Cultural group goes national

Seven members of the IU Hip Hop Congress went to the National Hip Hop Congress Conference in Chicago last weekend to develop new ideas that they could bring back to Bloomington to help the local hip hop scene grow and be more socially active. \nThe Hip Hop Congress is a national organization that has 28 chapters around the country that want to use the power of hip hop to help their local communities. One of the goals of the conference was to come up with a mission statement so everyone would know the exact purpose of the organization. \n"Hip Hop Congress is a grassroots organization working towards the general civic and social good for a better community," said Alex Pyatetsky, the chapter head for IU.\nLast year, the IU chapter hosted events like the Hip Hop Awareness Festival that featured a poetry slam, round table discussion, lecture by Afeni Shakur (the mother of Tupac Shakur), MC battle, breakdance battle and a performance by Minneapolis's Brother Ali. The last day of the festival featured a canned food drive for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. \nMore and more people are coming to Hip Hop Congress events, said Aaron Berkowitz, last year's IU chapter head. More than double the people came to last year's Awareness Festival than the year before.\nPyatetsky hopes to continue this trend with the new ideas he got from the conference. He wants to bring more diversity to the campus, create a sense of community, and to let people know that the Hip Hop Congress is out there.\nPeople came up to him at events and said, "I didn't know you guys were around," Pyatetsky said. One way he hopes to combat this is by having outdoor cyphers around high traffic areas on campus like the art museum. The cypher is a traditional hip hop ritual where people get together in a circle and freestyle. \nPyatetsky wants to bring the elements of hip hop culture like breakdancing, beat boxing and freestyling out into the open so that Bloomington feels like the Hip Hop Congress is involved with the community. \n"We need to create an atmosphere of openness to anyone even remotely interested," he said.\nThe Hip Hop Congress has developed a whole hip hop curriculum which teaches kids the different elements and history of hip hop culture. Pyatetsky wants to have programs in the local schools to teach the curriculum.\nTeaching these different elements, like freestyling, helps young people develop a sense of identity and a sense of community. \n"People get together and they actually want to hear what you have to say," Pyatetsky said.\nPyatetsky was amazed at "how motivated, articulate and involved the people of the other chapters are," he said. He intends to follow their lead, especially that of the Texas State University chapter.\nAt Texas State University, the Hip Hop Congress chapter is the lead diversity organization on campus, he said. Representatives from 30 different organizations come to their regular meetings.\n"That really opened my eyes to how much influence we really can have," he said.\nHip Hop Congress is trying to change the Bloomington hip hop scene. \n"It is mostly just a party scene," said Andrew Shaw, a rapper in the local group Abstraction.\n"Most people want a good live show and not hardcore hip hop activism," Shaw said.\nThe IU Hip Hop Congress hopes to bring together these two elements so that people can still enjoy a good hip hop show while helping the community at the same time.\n"Activism and hip hop go hand in hand," Shaw said. "That is the more real side of hip hop"