hip-hop, creativity and brain functionality

Hip-hop, an artistic expression/culture formed during 70s in Bronx, is a combination of terms — “hip” was used in African-American vernacular English starting in 1898, meaning current or in the know, and “hop” from “to hop.”

Hip-hop was the creative coalescence of the then popular funk music, self-appointed disk-scratching DJs, break-dancing MCs, improv lyricist-rappers and complementary street art (graffiti) which visualized a culture tinged with social bias, racism and ethnic rebellion. It went mainstream in 1979 by “Rapper’s Delight.”

Creativity in street (hip-hop) and classic (jazz) musical traditions is now being employed by neuroscience in exploring brain performance during creative processes.

creativity and bacon

One past extensive research about creativity asked the question “What are creative people like?” concluding, creative people:

work very hard;
are more disposed to setting their own agenda and taking independent action;
strive for originality;
show more flexibility;
don’t have higher IQs … No cognitive abilities have been identified which reliably distinguish between creative and non-creative people.

And to question “What cognitive factors are involved in creative acts?” research concludes:

Years of preparation essential for creative productivity;
Goal setting is critical in creative acts.

And what is creative perversity? It is cologne, salt, vodka, mayonnaise, gumballs – all made of bacon.

Stanford prison experiment and modern management practices

Stanford University, 1971. From a group of volunteers, half were to play prisoners, half wardens, placed in a makeshift jail. Stanford prison experiment, aimed to study psychological effects of being/treated as a prisoner/warden, lasted six instead of planned fourteen days.

It became a classic demonstration of the power of situations and how good intentions of participants were overwhelmed by transformation of ordinary/normal young men into sadistic guards or prisoners with emotional breakdowns.

Conclusions? Managers, treat employees with humour/equality/consideration, but fertilize confusion as it is at the roots of creativity and innovation.

Confused things kindle minds for great inventions – da Vinci.