Inclusivity through hip-hop

Nurturing inclusivity through hip-hop

Willis Landon (’20) cultivates self-expression, cooperation and life skills with community-based music education

By Philip L. Frana

Growing up in Roanoke, Virginia, Willis Landon (’20) reaped the benefits of a public-school performing arts program that offered an array of musical activities catering to students, teachers and performers of all ages. Landon started out playing the cello in the orchestra, then picked up the electric bass in middle school.

Upon discovering the Music Lab at Jefferson Center—an experiential learning program for students in grades six-12 with instruction in music business, technology and performance—Landon realized that music did not have to be confined to the four walls of the classroom.

I learned so much about music and myself through the nontraditional outlets that the Music Lab provided.

— WILLIS LANDON (’20)

“I learned so much about music and myself through the nontraditional outlets that the Music Lab provided, and I was greatly inspired by the administrators and educators in the program,” Landon recalls.

In high school, Landon put together a few bands, made some records, performed at local art centers, theaters and music festivals, and gigged with a local bluegrass band as well as Latin about music and Clave, a Roanoke-based ensemble that plays nontraditional outupbeat salsa, cumbia, bachata, merengue and Latin jazz.

“When I went to college, I carried so many lets that the Music important lessons from the Music Lab with me,” Landon said, “but I still wasn’t quite sure how I could use my education to create an environment like the one at the Jefferson Center.”

At JMU, Landon pursued theatre, music education, jazz studies and music industry before discovering the independent scholars major. Landon found formative and significant opportunities on campus and in the local community, and joined a jazz/funk hip-hop band, Gryzzle, which toured along the East Coast. Landon fondly remembers performing at the Golden Pony in downtown Harrisonburg with families and musicians from JMU’s Center for Inclusive Music Engagement.

Landon received a grant from the College of Visual and Performing Arts to attend the National Association of Music Merchants trade show to learn more about the music business. Landon also traveled to Canada one summer to learn from Québec’s rap music artists. One of the contacts Landon made there was with Montreal rapper Ashanti Mutinta, known professionally as Backxwash, who had just won the Polaris award, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy.

Landon’s focus as an independent scholars major was new music practices and curriculum design, and included a senior project on accessible community music education. At the heart of the project were three guiding questions: What does it mean to teach “authentically,” meaning in a culturally responsible way? What are the best practices for an effective and sustainable community music education practice? And, what is being done in academia and in the nonprofit sector to decenter whiteness in music education?

“There are a lot of insensitive ways to teach hip-hop,” Landon said. “You need to teach it in a culturally aware manner. Whiteness is central or hegemonic to education. I recall learning that the history of music rests on old, dead white men. But that’s not what music is all about.

At the core of teaching through hip-hop is the ethos of ‘How am I going to tell you my story, and how are you going to tell me your story?’ It goes well beyond the music.

— WILLIS LANDON (’20)

“Some music educators are discrediting hip-hop as this ‘music that won’t last,’” Landon said. “But hip-hop is the most listened-to music genre in the world. It is not going to be peripheral. At the core of teaching through hip-hop is the ethos of ‘How am I going to tell you my story, and how are you going to tell me your story?’ It goes well beyond the music.” So much of my project was about how to reach students where they are.”

Landon is grateful for the advice and support of JMU professors Jesse Rathgeber, David Stringham, Matthew Chamberlin and Philip Frana. “Rathgeber and Stringham, in particular, asked really good questions, got me thinking and offered me great resources. Chamberlin and Frana understood that I needed to explore a lot of things independently, and supported the work because they saw how valid and important it was.”

Landon is currently living in Boston, Massachusetts, and is busy with several projects, including Palmyra, a folk trio with two of his roommates, and Sashathem, which has opened for Electric Kif, Chris Bullock of Snarky Puppy and Kung Fu. Landon also teaches guitar lessons online and is raising funds for No More Dysphoria, a nonprofit that helps fund transitions for transgender and nonbinary individuals.

Landon aspires to become an ambassador of inclusive hip-hop education. Landon is inspired by the legacies of artists like Toni Blackman and Anjimile, and continues to learn about hip-hop history and education at ZUMIX, an East Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to building community through music and creative technology. Landon is also learning how to write grants and build resources for local nonprofit music labs.

The Boston-based band Palmyra features Landon (center) on mandolin, bass and vocals.

For more on Landon's music, visit https://palmyrathe band.bandcamp.com and https://sashathem.bandcamp.com.