Soul Inscribed To Headline Sag Harbor American Music Festival

At its best, music is more than entertainment. Music can be about community, it can be about celebration, it can be about catharsis. When Baba Israel of Soul Inscribed takes the mic, it’s all these things and something else: education.

“Hip-hop grew out of a time when there were breakdowns in systems, and in education infrastructure,” said Israel. “I learned a lot from my family and from school, but I also learned a lot from the artists I was listening to growing up.”

He mentions KRS-One, who sometimes goes by the name “Teacha,” as an influential artist in his life.

“Music can be a soulful experience, a sensual experience, and a learning experience,” Israel went on. “Music is one of the ways we teach.”

He points to any nursery school, where children are taught in song and in rhyme. And as a musician, he feels he’s been given an opportunity and a responsibility to pass on his knowledge.

“We have a collective responsibility to lift each other up and share knowledge,” he said. “As a creative person, as a writer, and as a songwriter, I am always looking for ways to bring that feeling of passing knowledge, whether it’s a story or an interaction with the audience.”

This doesn’t manifest itself as a lecture: it’s an inclusive and interactive experience to learn with Israel. He’s taught beat boxing classes to multi-generational audiences, and he’s used the cypher as a method for engaging audiences. A cypher, or circle, is when people gather to interact through words, dance, and other forms of expression.

“A cypher is one of the hearts of hip-hop,” he explained. “We create a community dynamic — the crowd reacts, and there’s nothing like that energy because it’s born out of the moment.”

Israel learned his craft in this kind of environment, as a young rapper.

“You weren’t in your room alone practicing,” he said. “You were in front of others doing it. But a cypher is different than a rap battle … There’s an intention of lifting each other up.”

That’s one of the reasons the cypher is such a useful teaching tool. But whether he’s in a cypher or on stage performing for an audience, that education is happening. Soul Inscribed just finished an off-Broadway run of a show about the history of cannabis.

“Cannabis, The Hip Hop Musical,” explores the social implications of the war on drugs, and the social justice opportunities as our country moves closer toward legalization.

“We look at the racist roots of why cannabis was made illegal in the first place,” said Israel. “We ended every show with a call to action. How can we build a reparative, restorative system through cannabis?”

Now, as the members of Soul Inscribed prepare to headline the Sag Harbor American Music Festival, they are looking at how their music represents American culture.

“Hip-hop is a cultural form that comes out of the Bronx,” said Israel, “from the African American and Latino communities. It’s a unique mix of cultural traditions.”

Because of this eclectic set of influences that led to hip-hop in the first place, listening to hip-hop can give you an exploration through the many faces of America.

“You can’t have hip-hop without James Brown and funk and soul. But the dance elements draw on Native American and martial arts influences. Hip-hop producers love to sample classical music, and we may have a song that starts out as jazz and then morphs. But hip-hop is an American art form and also a bridge and a way in to so many other genres.”

Baba Israel has been contemplating many issues, bringing them into his music. What he’ll bring out in Sag Harbor remains to be seen.

“I’ll be curious to see what new materials we might share,” said Israel. “But there were a few different themes that were important. The rise of overt racism, anti-Asian violence and bullying, celebrating the diversity of culture, and how we are stronger when we embrace and honor the roots of injustice in our country.”

Through exploring these themes, Soul Inscribed hopes to contribute to a more informed people, who can then move into the future together.

“We need to lift up a voice of solidarity celebrating the multi-cultural reality in this country,” Israel said. “These themes are important to all of us.”