What Dee-1 Understands About Hip Hop That Others Don’t
If you’ve never engaged a group of young people you love in a conversation about something that should be perceived as art—and not their roadmap for life, credibility, and validation—you’d never understand the purpose of rapper Dee-1’s message.
I taught elementary school-aged kids who said they wanted to get shot because 50 Cent the rapper got shot. They heard it in his music. They believed that because he had been shot, it gave him street credibility and validation as a “real one.” They sought that same identity.
This was over 20 years ago.
Over the weekend, I watched the most recent Drink Champs podcast episode featuring rapper Dee-1 as the special guest. The episode was both informative and entertaining.
Dee-1, whose real name is David Arnold Augustine Jr., is an American rapper, author, educator, and activist from New Orleans. He’s a devout Christian who challenges the Hip Hop community to be responsible and accountable for the harmful and misleading lifestyle and imagery projected through its music. He credits rapper turned Pastor Mason Betha as his spiritual advisor.
If you only observe from the periphery and allow yourself to be influenced by the narrative others, use to define Dee-1, you’d think he’s just a God-fearing Black man who is opposed to the culture. Which is off-putting and inaccurate.
If you thoroughly listen to his story, you’ll gain a completely different perspective.
I’ve been familiar with Dee-1 and his message for years. However, there was something about his appearance on Drink Champs, hosted by multiplatinum rapper NORE and DJ EFN, that resonated with me.
I could see myself in his story.
Throughout the show, he repeatedly said, “I was a middle school teacher.”
A middle school teacher right outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He detailed an account in which one of his students came to school with the letters “MOB” tattooed on his body. When Mr. Augustine asked the young man why he got those letters tattooed on him and whether he knew what they meant, the student answered that he got the same tattoo as his favorite rapper—and admitted he was clueless about its meaning.
No thanks to Lil Wayne, the young man had tattooed either “Member of Blood” or “Money Over Bitches” on his body.
Needless to say, the result was painful—both literally and figuratively.
After listening to that story, I remembered my own fight against negative influences in the music and culture affecting my students. First, it was the street guys they wanted to emulate. Then, it became the rappers who were emulating the street guys they wanted to emulate.
Nevertheless, it was a fight.
A fight that I was losing.
But the cost of that loss was far greater than a black eye or a busted lip. This fight could potentially lead to lost lives, pain and suffering for families, and the dismantling of entire communities.
The culture is impacted and losing. While a very small percentage benefit monetarily, the vast majority are left hollowed out and suffering.
For as much as Hip Hop has done, one thing it has never been able to do is separate the art form from reality—by its own choosing.
Like myself, Dee-1 knows that many of these rappers are painting misleading, embellished stories. Stories they wouldn’t dare allow their own children’s young, impressionable minds to be shaped by. But unfortunately, they don’t have those same sentiments when it comes to our children.
And sadly, our children often can’t tell the difference.
I applaud Dee-1 and his mission.
Rappers should be held accountable and responsible for the imagery they sell to our community. They should be mindful of the power and influence they possess. We should do better. If not for ourselves, for the betterment of the people.
Those who ask Dee-1, “Why are you only focused on rappers and their influence on the culture when it’s bigger than rap?” have never spent time engaging a group of young people they love about how their mindset is being shaped by the most toxic examples celebrated in our culture.
Because if they had…
They’d already know the answer.
Thank you for reading TheDewsPerspective