Secret Society

Secret Society:
For AIDS Awareness

by K. Leigh Wisotzkey

The mission is awareness. Not just knowing or being informed, but really making people aware — understanding the potential impact, realizing the personal effect, connection, or danger — that’s the level of awareness HAPS (Harrisburg AIDS Prevention Society) is shooting for. As a matter of fact, if the hair on the back of your neck stands up when you hear it, that is the intention!

“I don’t know what to do! I’m tryin’ everything I can to reach y’all! But y’all don’t wanna hear me! You must think this is a game. This is no game! This is no game!” That’s the bottom line and final call in a song called “The Plague,” contributed by local rap group Gravel Ground to the upcoming HIV/AIDS awareness initiative CD, slated to be released in late June/early July.

HAPS, a cooperative group comprised of members of local rap groups Gravel Ground and Secret Society, welcomed the opportunity to team up with Ngozi, Inc. and MetroArts to hit Harrisburg’s 10 to 16-year-old Hip Hop fans right where it counts — between the ears — with rap lyrics, appealing chorus verses, and head-bobbing beats. Each group came to the table with their own creations to be approved, performed, and recorded for distribution to their target audience.

The young men involved, all between the ages of 17 and 21, are prime candidates to serve as role models to their peers, as well as the youth of Harrisburg. The City of Harrisburg’s AIDS/HIV statistics show that, particularly in the African American community, many young men aren’t living beyond the age of 25. “We don’t need a focus group, we need a group that is focused,” said one person at the early drawing board of the project. Along the progress of the project, HAPS members have proven that they are not only focused on the CD project, but also on the long-term commitment to raise this kind of AIDS/HIV awareness. Bob Welsh of MetroArts, for one, was impressed with the engagement of the group — how they talked about all aspects of the terrifying statistics, and how they hoped they could influence people to be more responsible.

The seriousness of the HAPS group is evident by the inclusion of so many hard facts and statistics in the lyrics. They had to attend a workshop and do some homework to have the proper background info for this project. As Secret Society’s Taji Abdullah (a.k.a. Oron-Da-Wicked Warrior) learned, the accuracy of those hard-core facts was critical, as reviewers from The Greater Harrisburg Foundation inspected and sometimes requested changes to his lyrical contributions.

Secret Society’s Idriys Muhammad (a.k.a. Ra Da Sun Lord) also took a serious approach, both with the issue as a whole as well as the musical impact of the project on its intended audience, choosing to relay the fact that AIDS/HIV can happen to anyone. “Some people think they’re invincible,” he said. “They think, ‘I’m not gonna get it…’” From the musical aspect, the beat was created to be something that induces an almost “meditational” state — a successful effort, judging by the “all-heads-bobbing” environment in the recording studio during the taping of “One Out of Five.” Contributed by Secret Society, “One Out of Five” was inspired by the statistic that reports that one out of five African American males in the City of Harrisburg is infected with an STD or STI — Sexually Transmitted Disease or Sexually Transmitted Infectious Disease. “There’s a message in the chorus, a message in the lyrics…” says Idriys. “It’s straight, clean, to the point…no cussin’,” he says.

Obviously confident with the project and their skills, members of Secret Society each bring their own unique strengths to the table. Abdullah says he’s surrounded by kids, which helps him stay young at heart and young in spirit, and gives him the edge to “know what kids like.” Idriys calls this a “unity project” as he worked with his cousin, RZA of Wu Tang Clan, to create the beats.

The group’s Ishmael Muhammad (a.k.a. Apocalipz) brings his perspective of “There are different styles of Hip Hop,” — an important consideration, since the HAPS project targets the young Hip Hop fans of the city. As an artist, Ishmael sees this particular project as a way to “show the public that we (Secret Society) can do more – expand [in collaboration with other artists.]” He also credits his mother — Rafiyqa Muhammad of Ngozi, Inc. — with getting them to this point (in the recording studio). “We put Secret Society in her hands for a minute,” he says. “Without her, we probably wouldn’t be here.”

Bringing a slightly different perspective to the project, poet Gina Edwards was called on to contribute to the HAPS CD. Edwards’ material is hard-hitting, especially when she speaks in the voice of AIDS, threatening, “If I don’t get you on the first try, I’ll get you on the next.” Obviously, HAPS, as a group, has pulled out all the stops and removed the candy flavoring from the facts for this critical lesson. As a mother of two children, Edwards says, “With children, we tend to sugar-coat things. We tell them, if you do it, OK, if you don’t, OK — you’re young.” But in this case, it’s a matter of life or death, which calls for a more direct approach. Edwards, for one, intends to use the HAPS CD as a teaching tool for her own children.

Even though her position in the HAPS circle is unique, Edwards didn’t want to come into the project as the “older” person. She sat back, watched with respect for the young men’s rap and musical skills, and waited for them to ask her opinion — an opinion she knows they appreciate. Being invited to join the project was “an honor to me,” she says.

Of course, the most critical aspect of the HAPS project is the impact to the target audience. The truest measurement will be future AIDS/HIV statistics, but on a more immediate basis, the potential for success looks positive. Idriys says his three-year-old nephew is already catching on to the “One Out of Five” track. And, as Edwards says, the meter for success is the reception from the young people. “All we can do is let people know. As long as the seed is planted, it’s a success,” she says.

“One out of five, who’s the next to die? AIDS has no color, it comes straight for our lives.”

That seed of awareness should be potent enough, in itself, to reap a healthy crop of educated teens … and adults!

*HAPS members will be performing and CDs will be available at the African Family Festival on Sunday, June 24th, 2001.