Sabi Robinson (3:22)

I feel like so many of the events that I've been to across the city, you just like, Go Go's kind of like the track in the back.

Marissa Lang (3:28)

Totally. It's at cookouts, it's coming out of people's, it's at funerals, it's just parades. Like any kind of block party. Go Go is there.

Sabi Robinson (3:38)

And when did it actually start in.

Marissa Lang (3:40)

D.C. so go go comes out of the music of the 1970s. It really started appearing in live music venues. Go Go is a music born out of performance. Chuck Brown, who is probably the most well known Go Go musician, he's known as the godfather of Go Go, really made a name for the genre and he's the one who named it Go Go. It just goes and goes. So after the 70s, it took off. In the 80s and 90s, more bands started playing the music or putting their spin on it, incorporating new sounds, making it more hip hop y, making it more contemporary with the music of those decades. One thing to know is Go Go was very much music that came out of D.C. public schools. A lot of the musicians who were creating this music, who were starting their own bands were black teenagers. And in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, the place that you could find Go Go were these live music venues. Sometimes those were big clubs, sometimes they were little backyard venues that would just attract crowds and crowds of people. A lot of the time you would have a room packed full of people dancing, sweating, the music kind of vibrating the floors. People who would go to Go Go concerts back then describe the feeling of being in a Go Go as this visceral, full body experience.

Sabi Robinson (5:15)

So today Go Go is, you know, widely embraced by D.C. and D.C. politicians. But from what I understand from your reporting, that was not always the case.

Marissa Lang (5:26)

Absolutely not. When Go Go really hit the scene in the early days, it was very heavily criminalized. It was blamed lawmaker, city council members, even the mayor for a lot of social ills. Go Go concerts were seen as this place where violence could break out at any moment and police were often dispatched to break them up or to police music venues. Curfews were implemented that really hit Go Go venues hard. That made it difficult for young people to be out late in certain parts of the city or to attend Go Go's. The music was associated with gang violence, with drug use, with guns. It really got a reputation. And if you talk to folks now who were part of the scene, then they reflect that a lot of those problems were not something that came from the music, that were not something that came from the musicians, but rather, you have a big crowd of people, and sometimes something would happen or a fight would break out. But as with these things, you know, as you send more law enforcement and then people are reacting to the law enforcement, it kind of creates its own weather patterns. And so, yeah, it was definitely not something embraced by the city of D.C. despite it being sort of this homegrown music.

Sabi Robinson (6:46)

Mm.

Marissa Lang (6:47)

Yeah.

Sabi Robinson (6:48)

That narrative feels so reminiscent, honestly, to some of the things we're hearing today. Under President Trump's orders, law enforcement are cracking down on teens in the District for what they're saying is violence caused by youth. Do you think that is an accurate comparison?

Marissa Lang (7:07)

Yeah, it's really interesting. As I was reporting the story, I kept coming back to this mirroring that you're describing that it felt so present with me that today I'm talking to black teenagers who are in D.C. schools about their participation in Go Go and these bands and the way that it's really being treated and seen by the adults in their life as a way for them to stay out of trouble and a thing that they can do that's really productive and will give them tools like art and performance and maybe a way to make money that is actually pro social and constructive. It allows them to hang out with their peers in a really Safe setting. So GoGo right now is being seen as like, this could be the solution for the kids. Right. But, you know, decades ago, it was seen as the opposite. And I think that a lot of the narrative that we're hearing about D.C. teens is that they're dangerous, they're out of control, they're running around in these chaotic packs of other teenagers and causing problems and committing crimes. And that is a very longstanding narrative that we kind of see appear over and over again over the decades in D.C. history. Mm.

Sabi Robinson (8:25)

How did Go Go music then become this thing that was not associated with the violence and danger in the city? Cause it does feel like now it's a very vibrant part of D.C. events and that, you know, the city will have Go Go music incorporated into their things. And so I feel like, you know, it does feel like that image has really shifted.

Marissa Lang (8:48)

Yeah. I think the rehabilitation of Go Go has been pushed really heavily by the people who loved it as youth and have now aged into positions of prominence. I think you to see a lot of that. Five, 10 years ago, there were city council members who introduced legislation to make Go Go music the official music of the District of Columbia. It was officially incorporated as the official music of D.C. in 2020. Now there's a Go Go museum in Anacostia, so it has really changed how I think people in the city talk about it. And that's really being led by a lot of folks who either were Go Go musicians themselves or are just like lifelong Go Go fans who are now in their 40s and 50s and 60s and have more clout and more cultural cachet to make that change happen.

Sabi Robinson (9:48)

After the break, what students told Marissa about why they love Go Go. We'll be right back.

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Sabi Robinson (12:14)

Okay, so, Marissa, I want to hear more about these Go Go programs that are in schools now. What did you hear from the administrators and the schools about why they decided that Gogo was a thing that they wanted their students to learn?

Marissa Lang (12:28)

So, first of all, something to know is a few of the music teachers that I talk to and a few of the school administrators that I talk to used to be involved in the Go Go scene themselves.

Sabi Robinson (12:39)

Oh, cool.

Marissa Lang (12:39)

Either they played instruments. At least one of the administrators over at that school in southeast D.C. managed a go Go band in the early aughts. And they feel very connected to the genre, and they feel very invested in ensuring that it lives on, that it doesn't just wither and die with their generation.

BJ Simmons (13:00)

For me, as a D.C. native, I feel like it's very important that I pass that lineage on because I'm a part of this community. You know, I mean, I've toured with Go Go bands.

Marissa Lang (13:14)

BJ Simmons, who is the music director at Stuart Hobson Middle School, is himself a very accomplished Go Go musician. And so he sort of sees himself as, like, the perfect vehicle to teach these kids Go Go.

BJ Simmons (13:28)

So it just makes sense for me is an indigenous music. It just makes sense for it to be a part of my curriculum. So passing that down is important to me.

Marissa Lang (13:39)

And so in creating this Go Go class, which in the middle school is a class, they get together and they play Go Go every day at, like, 9:30 in the morning. So starting the day strong, that's such a good way to start the day strong. It really is. Yeah. It gets you up and going. And when I went to their Go Go practice, it should be said, like, other kids on their way to class were grooving in the hall. So it is def, I think, appreciated in that school. But BJ told me that in trying to come up with a curriculum for Go Go, he wanted it to, yes, be about the music and, yes, be about the instruments and giving these kids the ability to try different things and try different music and understand the music theory behind the layering that happens in Go Go music. But also he's seeing it as an opportunity to teach about DC history, to teach about DC culture. I actually went to a band practice at Stuart Hobson Middle School and was able to talk to some of the students myself. And these are middle schoolers, so they're, you know, 11, 12, 13 years old. And I asked them was Go Go music that y' all listened to before you started taking this class? And a few of them Said, oh, yeah, you know, my mom likes it or my auntie likes it or my grandma likes it. But it wasn't really music that they felt connected to, that felt like it was their music. It was kind of something that was just in the water. It was around them all the time. A couple of them admitted they did not like Go Go at all, that they kind of thought it was, like, not for them. They prefer, you know, hip hop or trap or some other kind of music genre. But when they started playing it and when they started to understand it differently, they've all totally come around and they now say that they really love it, that they find themselves listening to it outside of class or looking up old videos, trying to come up with new ideas, and that they see that effect on their friends too. That it's not just the kids who are actually in this Go Go class, but it's kind of seeped out through the rest of the school that now you have other 12 year olds who are getting into go go. And that when they've put on concerts or they've had events, this Go Go group out of the middle school, Panther Funk has fans and they've got, like, peers who come out and, you know, want to see them perform live. And so it really is shifting and changing the culture of that school.

Sabi Robinson (16:02)

Yeah, I feel like one of the things that makes Go Go so unique is obviously the connection to the city. And so I'm wondering, does it make them feel more connected to dc?

Marissa Lang (16:13)

Yeah, I think so. One of the students I spoke to, Kevin Ivy, who is a senior at the SEED School of Washington, talked to me a little bit about how one of the things he found so enriching about the Go Go program and what he's been exposed to at the school was not just the opportunity to play music, but also to learn more about Go Go and its history and its contributions to D.C. culture.

BJ Simmons (16:37)

Being young and playing, like, music that's come down from generation to generation is actually like, heartwarming to me because I get to learn where the roots were, how the music was created, and what made D.C. bC.

Marissa Lang (16:54)

And I think one thing that I really noticed when I was reporting this story, I mean, I asked every kid I talked to, how would you describe Go Go? And what I found so interesting was that to a kid, not one of them described music to me. None of them were like, oh, it's drums. Oh, it's this kind of sound. I got so many answers that were like, go Go is home. Go Go is family. Go Go is the Music that I hear when I'm with my neighbors or I'm like at a party. I had one kid, beautifully described to me the way it makes him feel and that he said, Go Go is like heart music that it's music for your spirit. And he was like, you know, it's impossible to be sad when Go Go's playing. Like, you just can't be sad when there are bongos. And I was like, you're right. You can't be sad when there are bongos.

Sabi Robinson (17:45)

So true.

Marissa Lang (17:45)

Yeah.

Sabi Robinson (17:46)

So, Marissa, after you went to these practices and you've spoken with so many students and administrators, what do you think the impact of having Go Go in these schools is like, is it. Is it making a difference?

Marissa Lang (18:01)

I think it really is making a difference. I can't speak to sort of the global questions of is having a Go Go band in this school keeping kids out of trouble or preventing youth crime from happening? I think that's probably something we can't speak to right now, and we certainly don't have the data for it. But what I think it is doing is it's giving these kids a different way of seeing themselves in the fabric of the city, that it's giving them exposure and an opportunity to imagine kind of a counter narrative that at a time when a lot of what you hear about DC Youth and DC Teenagers is negative, that they're, you know, roving the streets, that they're committing crimes, what these classes and what these groups are doing is they're allowing these kids to imagine that there is a different path and there's a different way that they can be successful and recognize and embracing it and seeing it as a way that they can leave their mark on this, too. And so that kind of feeling that this is not just something of the past, but this is also something that they can contribute to and bring into the future. And the responsibility that comes with, like, carrying a thing with legacy and with roots and with history and with that kind of cultural power, I think is something that even just reporting the story, I watched change some of these kids, and it's really beautiful to witness.

Sabi Robinson (19:35)

Marissa, thank you so much for sharing this reporting.

Marissa Lang (19:37)

It was such a joy to be here.

Sabi Robinson (19:44)

Marissa Lang is an enterprise reporter for the Post. That's it for Post Reports. Thanks for listening. Today's episode was produced by me. It was edited by Maggie Penman and mixed by Shawn Carter. Thanks to Teresa Vargas and April Bethea. I'm Sabi Robinson. I hope you have a safe and warm holiday tomorrow and we'll be back on Friday with more stories from the Washington Post.