My family lives, eats & breathes hip hop because my husband Rhymefest is a Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist & writer. If Jay Harris, who recently turned down his full scholarship to Michigan State to pursue a rap career were my son, we’d have to have a “heart to art.”
Most young men who want to be either athletes or rappers, want to do so for two reasons. The first reason is they want to feel validated and they believe fame brings that validation and recognition. The second is they want to make a lot of money. The first question I would ask my son is “why do you want to be a rapper?” and if it were for validation or money we’d examine some alternatives to getting validated or earning money, where he was more in control of the outcome.
Gone are the days of million dollar advances, which are really loans that have to be paid back. You can only get a record today if you are already famous. In my husband’s case, he started rapping in 3rd grade and literally worked from then until 2006 as a battle rapper, making a name for himself long before he ever met with a record executive. He started rapping because he loved how it allowed him to express himself and he loved language, not because he saw it as a way to escape poverty.
To be an artist doesn’t mean that you can’t do something else. David “Cap D” Kelly is lawyer by day as the Vice President & General Counsel of the Golden State Warriors, and hip-hop artist by night with a massive following. Most artists even those who reach platinum status delve into other industries including fashion, business and technology simply because the music industry is not as profitable as it used to be. I would nudge my son toward the business side of music whether it was entertainment law, marketing & promotions or even the technical side of engineering.
I would make a deal with him where I would buy him equipment or studio time after successfully completing each semester of school. That way, we both get what we want. Would you bribe your child to get a college degree?
It’s less bribery, more of an incentive program. He’s pursing educational goals (which are motivated by his desires and likes, hopefully) and he will reap the benefit of doing with he enjoys with familial support.
couldn’t agree more with your use of ‘incentive program” instead of bribery. bribery sounds so greedy, seedy, and evil.
excellent article…and I think a great incentive too!
Love this post! I would feel the same way about my son. My nephew is really into rap and has been for some time, but he wants to go to school for the engineering side of it as well.
@LinaA I love your use of “incentive” over “bribe.” Sometimes it’s not what is said but how it is said 🙂 @RonnieBMWK thank you so much for reading & commenting! @Christine When it comes to music, the more you can do as an artist the better off you will be. Your nephew will save himself so much money because he’ll be able to engineer his own records & he’ll be able to make money from other artists!
While I don’t support the concept of becoming a rapper vs college… Lets be clear.. It’s my understanding that he was going to college on an ATHLETIC scholarship and was barely eligible for college academically. We, the Black community, must take a serious look at the success of AA athletes / scholars, majors they are encouraged to pursue to ensure eligibility vs career options while the university makes millions and our children don’t graduate or have meaningful degrees. Is it better to let the university “use his body ” —institutional slavery” ???Grandma said.. “All money ain’t good money”
@Vernessa! Absolutely true & on target. I believe that an athletic scholarship is a ticket to a free education. There are so many variables when it comes to entertainment and athletics that our children MUST have back-up plans. There is a really good book called the 40 Million Dollar Slaves William Rhoden that is a must read and it speaks to the issue you’re talking about. Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Million-Dollar-Slaves-Redemption/dp/0307353141
Wonderful article and analysis however, from what I’ve seen most if the young people with dreams of fame and riches don’t have wonderful parents like you who can teach and guide them. The validation they often seek is missing love from their home lives. Of course we know this type of love can’t be achieved by temporary fan fare but try explaining that to a 14-24 year old whose existence is dictated by trends.
The children without proper parental guidance are looking for the easiest ways out of their loveless situations and when they see chief Keef, Waka Flacka ext they see a reflection of themselves except with the love and acceptance they long for. This becomes even more problematic when you consider the affect it has on the youth that come from “Good Homes”. The youth began normalizing behavior represented by the famous and misguided making excuses for ratchetness because of the illusion of the success it brought a few. My suggestion is media literacy; parents, mentors, pastors and responsible adults have to learn and teach young people about media. How are items marketed, and for what purpose. What are the messages some communities get versus others and why? What is being sold other then what the commercial is saying. We need to understand the conditioning that’s taking place through media images and control the message our children receive
@RhymeFest Thank you for coming by to comment (wink wink)! There are so many gems in your comments. (A) “The validation they often seek is missing love from the home lives.” How can we address that? Do we mandate parenting classes? Do we institute character education in schools? Media Literacy is certainly the key, and that is something that could easily be added to the school curriculum. When you say “how are items marketed and for what purpose?” Ultimately we know why. It’s about blind consumption. We provide the gasoline for capitalism and for the prison industrial complex. We DO need to control the message our children receive and we must steer them toward the direction of media creation if we are to see any sustainable change in behavior.
My son dropped this bomb on me just this weekend. I am devastated. Out of his circle of friends he is the only one who is even going to post secondary and he got a $40k academic scholarship. He is also an athlete but has been red shirted so he can’t play( for now at least until he is further developed as an athlete) so I believe it’s a combination of being at a private college that’s not particularly exciting, in a program he’s not excited about and can’t play.. thank you so much for this article and your advice. Over this Christmas holiday I am going to find the time to have the talk with him… once I stop crying