Brakin': Don't Nobody Want None

[DISCLAIMER]

Arguably, the five original elements which comprised the subculture of hip hop were MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, b-boying or b-girling/breakdancing, graffiti/bombing, and beatboxing/creating drumbeat and other sounds with one’s mouth.

Many of these elements were featured in the 1984 breakdancing-themed musical film Breakin’ (a shortened term for the word “breakdancing”). Back when I was in elementary school, I saw Breakin’ in the movie theater and wanted to be a b-boy.

Because I was an obese child and breakers (people who participated in breakdancing) were mostly physically fit, I settled for the art of graffiti writing. It was a natural fit, as I was considered the best artist in my class at school. I garnered a lot of bragging rights at the time.

However, I focused more on doodling in class than I did toward learning how to properly use the English language. Therefore, my knowledge of spelling and grammar suffered. (This remains apparent throughout my blog.)

For example, I remember one event for children of the summer program in which I was enrolled being given the opportunity to demonstrate our artistic skills in a trailer full of arts and crafts supplies. I painstakingly wrote “brakin’” on my art piece, having misspelled “breakin’.”

(Not the actual art piece, though something like what I created)

I was proud of the piece until my older sister informed me that I’d misspelled the word. It was at that moment that I self-disturbed into an angry disposition, crumpled up the art piece, discarded it, and stormed out of the trailer.

Maybe the way I described this occurrence seems strange to you. Perhaps I’ve demonstrated yet another example of how flawed my use of the English language is. Or, it could be that I’m referring to the practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in specific terms.

REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and one Believes an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s one’s unfavorable assumption and not the occurrence itself that causes an unpleasant Consequence. Thus, I properly expressed how I disturbed myself.

To adequately demonstrate the unhelpful Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection referenced herein, consider that when my sister identified that I misspelled “breakin’” by drawing the word “brakin’,” there wasn’t an Action-Consequence (A-C) connection that took place.

Nothing said to me on the day in question caused me to become angry, destroy my artwork, and sulk outside of the arts and crafts trailer. This is because the ABC model maintains that rather than A-C connections, people disturb themselves using B-C connections.

For instance, my sister pointed out the misspelled word (Action) and I unfavorably Believed, “I’m worthless, because I don’t know how to spell, so I shouldn’t even try to practice graffiti!” With that unhelpful attitude, I experienced anger, tossed my drawing, and sulked (Consequence).

Noteworthy, one of the longstanding traditions of hip hop relates to expression of bravado (a bold manner or a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate). A common saying that represents this feature is declaring “don’t nobody want none!”

For now, forgive use of the double negative (a now nonstandard syntactic construction containing two negatives and having a negative meaning). The expression merely implies that one is superior to others at a particular skill.

Providing a direct example of such bravado, consider the 2018 album Planet from lyricist Tech N9ne. The anthology contains a track entitled “Don’t Nobody Want None” which features a sample of old school hip hop DJ Hashim’s song “Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)” (1983).

The latter is a quintessential breaker song. The former uses braggadocio (arrogant pretension) which was popular in the ‘80s. When contemplating that form of bravado, it wasn’t merely that I devalued myself and used an unhelpful demand when my sister pointed out the misspelled word.

I also unhelpfully used a low frustration tolerance self-narrative by concluding that I “couldn’t stand” that I’d made a mistake that was so obvious to others. Saying “don’t nobody want none” was about boastfully declaring one’s own skills as relating to peak performance.

However, in my irrational mind, I told myself “don’t nobody want none” of my defective artwork or the equally faulty individual that created it. Thus, I self-disturbed into an unpleasant disposition. If only I’d known of REBT back then, then I would’ve used a more helpful outlook.

In particular, I could’ve practiced unconditional self-acceptance whereby I would’ve acknowledged that I was a fallible human being who’d make countless mistakes throughout life. This being the case, I could’ve used high frustration tolerance as a means to an end for resilience.

Alas, I didn’t know what I didn’t know when in elementary school. Now, I use this personal anecdote so that you can learn from my historical ignorance. Would you like more knowledge about REBT? It isn’t as though “don’t nobody want none,” because this modality is effective.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

Alex572. (2013, February 4). Hashim - Al-naafiysh (the soul) (B-Side with bonus beats) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/EkiLhLoLJto?si=XulrPOqLvTg5mE9t

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