Before Jason Rawls collaborated with some of the most well-known names in hip-hop — Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), Talib Kweli, Pro Era and the Beastie Boys, just to name a few — he was like many youths in the early 1980s who were enamored with the still burgeoning musical and cultural genre.
Rawls, who eventually became known in hip-hop circles as J. Rawls, a talented DJ and producer, said his interest really grew in 1984, 11 years after the founding of hip-hop, when movies about the music and cultural genre were becoming popular. That’s when the concept of rapping on a microphone was still novel, he said, introduced by the first rap song to gain commercial success, Rapper’s Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang.
“I remember my father getting that record and playing (Rapper’s Delight), dancing and having parties,” Rawls recalled. “They told me (rapping) was a fad, you know, this is just something fun. Nobody raps on a mic. That’s for like, Gil Scott-Heron or Last Poets.”
As the genre evolved and hip-hop groups formed, like Planet Rock and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, those ideas were challenged, and ultimately turned on their heads, Rawls said.
Rawls credits his entry into hip-hop with the release of two 1984 movies: Beat Street and Breakin’.
“We were so entranced by the culture, the hip-hop, and then when (those movies came out), that just changed everything for me. I knew, I was like, “This is who I am. And that was 4th grade, 1984,” said Rawls.
Now, Rawls has taken his passion and knowledge of hip-hop and uses it as a tool in the classroom as the assistant professor of hip-hop at Ohio State University.
He took the position last year in the university’s Department of African American and African Studies and is currently developing a hip-hop studies minor for undergraduate students. He has taught several classes centered around hip-hop culture in his nearly two decades as an educator.
The Dispatch sat down with J. Rawls to talk about how he incorporates hip-hop into his teaching, his views on contemporary hip-hop, and how the genre has changed while still maintaining the roots of its founding.
From the studio to the classroom
Rawls said that his use of hip-hop in the classroom serves the larger picture of using the zeitgeist to educate his students.
“(Hip-hop pedagogy) is basically using the aesthetics and the culture of hip-hop to inform your educational practices,” explained Rawls. The concept is not old, with academic scholarship on hip-hop going as far back as 1994 with Tricia Hill’s book, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Temporary America.
Before teaching at OSU, Rawls spearheaded the first hip-hop based education program at Ohio University, where he also earned his doctorate of education in educational administration. Although Rawls had always wanted to incorporate hip-hop into his teachings, he told The Dispatch that when he first started out, he often ran into doubters who were skeptical about whether hip-hop was appropriate in an educational setting.
“I was always told no, or that it wouldn’t work,” Rawls recalled, saying that the doubters often leaned on some of the negative stereotypes of hip-hop when saying that it didn’t have a space in academics. Others, he said, were simply afraid of change. But Rawls said he kept pushing, and even got his doctorate in education so that he could use his skills to prove that hip-hop had a place in the classroom.
Rawls said that both his practician skills as a professional DJ combined with his teaching experience made him a good fit for the assistant professor position at OSU.
The first year of the class is going well, Rawls said, and so far, he is impressed by the curiosity of students into the culture of hip-hop and its origins. The first class had 15 to 20 students, but now the class has capped out at 55 students with a wait-list of 10 to 15 students.
Rawls said he usually begins classes by asking students what they think hip-hop is. Their answers, he said, usually confines hip-hop to a box. This is where Rawls will point out to students that hip-hop has four main elements, and that if any one of them are included, it’s hip-hop.
“If you’re deejaying, if you’re doing graffiti, if you’re a B-boy or if you’re an emcee, if you’re doing any part of that, that’s it. That’s the culture,” Rawls explained.
As he participates in this exchange of knowledge with his students about contemporary hip-hop culture, he then centers his curriculum around the experiences of his students to better engage with them. Rawls said that since educators first began weaving elements of hip-hop into their educational practices, it has come a long way.
“It resonates with students. I mean, hip-hop culture is part of youth culture. Now, it’s a part of popular culture. And so, for these students, learning about something like that, learning the history and the origin, I think it gives them something that, you know, connects some dots for them.”
‘Hip-hop is cyclical’: Rawls talks the future and Columbus artists to watch
While the beats, music samples, lingo, style, and the artists continue to morph, Rawls said that much of contemporary hip-hop draws from the hip-hop of his era. He said that even though some of the music that has become popular with this generation may not be his favorite, it’s good that hip-hop is continuing to adapt and change with the times and he respects the creativity that today’s generation of artists continue to exhibit.
“Hip-hop is going to evolve. If it didn’t, it would stay stagnant and it would die.” Rawls said. “It’s good that it’s changing. It’s good that young people are coming out and putting their stamp on it.” At the same time, Rawls also said that much of what is popular now are iterations of the past, from the fashion to the music and its origins.
“I think hip-hop, what I’m realizing, is very cyclical,” Rawls said. “It just comes around.”
J. Rawls also took some time to shout out some Columbus-based hip-hop artists who have made a name for themselves, such as King Veda, TrigNO, and Nova.
Besides teaching and working with some of the industry’s best-known hip-hop artists, J. Rawls has produced his own solo albums, including The Essence of J. Rawls, the Liquid Crystal Project (1,2, and 3), and #jazzhop. He also confirmed that he is collaborating with Talib Kweli on a new album titled The Confidence of Knowing that is scheduled to be released in mid-September.
Rawls, Talib Kweli, and Brooklyn hip-hop artist Skyzoo will be hosting a listening party for the album on Sept. 21 at The Forum Columbus, located at 144 N. Wall St. in Columbus.
@ShahidMeighan
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