I found myself last weekend at the National Hip Hop Political Convention in Chicago of all places.  I’m apolitical and while I love music, I’m not any more partial to hip hop than other genres of music.  So what was the #$#(*Y^%# was I doing there?

A graduate of the Vision Force Boot Camp called me about a week before the event, telling me I needed to be there and that he would try to get me a spot to speak.  He knew the event organizer and we’d gotten a verbal commitment to have me speak.  So I came prepared to share about my experience with youth in Kenya, the global influence of hip hop that I witnessed, and how hip hop can be a medium which gives a positive voice for personal and societal change to the rising generation.

It was about 3 months ago that I became a big YES to almost any and all speaking opportunities.  I simply got clear that the Vision Force message must be heard–NOW.  Since then, my life has altered dramatically.  From speaking to local high schoolers to traveling to work with youth in Kenya, we’re bringing the Vision Force message to the world any way we can.

Most recently I was in Chicago at the National Political Hip Hop Convention. It was very much a gathering of revolutionaries–both old and new.  Let me explain…

Old school revolutionaries are those who stake out a position in relation to an opposing party, and seek to change reality by defeating the other side.  Often these old school revolutionaries are violent and short-lived.  Their weakness lies in their approach to change.  I call people who approach change from a position, positionaries.

The new revolutionaries are visionaries, who operate from a stand instead of a position.  Their focus is not on defeating the opposition as much as it’s on creating the world they really want.

At the convention were politically active people of all ages.  There were icons from the Civil Rights era, and old school rappers from the 70s and 80s, and youth from today’s hip hop generation.  Martin Luther King, Jr., was very much a visionary in his approach to change.  He didn’t just have a dream, he had a vision.

The convention was largely focussed on rallying and organizing hip hop artists and fans to take political action for social justice her in the U.S.  Hip hop as a medium.  Hip hop as a movement.

As impassioned and committed as most of the convention attendees were to causing change, I saw several different approaches to change.  There were many old school revolutionary methods and new revolutionary methods as well. 

While there were people advocating all kinds of strategies for change, from violent to nonviolent, many if not most seemed to share the same underlying assumption that is still found throughout the world in the early 21st Century–that being the view that the power is somehow out there.  The assumption that real change happens through political force.

The rapid social, economic and technological change we witness around the world is not the affect of political force, but rather the reduction of political force such that we are freer to use our most powerful resource: the human mind’s ability to think independently and creatively find new solutions for problems in the world, then take action to turn those ideas into reality.  In short, it’s vision force.

Consider that vision force is our greatest untapped resource for change and advancement as individuals and as a society.  So many of us have been conditioned to follow and obey, and relate to authority as something outside of us.  Our relationship to power is an external one, and when we’re not in alignment with the authority or the majority, we often feel as if there is little we can do to positively change our circumstances. 

Yet vision force is what is behind all new ideas and acts of creation in the world, from the invention of airplanes to the starting of a business to the very idea of human rights.  Political force is the power to stop someone’s actions, to limit someone’s freedom.  Vision force is the creative power itself.  Each of us possess it.  Each of us can utilize it to more effectively change our lives, our circumstances and the world around us.

So one of the weaknesses I see displayed in most organizations that seek to affect social change is the assumption of power being external to us.  Sure, we tell people that we can rise up to “fight the power,” but in most people’s minds it really doesn’t occur that we as individuals have much power to affect change.  Even the form our ideas for solutions take is within the political force paradigm: if we can get enough people to vote for Proposition 454, for example, then we can force everyone to fund it and obey it.

I won’t  belabour his point here, except to say that there is a whole new world of ways to cause change when we recognize vision force, not political force, as the dominant power.  Entrepreneurial creations of all kinds are one example of vision force in action.

Yesterday’s revolutionaries symptomatically worship political force as the means to change.  To them, taking the power back means regaining political force – either by peaceful or violent means.  (Political force at it’s essence though is always violent, whether something is voted on or not.  If I’m the government, forcing you to obey a new law and you don’t, I take you to jail.  If you resist, I get violent.) 

A further problem with political force being one’s major focus for change is that political tactics in today’s system are mostly positionary.  Positionary tactics in a democracy usually result in little positive progress for anyone.  Such tactics are defensive by nature, and usually result in your opponent have greater resolve to defeat you, even if you wrest temporary power.

This assumption amongst many of the hip hop revolutionaries is not uncommon in revolutionaries the world over.  It’s simply worth pointing out. 

There were many hip hop revolutionaries at the convention who exhibited visionary methods for change, rather than positionary methods.  A brilliant example of such methods is utilizing hip hop as a medium for communicating a new idea or vision to the world in a way that inspires people to take creative action.

I got a chance to meet several conscious hip hop artists who use their artform as a way to awaken others to serious issues and inspire them to action.  (Above I’m with conscious artist, Malik Yusef.)

Considering that the young generations are traditionally the change agents, the idealists, the activists, the ones who believe they can still change the world–any medium as far reaching and powerful as hip hop is with today’s youth holds incredible promise for inspiring new positive change in the world.  Imagine… if changing the world became… cool!  Cooler than pimps and hos.  Imagine, if living a visionary life, standing for something and calling your even your enemies to stand beside you became the coolest life to live… cooler than having a pimped out ride.  Imagine! 

What is still missing for most positive revolutions is ways of communicating that can effectively call even your enemies to stand beside you in cocreating the world you envision.  The youth as well as people in general today are largely resigned and cynical about politics and the idea that we can significantly change this world in a positive way.  It is visionary concepts and methods for thinking, communicating and living that will change all that.  Such concepts can be found in our free Power To Stand course, and intensive training is delivered at our Vision Force Boot Camps.

I didn’t get to speak at the convention this time around, but I did make several promising contacts in the hip hop world, and did record an interview for the documentary roughly on this same subject by Emjed Hammas and 2020 MultiMedia. 

Later today, Emjed and I are sailing on Lake Michigan.  Visionary wordsmith Malik Yusef may join us. 

In Chicago for the rest of the week…  here to witness and be a part of the rising revolution through the world of hip hop.

This morning I was interviewed for the upcoming documentary titled, Business As Usual: The Exploitation of Hip Hop, being produced by Emjed Hammas, a 2004 Vision Force Boot Camp graduate.

The title, I think, is a bit of a misnomer.  The documentary expores the way that hip hop as a medium is currently being dominated by artists who often glorify a life of violence, drugs, easy money and denigration of women; and the rising trend of conscious artists who seek to change the world in a positive way through their lyrics.  Working daily with visionaries and revolutionaries, I just keep finding myself in the world of hip hop.  So many conscious youth see it as a medium for positive change. 

On a recent trip to Kenya to teach vision and entrepreneurship, for example, I witnessed not only the profound reach of hip hop, but it’s power as a medium for change.  I observed how high school students, who studied in classrooms with no electricity, washed their clothes by hand and ate the same meal of beans and maize for lunch were not so different from their American counterparts.  They ritualistically gathered around the TV at lunch, after school and on weekends to watch the latest hip hop videos.  Several of the students were, themselves, emcees, whose shared with me their vision for changing their country through hip hop.  In a culture where the youth seem to have no voice, their lyrics gave them a powerful voice for positive change .

For centuries the youth of the world have been without much of a voice in the political, cultural and economic landscape they live in.  All of that is about to change.  Diverse trends now point to a cultural, economic and political “revolution” emerging throughout the world.  And hip hop is at the center of the revolution. 

In the interview for the documentary, I got to contribute my vision for the future and the incredible power and opportunity conscious hip hop artists have to bring about the positive change they seek in the world. 

After my interview, Emjed sat down in the hot seat, and was interviewed.  One of the things he shared was how at the Vision Force Boot Camp he found that he stood for social justice, and his vision then emerged in the days, weeks and months afterward.  His life since boot camp has been shaped by this inner calling he got connected to during boot camp.  Emjed has a vision of empowering conscious artists to change the world by helping them find what they stand for, a vision that calls them to greatness and a way to express it. 

I dug up a testimonial Emjed wrote 5 months after his boot camp experience:

I was introduced to Michael Skye’s vision engineering technology in March 2004 while I attended one of his “Boot Camps”.  Let alone being a huge skeptic of self development seminars and groups (which in my opinion do nothing but activate human emotion and desire, through motivational talk and lots of preaching), the name “Boot Camp” alone was very unattractive to me to even consider attending such an event. 

After reading Skye’s e-book, debating for some time and not knowing exactly what this technology would do for me, I decided to sign up and see what all the “hype” was about. 

My God!  Within a period of 48 hours, I walked away with a vision for myself that I had never seen before.  Let alone seeing a vision, I was able to tap into an emotion, a powerful physical sensation that was new territory to me. HONOR!  I deeply realized for the first time in my life that the feeling of Honor is THE driving force in human evolution and transformation, and that it is ever present in every human being.  This was a unique and priceless awakening to a new paradigm in my life. 

So, what has changed?  Concrete, tangible and value creating RESULTS are the only proofs that make a theory or a concept valid and workable with. 

In the last five months, I have incorporated my company, formed a powerful group for my Board of Directors, I have diversified my business plan and brought in some new concepts that were inconceivable to me before, I have started exercising at least 4 times a week with a regular routine (I never exercised before, other than playing a soccer game here and there once or twice a month). 

Nothing is more evident to me than the changes that are occurring in my life, and nothing is more pleasing than watching myself unfold my own future and destiny; and I know this is just the beginning! 

I am fascinated with what Michael Skye has created here, and with absolutely no reservation, I recommend anyone and everyone to check this out.  You have nothing to lose and the whole world to gain.

 

Emjed Hammas, MBA, President and CEO 2020 Multimedia

Chicago, IL, USA

It’ been 2 years since Emjed’s boot camp experience now, and he’s in full swing with his first major project that evolved from his vision.  His film crew has interviewed legendary figures in the hip hop world, including, DMC and KRS1.  Later this week, I’ll get to sit in on interviews with other conscious hip hop artists.  Stay tuned…