Passage Theater in Trenton has been marking the 50th anniversary of the creation of hip hop by developing a new stage work based on the artistry of Mercer County’s own hip hop trio, Poor Righteous Teachers.
The group featuring Wise Intelligence (aka Timothy Grimes), Culture Freedom (Kerry Williams), and Father Shaheed (Scott Phillips) formed in 1989.
The first of their socially conscious albums was the 1990 “Holy Intellect,” which also included one of their most noted songs, “Rock Dis Funky Joint.” They followed with three additional albums: “Pure Poverty” (1991), “Black Business”(1993), and “New World Order” (1996).
According to Star-Ledger music critic Tris McCall, Poor Righteous Teachers was part of the early ’90s New Jersey hip-hop explosion, a period when “it was possible for a parochial fan to imagine that the Garden State was becoming the center of the rap universe.”
The trio toured nationally and internationally with listings up to 2009. Then, Father Shaheed died in a motorcycle accident in 2014.
While the Passage project, called “Ghetto Gods in Divineland,” is set to debut from February 8 through 25, the project started in late August when Wise Intelligence and Culture Freedom came to the Mill Hill Theater in Trenton to have a public discussion with Trenton community activist Darren Freedom Green about their art and hip hop.
The following excerpts are based on the conversation and have been edited for flow and brevity.
Green: Growing up in Trenton what inspired your creativity?
Culture: I’d like to start with my mother, food, and music. She was a chef to me, and I would enjoy her cuisine. She had vast record collection of soul and jazz. She would connect ourselves through music. She would sing lyrics. She was subconsciously passing things in our mind. The kitchen was one of the places I felt connected to her. Whenever I’m in the kitchen, I feel connected to her.
Wise: My inspiration was (the DJS), at the block parties. We’d stand next to the speakers. Trenton has been my inspiration from the beginning — on every level.
Green: How has hip hop changed?
Wise: Hip hop hasn’t changed. It still delivers and is relevant as it is today. What is only allowed now is what mainstream media dictates it is. Mainstream media that has pushed a particular narrative on the public: Sex, murder, is that narrative. Whatever happens to mainstream is in the bloodstream. But hip hop is still pushing those positive narratives and popping up with these themes.
Culture: When people think of hip hop, they think of rap. But rap is the language and hip hop is the culture. Once you removed the pillars, the building will collapse. Environments shape reality, reality shapes the expression. Rap is a creative outlet. Michelangelo said a creative world is one where art is more acceptable. The art will create an environment that is better for young people for expression. B-boying, DJ-ing, and art. Hip hop hasn’t changed, but the media controls us.
Wise: When hip hop began it was a (violence) prevention movement. That part is dropped from discussion, (the) love, peace, having fun message. The (early) crews were gang-affiliated, but they moved (to) let’s battle (with) rap, resolve conflicts without violence, move the young to positive lifestyles.
Hip hop has always been positive. Hip hop has been at the front of political action. Hip hop artist do extraordinary work in the community. You have these movements in every part of the U.S. That hasn’t changed at all.
Hip hop’s DNA has been to speak truth to power. We have to teach kids to control the intellectual process. Rappers should do more to bring back resources to the community that created this culture.
Culture: Draw attention to social issues — women’s rights, pushing positive messages — using our voice to communicate and speak to issues. Other people realize rap and hip hop start trends. Then, you have others that make this happen, and you have the protectors of the culture.
Wise: (There is also) the diversity of attitudes, lifestyles, and views. I am in this lane, but I appreciate your view. That is the diversity. As long as you love your neighbor. Once you take (the diversity of hip hop) and make it one thing, you destroy the culture.
Green asks about addressing trauma and social problems.
Culture: I tell them what I tell my own daughter. I treat others like family members. Parents are the most important people in their lives. I want to impact my daughter by how I treat her mother. I tried to lead by setting an example. Whatever you want to be seen as, you have to model it. The number one thing I learned is being a good listener. As fathers we want to be a super hero for our daughter, but what they want is for us to listen and give them space. If you listen, you may be able to apply wisdom.
Wise: We can’t gloss over environment. The parent has to be the first teacher in the child’s life. The family has to be the first school, church. If the family is systemically broken, how much can we rely on accountability and respectability?
(Growing up at Donnelly Hall), I knew all these kids’ mothers, but not fathers. I didn’t know any of my friends’ fathers. Broken family, (and) the policy that broke family. Building communities of poverty. I moved in 2015 (back to) Trenton. I got pulled over (by the police) five times a month. It is because of the concentration of poverty. What can a parent do? The family is broke, what can I say to a child? Poor Righteous Teachers were lucky. We found something that we loved enough. Do what you love until it can do something for you.
Culture: There is a thing in the African American people, it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a community …
Green: What legacy would you like to leave?
Culture: I would like my life to reflect what grace and mercy could do. Every child has some kind of talent. Something they could use to elevate themselves. I never went to culinary school, but I was head chef at a university. We didn’t take any music programs, but we took our passions to move forth. I didn’t have my father, but I’ve been married for 35 years. I didn’t go to college, but my children did. When you see me, you see grace and mercy. As a group, you see unity. You can’t teach people about unity if you don’t demonstrate it. We never talk bad about another.
Wise: I try to be the best human being I can be. Give back at least as much I have taken. I’m not a legacy guy. In terms of the music, I’m documenting the time (when it was created). When you find our music, I want you to say that “this” was happening at this time, it wasn’t just partying bullshit. So you should say, “These guys gave us what we needed.”
Green: Final words?
Wise: Hip hop has saved thousands of youths from depravity. The Bronx had to be the birth of hip hop. The youth had to learn to improvise. Hip hop should be preserved for its ability to preserve the people. It isn’t about rapping and DJing; it has been about innovation. People came and needed technologies to support what we wanted to do. Hip hop as innovation doesn’t get spoken about enough Graffiti art is on $13,000 bags. Hip hop influences potato chips. Kids don’t have to be rappers but embrace the hurdles in the lane. You don’t have to be the rappers. You can be the engineer. You can create platforms.
Ghetto Gods in Divineland is set for Passage Theater at the Mill Hill Playhouse in Trenton, February 8 through 25. For more information, visit www.passagetheatre.org.
Wise, left, Culture, and Darren Green on the Passage Theater stage. ,
