WGN Morning News Blog

At this risk of sounding like an old man, in my day, rap music meant something. I have to admit, I have shut it out for a long time. Every rap music video seems to be about cash, cars, guns and 'hoes'. Apologists argued it was just a reflection of their reality; critics complained the message offered no solution.

But I'm old school. Perhaps RUN DMC and Grand Master Flash would seem as innocent as listening to Hall&Oates or Englebert Humperdink, but at least those rap pioneers had a message.

RUN DMC:

One thing I know is that life is short

So listen up homeboy, give this a thought

The next time someone's teaching

why don't you get taught?

It's like that; and that's the way it is

GRAND MASTER FLASH:

Pay your toll, sell your soul

Pound for pound costs more than gold

The longer you stay, the more you pay

My white lines go a long way

Either up your nose or through your vein

With nothin to gain except killing your brain

John Clarke is a student of hip hop, and he has a message. When I say student, I don't mean that casually. He received his B.A. in Sociology and Music from Columbia University. Then he earned his Medical Degree from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He's combined his two passions by producing hip-hop music about health.

"My passion, first, was music. It was 1979 -- Kurtis Blow and the Sugar Hill Gang -- I was 8 and I was writing rap songs," Clarke told me. "As I got older I continued to write but my passion developed into medicine in high school. I pursued a career in medicine because it is more rewarding and more stable. It's a good 'day job' to have."

His songs are about asthma, allergies, HIV, and more.

The Rules:

A diabetic that regretted the truth,

That he really wasn't careful in the days of his youth.

Diagnosed at 18 he thought he was straight,

didn't care about he weight or the junk that he ate.

Was in denial for awhile; thought he felt great.

Got up at night five, six times to urinate.

The rap isn't just shtick. Dr. Clarke is serious about educating people about health. He notes that studies have shown the average teen listens to 40 hours of music per week and 10,500 hours of music between the 7th and 12th grade. This is slightly less than the cumulative hours spent in the classroom from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Rhythm and rhymes, key components in rap, help evoke memory. But he knows he can't get too cutesy. He needs to be authentic, or he'll lose credibility.

["The songs have a] story format and are based on real experiences with my patients," he told me. "If they perceive you are trying to preach to them, it turns them off."

It's more than just rhyming. Dr. Clarke has studied the best ways to reach people. For example, when it comes to smoking, teens care more about superficial issues like bad breath, while adults can grasp the concept of lung cancer.

Bad Breath-Brown Teeth

They can't stop the habit, reaching in their pocket, cash up in smoke, quicker than they got it.

Now I'm on the topic, how do they enjoy it?

Teeth look cheesey, breath smelling like a toilet.

30 years later, waiting for the answer, Doctors took tests, now he says it's cancer!

"I'm a physician who raps -- not a rapper who happens to be a physician," Clarke said. "They'll see athletes , rap artists as what society promotes as what you want to do. But I present myself as a doctor. I want to be a role model."

I showed the video to rap star, and Chicago native, Common for his reaction.

"I don't think he can make it on the Common album," he said with a laugh. "Man, anybody can rap nowadays!"

Are you kidding? Dr. Clarke's got skills. I'm no poet, but it's a lot easier to rhyme with "hoe" than with sinusitis.

He may never make the cover of VIBE, but Dr. Clarke is saving lives, and that's more than we can say for anyone on top of the Hip-Hop charts.

*note: Dr.Clarke makes his Chicago TV debut Thursday on WGN Morning News