Fight the Powers, Fight the Powers that Be: Becoming a Woke warrior, Empowering others
through speech, and Defining Social Equality, Hip Hop’s Journey as a Social Activism Front
“Music Calms the Savage Beast,” this is a direct quote taken from Missouri T, a social
worker and creative in her own right. Music has the capability of transphorming one’s
mood, whethere music uplifts the soul, soothes anger, and is used to focus and
concentrate on one’s studies, music has the transformative power of enchanting the
listener and effectively communicating, the artist’s vision. From Public Enemy, to Jill Scott,
to Erykah Badu, hip hop is a leader in the social activism movement engaging a diversity of
an audience from male to female, black or white, gay or straight, through music we are
able to communicate our greatest empowerment as leaders and speak a voice that may
have often been hindered to have been heard of before. As a music enjoyer, music
catapults the listener into a submersive world. Music is used as a tool to quite literally
“Fight the Power” or to tell a story invoking an immersive experience towards the listener
and common music enjoyer. As a social worker, Missouri, one of our interviewed
professionals, utilizes music to encapture her creative students into a coalescent avid
responsivity by playing music Missouri is able to soothe her students and coax them into
an even greater awareness of responsibilty, what it means to enjoy music today, when
social politics and the community climate rely heavily on the public’s response towards
music.
Music has always transcendentally had this power of capturing the listener. In order to
examine hip hop’s effect on the public masses it is clearly evident that by today’s
standards, hip hop has become a global trending movement one in which people of all
backgrounds may learn to commence as spirited writers and encapture their own personal
movements motivated by the musician’s respective gifts and intuitions. Rap and lyricism
amp to provide a framework for effective communication by linguistic standards and
evocate a common freedom. Rappers can come from all backgrounds and ways of life, for
example Native American rappers such as “Supaman” uses his voice to empower his
people. By fusing his culturally native tongue and modern hip hop instrumentals, Supaman
is able to fuse multi dimensional world cultures into an ever expansive creative freedom.
As an expression, rap and hip hop have culturally been utilized as a transformative modus
of operandi giving a voice to the previously unheard and allowing for a platform for artists
to speak up upon their own personal virtues. Collaboratively as an art, hip hop and rap
effuse communicative prowess and give a formative nurturing towards empowerment
through musicality and community collaboration.

Take for example the career writer Adriana R, who uses writing and communication skills in
here every day life in an orderly routine to continously engage the reader in her professional
career. We asked Adriana these 6 questions in a twenty minute long interview, on Friday,
May 1st, discussing how musicality influences her every day life as a professional writer and
communicator.
The questions where as follows ”Where did you grow up? How did these surroundings shape
your future? What are your interests creatively? You told me you used to write? What influenced
your writings? What motivates you in life? Tell me about your time in the military? How would
you describe yourself in three words? Who was your favorite artist or musician growing up?
It is Friday the 1st of May. I am conducting this interview by phone.
Adriana grew up in Oakland, California. In Oakland, she was exposed to a wide diversity of
people in terms of ethnic background and economic diversity. People of all classes and cultures
shaped her future development to become more open minded towards different types of people.
Adriana enjoys writing creatively. She enjoys the process of writing, drafting, and redrafting. Her
love for writing comes from her upbringing in which she enjoyed reading a lot as a child. As she
has grown she formulates her love for reading and writing as a precedent being a child and
wanting to “put out my own story.” What motivates Adriana in life is keeping her family safe.
Family is a true value to Adriana. Adriana spent some time in the military. In the air force,
Adriana was a staff sergeant in the civil engineering squadron. She started by working with
utilities and learned by experience with other construction contractors construction
management. To keep updating her skill set she volunteered with contracting officers in order
to better formulate knowledge of Project management which she now currently does as a
career. She was promoted early within contract specialties due to her hard work and ambitious
effort. While in the military, she deployed to Kirkuk, Iraq during a military operation.In three
words, Adriana describes herself as determined, compassionate, and strong. When she was
growing up, her favorite artist would have been Prince as evidenced by a Prince poster she had
on her wall.
Adriana’s credibility as a professional writer is a collectively nuanced skill one that she worked
all of her life to come to fruition. As a writer, Adriana is able to effectively communicate her
standards of how to be treated and assert conditions of means. Due to her extensive experience
with writing, communication has been habituated as a way of life, through drafting, she is able to
find, refine, and define her voice. As far as her ability to “put out (her) own story” writing is a
means for her to afford her true voice leading to an emotive of her duty and responsibility as a
professional communicator.
Communication has long been an assorted means of effectively asserting an individual’s rights.
As creatives it is an imperative responsiblity that one’s vision be spoken and defined in order to
corrugate delivery and empower others perchandly through speech. This may be seen at hip
hop and rap music modern day conventions, where dictum and verse intentionally recite the
artist’s rights as an individual.

A second interview was conducted with a social services professional named Missouri. Missouri
offers insight into the social services field and how social work coincides with creativity in
general. As a hip hop fan and music enthusiast, Missouri delves into her involvement with her
clients and how music assuages the listener into a copacetic internalization of the music i.e.
how music may help or improve the mood of the listener. Missouri also offers insight regarding
hip hop in social activism. The interview reads as follows:
What do you enjoy most about your job?
“helping clients seeing their progress in mental health helping people”
What do you do to improve your career skill set?
A lot of training in order to connect better with clients. We conduct motivational interview
making sure we are saying the right words in order to not trigger clients and to not to upset them.
We train how to best serve the clients working in a community based program trainings are
conducted on being a service to the community and clients.
Are you a creative person?
Yes I can be a creative person. I hold a crochet group teaching people how to crochet and
knitting. If they don’t know, I can teach them to come to the group. It is a relaxing hobby and
personal hobby. Writing is a personal hobby and you may get lost in another world. She also
practices, Scripting, which is writing for the future
How does creativity shape who you are as a person?
Creativity asserts a sense of freedom. My personal hobby of crocheting may help people become
more open towards males and females. Crocheting does not discriminate. Crocheting is for
everyone. She plays jazz when conducting crocheting class. Another coworker may put on
soothing music.
How do you think creativity may help people’s mental health?
Art is relaxing it helps with focus and people make beautiful things. Art and creativity soothes
anxiety. It is also therapeutic and helps to reduce stress and anxiety and improves general mood.
Art and creativity helps give people a sense of belonging. She also does one on one’s with people
in order to better improve their artistic skill sense
What is your favorite genre of music?
Classical more calming and relaxing
70s 80s 90s depending on the mood. Some music can be violent and in placation it really reflects
the mood of the listener.
Do you think music can help people therapeutically?
Yes it has for years
What do you think when you hear the term “social activism in hip hop?”

She likes public enemy, erykah badu, Jill Scott.
Hip hop can be good or bad it depends on how the lyrics are composed. Public enemy focuses on
social justice. There is justice for all people while erykah badu focuses on empowering women
and everyone at the same time it really depends on how the listener perceives the music. Nina
Simone wrote for people of color she was making music for people of color and women and it’s
awesome for mental health ”music calms the savage beast.”
The interview took place in Missouri’s office in a room used to hold short meetings. There is
fluorescent lighting and calming pictures on the wall also with features motioning towards
positive quotes. There may have been an ambient noise player allowing for more privacy within
the office. It is quiet and in the back of the two story building, although there are other meetings
taking place in the next room. The area is private and we are able to conduct the interview with
no interruptions. There are no notable smells although hints of cleaner used to disinfect the room
may have been detected. Missouri is a social worker who also conducts weekly art groups for her
clients. Missouri is related to the topic Social Activism in Hip Hop because of her close
association of working with people in disadvantaged communities and her hobbies and
instruction credit as a crocheting teacher. Social work is a field which focuses on the
empowerment of the disadvantaged. Crocheting as an artistic interest is similar towards hip hop
music enjoyers in that it allows for creativity in an artistic expression format. I chose to interview
Missouri because of her credits as an art teacher and social worker as well as her formal interest
in hip hop culture such as eryhka badu, Jill Scott, Nina Simone and public enemy who are all
modern hip hop artists who focus on social activism within hip hop culture. I believe she was
able to inform me of her perspective of art and its impact on social activism in hip hop and music
culture.
Justice for all people. Social Justice and active awareness in her field provide the layout for
social activism in hip hop culture. Hip hop has classically been used as a situational tool to
empower people and over time has grown into an ever expansive field that incites inclusivity and
social justice through means of commensuration speech and advocacy. Cis the field as a general
aspect of dictating the voice of the previously unheard in an ever growing collaboratory field.
People use hip hop as a freedom of speech in action. Asserting afforded rights and empowerment

of the individual are the main take aways from most hip hop songs utilizing social activism. As
far as diversity in hip hop it is evident that as a genre many people of all races, genders, sexual
orientation, and class come together in order to provide high impact empowering lyricism while
also implement the storytelling that is a classic notation in this genre of impact music. As whole,
hip hop is used in communities in order to empower, enlighten, and entertain a collection of
music enjoyers.