After realizing that many students were having difficulty relating to dated educational material, Jineea Butler decided to use hip-hop to inspire kids and teach them life skills. Her programs, Social Services of Hip-Hop and Hip-Hop Union garnered the attention of filmmakers David Ambrose, John Mailer and Jerry Bagley. The four came together to create the film, Follow the Leader. With the film scheduled to be screened on Oct. 2 at Clark Atlanta University, the filmmakers discussed the inspiration for the film. –a.r.
Jineea, explain how Social Services of Hip-Hop and the Hip-Hop Union helped students develop better educational and life skills.
Jineea: In Social Services of Hip-Hop, we identify problems that affect the growth of students. So essentially what I end up doing is creating and developing programming that details these certain issues. A lot of time it looks like I’m jumping around in the film, but we provide encouragement through the use of hip-hop.
How were you all introduced to this story?
David: I struck up a conversation with an older gentleman in Manhattan and he said there was someone who would like to have a documentary made about them. I later met Jineea and she told me this incredible story and it was totally up my alley. I was fascinated by this. So here we are a few years later.
John: I’ve been working with David since we were 5 years old. He told me about the project and it made sense for me to come on formally and take a role.
What touched you the most about this story?
John: It’s just a very practical way to start a national movement through educating kids through their own language. By using speech and pop culture, Jineea is someone who can fill that gap that seems to hold some kids back.
Jerry: What really stuck out to me about this film was that a lot of people were talking about education. At that point, President Obama was talking about education reform. I heard about the premise of the film and liked what Jineea stood for. In Follow the Leader, Jineea is the leader. She is one woman who brings all of these elements together to introduce hip-hop curriculum to schools. So when I saw that, I found it intriguing to see how kids really do identify with music and hip-hop.
