Youth Media Workshop
Empowering economically diverse African-American youth from public schools to make media and social change
Hip-Hop Filmmaker on Campus for Screening
Filmmaker Byron Hurt, whose Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes aired on PBS in February, participated in a free public screening of the documentary and a town hall discussion.
7 pm Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana
Hurt, a former college quarterback-turned-activist, is a self-described “hip-hop head” who took an in-depth look at masculinity and manhood in rap and hip-hop, where he says creative genius collides with misogyny, violence and homophobia.
Experts Join Teens on Panel
Teens from WILL’s Youth Media Workshop will join Hurt and other experts for the discussion sponsored by WILL AM-FM-TV and co-sponsored by the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center. Panelists include Twick G., Champaign hip-hop artist; Aisha Durham, a University of Illinois doctoral candidate who has studied hip-hop from a feminist perspective; Sara Clark Kaplan, U of I assistant professor, African American Studies and Research Program; Youth Media Workshop participants Brian Mitchell, a student at Urbana High School, and Gabby Ceasar, a student at Central High School. William Patterson, associate director of the U of I African American Cultural Program and co-director of the Youth Media Workshop, will moderate the discussion.
“Byron Hurt has opened up a nationwide discussion of some of the disturbing developments in rap music culture,” Patterson said. “We hope hip-hop fans, as well as those who have concerns about the music, will come out to join the conversation.”
About Hurt and His Documentary
Hurt’s groundbreaking documentary, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, provides thoughtful insight from intelligent, divergent voices including rap artists, industry executives, rap fans and social critics from inside and outside the hip-hop generation.
Hurt, a life-long hip-hop fan, was watching rap music videos on BET when he realized that each video was nearly identical. Guys in fancy cars threw money at the camera while scantily clad women danced in the background. As he discovered how stereotypical rap videos had become, Hurt decided to make a film about the gender politics of hip-hop, the music and the culture that he grew up with. “The more I grew and the more I learned about sexism and violence and homophobia, the more those lyrics became unacceptable to me,” he said. “And I began to become more conflicted about the music that I loved.”
