Hip-hop that’s good for kids
HIP-HOP for kids can be pandering or preachy, an iffy proposition. The Figureheads, a Wisconsin-based trio with a child and teen focus, manage to sound like the real thing, despite the group’s near-missionary drive to reach kids with words of affirmation and hope.
“We’re kind of speaking from within the culture,” says Jeremy Bryan, 28. “My generation is probably the first or second to entwine our identity with hip-hop culture and what it entails.”
MCs Bryan and Greg Marshall, 27, along with producer Dave Olson, 33, aimed the Figureheads’ first kids’ album, “You Come Too,” at young children. The well-received CD sparked a book for teachers and parents, created by Bryan and Marshall with family and developmental psychologists.
The Figureheads’ latest CD, “The Movement,” targets older children and young adolescents with a driving beat and immediacy, conveying real-world messages about anger, sadness, school troubles, absentee parents and peer pressure. “Everybody get ready for the Movement. / You’ve got a gift inside -- it’s time to use it” is the message on the album’s title track.
“We were trying to give voice to the feeling in many kids of isolation and depression, around never really having been invited into the world of learning or relationships,” Bryan says. “Then we went into the question of identity, asking, ‘Who am I?’ -- as a human being, as a boy, a girl. From there, it became about finding ways to connect what you have inside with what’s going on outside you.” Another part of the rappers’ mission is to promote mentoring programs. “Kids need one-on-one, affirming relationships to thrive,” Bryan says.
English majors in college, Bryan and Marshall have a passion for stories and wordplay -- and community. Bryan has worked with inner-city youth in transitional housing, Marshall in a program for autistic children. With Olson on board, such eclectic experiences led the Figureheads to extend their “literary hip-hop” to young listeners. The nonprofit group’s vehicle, headed by psychologist Andy Paulson, is Kiddo Publishing, which produces resources for schools and organizations.
The Figureheads’ challenge “is to encapsulate the internal view of a child,” Bryan says. It’s “something that carries the element of entertainment but resonates deeper: How do you awaken a kid’s mind, body and emotions to feel invested in life and education?”
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The Figureheads
Where: Stone Hollow Amphitheater, Kidspace Museum, 480 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena
When: 11:30 a.m. Friday
Price: Museum admission $8; concert is free
Info: (626) 449-9144, www.kidspacemuseum.org
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