PITTSBURGH — 1Hood Media's ascension into becoming a nationally renowned art and social-justice organization "happened organically," according to one of its most prominent members.
Rapper and activist Jasiri X was a founding member of 1Hood in 2006, helped co-found 1Hood Media, and now serves as its CEO and emcee for many of its town halls and community events. After providing Pittsburgh with socially conscious art and conversations for 15 years, 1Hood's profile grew exponentially during summer 2020 as it helped lead protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder and spark tough discussions about the ever-present inequities in the Steel City.
Since then 1Hood Media has, among other accomplishments, been spotlighted by CNN, launched a digital hub for much of its work in the form of blackpittsburgh.com and exerted its political influence gained through its 1Hood Power affiliate to help elect progressive candidates throughout Western Pennsylvania — including Mayor-elect Ed Gainey.
In September, 1Hood Media's efforts were further validated when it found out it was receiving a sizable grant as part of NBA legend Michael Jordan's Black Community Commitment initiative, for which he pledged to donate $100 million over 10 years "to organizations dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education," according to a 2020 Jordan Brand press release.
Jasiri said that he couldn't disclose how much money 1Hood Media got from Jordan Brand, but it was a piece of the $1 million in local community grants Jordan Brand recently handed out to "18 grassroots organizations on the front lines of change," according to a September Jordan Brand press release. As a sports fan and Chicago native, Jasiri was dumbstruck by but extremely appreciative of such tangible support from a figure of Jordan's stature.
"It was like being a part of history, of Michael Jordan's history, to see him despite past criticism stepping into that moment and dedicating that amount of money to helping our community ...," he said. "It's been also cool to see the fact that we can be ourselves, authentically us, authentically Black, and still get support.
"We can get grants from Jordan and Starbucks [which 1Hood also received in 2020] and not sacrifice who we are."
The application for the Jordan Brand grant was one of the easiest Jasiri has ever come across. He said it only asked two questions — background on 1Hood Media and what it would do with the money — and required a response of only a few paragraphs. It didn't take long for Jasiri to get an email from Jordan Brand asking him to hop on a Zoom with them. He thought it was to discuss the next steps in the process, but it was actually to tell him his application had been accepted.
He said the Jordan Brand grant will mostly go toward "our reintroduction into a public life" in terms of resuming in-person events that had been mostly absent from 1Hood Media's programming lineup since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes hopefully reigniting 1Hood's media academy and taking advantage of its new space in Oakland's Bloomcraft Building for filming shows and providing a venue for artists to hold small showcases.
After weathering "being on fire the whole year" due to both the pandemic and a nationwide racial reckoning, Jasiri is excited to start hosting more tactile events and art exhibitions again. The response to 1Hood Media's community forums and other efforts to meet the moment over the last year-and-a-half "has been powerful and caused us to say we want to do more," he said, not the least of which was the organizing work that helped lead to Gainey winning the mayoral race.
"It shows what we can do when we take that energy and begin to apply it to policy and positions that affect people's lives on a day-to-day basis ...," Jasiri said. "We have real work to do, but part of this is, here's somebody who experienced this that's in leadership. To see that happen, it's a good first step, but at the end of the day, we love Ed and believe in him, but we're still going to hold him accountable."
Jasiri said he used to be viewed as kind of a radical before the Donald Trump presidency made him "more acceptable as an artist" due to issues like racism and white supremacy being thrust into the forefront of national concern. That hasn't stopped him from still experiencing those things himself though, like earlier in December when he claimed that a Wisconsin shuttle driver racially profiled him before he was set to speak at the White Privilege Symposium in La Crosse, Wis.
He said his next project is going to be about "the last few years in Pittsburgh," a city he believes talks too much about its admiration for the teachings of Fred Rogers without actually living up to them.
"The Pittsburgh he envisioned has not been brought to fruition," Jasiri said. "Whether it's poverty or income or home ownership, I just want us to live up to that. It has to move beyond the rhetoric, and we have to see real policies and live what he says."
Until that day arrives, Jasiri and 1Hood Media are going to continue speaking truth to power as they see fit. Having Jordan back what 1Hood Media is trying to achieve showed Jasiri just how important investing in organizations like his can be for communities everywhere.
"I feel like we're moving in a more positive direction," he said. "On election day, it was a lot of disappointment nationally from progressives. For us, it was a more positive view. We have the ability to go in that direction, and I would just encourage people to be open to hear from folks who don't get the mic a lot.
"When you talk about giving and hope, I would look for folks to support the more marginalized organizations led by marginalized people. Those are the ones we should be supporting, and I encourage folks to do so."
