Jasiri X: 1Hood: Hip Hop & Activism in Action

Published: Jan. 13, 2023, midnight

Jasiri X is the founder of 1HOOD Media, an activist, and a renowned recording artist, among many other titles. Jasiri X is the first independent Hip-Hop artist to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate, which he received from Chicago Theological Seminary in 2016. Jasiri first hit the world stage in 2007 with his viral song Free The Jena 6, and since then, he\u2019s gone on to affect real change in many arenas outside of music. He has performed his music from the Smithsonian to the Apollo Theater and has discussed his views on Hip-Hop, race, and politics at leading institutions across the nation, including Harvard University, University of Chicago, NYU, Yale, and Stanford, among others. \n\nIn 2016, he was commissioned by The Open Society Foundation to travel to Columbia to create a film (War on Us with Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist Rhymefest) that highlights the international effects of US drug policy in South America. One of his generation's most important political voices, in 2017, he received the Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowship to start the 1Hood Artivist Academy.\n\nThis Episode\u2019s Heavy-hitter\u2019s:\n\nJasiri actually got into activism as a way to avoid getting into trouble at school. When he moved to a predominantly white school, he was getting into fights over people making racist comments towards him. After his mom told him that he couldn\u2019t fight his way through his problems, he found a different way to fight the issues he was facing.\n\nJasiri started a hip-hop club at the Pittsburgh high school that Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller both attended. Each of them broke before Jasiri and helped pave the way for his own come-up in the music industry.\n\nJasiri also had the pleasure of working with and learning from legendary writer and lyricist Rhymefest, who has penned many hits, including many of Kanye West\u2019s major records.\n\nSpeaking on his work with the Nation of Islam and particularly meeting Minister Louis Farrakhan, Jasiri says that the biggest misconception about both is that they hate white people. Jasiri\u2019s work with them has mainly been about promoting inclusivity, particularly with the founders of Black Lives Matter, some of whom are members of the LGBTQ+ community, to make sure they weren\u2019t alienated from the Nation\u2019s own movements.\n\nJasiri\u2019s conversation with Lupe Fiasco started as a result of him having a conversation with the 1hood community. Lupe saw that conversation happening online, said, \u201cI\u2019ll be there in 5 minutes,\u201d and actually showed up and kicked it.\n\nTo learn more, check out 1HoodMedia: https://www.1hood.org/\xa0\n\nIf you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review:\xa0 \xa0https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast\n\n#thePOZcast is brought to you by our friends at\xa0Interseller\xa0\u2013 the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you\u2019re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on #thePOZcast.\n\nCheck out a free demo today!\xa0https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZ\n\nThanks for listening! For more, please visit www.thePOZcast.com