Hip Hop Can Save America

There is an initiative that was created and launched by two folks over at Google, developed during their 20% time -- the time that Google allows employees the resources and leeway to work on projects of their own choosing. Gmail, as it happens, was once someone’s 20% time project. In any event, what started out as PythonMC and is now called breakbeatcode, is one of my favorite intersections of Hip Hop, technology, education and youth. I’ll let my guests break it down, but I promise, once you hear about it, you’ll definitely be intrigued -- once you SEE it, you’ll probably be blown away.I’ve been honored to keynote and mentor at their events in the past, and whenever I’m in conversation, giving a talk, or conducting teacher development workshops and I’m talking about ways that Hip Hop can help level the playing field and increase innovation across the board -- but also where it’s needed the most, it’s one of the first examples I give.Here’s my talk with Richard Achee and Calvin Pinney from Google and breakbeatcode.#hiphop #education #technology #news #computerscience #programming #coding #youth #youthempowerment #socialjustice #podcast #hhcsa #hiphopnews--Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:SHOW WEBSITE: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer McCoy.

For years, Don Sikorski has studied the murder of Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious, aka Christopher Wallace. So have a lot of people. The stories about what happened, why it happened, who’s to blame, and why there hasn’t been justice, are all over the place. There are enough twists and turns to those questions, it sounds like a movie. And it was. 2018’s "City of Lies" starred Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker. It told the story, up until that point. A story which included many things that have been rumored over the years -- orders from Suge Knight, a hitman, and in between, crooked LAPD cops. "City of Lies," which was produced by Sikorski, was just the start. The web of deceit, corruption, and coverup that surrounds this case reaches high into state and federal government, and involves more characters and plot twists than anyone can keep track of. Well, almost anyone. In his podcast "The Dossier," now in its second season, Sikorski continues the hunt for the truth, and with exclusive documents in his possession, he seems to be able to do so in ways others can’t. --Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:SHOW WEBSITE: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer McCoy.

On this episode of the world's most enlightening Hip Hop podcast, Dr. Raphael Travis Jr. joins us to talk about the healing power of Hip Hop, including his seminal book. "The Healing Power of Hip Hop," which explores the therapeutic and empowering aspects of hip hop culture.Dr. Travis takes us on a journey through the unique importance of Hip Hop to help society, particularly communities of color, highlighting the empowering narratives that consistently appear in Hip Hop culture: esteem, resilience, growth, community, and social change. These narratives provide a vital purpose for individuals to explore self-identity, cope with adversity, and make crucial decisions.We further explore the use of Hip Hop concepts in therapy and mental health work, particularly in school settings. Dr. Travis emphasizes the transformative potential of using Hip Hop culture as a platform for self-expression and giving young people a voice. He also delves into the role of technology in music creation and its empowering effect on individuals.Join us as Dr. Travis challenges traditional curriculum-focused approaches and encourages educators and practitioners to embrace the richness and flexibility of Hip Hop culture, as we hear how this genre can be harnessed as a powerful tool for inclusion, healing, and personal growth in schools and beyond.--Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:Dr. Raphael Travis on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raptjrSHOW WEBSITE: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer McCoy.

If you’re like me, you first heard Masta Ace as the lead off to what many, like me, will say is the best posse cut in Hip Hop history, "The SYmphony."As one of his bars predicted, Masta Ace’s rapping did stay with us for a while. A long while. Now 32 years since the release of his debut full-length Take A Look Around, Masta Ace has a discography that surpasses most of his peers, he's welcomed in a second wave of a career after deciding to shed the confines of the music industry, and has now parlayed his prolific storytelling style to the stage, with the development of a musical, The Falling Season, in association with Hip Hop Theater production company, Rhymes Over Beats.And there’s no way around it, these feats are made even more impressive by the fact that the Brooklyn-bred wordsmith has been battling Multiple Sclerosis for two decades.The Capital A was gracious enough to discuss all of these topics with me, as we both took a look around at as good an example of longevity in rap as there is.My name is Manny Faces. Here’s my talk with Masta Ace.--Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:SHOW WEBSITES: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer McCoy.

On this brief update episode, creator and host Manny Faces talks about what's next for the Hip-Hop Can Save America! podcast. (HINT: It has to do with going live!)Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:SHOW WEBSITES: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer.

"If our democracy is to survive, the empire must be dismantled.” That’s what Dr. Cornel West told Manny Faces and his colleagues at News Beat in an exclusive, wide-ranging interview in which he talked about dismantling systems of oppression, uplifting the poor and working class, ending America’s military industrial complex, and abolishing poverty, homelessness, and prisons. West, who is vying for the Green Party nomination for U.S. President, said his third-party bid is also about putting an end to the corporate duopoly and dismissed claims that a candidate outside of the two-party system can’t win. He also said he’s entering the race not just to introduce new ideas but to fight for marginalized people, vowing to take on anyone who is hostile to the struggle of working people and those on the front-line of disastrous conflicts.--------------------------Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:EPISODE LINKS:News Beat: https://newsbeat.substack.comUNFTR: https://www.unftr.comSHOW WEBSITES: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.org/podcasthttps://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer.

Dr. A.D. Carson, who is Associate Professor of Hip Hop at the University of Virginia, received quite a bit of well deserved acclaim for his dissertation, “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions,” which was delivered as an exceptional rap album. But first and foremost, AyDeeTheGreat is a rapper, an artist, and sits in a unique position with one foot in the music world, and another firmly inside academia.A.D. provides brilliant insight on this intersection, as well as other ways Hip Hop music and culture should be valued -- both inside and outside of the classroom.#hiphop #education #culture --------------------------Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:EPISODE LINKS:AyDeeTheGreat: https://www.aydeethegreat.comA.D. on IG: https://www.instagram.com/aydeethegreatSHOW WEBSITES: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.org/podcasthttps://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer.

Mikal Amin Lee is a three time visitor to the show, which isn’t a surprise when you learn about all he does. As an artist, he’s toured the world and dropped dozens of projects and features. As an educator, he’s taught and lectured about Hip Hop pedagogy and anthropology, as a writer and essayist he’s edited Hip Hop studies journal, “Words, Beats & Life,” and “Equity and Excellence in Education” from UMass Amherst and he writes for Words, Beats & Life’s blog, The Counter Balance, and as a cultivator of the culture, he is the co-curator of the annual Word. Sound Power. Hip Hop & spoken word performance series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.--------------------------Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in association with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:EPISODE LINKS:Word. Sound. Power. @ BAM: https://www.bam.org/word-sound-power-2023Mikal Amin on IG: www.instagram.com/mikalamin_frmWords, Beats & Life: https://www.wblinc.orgSHOW WEBSITES: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.org/podcasthttps://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comMANNY FACES: https://www.mannyfaces.comNEWSLETTER (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDS:The Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, smacked, flipped, rubbed down, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer.

Rumble, DJ Akademiks and the hidden danger of platforming so-called "Hip Hop" provocateurs --Dark money, billionaire financiers, and a relentless digital machine designed specifically to 'mold' impressionable youth to adopt a right wing ideology are finding new, previously unreachable targets -- through Hip Hop.--------------------------Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in conjunction with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:Show website: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comManny Faces: https://www.mannyfaces.comNewsletter (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDSThe Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer.

Words, Beats & Life is a Hip Hop non-profit founded back in 2002. In its 20+ years, it has evolved and expanded, offering classes, workshops, showcases, festivals and conferences, not to mention creating the first peer-reviewed academic Hip Hop journal, and now, anointing the first ever 'rap laureate.' (SPOILER ALERT: It's Lupe Fiasco.)Under the leadership of founding executive director, Mazi Mutafa, WBL has created something of a blueprint for how a Hip Hop-based non-profit should operate. While they are primarily focused on the Washington D.C. area, it's clear that their impact has been felt far and wide.On the cusp of their 7th Words, Beats & Life Festival, Mazi joined Manny Faces for a conversation about all of these evolutions and revolutions.--------------------------Hip-Hop Can Save America! with Manny Faces is a Manny Faces Media production, in conjunction with The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy.Links and resources:Show website: https://www.hiphopcansaveamerica.comManny Faces: https://www.mannyfaces.comNewsletter (free!): https://mannyfaces.substack.comSUPPORT QUALITY INDIE HIP HOP JOURNALISM: https://www.patreon.com/mannyfacesManny Faces Media (podcast production company): https://www.mannyfacesmedia.comThe Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy: https://www.hiphopadvocacy.orgSPONSORS / FRIENDSThe Mixtape Museum: https://www.mixtapemuseum.orgHip-Hop Hacks: https://www.hiphophacks.comHip-Hop Can Save America! is produced, written, edited, and distributed by Manny Faces. Eternal thanks to Consulting Producer, Sommer.Mentioned in this episode:Sponsor shoutout