When the beat drops followed by the melodic, “Go, go, go, go…,” you cannot control your hands or feet! Even the rhythmless nation among us finds a way to look like seasoned vets on the dancefloor. However, if we silenced the beat of the smash hit, "Treat 'Em Right," we would hear a timeless lesson from a hip-hop pioneer on the annals of Blackness. Chubb Rock, born Richard Simpson, narrated the struggle, soul and strength of Black America through his music. In "Treat 'Em Right" he invoked the name of a young boy whose story is far too familiar today:
"Leave the knife and the gun in the store
And ignore temptation, sent by the nation
Racial gain causes pain; need a new rep
In your hearts and minds never forget Yusef
Hawkins"
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Yusef Hawkins. I will write his name again. Yusef Hawkins. He was a 16-year-old Black boy who was killed in 1989 by a vicious mob of white teens who believed Hawkins or one of his friends had been dating a white girl in their neighborhood. The gang of up to 30 youth used a 1982 Pontiac that was for sale to lure and subsequently violently blindside Hawkins and his two friends.
Hawkins died of two gunshot wounds to the chest. He was the third Black person killed by white gangs in New York City in the 1980s.
“Yusef was our Trayvon Martin of the time. Things haven’t changed in that time between that and Trayvon,” Chubb Rock, now 55, told me during our recent interview.
The Politics of Black Health
Today, Chubb Rock is still fighting for issues in the Black community. He’s turned his eyes and heart toward health equity. “Most health situations and diseases are treatable and reversible. Our society is really setting us up: criminal justice system, child support, education,” he says. “Health is another form of eradication, except for this front, we have control.”
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The lack of access to healthy foods contributes greatly to the not so accidental health disparities epidemic. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other chronic illnesses complicate living well. The Black community confronts these health issues at an earlier age.
“We have a breakfast issue,” Chubb laments when talking about current school lunch programs. “I speak at schools and kids are falling asleep because they’re hungry and when they do eat it’s not enough.”
Governmental programs may help provide some relief but we need to revive our community’s organization to fix at least this problem. Chubb explained, “The Black Panther party was so important to our neighborhoods because of their breakfast program. If you don’t do it, who do you expect to do it? Energy equals focus.”
Generational Health
Looking back to the early years of his daughters, Chubb refused to let his children fall to these circumstances. “My wife and I are good cooks from the Caribbean so you know they got a good breakfast,” he smiled. “I would get up and cook breakfast for them. We lived in Manhattan and I’d go buy grapes, oranges, and bananas. They made some really great salads too. I’d just take them for all the kids in their classes because they need to eat and be energized to learn.”
His high school sweetheart and wife, KeKe "Diamond" Simpson, will not allow their son to go to school without a mom-approved lunch today either. “Look it’s personal,” he laughs, “My wife packs his lunch everyday. She’s not having it!”
Chubb Rock, who lives with type-2 diabetes, wants to galvanize people to fight for their health. His uncle was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes years ago while living in the U.S. He told his brother that he wanted to return to the Caribbean because disease seemed deadlier for their family.
“My family is from Jamaica. Half of my father’s siblings came to America and half stayed. The ones who came died early and those who stayed lived to see their 80s and 90s. My uncle was diagnosed here then went back to Jamaica and lived in[to his] 90s. Before my father died young of diabetes, he asked me, “Son, what is America doing to us?”
The Value of Celebrity
His passion for health equity uses celebrity voices to highlight the conversation that we all must talk thoroughly and honestly about wellness and disease among Black people. Chubb Rock started work on a documentary that takes on the health and healthcare challenges of actors, musicians, athletes and public figures who share their most personal issues.
Celebrities have been a predominate marketing vehicle for many health promotions and prevention campaigns. Their stories of survival and encouragement are often not known beyond the print ad or brief commercial. Chronic disease and poor healthcare privately debilitate Black entertainers with little space to understand how real people deal with disease in the public eye.
“A lot of my friends are dying. We aren’t making it to 60. Yes—I want people to be encouraged to go to the doctor and get regular checkups, but I also want other celebrities to hear from each other. They need to get help in all kinds of areas.”
In the eyes of Chubb Rock, everything boils down to value.
“Look at the bootleggers. All they were selling was Black records. They weren’t selling Madonna records. They weren’t selling Paula Abdul records and all those other pop records of the time. They were only selling Black music. So, if you watch the video of "Treat 'Em Right," we were turning over the tables. That was those labels first part of destroying the value of hip hop music. Because if you start to diminish the value of it, $12 or $14 dollars for an album but now the bootleggers are selling it 3 for $5 and now it’s $1 on iTunes or you get free, you devalue the music.”
The loss of monetary value can steal one’s voice. Here is something to chew on: The labor of people who were enslaved was $2 million in 1860s money, but now health disparities cost America over a trillion dollars in a three-year period. One of the rationales used for enslaving Black people globally was our aversion to sickness and disease, and now we are branded as the sickest. Our health was taken care of during slavery, but for some reason that care has faded. Chubb Rock definitely knows this devaluing of health is no accident.
“We are often priced out of good health. The healthy foods or life-saving procedures aren’t accessible. So many young people don’t see school as their thing. We have to change the narrative…it’s our water, food, and air.”
So, can I keep it real? Chubb Rock is a DOPE brother! This brother was a National Merit Scholar who dropped out of Brown University to pursue a rap career. Knowing the end of the story makes this cool, but at the time, many did not understand.
I am happy to announce that Chubb Rock is coming back to the Ivy League and will be joining arms with me at the University of Pennsylvania to do some amazing work in the areas of health disparities.
You can hear Chubb Rock's powerful voice on his syndicated radio show throughout the Radio One markets here.
Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins is a dynamic speaker, author, and scholar who serves as a Vice-Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. After obtaining his bachelor’s (NC Central University) and master’s (Florida A&M University) degrees focused in medical and legal history, Dr. Jenkins earned a Ph.D. in Sociology and Criminology & Law from the University of Florida. This two-time national journalism award winner examines the influence of race, racism, and law within medicine. High-powered corporate clients, such as McDonalds and ProQuest, have invited him as a keynote speaker for state and global events. Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins is a blue-collar academician who is one of America’s emerging voices.
