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When you are an interviewer, you realize there are
a few types of interviews. My favorites are ones you
forget are assignments and start to vibe (no pun intended)
like friends. When I decided to interview this sister,
I knew I was in for a few lessons. Hopefully by the
end of this, you would have caught on to some.
Soul Education
Jersey turned Philly girl Jeanine formed a relationship
with music in the early stages of life. Being raised
with 8 siblings, she was exposed to the music of the
urban community, Hip Hop. It wasn't until later in life
that she realized how that exposure would catapult her
passion in life. After graduating high school, Jeanine
decided to pursue her education at Temple University.
From the natural influence Hip Hophad on her, she magnetically
attracted the company of others engrossed in the culture.
From her new found family, they started The Hip-Hop
Society (HHS). Being in college, we all know how dedication
and support can become dominated by politics and time.
As a result, The Hip-Hop Society dwindled and went on
hiatus. As engineering major, you'd think Jeanine would
appreciate the break from the organization. Which perhaps
she did, until another united effort started called
The Hip-Hop Collective (HHC), that was made up of solid
unified artists. They decided to resurrect The Hip-Hop
Society at Temple, and also joined fellow Temple group,
Student and Community Breakdance Association (SCBA)
to form HHS/SCBA, which brought us events such as Baptism
By Fire and The Hip-Hop Expo. This time around Jeanine
served as president, which she carried out until she
left Temple in 2002.
As she entered the wonderful working world we all know
and love, her urge to discover the culture and its beauty
grew. As fate would have it, a b.boy she had befriended
while at Temple (Amani Olu, SCBA and B.boy Dance School
founder) created an online resource for the arts called
B.Informed Magazine. It is dedicated to promoting under
publicized events that mainstream media tend to disregard.
Jeanine currently serves at the Editor In Chief of B.Informed,
while Amani heads the Publishing responsibilities. You
can catch Jeanine writing under the name b.side. Keeping
the b.boy element of hip-hop alive, Amani and Jeanine
have joined forces to bring a b.boy/b.girl jam to life
that will take place on September 27, 2003 called RocRite.
With all of these different collaborations and missions,
they thought it would be best to form a centralized
root of creativity. That's when The Independent Arts
Group (IAG) was born. She explains, "The IAG
is the parent organization for all the projects that
we are working on: RocRite, B.Informed Magazine, and
the Philadelphia Dance Directory." Did you
get all that? I couldn't imagine being a Mechanical
Engineer alone. But Jeanine seems to juggle the 9 5,
journalism responsibilities, and occasional photography/biography
duties for various artists and events. Oh, you didn't
know? Jeanine is a modern day superwoman who humbly
accepts her position in the culture. She knows the only
way to move forward is to take one step at a time.
Destitute Illusions
"We're human, but we have to accept our responsibility,"
says Jeanine. Along with the passion and love for Hip
Hop, she has a definite goal that surprisingly, I haven't
heard of until now. She explains, "I would like
to see more Hip Hop examined and dissected from an intellectual
standpoint." Don't get it twisted! She's not
speaking of the conspiracy theories and myths going
around; she wants us to dig deeper to actual facts and
academic stance of Hip Hop. Jeanine is a scholar and
constantly seeking knowledge. Meeting up with others
on that same quest is something she believes is possible.
She further explains, "I want the emphasis to
be on the bigger picture. The youth are often left out
of the Diaspora of the equation between Hip Hop and
education. We need to build a bridge. Hip Hop and the
Black culture are derivatives of each other. It's a
cycle that bounces back and forth." In addition,
she sees the need for more exposure of women who don't
sell their image to reach success. We all know that
they are out there somewhere, and there's more than
what we are exposed to (oops, almost went on my own
tangent there, and alienated all my male readers. Don't
want to do that). Listening to Hip Hop has made her
grateful, "I'm an avid listener, and when I
hear some rhymes I thank God for the situations I'm
in, because I can easily hear that some people got it
way worse." Don't let this deep, introspective
image I'm painting fool you, Jeanine has fun reflecting
and basking in the glow of life. Just be careful, her
mind is always, always churning.
Light Years
Although Hip Hop is what Jeanine grew up on, she's heavily
influenced by jazz, rock, and any music that speaks
to the soul. Besides being inspired and influenced by
Talib Kweli and KRS- One, Jeanine has a fascination
with Black culture. So much so, that's it's one of the
choices (but no definite decision has been made) on
her Master's list, that she'll conquer when the time
is right. She has learned to accept the entire culture
for what it is, and who is apart of it. "I can
appreciate the Lil' Jon's of hip hop. I am satisfied,
and really don't have that many complaints,"
she says. The reflection and growth of herself is obvious
from within. Jeanine stresses that if we don't care
of and nurture what we have, someone else will. That's
not to say we have to be snobs and reclusive about our
history or future, but we have to protect it in a way
that can benefit the upcoming generations. She mimics
Mos Def in saying, "Hip Hop is going where the
people are going." She came from being a spoken
word artist and amateur b.girl to unknowingly being
a leader in the preservation of the entire Hip Hop culture
including all (not just music) of its elements. Jeanine
casually states, "Hip Hop gave me confidence."
She's been lucky enough to mix that confidence with
passion and make it a part of everything, including
a way of life.
binformedmag.com
bboydanceelements.com
Article by Deesha Dyer
PhillyHipHop.com
August, 2003
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