Dalton Higgins Explores Cultural Issues of a 'Hip Hop World'

Posted on Sep 4th 2009 5:51PM by Karen Bliss
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One of Canada's most esteemed hip hop journalists has written 'Hip Hop World,' a book that explores the interconnections, origins and sociopolitical influences of hip hop music worldwide, including Canada, with nods to a bi-racial black Jewish MC from Toronto named Drake, a nomadic Somali immigrant named K'naan, and a Jamaican-Canadian who goes by Kardinal Offishall.

"What 'Hip Hop World' is about essentially is the globalization of youth culture," author Dalton Higgins told Spinner outside Toronto's Lula Lounge earlier this week, where Scratch from the Roots, DJ Dopey, Wio K, Telmary and DJ Loqenz took the stage later that evening to celebrate the book's launch.

"When you travel outside of the west, outside of the hip hop epicentres like New York, L.A., Atlanta and even Toronto arguably, what you'll find is, in Cuba, for example, it's protest music still. The roots of hip hop was to be a voice of the disenfranchised, to put a mirror to reality and to speak out on timely topical issues. It was very issue-oriented," says Higgins.

"We see a big shift in centres like Toronto where on Top 20 radio-television formats, we're just hearing a lot of bling, people talking about jewelry and purses and Manolo Blahnik shoes, but what about environmental issues, what about issues around sexism and sexuality and race issues and geography? So that's essentially what this book is about -- bringing in a lot of these big issues."

Published by Groundwood Books, the 144-page 'Hip Hop World' is part of the Groundwork Guides, which "provide an overview of key contemporary political and social issues," from Slavery Today to Climate Change, Being Muslim and Sex For Guys, all told "with a strong point of view," the company states.

Higgins is publicly anti-BET (Black Entertainment Television), preferring to explore and expound on the intelligent, non-sexist, non-expletive-laden cultural, social and political values of hip hop. "BET does not present an accurate reflection of black culture nor black music. It's like a minstrel show and they just tend to project a lot of these caricatures," he says.

Jon Santiago, aka DJ Dopey, a former world DMC/turntablist champion, MTV Live DJ and member of the band Notes to Self, says he had never considered his Filipino heritage as a strong influence on his decision to pursue turntablism -- until he was interviewed by Dalton for 'Hip Hop World.'

"I always knew it was a big cultural thing, but when Dalton asked me, I took a couple of days to ask myself, 'Why is that? Why are Filipinos such prominent players in the turntable/DJ scene?' He pushed me to look at it deeper."