When friends got word of the Artist as Activist fellowship, they immediately thought of Jasiri X.
The Pittsburgher behind such songs as “What if the Tea Party was Black?” and “Occupy (We the 99)” is the most political of rappers and spends much of the year on the road, performing, lecturing and instructing students on using hip-hop as a tool for personal empowerment and social change.
On Friday, he was lecturing at the Rock the School Bells conference in San Francisco; then on Sunday, he was in Selma, Ala., for the 50th anniversary of the historic civil rights march, at the personal request of Harry Belafonte, the entertainer and social activist.
It’s no surprise then that Jasiri X has been selected among 600 applicants as an Artist as Activist fellow by the New York City-based Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Grants totaling $400,000 were awarded to four independent artists and two artist collectives in the inaugural fellowship.
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation honors the legacy of the late painter’s life and supports artists, initiatives and institutions that, in its words, “embody the same fearlessness, innovation, and multidisciplinary approach that Rauschenberg exemplified in both his art and philanthropic endeavors.”
Along with being an acclaimed rapper, Jasiri is the founder of Pittsburgh-based 1Hood Media Academy, which trains “at-risk youth” from rival neighborhoods to be socially conscious rappers, producers, singers, videographers and community activists.
“This is the first national fellowship that I’ve gotten,” he said in a phone interview Friday from San Francisco. “We’ve got support locally that we greatly appreciate from Heinz, from Pittsburgh Foundation. I was an August Wilson fellow when they had that. But this is the first time I've gotten national recognition. This is their first they’ve done a fellowship like this and I’m honored to be a part of it and encouraged that they got saw this as an issue they wanted to get behind and support.”
Jasiri Oronde Smith grew up in a gang-ridden Chicago neighborhood before moving with his mom to Monroeville in the 1980s and graduating from Gateway High School at 16. He started college wanting to be a lawyer, first at the University of Maryland and then at the University of Pittsburgh.
He dropped out, however, and started doing spoken-word performances, joined the Nation of Islam and became a social activist working out of a mosque in Wilkinsburg.
Since dropping the song “Free the Jena 6” in 2007, his focus has been on spreading the word through hip-hop. Unlike some other famous Pittsburgh rappers, he has a strict personal rule of no drinking, no drugs, no smoking. His 2010 debut album, “American History X,” which won Album of the Year at the Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Awards, was loaded with topical tracks from his YouTube channel and online show “This Week with Jasiri X.”
He goes where the action is, whether it’s Occupy New York or the protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol. He was invited by Mr. Belafonte to speak to crowds in Ferguson, Mo., during protests last fall in the wake of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, and then to Selma, Ala., on Sunday, where he appeared along with singer Bill Withers and rapper Flavor Flav and was honored to meet a civil rights pioneer, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. (Mr. Belafonte was ill and had to cancel.) Jasiri charged the atmosphere doing “Don’t Let Them Get Away with Murder,” a song protesting police shootings of black youth.
“Most of the music was celebratory,” Jasiri said, “so the people appreciated me bringing up the issues I did. There was a large group from Ferguson in the front that was showing mad love.”
Last year, Jasiri released “Ascension,” his debut album for Vancouver, British Columbia, label Wandering Worx. He has three albums in the works for this year, starting with “Black Liberation Theology,” which he hopes to release in April. He will follow it with “Power” and “Radical,” all presenting three different sounds.
Recently, he released the electronic dance music track “Blackness” with DJ Zeke Thomas, son of pro basketball legend Isiah Thomas, and Public Enemy’s Chuck D.
Jasiri already has worked with 70 students this year with 1Hood Media, which began at the August Wilson Center in Downtown and now is based at the Dance Alloy Studios in East Liberty.
“We've got some stars,” he says proudly. “I'm excited about investing in them.”
Seven student recording projects are in the works, including one from Tyhir Frost. The teen hip-hop artist says Jasiri has taught him how to conduct himself professionally.
But he says, “The most critical thing he has helped me realize was, in order for my career to excel and for me to touch my viewers on a personal and emotional level, I must give them my true self.”
In turn, Jasiri, who is 42, acknowledges that working with young people keeps his own delivery sharp.
“I always tell people, ‘They make me good,’ ” he says. “I'm good because I’m around them. They keep me young, in a sense. The song I just put out, one of my students said, ‘Your flow is gettin’ younger.’ I said, ‘Ya'll keep me with the young flow.’ ”
First Published: March 9, 2015, 1:00 p.m.
Updated: March 10, 2015, 3:58 a.m.
