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What is the Void School?
The Void School is the body of teachings and practices utilized by the lineage of researchers, pandits and teachers of what could be called Hiphop mysticism or contemplative Hiphop. This aspect of Hiphop is primarily concerned with experiencing and actualizing the qualities of Hiphop as an embodied and shared experience. How do we make peace and wisdom real, embodied experiences instead of concepts? This is brought about through a reevaluation of my motivation for my involvement with the four elements (emceeing, djing/producing, bboying and graffiti writing) and dedicating to use them as tools of self awareness. The Void School teaches seekers how to use the four elements skillfully as a means of realizing personal and social enlightenment, and also utilizes efficacious healing modalities such as contemplation, meditation, therapy and community bonding.
The Void School can be thought of as another expression of the understanding of the value of Hiphop. As a culture, Hiphop’s values have shifted over time and although on the surface Hiphop music seems to get more and more self centered, in truth Hiphop in all its available areas of growth has evolved to be more embracing of perspectives and values that transcend the ego. However, because Hiphop is (incorrectly) often thought of as being music, looking at the history of Hiphop values in the music industry may help us to understand how our values have evolved and how a Void School is a natural emergent.
In what’s often referred to as the “Old School”, the period between 73’ and 85’ was a time when Hiphop was trying to figure out who it was. In that attempt its primary focus was on either the healthy or unhealthy aspects of the ego; either way the intent was to be dope, have fun, be original, put on a good show, make money and get high. The debate about how healthy the old school was in comparison to artists today is a fair one to have but for the purposes of this text my point was to point out that at the beginning of Hiphop’s musical development the focus was on the needs of the individual, not the collective. .
The second stage of Hiphop’s value expression, for a lack of a better term I’ll call the “Middle School”, which began in 86’ and ended around 94’. The level of values during this period were ethnocentric. This era focused on the cultural and social concerns and needs of Black people, unity, cultural nationalism, revolutionary nationalism, political awareness, justice, education, independence, adherence to group norms and cultivating healthy group ego. It is also the period when the question arose around what is and what isn’t Hiphop. The concerns of the group were the dominant concern.
Then you have the “New School” which surfaced broadly in 95’ and extends until today (but which arrived on a an underground scale at least by 91’) which on the surface embraced money, power, violence, misogyny etc. and regressed to the ego neurotic tendencies of the old school but multiplied by a thousand, but a closer examination of evolving Hiphop values at that time show that practitioners were more concerned with not just how to be original but how to play with words and sounds in a way that reflected a greater subtlety and subjectivity. I used to call underground Hiphop, subjective Hiphop. Despite mainstream values moving closer to the get money, get high aesthetic of the 80’s, underground Hiphop created a lane for those concerned with mental depth and using that depth to see and explain a wider view of the world. The New School transcended the egocentric and ethnocentric focus and began to ask the questions such as: what is the depth of my perception? How far can I see? How can I see different? What can I feel into? Who can I feel into? What is Hiphop? What are the limits and how do I break them? The human centered level of creativity around the world during this era was overwhelmingly about how to use my mind “deeper”. Don’t get me wrong, some underground Hiphop lyricism at this time were little more than word salad attempts at being deep, or lyrically intricate ego fueled rants, but regardless of the values expressed By the mainstream, the values of Hiphop grew wide enough to embrace the depth of the subject and led to wider perspective taking and space for practitioners from all over the world to connect and express themselves.
Lastly you have the Void School which actually began with the founding of the Zulu Nation and the creation of the Infinity Lessons. I also refer to the Void School as the 4th Spinning, borrowing the teaching from the Buddhist tradition that says that the Buddha gave three turnings or cycles of teachings that correspond to how to view and experience three different yet connected levels of reality. These levels of reality are not confined to or created by Buddhism and are found in every major world religion. The 4th turning or spinning of Hiphop is an attempt to look at Hiphop from an Integral perspective which simply means exploring the inside and outside of individuals (behavior, psychology and spirituality) and the inside and outside of groups (culture and society) to not only understand but to manifest Hiphop in all of its fullness. That also means not leaving out Hiphop's relationship with other lines of development such as religion, medicine, psychology, politics, philosophy, activism etc. For Hiphop to truly be of benefit to itself and to the world it must see its connection and place among the myriad paths of growth.
The Infinity Lessons are a body of teachings assembled by the Zulu Nation and compiled into a text titled “The Green Book”, that helps potential and current adherents to understand the history and the philosophy of the Zulu Nation and Hiphop. It also presents the Infinity Lessons as a pro-peace life guide applicable to anyone seeking to become more realized as a human being. Other early presentations of Hiphop consciousness can be found in the art of pioneers such as Rammellzee and Basquiat, middle school artists such as Myka 9 from Freestyle Fellowship and the Good Life Cafe in LA and new school artist, scholar and teacher Toni Blackman, the founder of the Freestyle Union in Washington DC. Since the beginning of Hiphop history, our community has been concerned with expressing the depth and potential of the heart and mind.
KRS-ONE is undoubtedly most responsible for the promotion of Hiphop’s causal existence. When he began saying “You are Hiphop” and Hiphop not being something you do but being something you live, he clarified the difference between an experience that’s created versus an experience that’s inherent. He was saying that in all of our attempts to create Hiphop we were missing the point; you are that which you seek. The qualities and experience of Hiphop are our innate qualities which is why you know it when you feel it. It doesn’t enter you and never did; you woke up to it and found that it was already there. KRS was also pointing to Hiphop existing as a “do”, Japanese for way, path or lifestyle. In the mid nineties, KRS-ONE would create the Temple of Hiphop a self described “pop up school” where people can hear KRS share about the use of the elements of Hiphop as tools for actualizing Hiphop itself (peace, love, unity and having fun).
What the Zulu Nation and the Temple of Hiphop have done is to lay the foundation of a presentation of Hiphop that exists on multiple levels of the human cosmology. That is to say, that what is more important than how we behave i.e. rhyme, dance, paint, mix etc., is why we do it, what we feel when we do it and what the outcome is when we do it. Being concerned with the why and what expands the cosmology of Hiphop beyond the gross, objective realm of form (behavior) and into the subtle and causal realms of emotion, energy and awareness. To date, what most people consider to be Hiphop is what they can see; the music, art, dance etc. What has been overlooked by most fans and adherents are the cultural, psychological and spiritual aspects of Hiphop; those aspects that lie on the inside of the artist and fan. The individual and collective minds that utilize the elements of Hiphop determine both how it manifests and how its used which means that if we desire what we call Hiphop to be of benefit beyond entertainment, education and sociopolitical awareness, we need to not only take into account but realize and cultivate a more intimate relationship with our individual and collective minds and hearts. The Zulu Nation and Temple of Hiphop present ways of looking at ones world differently. Integral Philosopher Ken Wilber calls this translation, or facilitating a new understanding or perspective. Both organizations utilize knowledge from various world religions and ways of life to help others to recognize the importance of understanding the usefulness of Hiphop as a tool of enlightenment. In KRS’s text The Gospel of Hiphop, he exhaustively fleshes out ways of seeing oneself, others and the world through the lens of a “higher self” and in many ways The Green Book does the same. The goal is to help others recognize the ubiquitous sacredness in our everyday lives. Translation is important because change begins with evaluating my view of reality, my beliefs and the way my mind works and instead adopting an outlook more in alignment with how things are versus how I wish that they were. However, as useful as translation is, understanding only implies change and doesn’t explicitly challenge the mechanisms that produce irrational thoughts, unhealthy living and spiritual disconnection. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, translation or study is concerned with increasing knowledge about the truth of the self, others and fundamental reality and practice is concerned with how to actualize that understanding into a life lived in accordance with those levels of reality (self, other, nature). It is said when one studies it is like having eyes; one can see where to go as well as avoid pitfalls. But a body with eyes that lacks legs can see all it wants to but it doesn’t matter because it can’t travel anywhere; at least not quickly. Conversely, having legs with no eyes, or practice without study allows one to engage in the behavior of a Buddhist but without discernment or understanding which produces unskillful behavior and unwanted consequences. The challenge of both schools of thought has been presenting an injunctive path of translation and transformation that allows adherents to both understand and use Hiphop in a way that creates psychological, cultural and spiritual development. Because the lessons taught by both schools are more descriptive than prescriptive they are less useful as methods of change but are very useful in helping others adopt a healthier view of reality. The Void School serves to fill that vacuum with transformative practices based in the world’s religious/spiritual wisdom traditions, psychological therapeutic orientations, indigenous rituals, values assessments and methods of social organization. It is the attempt to move from a loose translational model to an integrated translational and transformational model. It is the world’s first organization to integrate the teachings of Hiphop with the best practices outlined by developmental theorists from physical, mental and spiritual disciplines.
The elements of Hiphop are the vehicles of transportation and transformation that introduce us to the qualities of peace, unity, knowledge, wisdom, fun, understanding and compassion but they also can introduce us to what it means to think clearly, have a healthy ego and body, make better choices, cultivate values that embrace those that are different than us, develop social institutions that function to express care and concern for the diverse needs of the populous and to experience spirit rather than just believe in spirit. The elements point to what is inherent in ourselves and our society that we only need to uncover, not create. Hiphop is the basis of our journey, the energy of the vehicles or elements of Hiphop and the fruition of the path. After first experiencing ourselves as Hiphop, the practice is trusting in living that experience in order to uncover the peace, wisdom, understanding etc. self existing in every moment. It is nothing more than a question of dedication to resting attentively in the nature of the mind.
The word “Void” refers to the unobstructed boundless awareness that exists as the nature of all humans and indeed all beings, as well as the spacious experience of no longer projecting onto the world a sense that “I know!” when indeed you don’t. The truth is that reality (and what we commonly think of and label Hiphop) is more vast than my quickly labeled and shortsighted version of it. Myself, people and things are more than they appear, and a more fair way of speaking about how the world exists is as a Void or a great openness that both permeates and makes space for our entire human experience. The Void allows for all external and internal experience and reveals the truth of how things truly exist, instead of seeing the world through my own individual remix of things. The Void is not mine or anyone’s or anything. It is an experience that is naturally revealed when the self contraction of the ego has subsided enough to recognize the spaciousness and stark reality present, when the ego/egos present aren’t filling the space with themselves. The Void is similar to the Buddhist experience of emptiness in that it is not empty in the sense of existing purely as space, but is also full of appearance and intelligence. Through the elements of Hiphop we return again and again clarifying our relationship with reality. The Void School asks the questions: what is the nature of Hiphop, how do we experience it, how do we use it and what do we use it for? For void school adherents, entertainment is no longer a priority; Intentionally cultivating being, growth, feeling, community and authenticity is the new entertainment.
I began exploring the benefit of freestyle cyphers in the mid-nineties based on the experience of cyphering with my friends. We never battled each other, instead freestyling was about letting go and being as creative and genuine as possible. One night in 1996, I attended a cypher with the Freestyle Union in DC and was blown away at not only the level of skill of the emcees, but also the collective zone that everyone appeared to be in. All the participants were feeding off of each other and deeply in tune with themselves at the same time. It was full of movement, clarity and unbridled confidence. Most of all it was organized. Before it started, Toni Blackman outlined the rules that were to be followed for the evening; something I had never seen before. During the cyphers, participants were given instructions as to the type of freestyling the’d be engaging in. Some of the forms I remember were alliteration, proverbs, creating and coming back to a hook and telling a story. When the energy got stale, emcees were asked to be honest with themselves and pass the mic. I was stunned at how the structure corralled the mind and gathered the awareness in a way that allowed the natural wisdom of the emcee to become the central operating system and didn’t allow the wastefulness of ego centered rhymes, useless battling and unnecessary cursing. I don’t know another human being that’s done more than Toni Blackman to promote what she calls “The Wisdom of the Cypher” around the world, and I eternally thank her for the constant unpacking of new insights based on her international travels teaching and sharing the gift of cyphering with anyone willing to listen and participate. After that event in 96’, how I practiced rhyming changed and I began to research the experience of freestyling for its ability to transform the mind and society. It wasn’t until 2003 that I began writing about my experience of freestyling in a published essay titled “Freestyle: Gateway to the Beyond Within”. In it I wrote:
Cipher: 1. Code, hidden meaning. 2. Nobody, a non-entity. 3. An enclosed circle of hip-hop practitioners and listeners, engaging in authentic discourse (Freestyling) with the aim of A) strengthening self-awareness, self-worth, knowledge of other practitioners and their styles, lyrical skill, or ones connection to a creationary force through offering words of harmony (verbalizing a connection with group and creator), awareness (verbalization of issues which cause difficulty within ones life or issues that bring joy into ones life), alignment (verbalized understanding of ones issues as being their own), actualization (verbalized plan of change or continuance) and synthesis (verbalized unity with creationary forces of change and continuance as to actualize new behavior or continue old behaviors). B) Sharing a message of personal importance with the congregation in order to increase another’s self-awareness, self worth, knowledge of one’s self and style to another practitioner, and the collective’s ability to connect to a creationary force by maintaining harmony, balance, interconnectedness and authenticity.
To a hiphopper, the cipher (or cypher) represents a womb that gives birth to emcees and beatboxers through the sharing of spiritual energies, transferred around and through a cosmic circle of combined rhythms. It is the training ground for those who aspire to reach the heights of the greatest emcees, a soapbox for the believers in a higher mode of expression and communication, a forum for those who wish to just enjoy in an individual-collective experience, or a combination of all three. The cipher embodies the sacred principles and dynamics of relationship found in and between all things, even if the practitioner is not cognizant of the subtle events taking place.
Think of Hiphop as being the binding energy of the cypher, existing between things and individuals. It is what helps Hiphoppers acknowledge each other and distinguish between authenticity and falseness of an individual, group, or their beliefs. It is important to note that the description of this energy or force is not done for convention, but to describe an existing non-entity that would be associated or equitable with chi, prana, spirit, essence, the All, Ultimate Reality, Truth, etc. These words are used to describe an ever-present Reality that pervades all substance, but which could never be fully described. To practitioners and listeners, Hiphop is the force which allows one to create, provides the atmosphere for creation to exist, and is the foundation for all creation. It can be described as a feeling of elation, bliss, ecstasy, etc. that one feels when one is in the environment that Hip-Hop is played, cultivated, or demonstrated. This bliss is associated with the connection between one and the creative force itself, the same connection described in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all of which describe an ethereal feeling of oneness, once one is connected to the All. It is also important to note that this feeling or experience is just as subjective as the experiences found in the ways of life described above, but can all be validated in the same way, through the prophets, saviors, avatars, sages, seers, and masters that act as archetypes of those who experience the Ultimate Reality respective of their belief systems. It is in this same way that we begin to assemble a spectrum of consciousness that acts as a pathway toward the experiencing of the Reality of Hiphop; a reality that the prophets of Hip-Hop have achieved, and in the same way as the ancients, predict and influence the current and future culture towards greater actualization, liberation, and freedom from oppressive agents and forces external and internal of the people.”
My theory was that freestyle cyphers are one of Hiphop’s gateless gateways or entry points to experiencing the Void, and when used intentionally along with gentleness, patience, compassion and discipline can reveal the true usefulness and experience of Hiphop. The ultimate benefit of engaging in cyphers is the experience of relaxed presence which has the qualities of spaciousness and attentiveness. The practitioner is calm but highly aware. There is an intense trust in the minds natural peacefulness as well as its active ability to allow words, ideas, topics or feelings to arise when needed, and an attentiveness to what themselves and others are feeling, thinking or doing. In other words it possesses the qualities of the Void that I spoke about earlier.
These days I primarily cypher with myself as its gotten harder to find others who understand freestyling as something other than entertainment and see the word “free” as permission to not be responsible to any form. Those types of practitioners tend to cultivate ego and care little about what’s to be gained from cyphers aside from props. That isn’t to say that cyphers where written rhymes are performed are wack or undesireable; even in those cyphers there can be an energetic exchange and authentic expression. However it is most common these days that rhyming with structure is antiquated, rhyming “off the top” is less preferable to written freestyles and feel constrained by the request to rest naturally and allow whatever that arises to arise. When it comes to growth, none of it happens on accident. It must be intentional and it must have rules. Just like your body, values, cognition, identity and ability to take perspectives involve following an injunctive path of development, so to must cyphering have rules if one wishes to do more than just sound impressive.
Below are fifty Void School Cypher “rules”. These rules aren’t to be taken as dogma but they are to be studied, contemplated and placed in the mind of meditation. Although they are more translative than transformative, they should be studied and reinforced through practice. The Void School has developed the “how” or methodology and trains participants to actualize these rules through practice alone or in community. Overall the rules themselves are less important than what they point to. The symbol is not the symbolized, no more than the menu is the meal.
Void School Rules
Cypher/Freestyling
Freestyle everyday regardless of what comes up. The point of the practice is learning how to rest and trust in spaciousness and presence, not entertaining yourself or anyone else.
Cyphers are sacred ceremonies and we are to treat ourselves, each other and “It” in a sacred way.
Foundationally speaking, in cyphers we are cultivating two characteristics; relaxation of body and mind and attentiveness of body and mind. Relaxation leads to gentleness. Attentiveness leads to precision. What arises is less important than these two. When these two are completely present, what will naturally manifest is stability, clarity, strength, insight, and direct knowing.
Morality, discipline and wisdom are the guiding principles of a freestyle adherent.
Cyphers can facilitate measurable cognitive, emotional and social growth.
Cyphers are non dual affairs; the dance of the one emcee and the many cultivates harmony with the Way. When the one does not see the many and the many not the one, clouds obscure the sun of Hiphop.
Hiphop is what is being experienced and what is not being experienced in a cypher.
The zone or flow state existed before you entered it. You didn’t create it, you aligned yourself with it.
Ego driven battles are entertaining but only cultivate ego. Very little interpersonal growth takes place then. Those who have transcended the need for ego driven battles should only battle “down” to clarify and adjust perspective, history, level of development, etc.
Cyphering involves sending and receiving what is easy and what is difficult.
Cultivate the awareness to know when you are hiding vs taking up too much space.
Know when to “pass the mic”
Cyphers require etiquette regardless of their purpose.
Hiphop is both the ground, path and the fruition of cyphering.
When you freestyle, four areas of your lived reality simultaneously arise; psycho-spiritual, cultural, behavioral and social. Your developmental altitude in these areas influences your perception, and these four areas can be directly influenced when you learn to inhabit and explore them.
Study basic human cognitive development.
When done intentionally, cyphers can serve as therapy, healing circle, channeling, restorative justice, support group or spiritual ceremony.
Cyphers are sanghas
Bboys, BGirls and BThems are bodhisattva warriors
All Hiphoppers are Buddhas
Freedom in cyphers has much more to do with learning to play in space than it does with finding a stable ground. There is no ground.
Never feel that you have to entertain or perform a freestyle for someone. Spontaneity should be natural and arise from stillness not urgency.
Free styling can mean different things to different people but the definition that produces the most growth is “an unrehearsed, unwritten, spontaneous display”, the other definitions cultivate ego and very often harmful qualities.
Psychologically speaking, when free styling one can: explore archetypes (none of which hold more value than another), explore perspectives or realms of reality and explore levels of development from the past present or future.
Intentionally cultivate kindness. Look for love and opportunities to expose it.
Sometimes the best cyphers you’ve ever had are because “you” weren’t there.
Hiphop is inherent and has no origin: you cannot get, obtain, hold, manipulate, buy, sell, kill, create, make or become Hiphop. It was never not there. Cyphers are gateways to that understanding.
Cyphers move, YOU do not.
Dive in to the experience of others. Wordlessly watch.
Bring your fear to the cypher.
Be kind to your mind. Give it the sky until it realizes it doesn’t have to learn to fly to experience openness.
All cyphers ain’t the same.
The gold of the cypher is found in authenticity. The dirt is found in disownership.
What witnesses who’s doing the emceeing?
The seed of dope freestyling sprouts when the fear of being wack dies.
Cyphers are great opportunities to make friends with yourself.
You are the code of the cypher.
Live the cypher.
You can be lyrically nice but psychologically and spiritually wack.
No Self to Know self
Your simple presence is enough
To cultivate an open heart in a cypher let it first be broken
Learn to bear bare witness
There is no one better than you in a cypher. The best you is you fully present which no one can do but you. Can you be free or in other words, be freedom instead of trying to achieve it? What is mind of freedom like? Unobstructed awake and open.
Trying to be dope will end in exhaustion and failure. Being is dope.
Cyphers last a lifetime.
Hiphop is the binding energy of the cypher.
To cypher is natural
Invite your ancestors to the cypher. They’re there anyway.
Feeling together is the unspoken cypher.
In cyphers, to make a rule break a rule; to break a rule make a rule.
Before cyphering, contemplate “what would you do, if you knew that all you had to do is what you can”.
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.