Akil Houston: A Hip Hop Connoisseur

Reading, Writing, and Rhythm
Scholar uses hiphop to illustrate social, historical, political issues

by Dwayne Steward
Features Writer
Perspectives
Thursday Oct 11, 2007

Akil Houston sits in his townhouse listening to Grand Master Flash, The Notorious B.I.G., Bessie Smith, and Big Mama Thornton. Flipping through his notes, he rocks his head to the beat and prepares the lecture for his Hiphop History, Culture, and Politics course.

The seminar, which Houston has been teaching as a visiting instructor of African American studies at Ohio University since 2003, examines hiphop as a manifestation of Africana visual and social culture. Hiphop is a cultural movement that developed in urban communities in the 1970s. Houston’s class uses hiphop to help bridge gaps of understanding in a historical, political, and social context.

“I incorporate hiphop in various ways, such as using rap music to understand theoretical concepts or to use students’ knowledge of hiphop culture to draw parallels to related issues in class,” Houston says. “For example, seeing the work of artists like Dead Prez as a sociological analysis of poverty may help students in understanding the work of W.E.B. DuBois in his study The Philadelphia Negro.”

Houston, a DJ since the age of nine, draws on his own experiences as a youth in the hiphop metropolis of Atlanta and in Denver. He says when he was younger, he learned about political issues from musicians such as Public Enemy and Ice Cube. “Hiphop just has this ability to change people,” he says.

Since then, Houston’s consuming passion for hiphop, which was sparked by an early obsession with his uncle’s band and mixed tape collection, has come to define much of his life. Now in academia, “hiphop in education” has become the focus of his research and teaching.

He is currently exploring strategies for using hiphop to challenge sexism and misogyny because “hiphop can be a tool in shifting the culture of sexism.” He explains that men must go beyond acknowledging the existence of sexism — they have to actively work to change it.

Houston contributes to the hiphop dialogue in print and in film. He is the author of Beyond Blackface: Africana Images in U.S. Media, which he uses in his black media course. The book’s second edition was published in January and was awarded “Best Book Edited by an African-American Writer” by the Urban Spectrum in Colorado. He is currently working on a documentary film, Hair-atage, which socially, politically, and historically evaluates styles of black hair and the social implication of beauty. The documentary is in pre-production. Houston also maintains the Web site www.hiphopscholar.org.

Hiphop is not only the focus of his dissertation, current research, and creative work, but also has become a tangible experience through his work with the university’s chapter of Hip Hop Congress, a national organization whose main goal is to use hiphop to inspire social and civil action through activities such as hosting break-dancing workshops at area elementary schools and inviting influential hiphop figures to speak.

In July, Ohio University’s chapter of Hip Hop Congress hosted the group’s 2007 national conference. Chapters from all over the country attended the event, which featured various workshops, performances, and networking opportunities for up-and-coming artists.

Houston believes hiphop, in its purest form, can be the newest vehicle to help educate America’s youth.

“If you simply look at popular culture and rap,” he says, “you miss all the potential and possibilities hiphop offers. Someone needs to fill that void and talk about not just the music, but the culture.”