"Black music is a rebellion and serves as a means to advance one’s social position whilst retaining cultural heritage." - Megan Sullivan

(An ongoing Series)

I grew up in a Southern suburb of  the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Hailing from the Bronx, New York, and coming of age during a desolate era, my mother tried her best to protect my brother and I from the influences of "street life." We were regularly placed in private religious schools and would be forced to listen to rhythm and blues, Christian alternative music, soft rock or gospel, as we navigated through the city. As hip-hop and rap started to bloom in Atlanta during the 1990's and early 2000's, my brother and I would create mixtapes of hip-hop radio shows and hide them from our parents. Defying our parents demands, Outkast, Goodie Mob, Jay-Z, Ludacris, T.I. and other artists, became a getaway from our sometimes, overly regulated, lives. The lyrics often painting picture of Black life that we had only heard about.

Unfortunately at the time, I wasn't interested much in the lyrics of the music, as I was in the rhythm and dances. Now that I have matured, I have realized the impact that hip-hop ballads and lyrics have had on the African American experience.  

This ongoing portrait series started as an interest in how my friends (mostly African American males in their 20's, that have grown up in a household where both parents have careers and want them to aspire to be more than a entertainer) are navigating through the world of hip-hop in Atlanta, while defying their parents plea to live a "typical" or "secure" life.

As many know, the Atlanta hip-hop community is rapidly growing. Many youth are focusing on musical stardom, working a nine-to-five to pay for studio time, instead of  investing in their futures. Is this a bad thing? Is the venture into entertainment a setback to the minority community? Or is just an "unconventional way" of creating prominence in a new era of discovering what is means to be African American in America?