Despite my fierce support and love for the hip-hop generation, I often agree with our critics about the quantity and quality of our political engagement. Despite the various forms of injustice that directly affect the hip-hop generation, too many of us have little involvement with grassroots activism or electoral politics.

Those of us who are engaged often fail to help our generation to leverage its considerable influence in ways that will yield social justice. Instead of fighting for more jobs, less crime, or the improvement of public education, too many of our best and brighest are squandering valuable time discussing tangential and superficial issues like Jay-Z’s Cristal crusade.

This past weekend, however, I was reminded that many members of my generation are still engaged in on-the-ground sruggles for social justice.

From Friday to Sunday, I attended the bi-annual meeting of the National Hip Hop Political Convention (NHHPC), a developing national organization operating in 20 states throughout the country working on issues facing the hiphop generation. The meeting serves as the organization’s keystone event, where delegates and local organizing committees from the Hip Hop Generation vote on, adopt and endorse a political agenda for the Hip Hop Generation. The purpose of the National Hip Hop Political Convention is to support the movement towards increased civic and political participation within the Hip Hop Generation.

As an invited speaker on the criminal justice panel, I was able to share and listen to ideas from activists, organizers, artists, and intellectuals about concrete ways to improve the criminal (in)justice system. In addition to my own session, there were dozens of engaging sessions on topics such as education, economic empowerment, and gender inequality. Unlike many events, where the focus is placed on charismatic speeches and selling products, the NHHCP proved to be a wonderful site for intellectual exchange and political mobilization.
In addition to the concrete planning, the thousands of people gathered at the event reminded me that I’m not alone in my frustration, anger, and tireless hope for the hip-hop generation. Most important, they renewed my desire to help repair the fractured world that we inherited.

To learn more about the NHHPC, please visit their website by clicking here.