May 16-23 is Hip-Hop Appreciation Week as deemed by the great MC/DJ/B-Boy/philosopher, KRS-ONE.  It is a week out of the year to focus on the culture of hip-hop, its history and ways to educate people about it. Hip-hop is a culture created from the forgotten crevices and cracks in the sidewalks... A culture developed brilliantly by people shunned to the wayside, meant to be left in the dark and desperation of life in the unseen, unheard and unattended-to so-called ghettoes.

I find it no coincidence that Malcolm X's birthday is celebrated during Hip-Hop Appreciation Week.  Both hip-hop and Malcolm X share so many similarities in their triumphs, tragedies and misunderstandings - similarities that mainstream America has often seemed too proud or unwilling to listen to.

The third week May is designated Hip-Hop Appreciation Week, always falling during the week of Malcolm X's birthday.  Ironically (or maybe not so much), both of these products of U.S. culture - hip-hop and Malcolm X - were born in the angst-filled, so-called underclass, poverty-stricken (financially, but rich culturally and spiritually) sectors of the U.S. population and geography.  Hip-hop was born in the great city within the world's greatest city - The Bronx, New York. 

Malcolm X was born in the countryside of Omaha, Nebraska - far from the opulent lifestyle the so-called American Dream promised all U.S. citizens.  A product of poverty, racism and still empowered African-American parents during a time when Black pride was a crime worthy of lynching, Malcolm X found his way down a dangerous and destructive path, much like any youth can.  But with the help of others - a community - he became a powerful Black male: a time-tested, racism-approved threat and source of fear for the U.S. since the first slave-ship arrived on Native American soil.

As much as people feared the once-hate-filled Malcolm X, who openly detested those of European-descent, he changed toward the end of his life after exposing himself to the broader world, - a world that doesn't possess the same toxic racism as the United States.  Malcolm X's ability, willingness and enthusiasm to make a 360 degree change is remarkable in the same way hip-hop's ever-evolving culture is remarkable. 

Revolutionary.  Life-changing.  Immortal.  The kind of change that most people seem fearful to make in the prime of life.

Hip-hop, often regarded as violent, anti-authority and misogynistic, is so much more  - and I implore hip-hoppers, their families and readers in general to explore hip-hop much more closely.  It's the voice of those whose voice was unheard.  A voice that said what it wanted, the way it wanted.

In fact, KRS-ONE recommends the following activities for "serious hip-hoppers" during the week of appreciation:

• Give the next person the right of way. Allow others to pass you.
  
• Donate your skill to someone who cannot afford it.
  
• Give the loose change of your purchases to the person behind you in line.
  
• Be quick to compliment and slow to criticize. Perform forgiveness.
  
• Give 10 percent of your salary to your child's teacher, to your teacher, or to a teacher.
  
• Offer assistance to a neighbor; clean their kitchen, bathroom, etc, baby-sit, tutor, etc.
  
• Study and teach the culture, arts, history and philosophies of hip-hop.
  
• Talk to young people about the images and performances of today's mainstream rappers and DJs.
  
• Acknowledge and celebrate the person or place that introduced you to hip-hop.

This advisement on Hip-Hop Appreciation Week speaks not only to the best of what hip-hop can be, but to the spirit of Malcolm X and his willingness and interest to be a contributor and not a detractor during his short life.  All respect.