Hand-in-hand: Jason Rawls and Hip-Hop

Jason Rawls, an assistant professor in both the School of Music and the Department of African American and African Studies at Ohio State, playing vinyls in his office in the Timashev Family Music Building. || Credit: Sunny Agrawal

“I love hip-hop. I consider myself hip-hop, and I think I will be until I die.”

Jason Rawls, J Rawls, DJ Rawls, Professor Rawls, Dr. Rawls – whichever name you choose, each one is almost entirely synonymous with hip-hop. 

Rawls will say it started with the 1984 movie, Beat Street – that watching the movie ignited his love for everything hip-hop – but it’s difficult to imagine a time prior to when the culture wasn’t already a part of who he was. 

“I’m not anything but hip-hop,” Rawls stated with a finality that marked his words as true. “Everything I do, my whole style; everything I do is hip-hop.” 

When the modern individual thinks of hip-hop, the genre is the first that comes to mind. From Domo Genesis, to Capital Steez and the Beastie Boys – all artists that Rawls has worked with – there’s a prominent idea of what that category holds. 

But it’s more than that.

It’s breakdancing. It’s DJ-ing. It’s graffiti. It’s a culture and it’s an identity that long – time lovers like Rawls helped cement into the public knowledge, and part of that comes from his work in education. 

Rawls looking through his vinyls in his office. || Credit: Sunny Agrawal 

“I don’t think there’s anything that I’m just super proud of other than when I’m able to work with students,” Rawls said. “I think that’s an excitement for me, that I can share my love for hip-hop culture with my students.”

Rawls serves as an assistant professor at Ohio State in both the School of Music and the Department of African American and African Studies with courses in topics such as the art and politics of hip-hop, rhythm and blues and perspectives from African and African American studies. 

He’s also been given the opportunity and momentous task of crafting one of the first hip-hop studies programs in the United States here at Ohio State. His main goals were to make the art of hip-hop more accessible and common to students – something he and his peers weren’t able to experience. 

“When I speak to students and they say, “Oh, I didn’t know I could do hip-hop at the college level. That’s something I wanted to do when I was a kid. I wanted to do hip-hop, but I was told, when I graduated in the 90s from high school, that’s not a possibility,” Rawls recalled. “So I had to deal with that.”

Despite the setback of not having the ability to study hip-hop at the collegiate level, Rawls has continuously pushed for progression and development within the community in both his day-to-day life and his teachings. 

Today, the notion of hip-hop can often come with the stereotypes of violence and unprofessionalism that often plague the Black community. However, Rawls notes that these misconceptions about the overall culture come from people not taking enough time to truly break down the art form.

“The biggest misconception is that hip-hop is all misogynistic and homophobic, etcct. Any of the bad things you can think of that are misconceptions are because people only look at the music part. They don’t look at the culture,” Rawls said. 

Rawls, who has an extensive career as a DJ, using turntables in his office. || Credit: Sunny Agrawal 

Even though such stereotypes and judgements come alongside the idea that hip-hop is only for African Americans or other marginalized groups, such as Hispanic Americans who are also credited with the evolution of the culture, Rawls emphasized that anyone can be a partapart of the community. 

“The thing that makes it so great is that hip-hop is a culture in itself that transcends ethnicity and race and religion or whatever you can think of. If you are good at what you do, that’s all that matters,” Rawls explained. 

Ohio State’s hip-hop curriculum is still in the works, said Rawls, but so is his everlasting career in music and education, and while Rawls’s resume is riddled with expertise and skill, it’s important to note that he’s not alone. 

Hip-hop is a culture, and culture – no matter how niche – spreads far and wide. For hip-hop specifically, people identify with the traditions, to the music, to all the aspects that ignite the same spark inside them that Beat Street did for Rawls.

“For me, the culture is a way of life. It’s a passion because it’s what I do. It’s who I am,” declared Rawls. “And so, you say how do I do it? I do it because I love it.”

Rawls, looking into the camera. || Credit: Ky Smiley