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Space: The Problem and the Promise of Hiphop
In the Tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the qualities of fundamental reality — how our mind and material world truly exists — is vast spaciousness, without bounds. So vast, in fact, that it cannot be conceptualized. It is beyond labeling and apprehension.
This spaciousness is not empty nothingness. It is actually raw potency — alive, vibrant and awake. Experiencing it is possible through meditative practices that deeply relax the mind and body, cutting through our attempts at holding onto thoughts, feelings, and material existence.
What holds onto the phenomena arising in our awareness is the ego — which, upon arising in spaciousness, is uncomfortable with the vastness and needs to secure itself. It’s like if the floor suddenly fell out from under you or if the sky were suddenly turned upside down: you would find yourself scrambling for something to grab onto; something that would make you feel secure in our new found reality.
The ego finds security by attaching itself: to a name, an identity, a label, a definition of its own existence and environment… But these could never actually provide any real sense of security, because as real those labels seem, they never describe anything that has any lasting existence; things are always changing. As soon as we latch onto something, its inherent instability and insubstantiality begins to reveal itself. With everything and everyone always changing, there is no stability to be found in space, only groundlessness.
That groundlessness creates anxiety and the need to define self and other — what am I? Who am I? What is real? — because if I can define my reality then I can find comfort in it. But groundlessness can also be the source of peace. Because, in groundlessness we are found as we are, others are found as they are, objective reality is found as it is. There is no more need to manipulate, lie to ourselves and others in order to feel relaxed.
When we realize all existence, ourselves included, as uncreated yet potent spaciousness, there is no fear of being destroyed. Just as much as cosmic bodies won’t destroy the endless fabric of universe, fear and doubt about our own life and death, when arising in a mind like a universe, don’t harm our well-being and contentment.
According to the teachings of the Buddha, not being able to live as humans in that openness is the source of all of our suffering. Instead of relaxing in the free-floating nature of things, we engage in passion, aggression, and ignorance, trying to pull things into our lives that produce satisfaction, pushing things away that don’t, and remaining oblivious to how everything truly exists. We just don’t look.
That’s how I think about Hiphop culture: I wonder how it too may fundamentally exist. When I contemplate Hiphop, I cannot find any real material or tangible existence. It is not an “it.” I can’t touch it. I can’t locate it in time and space. It has no shape, color, or place in reference to any other object. You can’t go and get Hiphop, buy Hiphop, practice Hiphop, or attain Hiphop because it is not a thing.
In the late 80’s, before there was such a thing as “not Hiphop”, there was only the feeling that came from witnessing or participating in the culture. There was nothing to measure real Hiphop against. So, defining Hiphop as a subtle experience, I can only describe that feeling as joy, excitement, and anticipation. The only real definition that I’m left with is that it is not an objective “it” but the experience of spaciousness itself.
Afrika Bambaataa, the former head of the Universal Zulu Nation, an organization that evolved out of the gang culture of 70’s New York to become the pre-eminent torchbearer for all things true about Hiphop culture, once said that Hiphop is love, peace, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, freedom, and having fun. (I would add confidence and compassion to that list). Those qualities don’t materially exist; you can’t touch fun or peace because they are felt experiences.
The elements of Hiphop are: emceeing, djing, bboying, and graf writing (Some scholars include knowledge, music production, beatboxing, street fashion, street language and entrepreneurship). But what is the link between experiencing Hiphop as its subtle fundamental qualities and the elements of Hiphop themselves? An argument could be made that everything I’m saying is invalidated by artists who seem to embrace the materialistic, violent, and misogynistic aspects of Hiphop (The recent discovery of Afrika Bambaataa's unforgivable behavior of sexually molesting young Zulu Nation members comes to mind). If the qualities of Hiphop were peace and such, wouldn’t that be ever-present in the art? What is the link between practicing Hiphop and experiencing its more subtle, arguably enlightened, qualities?
As an emcee, dj, beatboxer, and music producer, I’ve had to figure how to put words together, mix and scratch records, make sounds with my mouth that mimic drum patterns, and chop and sequence samples into tracks worthy of head-nodding. I’ve been able to do these at least well enough to create something that’s enjoyable. But, given enough time, I think that anyone could. I believe that that’s part of the beauty of Hiphop; that anyone who dedicates themselves to the craft can create something that seems to represent what Hiphop is commonly thought to be.
However, the experience of Hiphop (peace, knowledge, etc.) i.e. what is revealed from creating is not a strict matter of behaviorally imitating common methods of Hiphop behavior. The flavor of the experience is based on how deeply I can rest with the natural sense of my own being, however I honestly experience it, express that through one or more of the elements while also acknowledging that however I find myself is just a temporary truth. My self sense is always evolving along with all other phenomena. I believe that that’s how we get such a colorful variant of the worldviews expressed in Hiphop music, dance, and art. It is in the simple act of self acceptance and continually paying attention to the mind that gives the artist the ability to both transmit something authentic while knowing that they haven’t done all the growing that they could do. Self-acceptance comes from appreciation of my journey in life thus far without the need to edit, elevate or reduce who I find myself to be. Continually paying attention comes from returning over and over again to investigate the experience of my mind so that I am constantly experiencing a sense of freshness in my art and in my life.
How does one accept oneself? How does one return to the experience of the mind? By being with that which one wants to accept and experience. We have to spend time with ourselves intentionally watching who and what we are. As Yogi Berra once said, “Its amazing what you see when you look.”
How else will we know what is true? Meditation, maybe. After all, it’s a science and art that has existed for thousands of years to address this very concern. By taking time to watch who we think we are we can be more sure of who we truly are. The Buddhist idea of non-conceptual, natural spaciousness awaits our investigation and discovery. If we commit to meditation as a lifestyle we may realize that there is a difference between what we think and what’s really real.
We can also wake up to a deeper reality through the approach that we take towards our everyday activities.
For me one of those activities is freestyle rhyming. I’ve freestyled everyday and for many years. Aside from the enjoyment of putting words together, freestyling allows me to let go of the need to be anything other than who I am in that moment. I don’t have to be good. I’m not looking for a record deal or to be on TV. I just have to be me and let whatever arises hold its space.
It forces me into a place of accepting that I don’t know what i'm going to say and not knowing what i'm going to do. Genuinely returning to that place of not knowing — i.e. not spitting a written rhyme or relying on ideas or metaphors that I’ve used in the past — plunges me into groundlessness. I have nothing to hold onto and i'm not looking. It feels like stepping on a sheet of ice; there’s that “oh shit!” feeling and that fear of making a fool out of myself that we all try to avoid. That is the ego, saying “I'm uncomfortable in spaciousness, I'm falling and I need to find some ground.” So what do I do? I default to using to the comfortable old catchphrase, or the time-tested metaphor or simile.
But if I stayed in that space? What would happen? Would I crash and burn?
How could I? It’s just me. Am I trying to be impressive? Why? If I freestyle in front of others and I don’t come off like Craig G in his prime will I become the laughing stock of the cypher? What if we always embraced the space, and all of the “oh shit” feelings? What may happen then? One thing is for certain, the more we returned to that sense of groundlessness the more familiar it would be. What if we removed the need to impress anyone and replaced it with just being?
The point of freestyling does not have to be to be dope, the point could be that BEING IS DOPE. That feeling the sense of freedom from having to be anything other than myself is a wonderful thing, Of course, it’s always nice to kill a cypher and I’m not saying anything against that. What I am saying is that you’ll only really kill it when you allow yourself to embrace the natural openness of your mind. When you let go of the need to find security the presentation is endless; it is substantive and it is authentically you.
Hiphop Alive
Justin F. Miles is the founder of Hiphop Alive and pioneering practitioner, theorist and educator at the intersection of Hiphop culture, mindfulness and contemplative studies. He is the leading voice championing the use of Hiphop infused contemplative modalities to foster resilience, emotional intelligence, and community empowerment.