"Hip hop made me realize I could go to university"

Today in Salvador we all met with a large group of activists, professors and students who advocate for affirmative action and teach classes that combine Afro-Brazilian culture with preparation for the vestibular exam (the extensive test required to get into any university). The conversation was interesting and inspirational in many ways, but the most relevant part for my project were the comments of Francisco, a student at the Federal University of Bahia. He directly connected his involvement in hip hop to his entrance into university. One of the questions I am researching is whether hip hop music challenges the idea of racial democracy and if it can influence support for affirmative action. In Francisco’s case, it did both. He stated that before he got involved in hip hop he rarely expressed his views about racial inequality or affirmative action. Hip hop changed that for him. Brazilian hip hop culture influenced Francisco’s racial politics and inspired him to become more involved in activism around affirmative action. From what I have learned here so far, Brazil has a large component of hip hop that is heavily intertwined with grassroots progressive activism.

Many artists in Brazil use hip hop to get youth more involved in learning, to encourage kids’ interests in college and taking community vestibular preparation courses, and to become part of a movement for Afro-Brazilian identity and racial justice. Many of the students at this meeting today stated that this identity and consciousness (whether it comes from hip hop or somewhere else) allows them to view themselves as part of a community with support rather than as an individual struggling on his or her own against white normalcy and power. Francisco stated that many artists in Brazil are involved with community organizations and have no hope of making any money from their music; rather, the main purpose of engaging in hip hop is to be part of a movement for social justice that draws in kids because they are already attracted to hip hop’s images and sounds. While there are a lot of hip hop artists in the U.S. who have progressive lyrics, it seems that there is a more significant portion of Brazilian artists who truly see their music as connected to racial justice, and who put these ideas into practice through working directly with education and activities in their communities. We are off to Sao Paulo tomorrow, where I will interview more people directly involved in hip hop full time – it will be interesting to see how their perspectives and activities fit into this paradigm.