Jason "Alpha" Wright describes himself as a poet and a community activist, saying he wants to help build up the city. (Rob Goebel / Indianapolis Star)

For 2006 album "In the Trenches," the Philosophy recorded songs based on reasons for rhyming ("Why"), musical ethics ("That's Mine") and day-to-day pleasures ("Persnickety") (Photo provided by the Philosophy)

Rapper Ramel "Radamez" Williams is leader of the Concrete Beats group and a first-year firefighter with the Indianapolis Fire Department. (Indianapolis Star file photo)

Christopher Pace wants to elevate hip-hop music. (Indianapolis Star file photo)

Alesha Peterson, a senior at Chatard High School, dabbles in singing and rhyming. Her onstage persona is "Silky Slick." (Michelle Pemberton / Indy.com)

Click here to watch a video of positive-minded hip-hop artists Son of Thought, the Philosophy, Alesha Peterson, Radamez and Alpha.

In a new song titled "Home," Indianapolis-based rapper Alpha gives his version of hip-hop history.

Personified as a girl who's been "dumbstruck by money and misdirection," hip-hop bounces from coast to coast and makes a Southern detour -- all under the influence of a "guy who had her living a lie."

But lately she's showing an independent streak and paying attention to things other than diamonds and handguns.

She's "liberated, elated, finally free," in Alpha's words.

The song isn't a fairy tale, thanks to positive-minded artists such as Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco.

West collected four Grammy Awards earlier this month, Common's 2007 album "Finding Forever" debuted at No..1 on Billboard magazine's Top 200 chart, and Fiasco's "The Cool" topped Billboard's rap albums chart in December.

Rhymes that once were considered underground are flowing into the mainstream, and Alpha and other MCs are making sure Indianapolis isn't late to the conscious party.

"It shows there is still a large volume of buying public that endorses music that actually will make you think," Alpha says.

Hip-hop that doesn't advocate drugs, violence and misogyny is known as "conscious rap," meaning a state of being awake and aware and spreading those qualities.

"The true essence of hip-hop has never been dead," says Bambu, one of three MCs in Indianapolis-based trio the Philosophy. "It's just the ones that have taken it, misused it and abused it and then put that out on society. Now society is feeling the woes of this. People are blaming hip-hop, but it's a reflection of society in general."

Alesha Peterson, a rapper-singer who's a senior at Bishop Chatard High School, says she understands why some people tune out the music before discovering its positive practitioners. "On the radio, you'll hear curse word after curse word after curse word," Peterson says. "After awhile, you just want to turn it off."

Apart from gangster tales, simplistic dance anthems "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," "Cupid Shuffle" and "Walk It Out" have raced up the charts during the past year.

"It might be silly flows and rhymes," says Indianapolis-based rapper Radamez. "I don't have anything against that. I just think people push it to the forefront too much, and they push a lot of the socially aware people to the back. The radio needs to stir it up a little bit."

It's not lost on Indianapolis MCs that West, Common and Fiasco all hail from Chicago.

"I find inspiration in them because they're three hours away and they're doing it," says T.J. Reynolds of the Philosophy. "We have that talent here."

It's true the Indianapolis hip-hop community has boasted high-profile acts in the conscious realm even when being conscious wasn't in fashion. The Mudkids are the acknowledged elite in a fraternity that includes Blacksoil Project, Twilight Sentinels and Dafilled.

"Hip-hop isn't about the money for me," says Indianapolis-based rapper Son of Thought. "It's about the culture and the way of life and elevating the status of the people -- all the people."

Meet some of Naptown's wide-awake lyricists:

Son of Thought

www.myspace.com/sonofthoughtmusic

Positive-minded MCs don't have to be meek. Just check the swagger of Christopher "Son of Thought" Pace.

He bills himself as the "Hip-Hop Ambassador of Nap," and he says his music is far removed from what he calls "that corny garbage you're accustomed to hearing every day."

When speaking of his upcoming album titled "Global Warming," Pace vows to be the source of heat.

"I feel the temperature of hip-hop has been low," he says. "The energy has been low. The vibration is horrible. No one takes the responsibility to elevate it. I feel like it's my job."

Pace backs up his confidence with an eloquent touch on lyrics such as, "The paper's my canvas, through the pen I paint."

The tracks of "Global Warming" are thematically linked by exploitation of black entertainment.

Songs address today's diamond-drenched rappers and the blackface of yesteryear's vaudeville, for instance. "It's not me portraying that energy," Pace says. "It's me stating my opinion of how it needs to change."

Pace cites Rakim, Nas, KRS-One, Public Enemy's Chuck D and Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah as five MCs who inspired him to become one himself.

"I came up in hip-hop at a time when hip-hop was based on opening eyes and waking people up."

Pace split time between Mississippi and Indiana while growing up, and the Sufi Muslim says he outgrew a troubled phase.

"My people thought I was the one who was going to be locked up," he says. "I was selling dope at age 13. That's not something I wanted to be."

In a parting shot, Pace says scantily clad models in rap videos -- sometimes referred to as "hip-hop honeys" and "video vixens" -- are something he no longer wants to see. "Get away from the booty shakin' in the videos," he advises. "Be classy; have some etiquette. Men like classy women."

Alesha Peterson

When Alesha Peterson watched the Grammy Awards telecast earlier this month, she noticed female categories for pop vocal performance, R&B vocal performance and country vocal performance.

There was no category for female rappers, and Peterson made an educated guess that there aren't enough popular female rappers to fill a field of five finalists.

"I would say it's harder for a female rapper to make it, but you'll notice that R&B singers are everywhere," says Peterson, a 17-year-old senior at Bishop Chatard High School. "Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Rihanna. You see them on a regular basis."

Peterson dabbles in both singing and rhyming, and she vows to maintain her love of hip-hop.

She made her debut as an MC last September during the annual Hip-Hop Summit at the Martin Luther King Center. Peterson says she believes rapping allows more flexibility in subject matter than singing -- which she views as being dominated by romantic themes.

The topics of school, sports and food make frequent appearances in her hip-hop lyrics, and she says weather forecasters inspired her onstage persona, "Silky Slick." "They always say, 'It's slick outside,'." she explains.

Fascinated by wordplay, Peterson says it's not unusual to find herself in situations in which she defends hip-hop as an art form.

"People automatically assume it's gangster music, because you hear so much of the gangster rap," she says.

"I had to tell people in my family, 'Well, not necessarily. You can find some rap artists out there who have positive music.' I'm not a gangster. I'm just rapping poetry."

Peterson lists Chris Brown and Bow Wow as her favorite artists, and she admits to listening to chart-topping songs that wouldn't fall under the heading of "positive" or "conscious."

"I'm sure a lot of kids would say they like the beat and they don't like the words," she says.

Peterson says she's written lyrics since the age of 12, and she became a do-it-yourself recording artist after experimenting with Apple computer's Garage Band software two summers ago.

"Since I like computers and I like music, I thought maybe I could somehow connect the two."

She plans to study computer technology in college and is not banking on a career in music.

At the same time, she says, she will take opportunities if they arise. This spring, Peterson hopes to showcase her skills at Chatard's annual talent show.

"I try to have a message so people will understand me and relate," she says. "I hope they say, 'Ah, I know how she's feeling.'."

The Philosophy

www.myspace.com/the1philosophy

There's a fine line, says the Philosophy's T.J. "Toe Jam" Reynolds, between being conscious and being preachy.

"Nobody wants to be preached to," he says. "If (music) doesn't make your head bob and it doesn't sound good, it doesn't matter."

Bright keyboard tones dominate Philosophy tunes, which feature Reynolds rapping in collaboration with MCs Ike "Bambu" Boyd and Adam "Spread" Eaglesfield. During live performances, the trio is joined by DJ John "J-Rhyme" Tracey.

The group's show schedule often includes curveballs to keep things interesting. The Philosophy appeared at a Girl Scouts of America convention this month, and modern dancers joined Reynolds, Boyd and Eaglesfield during a November date at Fountain Square nightclub Radio Radio.

For 2006 album "In the Trenches," the Philosophy recorded songs based on reasons for rhyming ("Why"), musical ethics ("That's Mine") and day-to-day pleasures ("Persnickety")

"We don't have to dig deep or swim around for these topics," Boyd says. "It's just a natural part of who we are."

On the topic of formulaic hits centered on dance routines and partying like rock stars, Eaglesfield says the tracks lack staying power.

"The masses have always liked silly, fun stuff, but they're not dumb," Eaglesfield says. "Eventually, that stuff is going to get old to everybody."

Noting that hip-hop is the favored music of American youth, Boyd says songs with substance are appreciated.

"The world right now is starving for more just real conscious music, period -- whether it's hip-hop or any genre of music," Boyd says.

"I think kids should get their foundation at home," Eaglesfield says. "I'm not going to be the one that's going to feel responsible for them thinking a certain way or emulating something that I do that isn't right."

Radamez

www.myspace.com/radamezcc

Indianapolis-based rapper Ramel "Radamez" Williams says positive rhymes are just one part of his repertoire.

As leader of the Concrete Beats crew, Williams lists his specialties as party songs, club songs, serious songs and political songs.

"I hate putting labels on myself," he says. "I'm a mixture of everything. There's so much to talk about in the world. I can't stick to one topic."

In his song "The Archaeologist," Williams takes time to scold critics for "separating the music."

Williams grew up in the large housing development LeFrak City in Queens, N.Y., an urban setting that sometimes provides a roughneck context for his lyrics.

"I researched the whole 'hood, I scrutinized the block," Williams rhymes on "The Archaeologist." "I dug up the bones and came up with a million 'Pacs."

Williams says characters and situations in his songs may appear bleak, but that doesn't prevent the storytelling from reaching a positive destination.

"If you're angry about something, you can kind of flip that negative and turn it into a positive," he says.

"That's really what I'm about. I really don't want to put out any type of real negative stuff -- although I have in the past."

Still, he describes his childhood as being free of drama.

"I really think I was protected in a bubble of some sort," he says.

"I just see myself walking through the neighborhood and there's all this stuff going on around me: Shooting, killing, the selling of drugs.

"But it never affected me at all. I went to school and I did what I had to do."

Before moving to Indianapolis, Williams attended Emporia State University in Kansas and starred as a track and field athlete.

Presently a first-year firefighter with the Indianapolis Fire Department, Williams says emotional growth is heard on 2007 album "Innovative."

"I'm putting out the reality that I'm going through," he says. "It's a little more of an uplifting, triumphant kind of thing."

Williams recently entered a promotional partnership with East Coast company 101 Clothing.

When mailing orders, the company includes Radamez CDs as freebies. In turn, he wears 101 gear when he performs.

"I'm looking to help the company expand, and help them to help me expand," he says. "That's the ultimate goal."

Alpha

www.myspace.com/alphaisforever

The idea of a hip-hop awakening resonates with Jason "Alpha" Wright.

As a member of Indianapolis-based group Trillogy, Wright flirted with mainstream success and signed a contract with major-label Jive Records in 2006 to promote the trio's "Grind in Da Game" single.

But as he zeroed in closer to fame, he says he felt less satisfaction in his work.

Wright walked away from Trillogy's potential stardom, saying the move to go solo was a personal decision and not based on friction or animosity within the group.

"I wasn't believing in the things that I was lending my voice to," Wright says.

Known for party tunes crafted with a mischievous attitude, Trillogy's lyrics likely would earn an R-rating for language and sexual content.

Wright, meanwhile, describes himself as a poet and a community activist.

"I don't want to be remembered for having jewelry and being in the club," Wright says. "I want to be remembered for helping to build this city into what everyone wishes it could be."

He's part of an events promotion collective known as "Class of '93," which is a nod to one of hip-hop's golden eras highlighted by progressive acts A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul.

"Class of '93" outlines its mission as one that educates, elevates, entertains and empowers.

Wright says his current rhymes have messages, but harsh storytelling is sometimes part of the package. He cites a track titled "'Caine and Able," in which two brothers become entangled in a drug-dealing tragedy.

"You might still get a parental advisory sticker on a couple of my songs, but sometimes those pieces are worth listening to," he says.

Catch them in action

• Alpha: 9 p.m. March 12, Uncle Fester's, Bloomington, $3.

• The Philosophy: 8 p.m. Feb. 29, Radio Radio, 1119 E. Prospect St., $7.

• Radamez: 10 p.m. March 6, Spin, 6308 N. Guilford Ave., free.

• Son of Thought: 6 p.m. March 29, Emerson Theater, 4634 E. 10th St., $7.