To many, hip-hop and chess seem like they’re from two different worlds.

Hip-hop appears more likely to embrace dominos or craps as its official sport; when you think of a chess player, Bobby Fischer comes to mind before Bobby Digital. Additionally, chess is often thought of as nerdy, uncool and decidedly not urban – a pastime of tweeded old men in city parks and geeky suburban kids.
Yet, just as is the case with the 64 squares itself, appearances can be deceiving.

Bobby Digital (one of the aliases of Wu-Tang Clan sensei RZA) is indeed a chess aficionado, as are such other hip-hop notables as DJ Q-Bert, Rakaa (Dilated Peoples), Casual (Hieroglyphics), Balance, even the Jacka – all of whom have participated in events sponsored by the Hip Hop Chess Federation.

On Sept. 25, the organization will set up its chess boards for young folks at Youth UpRising’s annual F.A.S.T. event in East Oakland. The Youth UpRising exhibition marks the federation’s first-ever program in Oakland – a city where Banjoko, a veteran hip-hop scribe and author who’s also the founder and driving force behind HHCF, previously resided before moving to the South Bay.

“As someone who loves Oakland, I’m deeply concerned about the violence that the youth have, the chasm of miscommunication between the community and the police,” Banjoko said. “Whatever the Hip Hop Chess Federation can do to help both sides heal so that all of Oakland can rise is what we wanna be involved in.”

Linking hip-hop and chess is “not a stretch for people who are familiar with the complete subculture,” Banjoko said, adding that chess references have long been ubiquitous in hip-hop’s lyrical canon. Indeed, it was EPMD rapper the E Double E who proclaimed on the hip-hop classic “You’re A Customer,” “I make a move like chess and then I yell checkmate.”

Noting that Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and numerous other rappers have incorporated chess metaphors into their rhymes, Banjoko queries, “Who talks about chess more than rap artists?” Good question. While there was that musical co-written by the guy from Abba and the Chess record label (famous for seminal blues artists), Banjoko might be right that hip-hop has provided more lyrical and metaphorical references to chess than any other genre in pop culture.

Even so, “sometimes chess gets written off as a white thing,” Banjoko said.

Though identified with Medieval Eurocentricity, in fact, chess may have Afrocentric roots. Among scholars, it’s long been thought that Senet, a popular game in Pharonic Egypt, was the game’s direct predecessor. As Banjoko points out, African Muslims first brought the game to Europe, while Spanish priests developed some of the classic openings.

“One of the things that makes chess so beautiful is virtually every culture and every faith around the world has had a hand in the elevation and the preservation of chess,” Banjoko said.

By promoting the universal aspects of chess, the Hip Hop Chess Federation – HHCF – has helped to make chess cool for young people, as well as upholding diversity.

“When kids can start seeing their own culture and history in the board, it really changes their interest and the overall dynamic,” Banjoko said.

Founded in 2007, the HHCF has been written up in martial arts magazines, chess journals, hip-hop websites and mainstream publications like the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. And there’s more to the HHCF’s mission than just promoting the game itself. Chess, Banjoko said, has proven to be an essential tool in teaching urban youth life strategies and promoting alternatives to conflict.

“We show kids how positions on the board are like situations in life. If you make a habit of thinking through sh--, it can help kids in urban situations.”

An ongoing HHCF program at San Francisco’s O’Connell High School – located in the Mission District, where gang tensions between Sureños, Norteños and Border Brothers are an unfortunate part of the everyday reality for Latino youth – has helped calm young minds, while preparing them for future success and college applications. And it’s not just the male gender who play the game, either, he says. “A lot of girls consistently get down with chess.”

Banjoko said his own interest in kid-friendly, positive cultural events comes directly from being a parent. His son, Ayinde, is an avid chess player. Being “an active father and husband,” Banjoko said, motivated him to embrace nonviolence as well as youth development – with an intellectual hip-hop twist – as realized in the HHCF.

Banjoko’s looking to connect with more high schools, nonprofits and community centers in the East Bay so he can highlight the “real and a positive side of hip-hop.”

Understanding chess, he elaborates, can help young people from inner-city backgrounds deal with everything from schoolyard bullies to gang violence.

“Some of these kids are dynamic players,” Banjoko said. His aim: to “take what they already know about chess and apply it to their life.”


If you go

What: For a Safe Town (F.A.S.T) Community Event
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25
Where: Youth UpRising, 8711 MacArthur, Oakland
Cost: Free
Details: www.youthuprising.org