All of the Above Hip Hop Academy mentors, nurtures, teaches

Vickki Dozier
Lansing State Journal
Ozay Moore is the founder of All of the Above Hip Hop Academy and Creative. Photo taken Aug. 3, 2017, at Blue Owl Coffee in REO Town.

When Ozay Moore relocated to Lansing in 2006 with his family, he didn't intend to stay.

Lansing seemed like a good place to start a family. And it would be good to be close to his wife's close-knit family who lived here.

But they were trying to keep their roots shallow, not get too involved. Because they anticipated leaving quickly.

"But you start developing meaningful relationships and as much as you might fight against rooting someplace, the more meaningful relationships you have and the community you start to develop, it makes it hard to justify leaving," Moore said.

"Especially when you establish a quality of life that is conducive to what you’re pursuing."

Moore is a hip hop artist. Once here, he got into the hip hop scene right away. He had done research on Lansing via MySpace and within a week or two of being here, met the entire scene.

In 2010, he started All of the Above Hip Hop Academy and Creative.

Kids learn hip hop from "Young Yi" of All of the Above Hip Hop Academy at the East Lansing Art Festival.

All of the Above Hip Hop Academy and Creative exists in two parts – there’s the hip hop academy, and then there’s the creative side.

"The creative side is more or less a network or a hub of like-minded artists and individuals in whom we pull from to facilitate the academy side," Moore said. "So not everybody in the creative teaches, but that’s our first resource."

While teaching a class in Detroit, Moore got the idea of hip hop being used for more than entertainment. Some of the students were talented, smart. He wondered what might happen to this talent. 

"I thought it would be amazing if there was a program that kind of fished out these talents, mentored them, nurtured them and provided them with community resources and some guidance," Moore said.

"So that whether they go on to pursue a career in music or go on to become a doctor or lawyer, their time and proximity in hip hop culture has been beneficial to them."

AOTA is not a business. It is structured as a nonprofit organization without the official 501c3 licensing, which it is in the process of filing for.

It has relied heavily on partnerships and fiscal agencies and other organizations to host its programming.

AOTA landed in REO Town, next door to what was then REO Town Recordings, but quickly realized the space was not large enough to accommodate their students.

The Cadillac Room and Riverview Church reached out to them and offered their space for classes, which is where breakdancing, advanced and intermediate, is held Monday nights.

Other classes AOTA offers include Style Writing 101, a variation of graffiti art, but not entirely graffiti culture; beat-making classes; rhyme-writing classes or MCing 101. And also b-boying class. They hope to implement DJ classes in the near future.

"With the rhyme writing and the beat making and the recording engineering type of classes or courses, we partner with people," Moore said. "Right now we’re partnering with Highfields in Onondaga. I am an employee through Highfields. My day job is working with adjudicated youth at Ingham Academy."

Classes are open to both boys and girls. Classes are not free, but scholarship-based classes are offered.

There is also a chapter of AOTA in Grand Rapids, based out of Ottawa Hills High School throughout the school year.

Employees are not paid. They're doing it because they love the art, they love the culture.

"They are doing it pro bono and they’re doing it like they’re getting paid a million dollars," Moore said. "Their charity to the overall movement is incredible."

Moore still records, still puts out music.

"Not as fast as I used to," Moore said. "It’s not turning out songs every month, or anything like that, but it’s a slow burn. It’s a labor of love."

Contact Vickki Dozier at (517) 267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickkiD.

All of the Above Hip Hop Academy and Creative

aotahiphop@gmail.com