Once again, filmmaker Byron Hurt will be at the University of Kansas on Monday March 26th. Hurt will be showing his film Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. For those of you who haven't seen this documentary, you should get access to it immediately (suggestion: do an inter-library loan asap). There will be a discussion panel immediately after the film. The event is free and open to the public.
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas graduate students will join award-winning film director Byron Hurt for a panel discussion following a free and public screening of his documentary “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 26, in the Kansas Union ballroom.
After the screening, Hurt, who recently appeared on a CNN special titled “Hip-Hop: Art or Poison?,” will moderate a discussion with the audience.
Shown at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, Hurt’s documentary provides an in-depth look at machismo in rap music and hip-hop culture. His candid interviews present divergent voices of fans and social critics speaking about the struggle to negotiate the exciting creativity, seductive rhythms, blatant violence and homophobia in what is now an international music form. (read more)
Challenge of the Week: Get a Passport! To undergraduates: I encourage you to look up study abroad programs at your school. It's important that we all venture out into the world and understand that education occurs outside the classroom. Many of us take college for granted, so we fail to look for other opportunities outside of job fairs and "multicultural" events. They are $97 at your local post office. Don't let life pass you by.
Just a thought
Monday, February 26, 2007
Quote of the Week: "Everybody is somebody. But nobody wants to be themselves" Gnarls Barkley
A personal note: I would like to advocate the spread of cultural histories throughout the year. Many people act as though Black History can only be openly advocated through these 28 days in Feb. To me, that's like saying that Black people are only influential for a month and no more. It is up to us to further they ways in which Black history can be learned, taught, and promoted. This is something I encourage via Black Tuesday. We are key players in the construction of future interpretations of Black culture. If we don't take it seriously; who will?
Here's some info on my next presentation. It well be at Emporia State University on Feb. 21st. It's free and open to everyone. If you can't make it, tell somebody who may be interested.
Keepin' It Real: Authenticity and Hip Hop
"Keepin' It Real" has become a popular metaphor for truth. This dialogue hopes to probe the very construct of "real-ness" by exposing some of the falsehoods associated with it. We will also discuss the role authenticity plays in arguments about the gap between the Civil Rights Generation and the Hip Hop Generation.
BlackNews.com recently sent me a press release about a Black Empowerment Apparel Company called Dangerous Negro. I checked it out and I'm really feelin' the content. Not only do you get clothing which reflects black empowerment, but you also get reading lists. There's also a section for young black entrepreneurs. So folks, when you get some free time (NOW!) be sure to check out the site and spread the word.
For those of you who haven't heard Jimi or act like he's only for rock n roll fans; check out the books. He played with James Brown, Bobby Womack, and a the Isleys; and that's just the beginning.
Book of the Week: Flyboy in the Buttermilk by Greg Tate
From Publishers Weekly This collection of 40 essays on music, literature, art and politics confirms Tate's role as a chief progenitor of a New Black Aesthetic, what Gates calls "a body of creativity unfettered by the constraints of a nationalist party line." Consistently interesting, often brilliant, Tate--a staff writer for the Village Voice --modulates funkadelic street argot with a fierce intellect, taking on subjects as diverse as Miles Davis, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Lee Atwater's embrace of black music. Reviewing the rap group Public Enemy, he observes, "To know PE is to love the agitprop (and artful noise) and to worry over the whack OK w-out comma?/no comma/pk retarded philosophy they espouse." Some music essays and a foray into hermeneutics may be heavy going for the uninitiated, but Tate skillfully enlivens writers like black SF fabulist Samuel Delany, and deftly criticizes essentialist curators who deny the "ambiguity and complexity" of black visual art. The political pieces cut to the bone, sparing neither a white power structure that devalues black life nor blacks who cry racism to excuse sexism; too many blacks, he says, "get more upset over being disrespected than they do over being disempowered." Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Event of the Week: A Civil Rights Reader by Daniel Bernard Roumain featuring DBR & THE MISSION SQ UNIT and DJ Scientific Friday, Feb. 2, 7:30 p.m., Lied Center
Special Entry: I'm currently taking a course which analyzes the intersections of race, love, and sex in America. A woman in the class told me about this campaign ad which was aired to discredit Harold Ford. Check out the ad and tell me what you think.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Book of the Week: The New H.N.I.C. by Todd Boyd (aka The Notorious Ph. D) Quote of the Week:
Whatever's happening with hip hop is whatever's happening to us. If we smoked out; hip hop is gon' be smoked out. If we doin' alright; hip hop is gonna be doin' alright. People talk about hip hop like it's some kind of giant coming to visit the townspeople... We are hip hop...so the next time you ask where hip hop is going; ask yourself "where am I going?"
Mos Def - Fear Not a Man
Songs of the Week: Carry on Tradition - Nas (from Hip Hop is Dead)
Today, I would like to thank Vh1 for creating Ego Trip's White Rapper Show. This must be what hip hop has been waiting for (notice my sarcasm?). I would like to express my gratitude for allowing John Brown, aka "King of the Burbs" to infiltrate the show. Brown claims to be an entity. I don't what that's supposed to mean, but it's apparently part of the "Ghetto Revival".
How does one go about this revival? Let's stake a stab at it shall we.
First, remove yourself from people involved in the culture by making yourself an entity, not a rapper.
Second, secure a slot on a reality show who's goal is to create the next white rapper to clasp onto Eminem's coattails.
Third, create a concept like the "ghetto revival", act like the city is economically and spiritually bankrupt, and spit vague sentence fragments about being the "King of the Burbs" without actually doing anything for the "ghetto".
Once you have done this, the John Brown School for Urban Policy/Renewal will award you with it's coveted "Ignorance is Bliss" award for academic fraudulence.
On the real side, I do honestly salute VH1 for making the history of hip hop such an important aspect of the show. It's great so see figures like Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, and Grandmaster Caz on this show. I hope that viewers realize that we must go beyond the gimmick of the "white rapper" and come to understand the
There are various programs throughout the US that host students over the summer for Undergraduate Research Experiences. I cannot stress how important these programs are for students who wish to attend graduate school (MA and Ph. D). These programs offer students the chance to introduce themselves to the world of academia. Some students will be allowed to shape their own projects while others may opt join a faculty endeavor. Either way, students have the option of presenting their research at the end of every summer at various National Research Conferences (It looks beautiful on a CV).
Now, there are an overwhelming amount of programs which look for candidates in the biological sciences. However, those interested in the humanities and social sciences should not feel left out. There are many opportunities for you. For those who are interested, here are a few websites to get you started. Many of the deadlines are approaching, so hurry. Committee for Institutional Cooperation (look under students) UC at Berkeley Duke University (Life Sciences) Google things like SURP, UROP, SROP, or McNair Scholars. These should bring up some possible programs as well.
Lastly, don't worry about the cost. Most, if not all of these are paid and come with a substantial amount of perks.
I really love old school music. By having so much appreciation for the history and culture it represents, it pains me to see such an overabundance of sampling (or down-right stealing) going on in hip hop. Granted, there are some excellent samples out there. There are also, really good remakes. However, we gotta give props to the originators because it's easy to bootleg a cd, but I've yet to meet anyone who bootlegs liner notes.
In an attempt to educate those who visit this sight, I'm doing my best to give you'll some hip hop track titles and their old school predecessors.
"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"
"Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude."
"A doctrine of black supremacy is as evil as a doctrine of white supremacy."
Since Black History Month (or as some prefer Rent a Negro Month) is right around the corner; I thought I would give everybody some satire. Before we begin, satire (according to dictionary.com) is defined as:
1.
the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2.
a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
Amazon.com Review This satirical Harlem Renaissance-era novel by black conservative intellectual George S. Schuyler (1895-1977), who wrote for the Pittsburgh Courier and contributed to the NAACP's influential Crisis magazine, is a hilariously insightful treatise on the absurdities of racial identity. Dr. Junius Crookman, a Harlem-based African American physician, mysteriously returns from Germany with a formula that can transform black people into whites. "It looked," Schuyler deadpans, "as though science was to succeed where the Civil War failed." One of the first to enlist Dr. Crookman's services is an insurance salesman named Max Disher, who as the white Matthew Fisher is now free to pursue the white women who once rejected him and otherwise bask in Euro-American social privilege (including a top position in a hate group called the Knights of Nordica). Schuyler unveils the futility of this electro-chemical form of "passing" through the emptiness the Disher/Fisher character encounters in the white cultural world, which doesn't measure up to the Harlem nightlife--revealing the poison behind the notion of wanting to be something you're not. --Eugene Holley Jr.
Last, but not least, I'm sure many of you know about the infamous Boondocks skit with MLK (click here). If anyone would like to give their feedback on the clip, please leave it in the comment section or e-mail me (cartertwin@hotmail.com)
The blog is dedicated to reviewing the black experience through book, film, and music reviews. We also engage in cultural criticism and celebration. Happy reading and feel free to comment. Peace
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