Beats, rhymes and life. (Photo: FeliciaPride.com)

[by Scott Thill]

Felicia Pride's book The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs is about living culture, incorporating its vivid soundtrack into every facet of your Everyday Life. It's for music fans and hip-hop heads, as well as self-help fans looking to put a little love into their hearts. We could use the love, considering the way hip-hop has been living lately, which is to say quite large. And like other multinational monoliths, the culture has lost its way in the new millennium, embracing bling when we should all really be ringing the alarm on literacy and more. Pride grabs the bell by the horns below.

Morphizm: Hip-hop is the ultimate grass-roots art form, so it make sense that it would inspire you to take your work directly to the people rather than work for someone else. Is that how it shook out?
Felicia Pride: I definitely think that part of my entrepreneurial spirit came from hip-hop. In The Message, I talk about that Common line in “They Say” where he talks about writing for his life because he's scared of a day job. That's exactly how I feel. I've also been inspired by the many entrepreneurs of hip-hop who took nontraditional interests—like b-boying or hip-hop theater—and turned them into careers.

Morphizm: What are some of your favorite tracks, and what did they teach you?
Felicia Pride: One of my favorite tracks is “Passing Me By” by Pharcyde. I vividly remember taping the video from one of those video shows, might have been Video Music Box, and watching it over and over again. Then I wrote down the lyrics. It's a fun song, but at the time, during my adolescence, it was jive timely. I was having crushes on guys who didn't feel the same way and the song embraced the fact that we all go through it. To this day the song is still relevant and still dope. 

Morphizm: What can hip-hop teach others as well?
Felicia Pride: What hip-hop does best, and what I was trying to get across in THE MESSAGE is exposes personal or humanistic experiences in a language and aesthetic that people can relate to. The best hip-hop narratives are like mini testimonies. People find comfort knowing hey, I'm not the only one whose Pops left (think Ghostface's “All that I Got is You”) or the only one who thinks there's a world beyond the block (think Big L's “Street Struck”) or the only one who wants to stand up for women's rights (think Queen Latifah's “Ladies First”) or the only one with dreams that have yet to be fulfilled (think Kanye West's “Spaceship”). 

Morphizm: What do you wish it would stop teaching? 
Felicia Pride: I wish parts of hip-hop would stop being uninspiring and uncreative.  I wish hip-hop would stop teaching mediocrity—that it's okay to be average. Anytime you have songs where rappers are celebrating the fact that they don't actually rap, it really shows that some folks could give a rat's ass about being great artists as long as they're getting paid. MCs used to really want to be the best, not just say it. This celebration of mediocrity trickles down and affects our young people who don't care to be great at anything. They just want to be paid. But they aren't told that the money eventually runs out when you don't have any real skills. 

I wish hip-hop would stop embracing dysfunction. I say all the time that there's a thin line between exposing dysfunction—such as violence in the community—as a way to understand it and perhaps end it, versus celebrating the ill and trying to capitalize upon it. The best artists know how to expose pathology, not embrace it. I always think about Biggie's “Things Done Changed” which I included in THE MESSAGE. Talk about a powerful song. Biggie, like many artists, also celebrated violence in his lyrics during his career, but that song really captures what I mean about exposing and highlighting serious social ills.

Morphizm: Do you agree that there was a Golden Age of hip-hop, circa 1986-1994 or so? Or are you convinced it is still turning in its best work? Who are some of the artists from back in the day you feel deserve more love? And who are some you think should get less?
Felicia Pride: I do believe there has been a Golden Age of hip-hop. I can't say that hip-hop is currently turning in its best work on a mainstream level. The difference between now and the time period that you're talking about is that we could still hear great work on the radio. Great hip-hop is still being made, but more than likely, you won't hear it on the radio. So many folks think that radio hits are the extent of the current artistic landscape of hip-hop and it's not true. If you want to hear good hip-hop, you're better off going to that $10.00 concert that has a bill of six or so acts at the local performance hall, than you are turning on the radio. But many of us have gotten lazy. We rather say hip-hop is crap then seek out those artists who are still committed to craft.  

There were tons of artists from back in the day who I loved and still listen to. In the book, I mention how I'm listening to Big Daddy Kane like it's 1989. I'm not all that trendy. I don't need to hear the “new” the minute it drops. In writing THE MESSAGE, it was really cool to revisit songs this time around with an adult ear and grasp more of the gems that MCs was dropping.

Morphizm: Finally, literacy. You're a champion of it, but do you find yourself relatively alone in that respect?  Literacy rates aren't exactly sky high.
Felicia Pride: My approach to literacy isn't just about how many people can read. It's also about how many people can read and actually read. To me literacy is also about developing writing and critical thinking skills. Some people don't think the ability to read well is important. There's the belief that as long as you can get a job or make money with limited reading skills, then you're straight.  

It's funny because I'll be on these panels where adults are upset because they don't think young people read enough. And then you ask them what's the last book they read, and they can't remember. We have to lead by example. Written words have to compete with so many other platforms and we're in an age where video is incredibly popular.  

So one of my interests is introducing young people and adults who work with them, books that are actually engaging. It's one reason why I had a discussion guide and lesson plan created for THE MESSAGE and made it available for free download on my website. Once I realized that young people were finding value in the book, and not only reading it, but also composing their own essays about the role of music in their lives, I started working to introduce it to educational venues. Hip-hop is one powerful tool that if used correctly can help engage our young people.

April 19, 2008