H.I.P.H.O.P.

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What is H.I.P.H.O.P.

H.I.P.H.O.P. is a grassroots organization designed to honor the original principles of hip hop culture, especially rap music, and to use hip hop culture for social change.  We understand the value and influence that culture has on a population, especially the youth, and we desire to use this influence to educate, mobilize, organize, and liberate oppressed people.  Hip hop is a Pan-African culture that was born out of the struggle of an oppressed people, African people in the western world, and has its roots in traditional West African culture, and was manifested in the Bronx, New York. Hip Hop culture is presently used as a marketing tool for capitalistic ventures to control the masses, to induce materialism and consumption of capitalistic products and services, and to accept capitalistic values that are harmful to the masses and the environment and we seek to change this!

H.I.P.H.O.P. Scholars
 
H.I.P.H.O.P. Scholars is a student organization prevalent in institutions of higher learning.  The purpose of Scholars is to have a strong presence on college campuses, to reach the student population with our message and to develop technology, media, research, archives etc. that is beneficial to hip hop culture.  Much of hip hop technological advances and documented history was created by and for the benefit of  people outside of the culture.  We seek to bring the control of hip hop's advances back into the hands of those within the culture.

H.I.P.H.O.P. Junior

H.I.P.H.O.P. Junior is the high school division of the organization in which the elders introduce the youth to the original principals and history of hip hop culture while allowing youthful expression.

For more information on H.I.P.H.O.P. programs, events, or divisions, or to have include  H.I.P.H.O.P. in your social programming contact:

H.I.P.H.O.P.
UW-Milwaukee
Union Box 90
PO Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
hiphop1974@live.com

Watoto Community Garden
http://www4.uwm.edu/milwaukeeidea/cc/cup/recipients/1007.html

Beginning with the hip hop generation and worsening with each generation thereafter, the youth have become accustomed to eating a variety of unhealthy foods.  Now and Laters, Hot Flamers, soda, candy bars, fast food, and processed foods have become a staple in their diets.  Eating such foods has contributed to the increase in obesity, diabetes, and other diseases related to improper nutrition.  Hip hop culture, especially rap music has been used to promote unhealthy eating habits.  Hip hop is by no means the creator or perpurtrator of the mass marketing of unhealthy snacks, but it is merely a tool being used by corporations to make their products more appealing to children and young adults.  Also, over the past few decades society has become wasteful and extravagant with our resources.  As a result, many viable resources, water for example, has become scarce or unavailable for human consumption.  The program seeks to reverse the idea of wastefulness of our resources and respect for the land. The garden will stress the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and eating a balanced meal. The gardening program will introduce gardening and improve the relationship between humanity and the earth. 
H.I.P.H.O.P. Scholars seeks to reverse the trend of using hip hop culture to promote excessive consumption, materialism, and prodigal behavior that ruins the earth, exploits the masses, and any benefits are for the few.   You can see rap music, rappers, or hip hop language and clothing being used to push liquor, fast food chains, soda, candy, and the ubiquitous desire to consume.

The increase of childhood obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, and the reduction of exercise have resulted in our youth experiencing a reduction of life expectancy.  Coupled with the recent outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli, and other food born ailments has caused a great deal of alarm within our community.  Through observation alone, one can see our children consuming an abundance of high calorie sugar filled or salty snacks, sometimes eaten as a substitution for a meal.  Neighborhood corner markets help to perpetuate this behavior by offering relatively low priced goods while their selection of fresh fruits and vegetables are nonexistent, overpriced, or questionably fresh.  As an alternative to multinational corporations’ idea of a satisfying snack, we want to provide our youth and the working class population with a healthier alternative.