March 3, 2006

Taking the drugs and thugs out of hip hop

It’s more about survival than gangstas, break dance veteran tells Iqaluit teens

Stephen Leafloor is known as an elder where he comes from, but he’s revered for being able to spin on his back, rather than hunt caribou and seal.

Leafloor, better known as Buddha, has been a breakdancer for 29 years. At 46, he’s a member of the Canadian Floor Masters from Ottawa, who spent the last week teaching kids in Iqaluit a thing or two about hip hop.

In a community where most kids have an Eminem poster on their wall, he drew a big crowd, with almost 100 teens attending a weeklong hip hop workshop at the high school, during their week off classes.

Some were probably surprised to hear Leafloor dismiss popular acts like Fifty Cent as “not hip hop.” Maybe they’d be less surprised if they knew Leafloor is a social worker, who wrote his masters thesis on youth outreach through hip hop.

He argues that hip hop was never about being a thug and glorifying sex, drugs and violence, tracing its history back to disenfranchised black youth in the Bronx three decades ago.

“Hip hop didn’t start out of the gangs although the gangs had an influence.  It started from people in the Bronx saying, the world is forgetting us,” he says. “It developed as a survival mechanism.”

“I really believe hip hop is a voice for young people around the world,” he says. “It shouldn’t be what you see in the music videos.”

Instead, he has a few simple messages for kids, which he sums up as: “Respect yourself, respect your crew.”

As for the obscenities some gangsta rappers spit at women: “You don’t ever call your sister, your mother, or any other woman a bitch or a ho.”

He has a similar hard line on drug and alcohol abuse. “It’s hard to be at that level of dancing if you’re messing with that,” he says.

He also recommends that kids try listening to rappers with a positive message, like the Canadian artist K-Os.

Joining Leafloor during the workshop were young Inuit artists like Sylvia Cloutier, who says the drum dancing she does today is influenced by rap she listened to growing up in Montreal.

“You don’t need to follow the old ways to be yourself today,” she said. “Young people need to feel good about themselves. They’re taking care of their bodies when they dance, and they’re also expressing themselves.”

She was also surprised to see her own eight-year-old son begin dancing during one workshop. “I didn’t know he could do that. He’s inspired, and that’s what’s going to happen this week.”

At least one workshop participant flew in from Cambridge Bay. Quentin Crockatt, 21, says he started breakdancing about four years ago.

He’s learned how to do backward handsprings and flips, along with breakdancing’s signature six-step, where his legs and arms whirl around as he spins on the floor.

“It’s about getting fit and having fun at the same time. Staying out of trouble,” he says. “Get the youth doing something other than what they’re not supposed to be doing.”

He used to listen to gangsta rap, but says he’s grown out of it, preferring instrumental hip hop with record-scratching and break-beats instead.

“As I got older, I started to recognize some of the things they were saying. It wasn’t very good,” he said.

The same goes for Geronimo Inutiq, who grew up in Iqaluit and is now known in Montreal music circles as “DJ Mad Eskimo.”

“I’ve since moved away from it, because I realize how it affected how I thought,” he says, speaking about gangsta rap. “It made me something I wasn’t.”

Now 27, he credits hip hop for keeping him out of mischief, and explained to kids at the workshops how he makes original music by mixing old records together on two turntables.

The workshop was also a chance for Iqaluit visual artist Jonathan Cruz to show off his latest creation, a sprawling graffiti mural that begins with a drum dancer and ends with an elder.

There was no graffiti workshop, for fear energetic kids would try out their moves on the walls of local businesses. But Cruz had a chance to tell students about how art helped him pull through personal problems, resulting in an art exhibition called “Hybrid Theory” shown at Iqaluit’s museum last year.

And he has a chance to collaborate with others he’s met now. “Hopefully we’ll keep going. We’ll spread the word,” he says.

The hip hop workshop’s budget ran up to $220,000, with $100,000 of that as “in-kind” labour provided by Government of Nunavut employees. The rest was paid for by various federal programs, like national crime prevention funding, healthy living and building healthy communities.

Iqaluit youth enjoy a week of positive HipHop with the Canadian Floor Masters

Another Media Release !

HipHop comes to Nunavut 

 HipHop as an adaptable cultural voice for young people !  This is what a team of youth workers from Iqaluit and Stephen Leafloor (A social worker from Ottawa) believe, and they are bringing this message to the North.  The social issues facing young people of the North are substantial with suicide rates and a drug abuse being some of the highest in the country.

 Working closely with a number of funding partners involved with youth issues, a series of weeklong workshops have been assembled for the week of Feb 20 to 25th.  Buddha is not only a social worker but also the founder of Canada's oldest and arguably the most famous breakdancing company in Canada.  Buddha is quick to educate people that the media coined the term breakdancing but Bboying is what it is called within the subculture. The Canadian Floor Masters have opened for James Brown, Rapper IceT, Grandmasters Flash and Black Eyed Peas.

 HipHop education is important and the Canadian Floor Masters are on a mission to reclaim some control over the negative images that often get presented in the music videos when the media focuses on the Gansta Rap and the Booty Shaking Girls. Buddha did his masters degree in social work and has over 20 yrs experience in the front lines, but he also completed his thesis in 1985 on the subculture of Hiphop. And at age 46 he is married with three kids, and he still performs with the crew and gets busy in the Cypher (A bboy dance circle). He currently does child abuse investigations for Family and Children’s Services of Renfrew county and he also consults and teaches workshops for Cirque Du Soleil.

 "I have seen first hand how the many positive elements of this culture can shape and mould young peoples lives, giving them the building blocks to become healthy engaging young adults. We believe that Hiphop is a gift that is shared worldwide, with a particular appeal to Youth at Risk.  It has always been chosen as a voice for marginalized youth and often aboriginal youth around the world.  We will share this gift as a voice and survival mechanism for the young people of the north".

 It has been explored throughout the planning stages of this project the many ways that Hiphop can be blended with a respect for the traditional cultural ways of the North.  A recent trial workshop at an Ottawa based school for Inuit youth confirmed the excitement for the project and that there is great creative flexibility in rethinking what Hiphop could mean to the North.

 Buddha: " We had Throat Singing blended with Human Beat Box, with backbeats laid down by a DJ called Nemo from Iqaluit.  Some of the schools students even brought in the Inuit drums added for the final flavor. It was spontaneous, creative and directly appealed to the youth of the school.  Crazy Smooth and Ben Jammin from the Canadian Floor Masters taught bboy workshops and we explored traditional dance and hunting movements as well as Arctic Games as stylized additions to Bboy dancing."

 Sylvia Cloutier is from Iqaluit and is another project partner. She is performing artist practicing throat
singing and drum dancing.  Sylvia will be involved in not only ensuring that careful cultural considerations are explored, but she will also be instrumental in helping continue the projects momentum after the workshops are done.  There is a strong sense among this team that any social change through Hiphop can only be done over time with ongoing support and encouragement for young people of Nunavut.

In the arctic the real messages of Hiphop seem to get lost as the window on the world is largely tainted by the music videos on satellite TV.  The positive messages about racial and gender inclusion, respect of oneself and elders, and the promotion of non violence are just some of the real messages that need to be taught. 

 Buddha: "Hiphop developed as a way for the youth of the South Bronx to stand up and take control of their lives, in a world where they felt forgotten.  They developed their own art forms to regain self confidence and channel their creativity, and also as a result  - rebuilt a sense of community. In the early days of Hiphop we had no idea where it would end up, but I believed it survived and evolved not just because of the music industry but also because its needed by young people around the world"

. The various elements of HipHop present a broad range of artistic appeal to youth in the areas of Art, Music, Dance and Fashion represented by DJ's, MC's, Bboys and Graffiti artist, and Human Beat Box vocalist.

 Buddha: "People often talk about what is the 5th element of HipHop and what is the next level.  I believe the 5th element is the proper knowledge of HipHops history and knowledge of ones self.   With the next level of HipHop ultimately being what you give back to the world."

 More information and interviews can be arranged by contacting – Stephen Leafloor

Aka : Buddha 613 592 2220  cell 613 324 6940 email - Bboy@idirect.com

 A documentary is being made on this project by Tungsten Productions.

The Canadian Floor Masters arrive in Iqaluit

Throat Singing meets HipHops Human Beatbox

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