COLLEEN KENNEY / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, October 28, 2005 7:00 pm
Derek Jones and Otto Green, two young black men who are active in the local hip hop community, created Hip Hop 101 a few years ago.
Their goal is to show kids of all backgrounds how to express themselves through the five elements of hip hop – DJing, MCing, Graffiti Art, History and Break Dancing – and to learn to overcome stereotypes about people unlike themselves.
For example, Green tells them, just because a young black man’s pants sag below his waist, that doesn’t mean he’s a thug.
“The next time one of the kids not from the community meets up against a stereotype, they’re going to remember, ‘Hey, I met Derek and Otto and they weren’t like that.’”
They bring in local rappers, street poets and graffiti artists. They teach the kids to “scratch” records like a DJ. They teach them how hip hop started in the Bronx, New York, as a way for black and Latino people to express themselves in a positive way, rapping about the reality of their lives.
Said Jones: “The coolest part is that we’ve got every kid in Hip Hop 101 from every kind of background. And they don’t care. They just want to do it.”
Jones is a popular local DJ known as DJ D-Luv.
He and Green did several Hip Hop 101 summer classes at Elliott and Holmes elementary schools. A first-quarter session at Lefler Middle School was the first time it’s been part of the YMCA after-school program.
Jason Schmit, director of the YMCA after-school programs at Elliott and Lefler, said Hip Hop 101 has been a huge success.
“One of the things I like about Derek’s and Otto’s message is that they understand hip hop not from the standpoint of MTV pop culture, but more from the grass roots of hip hip and the real meaning behind it – that it doesn’t come with a color you have to be or a socio-economic place you have to be from. That it more comes with that spirit that’s in it, which is something you can really grab onto and make your own.”
Next quarter, the YMCA will offer it at Goodrich and Park middle schools, as well as Lefler.
Other YMCA after-school classes at Lefler include School of Rock, fishing, extreme sports, theater and fashion design.
Reach Colleen Kenney at 473-2655 or ckenney@journalstar.com.