Black voters are always crucial, not just in an election year, and that’s a message the Hip-Hop Caucus is spreading across the country. On this episode of Dear Culture, meet some of the non-profit’s key players using hip-hop’s power to ignite change and promote political activism. Singer, songwriter, and former member of Danity Kane, Dawn Richard, is a part of the initiative and shares with Panama Jackson the importance of using her platform to reach Black America and combat voter suppression and misinformation. With pivotal voting dates fast approaching, including the South Carolina Primary and Super Tuesday, now is the time to get active and let your voice be heard.
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Panama Jackson: [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, Black Culture Amplified.
What’s going on, everybody? Welcome to Dear Culture, the podcast for, by and about the culture here on theGrio Black Podcast Network. I’m your host, Panama Jackson, and this August, we celebrated 50 years of hip hop, culture, music, community, the whole shebang. While some people argue about the start date, we’ve all settled on like August 11th, and we use that as a way to throw parties and have all these panel discussions and do all the things around hip hop.
One thing that we’ve all been discussing, what I’ve seen a lot of articles, a lot of articles on is like the evolution of hip hop, like has hip hop evolved? Has it not? Like, where are we in terms of where hip hop is 50 years later, which is a very fair question, very fair conversation. And we’ve been using lots of methods to discuss that.
Like how has hip hop waded into all the different parts of society. At this point, I think we can all [00:01:00] argue that hip hop is like mainstream pop culture in America, at least. And that means it’s infiltrated every part of society. We got… you know, we got hip hop heads in the halls of Congress. We got hip hop heads running, you know, companies and corporations.
And that means that wherever the causes and the issues and the need for advocacy are, is hip hop. The community, at least. And one of those community organizations, excuse me, one of those organizations, is Hip Hop Caucus.
Hip Hop Caucus: Hip Hop Caucus fights for a future that is black and green. We are pushing for economic prosperity, clean air, clean water and the dismantling of oppressive systems designed to harm our people.
As activists and influencers, we use our cultural expression and creativity to influence real change.
Panama Jackson: And we have two people here who are innately involved in the organization to discuss it with us, help us understand like what this organization like is, how hip hop is [00:02:00] involved, outside of the name, and largely, what can we as a community, because I consider myself a hip hop head and part of the community, like, what is hip hop doing in terms of furthering causes that matter to all of us.
So our guests today are Brittany Bell Surratt, who is the Senior Director of Storytelling and Communications for Hip Hop Caucus. And I can’t wait to hear exactly what that means. Um, I love a good title on a job and that is a good title on a job. We also have Dawn Richard here who is an artist, uh, she’s a director, she’s does a multi-hyphenate, does all kinds of stuff.
Like you see. Um, you know her from Danity Kane and Diddy Dirty Money, but her solo work is probably like the, where the real stars are all shining.
I don’t even know if your music has a genre necessarily. It’s very genre less. It’s just, it’s just good. And [00:03:00] good music doesn’t need, doesn’t need a label. So I appreciate the work that you’re doing. Uh, thank you both for being here. How are you doing today?
Dawn Richard: Great.
Panama Jackson: How are you doing?
Brittany Bell Surrat: I’m cool. I’m cool Panama.
Panama Jackson: I’m cool Panama.
I like that. So let’s start. Let’s start big picture. What is the Hip Hop Caucus?
Brittany Bell Surrat: The Hip Hop Caucus is we’re a nonprofit nonpartisan organization. Um, that uses our advocacy and activism to make change, um, in communities of color. So we have a very grassroots infrastructure in which we support local communities and, um, local organizations, whether that is through, um, civic engagement, advocacy, whether that is Ballot initiatives, um, whether that is community cleanup, um, commemoration, [00:04:00] uh, we do all of that and we are Hip Hop Caucus because we utilize hip hop culture as a means of,
of connecting, uh, people in the work.
And so when we say hip hop culture, that could mean artists and influencers, um, that could mean fashion that could. mean animation. Um, there’s so many facets to hip hop in which messaging and advocacy can be a portal. And so that’s what we do at Hip Hop Caucus. And that’s who we are.
Panama Jackson: And Dawn, how did you get involved in this organization?
Have you been there since day one? Like where did, you know, how did you get involved with Hip Hop Caucus?
Dawn Richard: I got in touch with Hip Hop Caucus in a very real way, right? I went through Katrina. I lost everything. And a lot of people were on the ground doing a lot of nothing. And, um, we were there to witness it.
Nobody really cared about a city that everybody visited. Everybody put money into a city, but the money wasn’t coming to the locals. [00:05:00] And when there was an opportunity for people to really show up, no one did. And one of the organizations that was on the ground doing something was the caucus. Lo and behold, never would I have thought that, you know, 18 years later, they would come back into my wheelhouse and I would have the opportunity now as an artist to do the philanthropic work that I had been wanting to do, but really didn’t have any direction as an artist because no one was guiding us into where to put our money and our time.
A lot of times when you’re a musician and you’re an artist, people tell you real talk to write off things. Financially just work with nonprofits, but they don’t tell you like genuinely, yo, a lot of the artists that are going through things are a part of neighborhoods and communities that are having real issues.
But artists don’t know how to speak to that. And no one in the labels, no one in the industry is really helping you facilitate that you’ve got to help and facilitate that yourself. And some of us don’t even know how to put that messaging out there. Uh, and I knew that I wanted to, but I didn’t really have any guidance.
Come, you know, cut to I’m on my independent hustle and I really have a control [00:06:00] over my career. And I built that for a long time and I knew it was time for me to put my money where my mouth was. My agenda and message had always been, I wanted to go back to my city and do everything that I didn’t get a chance to do when I was a part of it and homeless going through it.
And, uh, the Hip Hop Caucus had a role open for artist relations director. And I thought that that would be a prime opportunity cause I never thought that success and the make of an artist would be in the societal structure that people were telling me it would be. I always felt like an artist had an avenue to make that design anything, you know, any way they wanted it.
And to me, that’s a part of hip hop culture, right? There’s no rules to what an artist is supposed to look like. Uh, and so I thought it’d be really cool to come in and, you know, if I wanted to change the infrastructure, I had to be the one to do it. So instead of, you know, talking about what people aren’t doing for artists, I wanted to be a part of the people that provided platforms to do things with.
So I thought it was on brand to work with an organization that was on the ground for Katrina, that actually was built around what was going [00:07:00] on, and be a bridge for artists to be able to communicate with real issues, what’s going on in our society, and be able to speak with them because I was an artist myself.
Panama Jackson: Are artists an essential part of the community or is it like the culture and community of hip hop is really what’s at heart here? Like I imagine, like my understanding, um, you know, it was like with the Vote or Die campaign. I know Diddy was very big on the Vote or Die thing. Right? And that seems like a natural, I think that’s, if I’m not mistaken, that was the impetus for Hip Hop Caucus, um, in the beginning.
Anyway, but I imagine that over time, the name alone would draw artists into the fold who might find an interest or who are, who are interested in advocacy issues for, you know, environmental justice or whatever. Like, you know, there’s a certain subsect of, of, of artists who are very invested and interested in on the ground change and things like that.
Do they seek Hip Hop Caucus out? Or is it like you all seek artists out who might align with the missions of what you guys have going on? Like how? [00:08:00] What is the artist, what is the hip hop artist end of Hip Hop Caucus?
Dawn Richard: I know I could speak for myself when I think it’s a bit of both, right? And as hip hop evolves, so does the outreach, right?
In the beginning, I think hip hop, you know, hip hop’s name along Hip Hop Caucus and then what they were doing with Vote or Die. It was natural for artists to want to be a part of hip hop and Hip Hop Caucus because the name was there. And hip hop to me, culture was at its it was thriving. It was coming up in a very real way.
We saw hip hop speaking in political spaces like Vote or Die, right? But as hip hop evolves, to me, it’s more than just music., it’s a lifestyle and you’re seeing as hip hop evolves, right? So does the caucus and the name becomes a broader width versus it was just rappers, uh, and people within the hip hop space.
But now as hip hop evolves into multi-genre, right? You’ve got hip hop kids who love gaming, hip hop kids who love rock and roll, like the Rico Nasty’s and the Lil Uzi Verts, right? These evolution, uh, of hip hop changing, so does the [00:09:00] caucus. And now we get to actually do some outreach and search for a broader band of what that looks like.
So at first it was a lot of hip hop culture coming to us saying we want to be a part of this. And I think as things have evolved, we’ve been able to go out into the community and say, We think this might fit like animation. We think this might fit like tech. We think this might fit like the gaming world.
We think this might fit because it’s encompassing, right? It’s changing, it’s evolving, and as it does, we’re able to stretch that, uh, that, um, boundary, right? We’re able to stretch that gambit to something bigger.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Yeah, and I’ll just add, um, I think you hit it with community and culture comes first and then, um, the, the many facets of hip hop and how we can penetrate the, the advocacy through those facets.
And so that could, that doesn’t necessarily have to be a person like an artist
or an influencer,
it could [00:10:00] be, you know, we set up shop in a neighborhood and decide to do a cypher or graffiti or a mural or, um, you know, all these other ways in which the people can display hip hop through themselves and that be a means to the advocacy and the activism, uh, work.
It doesn’t have to be like a person. And that person can, can absolutely and does sometimes seek us out. Like, Hey, we see what y’all are doing. And, you know, I am interested or passionate about X, Y, and Z issue. How can I help? But then also we, we, we, we are doing a lot of social listening and monitoring and just listen to music and songs and say, okay, well, we know that, you know, Dawn cares about LGBTQ rights. We know that Dawn cares about, you know, environmentally conscious issues.
Let’s see if we can get in touch with Dawn to see if [00:11:00] she’d be willing to, you know, help us go out to Mississippi in the Jackson water crisis, you know what I mean? Like those are the, it does go both ways also.
Panama Jackson: When I hear the word caucus, my mind immediately goes to like, you know, like, I’m in Washington, D.C. I worked on Capitol Hill for years, it was a caucus for everything in the city. So my mind immediately goes to politics and, you know, the whole political process and all of that. Um, but this seems more community centric in gen– Like, this Like, you can act… you can make a difference without going through Congress.
You can make a difference without going through the State House. Now, you need You need that support, but grassroots change is grassroots change, right? You can make a difference on the ground. Um, so what is the, like, what is the, the end goal for a lot of the advocacy and, and, and work that you all do?
Brittany Bell Surrat: It depends where we are and what the space is.
We have a campaigns and advocacy team, um, in which, you know, the, that, that one team will um, be working on, [00:12:00] um, policy and legislation and going down to Congress and the Rayburn building and having meetings and figuring out how to, you know, track bills that are moving through the house and, um, and how those, you know, relate to something we may be wanting to get past, or it could be, we are, you know, down in a small town, uh, working through their local school board to try to get, you know, Something education related has, it could be we just out on the ground, um, trying to get resources out to you know, people who may need, um, you know, a community cleanup or people in Louisiana who are in cancer alley that may not know how something called petrochemicals is affecting them because we know that political cycles change. Then we don’t rely on, um, you know, that as a means to get [00:13:00] our work done.
Panama Jackson: How big is y’all team though?
Like this, like how many hats can you, how many, like, it sounds like y’all involved in a lot of things at the same time because everything that you talk about is always going on, right? This stuff is always happening and the ability to deploy teams to specific places, like while the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis is going on, we ain’t quite done in Flint, right?
Or. There, like, there’s always things going on that require, like, a well organized machine to be a part of it in order to ensure that the people and the, like, the issues that need the most attention are able to get that.
Dawn Richard: It’s a everyday hustle, right? That’s what the culture of hip hop is, right? That’s the hustle.
And not just hip hop, Black communities. I wanted to piggyback on what you were saying. I think the bigger picture is a wealthier and healthier world for our people. That is the… That is the big game, right? That’s the end game is that we understand our wealth. We gain our wealth, right? And we also have cleaner [00:14:00] air and cleaner communities.
And then educational, wealthier comes with better educational systems for our people. That is what the caucus is built on, is creating a world where we are not the last on the totem pole, right? We are the first. And so that’s not a day thing. That’s not a week thing. That is a forever struggle that we are willing to take on.
And like any big initiative, it’s grassroots. It’s going to be like the street team. Yes, donations are great, but a lot of this is through collaboration. And when we talk about storytelling and… and narrative, again celebrities are cool. Artists are cool, but really what makes this drive is stories, our stories and how we connect to those.
And when we get on the ground and talk to these communities and they tell us these stories, that is what motivates us to get up every day and fight these fights that you are right can be overwhelming and repetitive and redundant, but worth it because that is what it’s going to take for our communities to see the importance of what [00:15:00] this is.
And honestly, because we are a lot of, a lot of times the last on the list, the education and us knowing why this matters, it has to be an everyday fight. And it’s not, it’s not going to be something that will be overnight, but with the more and more we do these grassroots DIY, get on the ground, these street team level work buildups
I think the more and more our community will be educated enough to know ok we do need to be a part of the caucus.
Panama Jackson: Time for a quick break. Stay with us.
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Panama Jackson: And we’re back. How do people invest in in Hip [00:16:00] Hop Caucus and find a way to be a part of what you all have going on?
Dawn Richard: All of the above. All of the above. I mean, I think the biggest one is the outreach. We do the research, right? So we’re looking to see how to get people involved into this and tell the stories, right?
So whether and it’s. It’s not, it’s also to looking at places that most people tend not to right because of our communities. A lot of times we are overlooked and then those overlooked under the shell places are some of the best stories and people really trying to affect change. So we don’t just look at a trend, right?
We look at true stories and we see what’s going on. Again, like when I saw the caucus on the ground for Katrina, I didn’t know who they were. I just saw the name and I saw the work they were, they were doing. And then again, I seek them out and said, okay, this might be a great fit. Um, as a person who has actually went through that story, but just to see them, they were the ones to put the larger lens to Katrina that others weren’t looking at. They were over here speaking [00:17:00] on the wetlands. They were over here speaking about the petrochemicals. That was a story that nobody wanted to cover. Right? So I think it has to also be a lot of us doing the research and going into. We’re picking up the rocks. Right, in those places, in those crevices that tend to be overlooked, like no one really talking about Cancer Alley, no one really talking about the story about what’s under the indigenous pipelines and these, these true stories that are happening beyond that.
And then also staying when everyone is left. Right? People tend to, to, to be on a lens and stay for a week, right? But we as an organization are saying, well, what’s happening three, four, five weeks, four months after? Are we still having the same conversations? That’s the work that’s keeping us on the ground and, and, and really us seeking that out because to me, those stories need to be amplified. That to me is what makes us a bit special and what we’re choosing to do to tell these stories.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Yeah, we really just be everywhere, Panama. Um, we be, we might be in Atlanta, South Cup City. We may be at [00:18:00] Broccoli City, we may be at NABJ, we may be at a Hurricane Katrina commemoration, the March on Washington, Afro Tech, climate week, Afro tech, like, and you ask something…
our team is, our team is not that big. But what you do is you have a, like people who are really passionate about it. And when you have people really passionate about it, they’re gonna spend the time, they’re gonna do the, they’re gonna expend the energy, um, and they’re gonna do the work. And so, um, we got a, a crazy digital game in which we are, you know, in, in, in email marketing and then tech marketing and on Instagram, like Tiktok… like we’re everywhere in physical appearances on digital. Um, because that’s like, that’s how important it is to us and that’s how un silo we want to, you know what I mean? We don’t want to be.
Panama Jackson: Gotcha. How has the evolution of hip hop impacted the way that you all do business? If it has at all, at least on the artist front?
Dawn Richard: This is the conversation I always have, right? Because I’m watching it in real time and I’m a part of it. [00:19:00] Um, I think that tech has a lot to do with that. I think artists probably were definitely more vocal still then in hip hop time. But the tech just, we didn’t have social media. Like, we only got that from Pump It Up or like whatever rap city or whatever, like, you know, TV show we could possibly see a VJ talking to an artist to get that. Or if you just saw in the music video that the artists were doing, you saw that presence, whether or not they say a vote or not, or they hated the police or whatever. It just was different. But also too, we are in a multi-genre time, right?
Where hip hop is more of a lifestyle and a culture and less about a musical genre now. It is about a vibe. And I do think you have more artists speaking about social issues because they have access. Tech has, social media has made things just more accessible. You have the Cardi B’s talking about like real social issues in her way, but still speaking of it. You have Megan Thee Stallion graduating from college [00:20:00] and speaking about the importance of an education, which, you know, like they’re where these are most, some of these artists have full on Master’s degrees, but that, you know, BAs and, and some levels, even actors have PhDs like it’s, it’s a different time where people are more aware than ever. And then you have Generation Z, who is so present and so involved in the movement. They can start riots. We just seen one kid shut down New York for Playstations. You know, just, yeah, like, because of Twitch. And what Twitch can bring to the, uh, to the table on a gaming level and what these Black youth, these young kids have now, have access to.
Um, I love all of it. And I think there’s a way for us to tap into it. I think our name actually, encompasses all those things. And so the point that we have to do is we have to evolve with it, right? And I think a part of hip hop culture is evolution. To me, hip hop is us. It’s Black people. It’s community.
And so that has become, to me, a larger picture that we are [00:21:00] aware of, which is why we’re collaborating with animators. Which is why it’s not just graffiti, it’s muralist, right? It’s mural work. Right. Because now the, the penmanship and this, the gauge of what the craft of graffiti is, has evolved. And to me, muralists, muralists come from the, I mean, the history of graffiti, right?
That we cannot talk about a mural without talking about the work that graffiti has done in the history of not just graffiti, but tattoo work. Right? Tattoo is, and what that was in the, in the history of tattoos. Um, but again, we have to, as a– the culture of hip hop evolves so must the caucus.
Panama Jackson: Time for a quick break.
Stay with us.
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Panama Jackson: And we’re back.
Brittany Bell Surrat: I came up on real 90s rap. And, um, everything from like, you know, when I think about socially conscious and the things that people were speaking about then. I think about, you know, UGK’s One Day lyrics, and I think about, uh, OutKast, In Due [00:23:00] Time, those lyrics, like, those were, they were speaking about issues, they were speaking about mass incarceration, they were speaking about, you know, elections, and, you know, politics, and how, you know, that affects neighborhoods, and, you know, I’m sure we can pull, like, some, you know, the examples, the standard go to examples where you have, You know, the TLC talking about, um–
Dawn Richard: Waterfalls. Yeah.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Yeah. Waterfalls or, um,
uh, I, it, it escapes me right now, but, um,
Dawn Richard: With the condom on the eye.
Brittany Bell Surrat: With the condom–
Dawn Richard: Safe sex.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Um, or we, you know, or NWA as, um, as Dawn’s reference when they was talking about, you know, at the police. The police, yeah. Um, like. There’s always, it’s always been there. I think that the, that what has, to Dawn’s point, is how tech and social media and how we have, as a society, evolved into, into wanting our artists to [00:24:00] align and to know where their alignment lies.
Whereas back then, it didn’t matter if, you know, if who people were necessarily voting for or where they stood, you know, in political, in political ideology, um, as it does now. Right. So, and I think because of that, it is also, uh, a sellable, marketable point for some artists to take a position and to take a stand and that could work in their favor.
Um, and I think that’s what the difference is.
Dawn Richard: And also the politicians understand the power of hip hop now and not just hip hop, but the culture. So now they’re using their lyrics at their rallies and more than ever right now they are, the popularity of the artists. Like you said, the agenda has changed where an artist has had, has more power.
And I think artists know that and they’re very much on the pulse of what their power is.
Panama Jackson: Yeah. Let me be clear. I, I actually think [00:25:00] I’m, I grew up in the nineties, uh, real hip hop, as you called it too. So I actually do think that the artists back then, and I’m not going to say all of them. Cause I, again, we have this thing where we remember the stuff that was good versus stuff that nobody will ever remember.
But you know, like I do think those… the, the lyrically, the stuff that a lot of rappers were talking about, I think is exactly, I think you’re absolutely right. There’s a lot of, like, uh, speaking truth to power lyrically and all of that stuff. Whereas I don’t know that–
Dawn Richard: Like a PSA.
Panama Jackson: Yeah, like, it was like, they were, they were all saying it.
I don’t know that, I don’t know that while you could get you know, uh, Prodigy from Mobb Deep to talk about the pain and all of us, because he’s a brilliant lyricist and all the stuff that he was talking about, but what’s he going to go out here and stand and advocate for something on the street? I don’t know.
Whereas I think nowadays you get rappers who were just vibing out 24/7, but it’s nothing to get somebody to say, Hey, come be a part of this cause and you’ll see something on Instagram. Yeah, you know, go do that. Like I, like, I think the way that that [00:26:00] artists interact with their politics, such that they have them is different nowadays.
I just think that because there’s more avenues, like you said, because of technology, there’s more avenues to speak about how you really feel, which is sometimes a bad thing. Cause some of these artists have no business talking about anything, um, without a script in front of them. Right? Like it’s just, you know, shots fired all the time.
I can’t tell you how many of my favorite artists are people that I really do not like as humans now. Because of their ability to speak outside of the little box in the lyrics and things that they, that they’ve shared. So, I’m with you on that end. Like, I, you know, I, I’m completely with you, uh, to that end.
I wonder, you know, you mentioned Gen Z, do the Gen Z folks, like, do they even consider themselves hip hop fans? Like, this is not really a question, like, I, look, I, I love the title of Hip Hop Caucus, because it brings, again, it brings people like me in, but I wonder if that draws in young people. Like, do they look at this Hip Hop Caucus and they’re like, meh.[00:27:00]
Hip hop is where I’m at. Like, does I wonder if hip hop head even means anything to them the way that like, there’s a badge of honor for me. It’s on my Instagram profile. Like, I still have hip hop head right there. Right? But like, I need you to understand that this is who I am and where I’m coming from.
This is the lens in which I think, I feel, and I speak.
Brittany Bell Surrat: From my, my personal lens with a 17 year old who’s a senior in high school right now. Um, short answer, I would say no. Their, um, recognition, alliance, allegiance, um, connection to, you know, the words, hip hop itself, um, is not the, like, it’s not the same as we see it, and I say we as in, like, millennial, right?
And I, and I feel like, and I can only speak from, like, without doing any official polling, and, you know, all of the, the tried and true ways to, to try to get this information just, knowing a bunch of 16 and 17 year olds, um, it’s looked at as like, that’s [00:28:00] y’all, you know what I mean? Like that’s y’all’s thing.
You know what I mean? Um, and what I’m saying though, now with sampling with more, um, you know, artists and, uh, doing cross collaborations with Um, this interest of the nostalgia of the 80s, 90s, early 2000s…wild that my kid would go to a 2000s themed party in which they had to wear the big, you know, throwbacks and oversized jerseys and the jersey dresses.
Like that was a real thing that he got dressed up for. He put on a durag and a fitted and everything. And I think that is their… That is their, you know, kind of connection to, I think the words, hip hop. Um, but this generation, Gen Z is they are just [00:29:00] everything bending. They’re genre bending. They’re gender bending.
They are… you know, orientation bending like they’re nothing is, you know, bound to read in black and white for this generation. And so I think that when it comes to music and when it comes to terms and when it comes to, um, you know, something being kind of black and white, like, that’s just not where they are.
Dawn Richard: Which is again, like, it’s a nostalgia thing for them that that’s what, like, they understand what hip hop is.
They’re just… more. Right. So they understand the surface of it and they love it because they sampling it, they taking it. Every song that’s on the top 10 billboard is a sample. Like it’s, they understand the concept of it. Yeah. They understand the concepts of it and they appreciate it. They just know, like she said, it’s a, they, it’s a, it’s like, it’s a y’all thing, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t recognize it it’s evolving. Right. And we are recognizing that. And that’s how we have to look at it cause Gen Z is moving. And if you don’t move with them, you lose them. [00:30:00]
Panama Jackson: Yeah. All right. Well, we’re going to take one more break here. When we come back, we’re going to talk, uh, Blackfessions and Blackamendations here with my good friends, Dawn Richard and Brittany Bell Surratt of the Hip Hop Caucus.
So stay tuned here on Dear Culture.
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I’m world famous wypipologist, Michael Harriot and this is, theGrio Daily.
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Panama Jackson: All right, we’re back here on Dear Culture and it’s my favorite time of the show is where we talk Blackfessions and Blackamendations where we let… we have our guests let their hair out and have a little fun with with with Black culture in our community. You know, we love to say that we’re not a monolith. Well, here’s our chance to prove it. So we do Blackfessions. [00:31:00] We start with a Blackfession, which is a confession about your Blackness; which is something people will be surprised to know about you because you’re black.
Brittany, let’s start with you. Do you have a Blackfession for us?
Brittany Bell Surrat: Uh, yeah. Do I have to just choose one? I have a food related one and a music related one.
Panama Jackson: Well, you know what? Give us the best one you got first and we’ll see if we even need the second one because if you disgust me with the food one or whatever, then I’m not sure I can take, my heart can take anymore.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Okay. Well, the food one is I don’t eat, um, I don’t eat greens. I don’t like collard or mustard greens.
Panama Jackson: Ain’t you from Mississippi?
I am. Tried and true. Imagine. Mm-Hmm.
Panama Jackson: Okay. I mean, you know, I’m a little surprised at that, but, you know, that’s, that’s fine. That’s fine. You’re not the first person. A lot of black people don’t like chicken, which is odd to me, but, you know, it does happen.
It does happen.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Yeah.
Panama Jackson: Okay. What’s your music one?
Brittany Bell Surrat: Uh, that Lauryn Hill should not be considered in the top three, uh, female rapper.
Panama Jackson: Hmm. [00:32:00] that’s a take. That’s a take. I, uh… Okay. I, as even as somebody who doesn’t love The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as much as everybody else does, I think what you–
Brittany Bell Surrat: That’s a Blackfession for you! That’s not what you just said on the 25th anniversary of Miseducation.
I’m embarrassed by both of you
I hope they scrubbed it from the internet.
Panama Jackson: First off.
Brittany Bell Surrat: That is a masterpiece.
Panama Jackson: You do not get an opportunity to be more upset at what I said than what you said. That, that’s not a thing.
Brittany Bell Surrat: That was appalling.
Panama Jackson: No, you gonna have to fall back a little bit.
Dawn Richard: Both of you are ridiculous.
Panama Jackson: I’m fine with mine. Lauryn Hill is my favorite verse in hip hop history. I love Lauryn Hill.
Lauryn Hill has my literal favorite hip hop verse of all time.
Brittany Bell Surrat: What verse is it?
Panama Jackson: It’s her verse on Zealots.
Lauryn Hill: And even after all my logic and my theory I add a “Motherfucker” so [00:33:00] you ignant niggas hear me.
Panama Jackson: That’s how I live my life. That’s how I write. That’s how I approach my work. Like, think like a wise man and speak in the voice of the people.
So, you know, but that whole verse is in it. But anyway, okay, that’s, you know, that’s a take. I like it. It’s a take. And that’s what I do. I live on takes. Um, Dawn, you got one? You got a Blackfession for us?
Dawn Richard: Yeah, I don’t think it’s a secret, but, um, I grew up on heavy metal and rock and roll. So my first concert was Green Day.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Oh.
Panama Jackson: Okay. I love it. I also like Green Day. I’m a, I’m a, I grew up on, my mother was a heavy metal head. I mean, so I grew up on groups like Ratt and ACDC and–
Dawn Richard: ACDC, yeah–
Panama Jackson: I still have my Guns and Roses.
Dawn Richard: Slipknot.
Panama Jackson: Yeah.
Dawn Richard: Yeah.
Panama Jackson: All that stuff.
Dawn Richard: Slipknot. Yeah. Yeah.
Panama Jackson: I can understand that your music tends to speak to, to, to being influenced by all types of like all types of genres and stuff like that.
Dawn Richard: Anything.
Yeah. Anything that was like bending left was probably where I was. Yeah. It was not, [00:34:00] but coming from new Orleans, that’s a bit of a left thing.
Panama Jackson: Okay. I can see that. I can see that. All right.
Dawn Richard: Well, Raver,
Panama Jackson: You know what? I can see that too. Okay. Yeah. I, I, I admittedly, I think I can see that. Okay. All right.
Well, that works. That was, you know, we’re getting to know each other here. This works. This is good. Okay. Well, now that we’ve all shared something, you know, how about some Blackammendations? Which are recommendations for, by, and, about Blackness? Something that you think all Black people should be up on.
It could be something you got going on or something that you are invested in and interested in that you think other folks should be up on that is for, by and about the culture in some way, shape, or form. So, uh, Dawn, do you have, we’ll start with you this time.
Dawn Richard: Ah, why are you starting with me? Um, oh man.
Come back to me. Hold up, come back to me.
Panama Jackson: All right, we can do that.
Dawn Richard: Okay. Wait, no, I got it. I got it. I got it. Always. Yes. Um, every time I do, I , I do think, I do [00:35:00] think Black people should be up on cryptocurrency, on Black wealth, on how to create world building and there are platforms where we are, we have real estate and that we can build our own worlds and financially work within that space.
So if you are not up on the metaverse and, and there are Black spaces for you to live in that. Um, and if you’re not hip on world building, I think you should look into that because that is a new place for you to own real estate quite early. Um, specifically as Black owners.
Panama Jackson: Okay, I like it. Generational wealth conversations, all that type of stuff is definitely where my family is. We have group chats about that type of stuff now.
Dawn Richard: I think you should look into it. Yeah.
Panama Jackson: All right. Brittany, what you got?
Brittany Bell Surrat: Mine is that Hip Hop Caucus is a leader in the climate movement and that every issue is intersectional with climate and that Black [00:36:00] people should be paying attention to that. And so, um, I think that there is an under recognition of, uh, all things climate and environmental in our news and our media spaces.
Um, and that if you want to find out how, you know, your community is being affected, how your health, how your everyday livelihood is, then you should be following Rev. Lenoxx Yearwood.
Rev. Lenoxx Yearwood: This is code red for the planet. The climate crisis is here.
Panama Jackson: All right, well where can people find out more information or get involved with Hip Hop Caucus and you know, whatever else you got and please let us know whatever else you all have going on, you know, as we wrap up.
Brittany Bell Surrat: You can find us on social to be able to keep up where we’ll be and how you can get involved all things at Hip Hop Caucus across social and hiphopcaucus.org is our website.
Panama Jackson: All right, [00:37:00] well. I appreciate you all, uh, for spending some time with us today to, to break down the Hip Hop Caucus and let us know what you all have going on, the work that you’re doing, and to talk hip hop and, you know, what that even means nowadays, you know, that’s a fun conversation for me as the old guy in the room, uh, you know, and I say that facetiously, I’m not really that old, but you know what I mean?
Brittany Bell Surrat: You’re very relatable.
You’re not old at all.
Panama Jackson: It’s always fun to say that.
Brittany Bell Surrat: Those 15 years ain’t on the heels of my age, you know.
Panama Jackson: Listen, they did. They did, that’s why I had to leave. That’s why I had to leave. But uh, thank you all both so much for being here on Dear Culture. We appreciate your time, we appreciate your energy, we appreciate your information.
So thank you, and we’ll make sure that more people can find out about the Hip Hop Caucus and get involved. So, thank you so much. And for everybody listening, Dear Culture is an original podcast of theGrio Black Podcast Network. It is hosted by myself, Panama Jackson. It is produced by Sasha Armstrong and Regina Griffin is our [00:38:00] Director of Podcasts.
Thank you for listening. Have a Black one.
Writing Black: We started this podcast to talk about not just what Black writers write about, but how. Well, personally, it’s on my bucket list to have one of my books banned. I know that’s probably bad, but I think– Oh spicy. They were yelling N word, go home. And I was looking around for the N word because I knew it couldn’t be me because I was a queen.
But I’m telling people to quit this mentality of identifying ourselves by our work. To start to live our lives and to redefine the whole concept of how we work and where we work and why we work in the first place.
My biggest strength throughout, throughout my career has been having [00:39:00] incredible mentors and specifically Black women. I’ve been writing poetry since I was like eight, you know, I’ve been reading Langston Hughes and James Baldwin and Maya Angelou and so forth and so on since I was like a little kid. Like the banjo was blackly Black, right?
For many, many, many years. Everybody knew because sometimes I’m just doing some– that because I just want to do it. I’m honor to be here. Thank you for doing the work that you’re doing. Keep shining bright and we and like you said, we gon’ keep writing Black. As always, you can find us on theGrio app or wherever you find your podcast.
