Bill Buchanan of Asheville, North Carolina, goes by DJ5 when he’s spinning records at wedding receptions and other gatherings. His day job is executive director of Youth Mission Co, which plans and leads justice-centered and biblically based mission trips for youth and young adults.
In the “Hip Hop: The Music of Reformation” class he offered at Presbyterian Youth Triennium, Buchanan offered each attendee a pair of headsets so they could easily hear him and his musical selections.
“You may ask yourself, why is a middle-aged white guy up here talking about hip hop?” Buchanan said. He put in a lot of research, and “I’m here sharing what I have learned out of appreciation. The music does not originate from people who look like me. It comes from the musical tradition of African Americans in this country.”
“I offer this out of great appreciation, not any sense of appropriation,” Buchanan said. “I think there is genius in the creation of all this music.” He noted that African American friends looked at his material to give him guidance and feedback “to tell this story well.”
Hip hop was born on Aug. 11, 1973, in the Bronx, Buchanan said. The DJ Kool Herc threw a back-to-school party at a community center, where he played old soul and funk records, focusing on the breakdowns by picking up the tone arm to repeat the breaks. His friend Coke LaRoc served as MC, making announcements and shoutouts and hyping the crowd.
Buchanan shared “Apache” by The Incredible Bongo Band, calling it “quintessential old school
stuff.” He also discussed Grand Master Flash’s improvements on some of Kool Herc’s methods, playing a track called “Superappin” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. “It was revolutionary, y’all,” Buchanan said.
For examples of sampling, the introduction of the TR-808 Drum Machine and scratching, Buchanan played Run-DMC’s “My Adidas” and Public Enemy’s “Prophets of Rage.”
Buchanan placed jazz between the 1900s and 1940s. He made a point to discuss ways that African musicians played European instruments differently, were not bound to notation, and were free to express themselves. Jazz has values that include extemporaneous soloing, which are shared equally. “Jazz was showing America what democracy was before American understood what democracy was,” said the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III.
The headphones that each participant received had both blue and red channels. The blue had samples of whatever genre Buchanan was exploring; the red channel showed where the sampling came from in another genre. It was a rich experience.
For the funk genre, Buchanan discussed the musicality — seventh chords, extreme syncopation, hyperactive bass lines, psychedelic influences, affected vocals, groove-based and danceable. The example came from James Brown: “It’s Too Funky in Here.”
“Musically and lyrically, something is unresolved here,” Buchanan said. “The genius is it can say that while giving this irresistible groove, you just want to get up and dance to it.”
The genius of hip hop is this, he said:
- It’s blues, urban Black youth telling difficult truths.
- It’s jazz, adapting the turntable as a musical instrument. Freestyle rapping is extemporaneous soloing with authenticity.
- It’s soul, sampling soul records and the breadth of life experience.
- It’s funk, telling you that things are not all right, but with an irresistible beat.
He concluded by explaining how hip hop the music of the Reformation is, or “why hip hop is like being Presbyterian”:
- It was born out of the protest of disco narrative. Presbyterianism was born out of a protest over Roman Catholic theology and practices.
- Hip hop takes music down to the essentials, including beat and lyric. Presbyterian theology “is about taking out the extras of beliefs, rituals, etc.”
- Hip hop puts music back in the hands of the people. For Presbyterians and other Reformed traditions, it’s about putting the Bible back into the hands of the people. “Technology is key to both,” Buchanan said.
- Hip hop samples from its musical history to say something today. Presbyterians “sample the Bible and the Book of Confessions to speak about the present situation.”
“I think hip hop is a lot like being Presbyterian,” he said, “and I hope you feel the same way.”
Videographer Randy Hobson contributed to this story.
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service, ncy (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Roberto Morales, Research Analyst, Research Services, Administrative Service Group
Ronnika Muhammad , Payroll Specialist, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group
Let us pray:
Loving God, we are grateful for all we have and are blessed by those with whom we share. Open wide our hearts and minds so we may discern how to ensure that all of your people live without hunger. Amen.
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