this is will Patterson I’m so glad you
can join me you actually in my makers
face that I call the doodle hold this
right get my inspiration to create
amazing courses like decoding dr. Dre if
I punch ignore ship and Hipmunk
informatics this wall all going from
static meaning taking data and making an
informatics looking at ways to inspire
new technology a new entrepreneurship
opportunities for young people looking
to find their way the guillotines
paradigm represents this overbid new
genres of music from funk course to soul
R&B and ultimately becoming the
foundation of hip-hop culture
but none of that could happen if the
repurposing of technology didn’t happen
with these items right here two
turntables a mixer and of course a
microphone and audio components and so
we’ll talk about that in this TED talk
and we’ll talk about new ways to make it
happen in to connect with young people
day just stick around I’ll see y’all in
just a minute on this TED talk you know
it’s exciting to be out here with all of
y’all but let me first correct a couple
of things I used to be the Associate
Director of the African culture center
but I took that cultural wealth but it’s
been the legacy of the a frenetic
experience here on this campus where I
got a chance to broadcast hip hop and I
made that my trajectory to be where I’m
at today which is in the College of
Engineering and Technology
entrepreneurship because people always
ask me how did you get hip-hop in the
College of Engineering it is based on
that phrase right there
look at what hip-hop can do dr. Dre sold
a company for three billion dollars to
Apple with no technical degrees but he
had the cultural where wealth of the
lived legacy of something I call the
ghetto jeans paradigm dr. Dre is a
supernova within that particular context
that particular ghetto genius universe
so today we’re going to really explore
and have a conversation about this idea
of cultural wealth what that means how I
became a connector in the ghetto genius
universe how our universities how
schools have businesses like Apple like
dodge have used the cultural wealth of
gentle genius to
new products and then how you can become
a connector in this space that we call
the ghetto genius universe now what’s
interesting is when you really think
about ghetto genius it’s really beyond
hip-hop is really looking at this
particular piece right it’s not what
hip-hop can do because hip-hop is just a
component of ghetto genius right it’s
about what ghetto jeans can do it’s
about the live experiences of people
that have to iterate every day because
of their layer of situations it’s about
knowledge acquired and born because of
that lived a particular situation it’s
about that space that plays in time that
motivates that inspires people to
iterate because of their particular
situation and their particular
circumstance right so I want you to
close your eyes for a second come on
everybody’s going closed eyes right I
want you to think about what that must
feel like to be and again I want you to
think about what there must have been
like in the 1960s and the 1970s right
here in the US right think about that
now open your eyes and think about every
day if you’re walking past items like
this abandoned tenement buildings
broken-down cars right barren lots with
garbage and rubble everywhere limited
municipal resources all of these things
that make ghetto life be what it be
defunded education and after-school
programs right but think about that
particular situation that same thing
that becomes your classroom where people
just don’t sit by and and get pissed off
they do something about their situation
they start iterating this are creating
new culture right they start creating
things that now is representative
expected all over the world things that
are celebrated because of what they
decide to do about that chaotic
situation
those poor policies that were
insensitive to they’re particularly of
situations they did the damn thing
because of that right and so we got a
chance to see what
this thing was like and I’ll never
forget for someone like me when hip-hop
came into my life when ghetto genius was
celebrated 1979 I’m right here I’m a kid
from right here in Champaign Urbana I
played on this campus my whole life
I remember when hip-hop came to
Champaign and actually was in the halls
of Urbana junior high school and his big
kid name came Beaumont that’s white kid
he had his boom box ready up right and
he comes bumping down the halls and he
got rapper’s delight’ on the box by the
Sugar Hill Gang straight up disrupted
the whole classroom the whole hallways
situation I was stunned not only because
the song was on fire number one right
saw was high right but the boom box the
technology was banging – right the
disruption that it caused with teachers
being pissed off I was wooded I was like
okay instead I said I got to do that I
have to do that and it kept showing up
this DJ from Philly named disco rat came
to Douglass park in a red step van with
a mouse on the side of it with these
huge headphones in Douglass park and he
saw rocking my Park for days that’s like
oh man here it goes again he got his
hip-hop thing going here’s just ghetto
genius from Philly doing the damn thing
in the park and I want to be down right
one guy did it better than everybody
else or just expanded what that was
it’s name is Grandmaster Flash right I
had a conversation with Grandmaster
Flash about coming to the U of I several
years ago because I knew that
Grandmaster Flash was a geek so I called
him up I’m like hey man I’m like you a
geek ain’t you he said how you know I
said man he said no I am a scientist he
said because I’m the kid that wanted to
know why did the light come on when I
plug it in the wall I wanted to know why
the record spun when my parents platter
dropped when the needle dropped right I
wanted to know so he started doing some
things that was amazing he started
disrupting what sound like this you see
full-time come on girls let’s rock
[Music]
you see likewise is scratching directors
so while just stopping to jail right
let’s get on the floor dancing isn’t any
stop the record again right all right
chopping it come on man
right I’m like how’s he doing that right
where’s this genius coming from this
record shop like this right why is this
kid that had this music in his ear doing
this and how’s he doing it with no music
skills with no funding from programs
that we’re now being cut right so again
Grandmaster Flash like many of us were
on poverty program kids right
meaning the Johnson administration after
the civil rights movement started having
all these just funding for programs to
make certain era opportunities in spaces
like Douglas Park in the South Bronx and
spaces like that that that people could
have an opportunity to build within that
particular context right and so I got a
chance to spend time after school and
spaces where spaces like play-doh that
was developed right here at the
University of Illinois showed up in
King’s School which is right down the
street from here and actually a friend
of mine named John who’s in the audience
today we’re here and I would run up
after school we’re in sixth and seventh
grade we run up after school and we want
to get to the play-doh terminals because
there’s a math program there that has
addressed a dragster and we could race
each other but we can learn math
concepts at the same time had no idea
the College of Engineering I put that
together but because of that funding
because of Natural Science Foundation
being part of that they put that
technology in my community and it made a
difference
it made a difference to me right I was
excited about that but guess what one
day that changed right one day that
funding was shut down because of
Reaganomics now President Reagan had a
different idea about government spending
and what should happen
wasn’t kind and it wasn’t sensitive to
folks that look like me to my
neighborhood I was used to having
programs like the Douglas Turner drum
corps happening in my community I was
used to having movies in my Park and
dreaming about being in the drum corps
watching the movie playing softball
doing all these things where I saw folks
in my community rising beyond our
marginalized spaces right see because
Joe Madison talks about the ghetto being
a place where you’re underestimated
undervalued and marginalized right and
so I think about that within my own
context within my own lived experience
so then you have things that are
happening where now I have to figure out
how to make something out of nothing
I was upset that these programs didn’t
exist anymore I was pissed at society I
said darling
I’m like why is that happening to my
community why me so I’m mad so I have to
begin trying to figure out how to make
something happen like like like like Jim
Astor day or better yet how Grandmaster
Flash was doing his thing right so I
start getting equipment any way that I
could but the way I was doing it was the
wrong way so two years after I graduated
from high school I went to penitentiary
went to the penitentiary fur for two
years trying to figure out what my
ghetto genius meant right that was chaos
for Reaganomics to shut down those war
poverty programs and have nothing in
place that would provide a different way
for me to figure out what to do with
this genius that it was inspiring me I
had to iterate I had to figure it out
that on my own so here’s what I did
while I’m in for Galerie and Joliet
Correctional Center and we’ve seen
Joliet Correctional Center it’s kind of
like where James or Jim Belushi and the
Blues Brothers got their claim to fame
right I was on for gallery in that
particular space I started signing my
name William Patterson PhD I was 18
right in that particular space I began
thinking about that chaotic situation I
was living with murderers I was living
with gangbangers that was not my
particular situation I was a ghetto
genius
and I was going to figure my way out of
that particular situation so that’s what
I did my wife who is my girlfriend back
then still has my letters when I was
signing my name William Paterson PhD and
so I look back at that particular
experience then I knew that there was
something else waiting for me because
these guys showed me something very
different
so y’all stand up a little bit stand up
that up come on stand up put your hands
together come on come on there we go
right right okay they talking about it
right people going right don’t ask me
why right all we know it is like that
just the weight it is right looking out
there beat y’all keep it going come on
now yeah I was test we had the Box
rolling right yes
like that and that’s the way it years
huh all right let’s get Oh genius y’all
oh I had that and I knew that was real
right
Run DMC came in they came in with that
particular silent right and I knew that
it was something special but I’ll still
try to figure out how can I make this be
part of my lived experience right I knew
that I’ll steal I was coming out of
prison and I had to do something about
that right and ultimately it made me
start thinking about another particular
situation right then I had a particular
responsibility right I’ll still a little
ghetto boy I was still growing up in
these ghetto streets around here I was
feel marginalized right I still had to
figure out how to take this ghetto
genius of hip-hop claim it and make it
my own right so I start thinking about
ghetto genius and hip-hop I start
pondering like dr. Dre was doing in this
narrative right here right trying to
figure out how to use juice we’re going
to make sense to me in addy
industrializing nation how it’s going to
take to create the creativity of hip-hop
to a just a chaotic situation of
marginalized space how’s it going to
take that cultural well that I knew
existed that happened way before dr. Dre
and I ever existed we had to take that
and figure out how to say you know what
these streets ain’t gonna eat me we’re
going to take this thing to the next
level make it B and make it do what it
needs to do right we had to figure out
right the technology is not going to
happen based on the next big gadget or
things like that the next big thing is a
kid that recognizes how to take that
moment right take that moment and
iterate something new and something
different because in a particularly of
situation that’s the power and the
spirit of ghetto genius right
you take that creativity you take that
that cultural wealth and you turned in
something else
you’ve come much bigger than that
particular situation now what we knew
also was that this is not something that
just started with hip hop this actually
goes back to a woman by the name of
Sarah Breedlove who was actually one of
the first self-made millionaires in this
in this country the first female
self-made millionaire right she
understood that in her particular
scenario hair care was an issue and she
had a lived experience as a result of
that right and she knew other women also
in her community had that same
particular situation right hair breakage
she figured out concoction to to figure
out how to repair that but she also
created an education program to spread
that knowledge that wealth her cultural
wealth became so strong she changed her
name from Sarah Breedlove to actually
madam CJ Walker right and she built a
company based on the Empire that
particular ology and that particular
wealth so it’s exciting when you started
thinking about individuals like Candace
Mitchell and Chanel Morton where they
actually took that same spirit of madam
CJ Walker and actually took their
technical degrees today their computer
engineering degrees and their chemistry
degrees in creating a new company called
texturize and building a country a
company based on that cultural wealth
that madame CJ Walker did and they also
started their own education program
called the sphere stem haircare Academy
that’s exciting to me when you started
talking about we’re going to teach young
people technology through beauty so they
took that lived experience they took
that cultural well that ghetto genius of
Sarah Breedlove right but as other
individuals also like lo Jo right no
Joel is an amazing ghetto genius right
he’s the kid that was in the
neighborhoods and every time you would
see him he have a bike rim one minute
didn’t you see him with a motorcycle
battery of the next did he have a car
steering wheel and Vincent’s her by the
end of the day he’s taking a tandem bike
and turned it into a limousine that
actually had a key that had an alarm
owner that worked that also had a sound
system on it that bumped I’m like man
how the hell did you do that right and
we’re all talking about man he said man
oh no that’s what I do like nah bro
you’re a genius man but he’s right there
in our mark my space he was a ghetto
genius and he’s always been the
inspiration of my work but he started
doing something even more exciting to me
here recently remember I talked about
boom boxes well Joe being a hip hopper
he now is making these boom boxes yeah
man he said now I just found something
neighborhoods made a boom box out of
suitcase all right he’s a year and then
I put some yard lights on it I got out
the garbage can and made a solar power
I’m like man she I said would you stop
calling me with this stuff because you
cracked every up and this is amazing
he’s a year I’m gonna play for eight
hours do I said okay Anna’s Bluetooth
I’m like man so I’m like Joe I’m like
man you’re amazing right and so in my
class decoding dr. Dre it’s a Tech 398
chords I said you know I said this is
inspiring I want to show my students
this
show exactly how you take this this
cultural wealth is ghetto genius and how
we can expand on that so I have
individuals that are in my class that’s
actually taking this technology and
these Bluetooth boom boxes and building
and building new technology and
iterating their own ideas one kid in
particular us at the forefront is Tim
Kline Tim Kline had a boombox that he
built he’s from the suburbs of Chicago
and he was on the quiet one day so some
of my students are out testing because
not only were doing the boom boxes we’re
also doing RC cars so they were out
testing the cars and doing the boom
boxes on the quad and it’s hey man you
should come to class and bring your boom
box to class so he brought his version
of the boom box to class he saw the
suitcase he started hanging out in class
like he was out you taking a class he
would even registered but here’s what’s
exciting about that folks here’s what
you have to remember geek ism is geek
ism and it doesn’t matter where you’re
from right it’s about where you had
think about what dr. Dre and Jimmy
Iovine did right with Beats Audio gene
I’ve even said he didn’t even like
hip-hop right but he said when he heard
how dr. Dre mix the chronic he said man
I want to be done with you because I
loved what you did and that mix Dre was
standing on the cultural wealth of
ghetto genius he knew the algorithms of
sound based on those particular
narratives he understood what Jam Master
Jay was doing in Grandmaster Flash was
doing so he knew what to do when it came
down to mixing it up right so I want you
to think about yourself being like that
right I want you to think about how you
could actually become and step into this
live experience how you could actually
tap into cultural wealth in spaces like
Chicago State University who people talk
about how they’re they’re actually
struggling because their financial
situations right but what Chicago State
University has is tremendous cultural
wealth right we have a project going on
right now in my hip-hop informatics
class that’s actually called Southside
cool where we’re looking at the cool
technology that’s based on the southside
of Chicago and how we use a space and a
place of Chicago State University to be
that particular
up for that content they have an archive
over there they have amazing culture
wealth from authors like LeBron Bennett
jr. Gwendolyn Brooks but here’s
something of the head they have the
archive records of Provident Hospital
the first african-american owned
hospital in the US they had that content
in their archives can you imagine what
we could learn within the context of
bioengineer medicine from those records
we could make things happen with the
most particular context think about the
work of individuals like Michael Manson
Michael Manson is a tremendous recording
artists right he does the damn thing
every day when we started looking at
highs working with young people on the
south side of Chicago and teaching them
the musical legacies of the
african-american experience here’s the
cultural wealth that he has and being a
ghetto jeans II didn’t even recognize
and started talking to him about it
Michael was also the music director for
two music greats George Duke that just
passed away and also Al Jarreau if you
know that work George Duke is a jazz
funk fusionist and Al Jarreau is a jazz
R&B fusionist each one of them gave
Michael particular responsibility in a
message before they pass the way they
said Michael George you said this you
got to keep the funk alive Al Jarreau
said Michael you got to keep the
legacies alive
so Michael now wants to build a stamp
project based on those particular lived
experience those particular narratives
think about how we could build a
cultural stem project within the context
of ghetto jeans it helped Michael do
that work to leverage that particular
context to keep that narrative going and
how that can be flipped think about the
work the individual like chance the
rapper is doing right now and how he’s
changing the game right chance the
rapper is dealing with the South Bronx
was delivered back in the 70s
underfunded educational programs what
did he do with its own cultural wealth
he gave a million dollars in Chicago
Public Schools did he not right give it
up you got to give it up to him that’s
real right
right his cultural wealth is so strong
right that now the Chicago bills gate
the Bulls gave a million dollars also
now that’s power that’s ghetto genius
that’s the cultural wealth of the ghetto
genius pyridine right so I want you to
think about a couple things how you can
also become a visionary like I did in
terms of being a connected yeah I like
an avatar don’t you right I’m like this
is black professor X you feel me cuz I’m
looking for to get oh geez like and fine
right
I’m the connector man hey I see it I
talk to folks all the time about your
cultural wealth and how we can leverage
that right I want you to think about how
you take the skillsets that you have and
you work with folks like chance to
rapper and help them figure out what to
do with Chicago Public Schools and
after-school programs I want you to
connect with me when you think about how
we could take what’s happening in the
Boys and Girls Clubs and be carted
become part of the culture world that’s
happening at the Boys and Girls Club I
want you to be intentional and be
inspired by projects like Southside cool
that we’re doing in our hip-hop
informatics class the things that we’re
doing right here right now at the U of I
I want you to think about the South
Bronx I want you to think about what
they did I want you to think about the
culture they created because of those
policies that were poor they didn’t give
a damn about them I want you to think
about the cultural wealth of hip-hop I
want you to think about how dr. Dre sold
that company for three billion dollars
and it keeps changing the game right I
want you to think about how we make a
ghetto genius universe and how you
become a connector within it all right
I’m doctor will Patterson I’m gonna
connect in the ghetto Jews in the bed
[Applause]
[Music]
you
can join me you actually in my makers
face that I call the doodle hold this
right get my inspiration to create
amazing courses like decoding dr. Dre if
I punch ignore ship and Hipmunk
informatics this wall all going from
static meaning taking data and making an
informatics looking at ways to inspire
new technology a new entrepreneurship
opportunities for young people looking
to find their way the guillotines
paradigm represents this overbid new
genres of music from funk course to soul
R&B and ultimately becoming the
foundation of hip-hop culture
but none of that could happen if the
repurposing of technology didn’t happen
with these items right here two
turntables a mixer and of course a
microphone and audio components and so
we’ll talk about that in this TED talk
and we’ll talk about new ways to make it
happen in to connect with young people
day just stick around I’ll see y’all in
just a minute on this TED talk you know
it’s exciting to be out here with all of
y’all but let me first correct a couple
of things I used to be the Associate
Director of the African culture center
but I took that cultural wealth but it’s
been the legacy of the a frenetic
experience here on this campus where I
got a chance to broadcast hip hop and I
made that my trajectory to be where I’m
at today which is in the College of
Engineering and Technology
entrepreneurship because people always
ask me how did you get hip-hop in the
College of Engineering it is based on
that phrase right there
look at what hip-hop can do dr. Dre sold
a company for three billion dollars to
Apple with no technical degrees but he
had the cultural where wealth of the
lived legacy of something I call the
ghetto jeans paradigm dr. Dre is a
supernova within that particular context
that particular ghetto genius universe
so today we’re going to really explore
and have a conversation about this idea
of cultural wealth what that means how I
became a connector in the ghetto genius
universe how our universities how
schools have businesses like Apple like
dodge have used the cultural wealth of
gentle genius to
new products and then how you can become
a connector in this space that we call
the ghetto genius universe now what’s
interesting is when you really think
about ghetto genius it’s really beyond
hip-hop is really looking at this
particular piece right it’s not what
hip-hop can do because hip-hop is just a
component of ghetto genius right it’s
about what ghetto jeans can do it’s
about the live experiences of people
that have to iterate every day because
of their layer of situations it’s about
knowledge acquired and born because of
that lived a particular situation it’s
about that space that plays in time that
motivates that inspires people to
iterate because of their particular
situation and their particular
circumstance right so I want you to
close your eyes for a second come on
everybody’s going closed eyes right I
want you to think about what that must
feel like to be and again I want you to
think about what there must have been
like in the 1960s and the 1970s right
here in the US right think about that
now open your eyes and think about every
day if you’re walking past items like
this abandoned tenement buildings
broken-down cars right barren lots with
garbage and rubble everywhere limited
municipal resources all of these things
that make ghetto life be what it be
defunded education and after-school
programs right but think about that
particular situation that same thing
that becomes your classroom where people
just don’t sit by and and get pissed off
they do something about their situation
they start iterating this are creating
new culture right they start creating
things that now is representative
expected all over the world things that
are celebrated because of what they
decide to do about that chaotic
situation
those poor policies that were
insensitive to they’re particularly of
situations they did the damn thing
because of that right and so we got a
chance to see what
this thing was like and I’ll never
forget for someone like me when hip-hop
came into my life when ghetto genius was
celebrated 1979 I’m right here I’m a kid
from right here in Champaign Urbana I
played on this campus my whole life
I remember when hip-hop came to
Champaign and actually was in the halls
of Urbana junior high school and his big
kid name came Beaumont that’s white kid
he had his boom box ready up right and
he comes bumping down the halls and he
got rapper’s delight’ on the box by the
Sugar Hill Gang straight up disrupted
the whole classroom the whole hallways
situation I was stunned not only because
the song was on fire number one right
saw was high right but the boom box the
technology was banging – right the
disruption that it caused with teachers
being pissed off I was wooded I was like
okay instead I said I got to do that I
have to do that and it kept showing up
this DJ from Philly named disco rat came
to Douglass park in a red step van with
a mouse on the side of it with these
huge headphones in Douglass park and he
saw rocking my Park for days that’s like
oh man here it goes again he got his
hip-hop thing going here’s just ghetto
genius from Philly doing the damn thing
in the park and I want to be down right
one guy did it better than everybody
else or just expanded what that was
it’s name is Grandmaster Flash right I
had a conversation with Grandmaster
Flash about coming to the U of I several
years ago because I knew that
Grandmaster Flash was a geek so I called
him up I’m like hey man I’m like you a
geek ain’t you he said how you know I
said man he said no I am a scientist he
said because I’m the kid that wanted to
know why did the light come on when I
plug it in the wall I wanted to know why
the record spun when my parents platter
dropped when the needle dropped right I
wanted to know so he started doing some
things that was amazing he started
disrupting what sound like this you see
full-time come on girls let’s rock
[Music]
you see likewise is scratching directors
so while just stopping to jail right
let’s get on the floor dancing isn’t any
stop the record again right all right
chopping it come on man
right I’m like how’s he doing that right
where’s this genius coming from this
record shop like this right why is this
kid that had this music in his ear doing
this and how’s he doing it with no music
skills with no funding from programs
that we’re now being cut right so again
Grandmaster Flash like many of us were
on poverty program kids right
meaning the Johnson administration after
the civil rights movement started having
all these just funding for programs to
make certain era opportunities in spaces
like Douglas Park in the South Bronx and
spaces like that that that people could
have an opportunity to build within that
particular context right and so I got a
chance to spend time after school and
spaces where spaces like play-doh that
was developed right here at the
University of Illinois showed up in
King’s School which is right down the
street from here and actually a friend
of mine named John who’s in the audience
today we’re here and I would run up
after school we’re in sixth and seventh
grade we run up after school and we want
to get to the play-doh terminals because
there’s a math program there that has
addressed a dragster and we could race
each other but we can learn math
concepts at the same time had no idea
the College of Engineering I put that
together but because of that funding
because of Natural Science Foundation
being part of that they put that
technology in my community and it made a
difference
it made a difference to me right I was
excited about that but guess what one
day that changed right one day that
funding was shut down because of
Reaganomics now President Reagan had a
different idea about government spending
and what should happen
wasn’t kind and it wasn’t sensitive to
folks that look like me to my
neighborhood I was used to having
programs like the Douglas Turner drum
corps happening in my community I was
used to having movies in my Park and
dreaming about being in the drum corps
watching the movie playing softball
doing all these things where I saw folks
in my community rising beyond our
marginalized spaces right see because
Joe Madison talks about the ghetto being
a place where you’re underestimated
undervalued and marginalized right and
so I think about that within my own
context within my own lived experience
so then you have things that are
happening where now I have to figure out
how to make something out of nothing
I was upset that these programs didn’t
exist anymore I was pissed at society I
said darling
I’m like why is that happening to my
community why me so I’m mad so I have to
begin trying to figure out how to make
something happen like like like like Jim
Astor day or better yet how Grandmaster
Flash was doing his thing right so I
start getting equipment any way that I
could but the way I was doing it was the
wrong way so two years after I graduated
from high school I went to penitentiary
went to the penitentiary fur for two
years trying to figure out what my
ghetto genius meant right that was chaos
for Reaganomics to shut down those war
poverty programs and have nothing in
place that would provide a different way
for me to figure out what to do with
this genius that it was inspiring me I
had to iterate I had to figure it out
that on my own so here’s what I did
while I’m in for Galerie and Joliet
Correctional Center and we’ve seen
Joliet Correctional Center it’s kind of
like where James or Jim Belushi and the
Blues Brothers got their claim to fame
right I was on for gallery in that
particular space I started signing my
name William Patterson PhD I was 18
right in that particular space I began
thinking about that chaotic situation I
was living with murderers I was living
with gangbangers that was not my
particular situation I was a ghetto
genius
and I was going to figure my way out of
that particular situation so that’s what
I did my wife who is my girlfriend back
then still has my letters when I was
signing my name William Paterson PhD and
so I look back at that particular
experience then I knew that there was
something else waiting for me because
these guys showed me something very
different
so y’all stand up a little bit stand up
that up come on stand up put your hands
together come on come on there we go
right right okay they talking about it
right people going right don’t ask me
why right all we know it is like that
just the weight it is right looking out
there beat y’all keep it going come on
now yeah I was test we had the Box
rolling right yes
like that and that’s the way it years
huh all right let’s get Oh genius y’all
oh I had that and I knew that was real
right
Run DMC came in they came in with that
particular silent right and I knew that
it was something special but I’ll still
try to figure out how can I make this be
part of my lived experience right I knew
that I’ll steal I was coming out of
prison and I had to do something about
that right and ultimately it made me
start thinking about another particular
situation right then I had a particular
responsibility right I’ll still a little
ghetto boy I was still growing up in
these ghetto streets around here I was
feel marginalized right I still had to
figure out how to take this ghetto
genius of hip-hop claim it and make it
my own right so I start thinking about
ghetto genius and hip-hop I start
pondering like dr. Dre was doing in this
narrative right here right trying to
figure out how to use juice we’re going
to make sense to me in addy
industrializing nation how it’s going to
take to create the creativity of hip-hop
to a just a chaotic situation of
marginalized space how’s it going to
take that cultural well that I knew
existed that happened way before dr. Dre
and I ever existed we had to take that
and figure out how to say you know what
these streets ain’t gonna eat me we’re
going to take this thing to the next
level make it B and make it do what it
needs to do right we had to figure out
right the technology is not going to
happen based on the next big gadget or
things like that the next big thing is a
kid that recognizes how to take that
moment right take that moment and
iterate something new and something
different because in a particularly of
situation that’s the power and the
spirit of ghetto genius right
you take that creativity you take that
that cultural wealth and you turned in
something else
you’ve come much bigger than that
particular situation now what we knew
also was that this is not something that
just started with hip hop this actually
goes back to a woman by the name of
Sarah Breedlove who was actually one of
the first self-made millionaires in this
in this country the first female
self-made millionaire right she
understood that in her particular
scenario hair care was an issue and she
had a lived experience as a result of
that right and she knew other women also
in her community had that same
particular situation right hair breakage
she figured out concoction to to figure
out how to repair that but she also
created an education program to spread
that knowledge that wealth her cultural
wealth became so strong she changed her
name from Sarah Breedlove to actually
madam CJ Walker right and she built a
company based on the Empire that
particular ology and that particular
wealth so it’s exciting when you started
thinking about individuals like Candace
Mitchell and Chanel Morton where they
actually took that same spirit of madam
CJ Walker and actually took their
technical degrees today their computer
engineering degrees and their chemistry
degrees in creating a new company called
texturize and building a country a
company based on that cultural wealth
that madame CJ Walker did and they also
started their own education program
called the sphere stem haircare Academy
that’s exciting to me when you started
talking about we’re going to teach young
people technology through beauty so they
took that lived experience they took
that cultural well that ghetto genius of
Sarah Breedlove right but as other
individuals also like lo Jo right no
Joel is an amazing ghetto genius right
he’s the kid that was in the
neighborhoods and every time you would
see him he have a bike rim one minute
didn’t you see him with a motorcycle
battery of the next did he have a car
steering wheel and Vincent’s her by the
end of the day he’s taking a tandem bike
and turned it into a limousine that
actually had a key that had an alarm
owner that worked that also had a sound
system on it that bumped I’m like man
how the hell did you do that right and
we’re all talking about man he said man
oh no that’s what I do like nah bro
you’re a genius man but he’s right there
in our mark my space he was a ghetto
genius and he’s always been the
inspiration of my work but he started
doing something even more exciting to me
here recently remember I talked about
boom boxes well Joe being a hip hopper
he now is making these boom boxes yeah
man he said now I just found something
neighborhoods made a boom box out of
suitcase all right he’s a year and then
I put some yard lights on it I got out
the garbage can and made a solar power
I’m like man she I said would you stop
calling me with this stuff because you
cracked every up and this is amazing
he’s a year I’m gonna play for eight
hours do I said okay Anna’s Bluetooth
I’m like man so I’m like Joe I’m like
man you’re amazing right and so in my
class decoding dr. Dre it’s a Tech 398
chords I said you know I said this is
inspiring I want to show my students
this
show exactly how you take this this
cultural wealth is ghetto genius and how
we can expand on that so I have
individuals that are in my class that’s
actually taking this technology and
these Bluetooth boom boxes and building
and building new technology and
iterating their own ideas one kid in
particular us at the forefront is Tim
Kline Tim Kline had a boombox that he
built he’s from the suburbs of Chicago
and he was on the quiet one day so some
of my students are out testing because
not only were doing the boom boxes we’re
also doing RC cars so they were out
testing the cars and doing the boom
boxes on the quad and it’s hey man you
should come to class and bring your boom
box to class so he brought his version
of the boom box to class he saw the
suitcase he started hanging out in class
like he was out you taking a class he
would even registered but here’s what’s
exciting about that folks here’s what
you have to remember geek ism is geek
ism and it doesn’t matter where you’re
from right it’s about where you had
think about what dr. Dre and Jimmy
Iovine did right with Beats Audio gene
I’ve even said he didn’t even like
hip-hop right but he said when he heard
how dr. Dre mix the chronic he said man
I want to be done with you because I
loved what you did and that mix Dre was
standing on the cultural wealth of
ghetto genius he knew the algorithms of
sound based on those particular
narratives he understood what Jam Master
Jay was doing in Grandmaster Flash was
doing so he knew what to do when it came
down to mixing it up right so I want you
to think about yourself being like that
right I want you to think about how you
could actually become and step into this
live experience how you could actually
tap into cultural wealth in spaces like
Chicago State University who people talk
about how they’re they’re actually
struggling because their financial
situations right but what Chicago State
University has is tremendous cultural
wealth right we have a project going on
right now in my hip-hop informatics
class that’s actually called Southside
cool where we’re looking at the cool
technology that’s based on the southside
of Chicago and how we use a space and a
place of Chicago State University to be
that particular
up for that content they have an archive
over there they have amazing culture
wealth from authors like LeBron Bennett
jr. Gwendolyn Brooks but here’s
something of the head they have the
archive records of Provident Hospital
the first african-american owned
hospital in the US they had that content
in their archives can you imagine what
we could learn within the context of
bioengineer medicine from those records
we could make things happen with the
most particular context think about the
work of individuals like Michael Manson
Michael Manson is a tremendous recording
artists right he does the damn thing
every day when we started looking at
highs working with young people on the
south side of Chicago and teaching them
the musical legacies of the
african-american experience here’s the
cultural wealth that he has and being a
ghetto jeans II didn’t even recognize
and started talking to him about it
Michael was also the music director for
two music greats George Duke that just
passed away and also Al Jarreau if you
know that work George Duke is a jazz
funk fusionist and Al Jarreau is a jazz
R&B fusionist each one of them gave
Michael particular responsibility in a
message before they pass the way they
said Michael George you said this you
got to keep the funk alive Al Jarreau
said Michael you got to keep the
legacies alive
so Michael now wants to build a stamp
project based on those particular lived
experience those particular narratives
think about how we could build a
cultural stem project within the context
of ghetto jeans it helped Michael do
that work to leverage that particular
context to keep that narrative going and
how that can be flipped think about the
work the individual like chance the
rapper is doing right now and how he’s
changing the game right chance the
rapper is dealing with the South Bronx
was delivered back in the 70s
underfunded educational programs what
did he do with its own cultural wealth
he gave a million dollars in Chicago
Public Schools did he not right give it
up you got to give it up to him that’s
real right
right his cultural wealth is so strong
right that now the Chicago bills gate
the Bulls gave a million dollars also
now that’s power that’s ghetto genius
that’s the cultural wealth of the ghetto
genius pyridine right so I want you to
think about a couple things how you can
also become a visionary like I did in
terms of being a connected yeah I like
an avatar don’t you right I’m like this
is black professor X you feel me cuz I’m
looking for to get oh geez like and fine
right
I’m the connector man hey I see it I
talk to folks all the time about your
cultural wealth and how we can leverage
that right I want you to think about how
you take the skillsets that you have and
you work with folks like chance to
rapper and help them figure out what to
do with Chicago Public Schools and
after-school programs I want you to
connect with me when you think about how
we could take what’s happening in the
Boys and Girls Clubs and be carted
become part of the culture world that’s
happening at the Boys and Girls Club I
want you to be intentional and be
inspired by projects like Southside cool
that we’re doing in our hip-hop
informatics class the things that we’re
doing right here right now at the U of I
I want you to think about the South
Bronx I want you to think about what
they did I want you to think about the
culture they created because of those
policies that were poor they didn’t give
a damn about them I want you to think
about the cultural wealth of hip-hop I
want you to think about how dr. Dre sold
that company for three billion dollars
and it keeps changing the game right I
want you to think about how we make a
ghetto genius universe and how you
become a connector within it all right
I’m doctor will Patterson I’m gonna
connect in the ghetto Jews in the bed
[Applause]
[Music]
you
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