Conscious Rap Music: Movement Music Revisited A Qualitative Study of Conscious Rappers and Activism

The purpose of this study is to explore how conscious rap is used as a form of activism. Interviews of conscious rappers based in Atlanta, GA were used to understand this relationship. In order to complete this investigation, ten unsigned conscious rappers were given a series of questions to explore their involvement as activist; some of these artist were also recruited based on affiliations with political organizations based in Atlanta, GA. By gathering interviews from conscious rappers who consider their music as a form of activism, scholars of African American Studies may further understand the role of music and political activism when mobilizing the African American and minority communities

An Afrocentric Approach to Building Cultural Relevance in Social Work Research

Social work researchers who identify and define social problems run the risk of leaving their social fingerprints on such problems, as well as their favored solutions to them. As a result, the direction of the research agenda is driven by the focus of the research problem formulation, instead of the cultural relevance. The purpose of this article is to offer guiding principles for integrating cultural relevance into the social work research process. The authors offer definitions of cultural relevance, a rationale for using cultural relevance in social work research, a framework for constructing cultural relevance in the process of research problem formulation, and an example of how this framework applies within the context of HIV prevention education in the African American community. </jats:p