Reflection: Chang: Chapter 6

By Brittany Anderson


I chose to reflect on my reading in Chapter 6 in Chang’s book.  As I read more into the book and learn about the rappers and the DJs, I see their passion and how it wasn’t something they just decided to do one day.  For example, Chang talks about how as a little boy, Grandmaster Flash was trying to make a science out of radios.  He was also fascinated with basically anything you plugged into the wall.  Instead of being the normal child and being attracted to the streets and the sports, he wanted to pick up the abandoned radios, take apart washing machines, and even hair dryers.  The passion he had a s a child was remarkable.  I was reading when he said the DJ is the foundation and I didn’t understand what Chang meant.  When I sat and thought about it, when I’m at a party, the party is basically in the DJ’s hand because they change and set the moods for the party by changing the songs.  The hype and attitude of the DJ plays a significant part as well.  When I was reading about b-boying, I didn’t know what it was.  I looked it up on you tube and was impressed.  I was impressed because the young people here down south are starting to do that.  A guy that I know from California, originally from Memphis, visited and started doing that.  His friends of course made fun of him and never thought he would do anything like that because he was always so cool and laid back and a big football player.  They laughed but soon started to do it themselves.  There was passion back in the day with b-boying because no matter if they got scratches, cut, or even bruised while b-boying, they would still always go out and give it their all.  That motto still lives in some children today but not many; ranging from rappers, dancers, students, and even the parents nowadays.  It was also interesting to see how if no one was dancing, then there was violence.  Just as today, if the children aren’t involved in something positive, they will get into something they have no business.  Reading chapter six is convincing me there is hope for the communities but I am reading the next chapter to find out.