right ourselves and stop relying on them to do something they have no interest in ever doing.

Number Two (a): Stop supporting those who co-opt and misrepresent us. This one’s easy to me. When we see niggers, bitches, hoes, pimps, etc. in the media, we need to stop supporting those outlets. We need to take our dollars and patronage to outlets willing to portray us in three dimensions, just as they do with whites and other communities.

Number Three: We need to demand better of ourselves as artists, as consumers and as individuals. One of the reasons you see a lot of clowns in the media, is because unfortunately, we keep giving them a lot of clowns to choose from. When you drop that 16 filled with negativity or that video filled with hoes, you give everyone that’s against you an opportunity to say, “See, I told you so… That’s how they are!”

Number Four: Educate. We have to commit to educating those outside of our communities about what we truly are. And most importantly, we have to refuse to accept their ignorance or arrogance for getting things wrong. Teach those who want to learn and destroy the lies of those who want nothing more than to spread them.

The kids in my class lacked knowledge because of the ignorance of their community. They spread their ignorance because some people just arrogant enough think they have the right to speak for everybody, hence, most of the crap you see in the media and history books, etc.

As people I believe that our first mission is to love God, next– love each other; and lastly: love our culture and communities. So my mission for 2005 and beyond is to respect, embrace and document my culture and wherever the opportunity allows, help others do the same. As a writer and author, my contribution will obviously start with my pen. But whether you’re a DJ, an emcee, a B-Boy/B-Girl, a graf writer a fashion designer, a writer or whomever, we all play a role in documenting preserving and elevating our culture. And again, because all of us are consumers each and every one of us can play the greatest role in this by simply supporting those who are doing it right and refusing to support those who do otherwise.

Don’t sleep; we are all Documentarians. We are all vessels for our heritages. We are all contributors to our culture. We are all recipients of those who came before us and struggled and sacrifices. We are all part of the same family. Consequently, we all have a responsibility to make sure that we as individuals and as communities are portrayed properly. We are responsible for what we leave behind. We’re the only ones that will ensure that our respective cultures, artforms and heritages are properly preserved and passed on. If we don’t take control of our culture and tell our stories someone else will—and it will be same folks who think Snoop Dogg wrote Lodi Dodi.

“Practical men often regard these expressive systems as doomed and valueless. Yet, wherever the principle of cultural equity comes into play, these creative wellsprings begin to flow again…even in this industrial age, folk traditions can come vigorously back to life, can raise community morale, and give birth to new forms if they have time and room to grow in their own communities. The work in this field must be done with tender and loving concern… This concern must be knowledgeable, both about the fit of each genre to its local context and about its roots in one or more of the great stylistic traditions of humankind.”
—Alan Lomax

Hadji Williams is author of KNOCK THE HUSTLE: HOW TO SAVE YOUR JOB AND YOUR LIFE FROM CORPORATE AMERICA, (www.knockthehustle.com, coming March 2005.) It’s hiphop’s first success guide for business, culture and life. Email him at: author@knockthehustle.com.