Hip Hop Congress

By Josh Schonwald
News Office
Original Article Found Here

Political analysts have the Obama phenomenon backward: It’s not the campaign of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama that is spurring interest in political participation among youth, explained Bakari Kitwana, a former editor of The Source magazine and the 2007-2008 Artist-in-Residence in the University’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture. “Young voters have already been mobilizing. And Obama,” Kitwana argued, “just happens to be the beneficiary. Of all the candidates in the field, he’s the most ideal for the hip-hop generation.

“People born within the hip-hop generation,” Kitwana explained, “have a different world view. They’re born in a post-segregation America, and their idea of the American dream is radically different from previous generations of Americans.”

One of the country’s best-known “hip-hop intellectuals” and author of The Hip-Hop Generation and Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop, Kitwana will discuss the role of hip-hop and its influence on politics—and what hip-hop voters love and loathe about Obama—in two forums during the next quarter.

This week, he began teaching a class in the College called “Politics of the Hip-Hop Generation,” which aims to explain the distinct world view of the hip-hop generation. He also will join leading artists and analysts in “The Hip-Hop Generation: Race, Gender & the Vote,” a symposium scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 5, in Ida Noyes Hall.

“It’s impossible to understand today’s global youth culture and contemporary constructions of race, gender and sexuality without insight into hip-hop,” said Waldo Johnson, Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, and Associate Professor in the School of Social Service Administration. “As such, it is essential that the University community seriously grapple with hip-hop culture’s relevance across disciplines. For years, Bakari Kitwana has been at the forefront of this inquiry. We’re excited to have him here.”

In addition to Kitwana, the symposium will feature a diverse panel of activists, academics and recording artists, including rapper M1 (aka Mutulu Olugbala), one half of dead prez, the political rap group; Maya Rockeymoore, a former chief of staff to Congressman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and author of The Political Action Handbook: A How-to Guide for the Hip Hop Generation; Hyde Park native William Upski Wimsatt, co-founder of The League of Pissed Off Voters and co-editor of How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office; and Trinity College professor Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World.

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