Tinasbeen

Hip Hop Culture Events in Newark

This week I've enjoyed attending a couple events organized by the Office of Student Life and Leadership on campus as part of their series "The Lens," which encourages undergrads to think critically about culture and media.

The Institute helped co-sponsor two panels on campus about hip-hop culture, and I was fortunate enough to have my friend Marc come up to speak at the first one, "The Evolution of Hip-Hop Culture." Marc's another recent Penn graduate, now teaching at Temple, and a rising star in hip-hop studies; he's currently working on books about the concept of "snitching" and the impact of media on youth culture. Check out his excellent website here for a description of the many things he's up to (including frequent interviews by CNN!): http://www.marclamonthill.com/.



Also appearing were Dr. Carmen Kynard from Rutgers-Newark, who works on issues of race, culture, and literacy.

The panel also included well-known hip-hop radio DJ Angie Martinez of Hot 97 in New York City, who had interesting things to say about the changing role of the hip hop industry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Martinez



Rounding out the panel were Dr. Anthony Monteiro, Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought at Temple University (http://www.temple.edu/isrst/Monteiro/) and Vanatta Ford, a spoken word artist and Episcopal minister who uses hip-hop culture to reach out to young people in her church.




The panelists and audience had a spirited and thoughtful discussion about the history and current status of hip-hop music and culture, including much debate over whether wealthy hip-hop artists are a positive force in African American culture.

Other events in the series include "Deconstructing 'Hustle and Flow,'" in which a screening of the movie was followed by a panel discussion about its themes and how they fit into hip hop culture, and performances by local hip hop artists. Rutgers is also collaborating with New Jersey Performing Arts Center's "Planet Hip-Hop 3," a four day extravaganza of performance and discussion being held in downtown Newark this week: http://www.planethiphop.org/

We'll be out of town for most of that, unfortunately - but it was great to be able to check out some campus events!

posted by Tina @ 4:29 PM