Hip-hop sometimes beats with themes of violence and drugs that can influence the lives of its fans, but Chicago schools are trying to rhyme their way into students’ hearts and minds with a better message.

The music’s evolution from its socially conscious roots to the rise in the popularity of gangsta rap is the focus of a program designed to help students understand how hip-hop music and culture influences their perception of issues ranging from school and their community to crime and violence. The workshops for Chicago high school students are sponsored by the Chicago Council on Urban Affairs.

“It ain’t no in the middle you all.  It’s go to school or get ready for the grave or the penitentiary.  That’s what we’re trying to tell you all about this music,” program leader Lance Williams, a Northeastern Illinois University professor, told students at Richards Career Academy Wednesday.

Close to 200 students took part in the workshop in which Williams used the prevalence of violence and drugs in many current hip-hop songs and videos to illustrate the consequences their popularity have in the lives of young people.

Williams showed examples of early hip-hop acts, such as Public Enemy and Grandmaster Flash, to point out the music’s social origins to students -- most of who were born after this era in hip-hop.

“One of the things it represented is the social political consciousness and movement of communities of color, particularly marginalized communities.  When they used the music to begin to deemphasize the importance of these kinds of images, they replaced it with gangsta rap,” Williams said.  “Some of those first [gangsta rap] songs really emphasized selling drugs and the whole drug culture, and it informed kids who didn’t know anything about crack cocaine or crack-cocaine culture.”

The workshop took place a week after the release of a new study linking the glamorization of drugs in hip-hop music to a greater risk of alcohol and drug use among adolescents. The study by Denise Herd, professor of public health at the University of California-Berkeley, was published in the journal Addiction Research and Theory.

The study examined the lyrics of the 341 most popular rap songs from 1979 to 1997. Of the top 125 rap songs between 1994 and 1997, 69 percent contained drug references compared to only 11 percent of the top songs between 1979 and 1984.

“Glamorizing drugs and showing it as part of a recreation, glamorous and good life is a relatively new trend,” Herd said.

Chicago-area rapper Simeon Viltz chooses to carry the torch of hip-hop’s political roots, hoping to be a more positive role-model for today’s youth.

Viltz, who has participated in past workshops at other high schools, stressed the importance of teenagers not conforming to stereotypes he says are found in gangsta rap and mass media.  He gave the example of his early experiences with hip-hop and trying to fit in with what was popular.

“At some point I got wind of the fact that these kids are really directly influenced from the stuff that’s negative. … That’s when it became a mission for me as an artist to try and make music appealing but make it so that you can grow from it and plant some seeds of nourishment and not just poison.”

The workshop at Richards included group discussions of concerns in their school and community, culminating in a music, dance or spoken word presentation created by each group.

One group led by Richards teacher Denise Liekis did a presentation in honor of the 23 Chicago Public School students killed this school year.  The choice opened up a lengthy exchange on violence in the Back of the Yards and surrounding communities near Richards.  Liekis shared with students her personal ties to the violence.

“23 years I’ve worked for the board [of Education].  I have attended 17 funerals of students of mine [killed] through gang violence.  It’s absolutely atrocious,” Liekis said.

Organizers of the workshop hope to bring similar forums to more high schools.  Currently, 18 other high schools are planned to host the hip-hop workshop by the end of 2009.  Denise Herd sees these types of alternatives as a good approach to educating young people on media literacy.

Students who participated in the Richards workshop were initially tepid, but became engaged when it broke into groups.  Estela Olmedo, a student at Youth Connection Leadership Academy who performed a spoken word piece, will use the lessons of the workshop to raise her own social awareness as an emerging hip-hop artist but recognizes the challenges ahead.

“I like the fact that they gave a lot of knowledge, but I think it’s kind of hard, especially with young people.  It’s hard to get their attention, because they get distracted and sidetracked … But I liked it.”