{"id":7425,"date":"2016-06-01T19:35:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T19:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=7425"},"modified":"2016-06-01T20:52:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T20:52:54","slug":"rapper-rob-dz-learns-dreams-again-and-passes-it-forward-as-madison-wins-a-national-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=7425","title":{"rendered":"Rapper Rob Dz learns, rekindles a dream, and pays it forward, as Madison wins a national award"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Rob<\/p>\n

Hip-Hop artist and historian Rob Dz accepts a 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from first lady Michelle Obama on June 1 on behalf of the Madison Public Library, for his own career advancement and educational work in a library outreach program in music production and promotion.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe library is so much more than just books, baby!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the take away of Rob Franklin, a.k. a. Rob Dz, a Madison-based hip-hop artist and historian, and one of my favorite Wisconsin artists.<\/p>\n

How much more is the library? The\u00a0Madison Public Library has transformed this talented man’s financially-strapped career.<\/p>\n

“All my dreams of sharing my gifts to the world were fading.” he recalls. Rob was at crossroads, maybe the kind where the devil lurked, grinning right in his face, as the “Crossroads” myth went for bluesman Robert Johnson.<\/p>\n

Rob no longer had the finances to make any recordings of his art. But he didn’t have to sell his soul to the devil to get what his dreams requested.<\/p>\n

The Madison Library was attuned to his talents and his value to the community. They stepped into the path of uncertainty and darkness and set him up in the\u00a0library\u2019s Bubbler program and Media Lab services. This provided him access to and instruction in their full production facilities, for visual and graphic design, sound engineering, photoshop and other production services.<\/p>\n

The upshot was that Rob dug in and learned how to use these tools, and brought his career back to life. His production work for himself and other financially and socially disenfranchised young people led to a great honor.\u00a0On June 1, Rob Dz accepted a 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. First lady Michelle Obama, a strong proponent of youth literacy, presented the award to Rob, on the library’s behalf.<\/p>\n

What a trip! And for sure it was a journey to learn, create and teach in the light of creative life. Rob explains his trip in a video in the story I have linked here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bering among this year’s award recipients was a thrill for Rob, and here is First Lady Michelle Obama’s awards speech and presentations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Library’s Bubbler program has replenished Rob Dz and, he hopes, will help transform his career. And once he learned this and got back up to speed in terms of DIY technical creativity and career advancement, he realized it was time to \u201cpay it forward\u201d with his knowledge. “I was able to teach not only production, but personal branding and development classes as well,” he explains<\/p>\n

I take personal pleasure in this for several reasons. I was aware of Rob’s talents and knowledge when I covered the arts for The Capital Times<\/em> in Madison for nearly 20 years. I also had a sense of how is talents translated into education. So I hired him as a guest lecturer for the cultural journalism class that I taught at Edgewood College in Madison in 2007-8.
\nHe presented a concise, but incisive and lively history of hip-hop to my aspiring journalists, and it was one of the most rewarding classes I’ve ever presented.<\/p>\n

Next he popped up as a member of the Chicago Yestet, a vibrant and socially and politically conscious jazz band led by trombonist and composer Joel Adams, a former Madison musician now based in Chicago. A highlight of their debut album was the brilliantly droll\u00a0Rob Dz commentary on George W. Bush titled \u201cThe Decider.\u201d Then came several thought-provoking and empowering songs on the band\u2019s latest album Just Say Yes<\/em>, including Rob’s lyrics ingeniously updating Lennon and McCartney’s “The \u00a0Long and Winding Road.” Here’s the adaptation, performed at Chicago’s Green Mill jazz club.<\/p>\n