On Saturday, Feb. 21, the Center of Racial Justice at the University of Massachusetts, held its third annual Black Artistic Freedom Conference in conjunction with the W.E.B. Du Bois Center and UMass Amherst Libraries. The event they discussed the role hip-hop played in revolutionary movements and how those movements could be connected to the present day.
The event was facilitated by the conferences’ founder and fifth-year PhD student Imani Wallace. The conference theme, “TV Off: Hip-Hop As The Revolution,” was a direct nod to the song “tv off” by Kendrick Lamar. This was influenced by poet Gil-Scott Heron’s song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” It aimed to highlight how continuous social activism was important amidst adversities faced by the Black community and the world.
“There will be speaking out. There will be protests. There will be activism. There will be the use of art and language and culture to speak back,” Wallace said. “But these will not be the things that get publicized. And we still must do them anyway, because ‘It is our right and it is our duty to fight for our freedom,’ as the late great Assata Shakur once said.”
The keynote speaker of the conference was Grammy-winning spoken word poet J. Ivy, was involved in creating the category of Best Spoken Word Poetry Album and has won that award twice. He has collaborated with rapper Kanye West on the latter’s 2004 album “The College Dropout.”
Wallace said that J. Ivy’s experience in both the spoken word poetry and hip-hop genres are both vehicles for revolution in their own way.
“[J. Ivy] is somebody who has always been about the culture,” Wallace said. “Always been about poetry as hip-hop, hip-hop as poetry, spoken word being used as a critical tool to put your voice out into the world and … what it means to elevate the craft of spoken word, because it is a niche craft.”
The Conference opened at around 9:30 a.m. with the UMass Gospel Choir performing both “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “Stand Up” from the 2019 film “Harriet,” a biopic of Harriet Tubman. Opening remarks were delivered by Wallace, Associate Professors of Social Justice Education Justin Coles and Jamila Lyiscott and Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research co-founder Keisha Green.
There were 12 workshops held in three concurrent sessions of four. Among the first four sessions was the workshop “Self Destruction Don’t Pay the %!& Rent: How the commercialization of Gangsta Rap Destroyed Consciousness in Hip-Hop.” It was hosted by sixth-year PhD student Christian Woods, who argued how the decline of political rap as a genre coincided with the over-commercialization of gangsta rap.
According to the Black AF Booklet, the workshop’s aim was “to make the audience think critically of the art they consume, the intention of artists and the devious nature of the music industry in the past and present.”
Following the first four sessions was J. Ivy’s keynote address. He incorporated several poems into his speech, specifically ones that hold personal meaning to him. It included “Dear Father,” a poem about J. Ivy’s complex relationship with and forgiveness of his father, as well as “Never Let Me Down,” which he recorded with Kanye West and Jay-Z on “The College Dropout.”
During a Q&A session, J. Ivy described how the category of “Best Spoken Word Poetry Album” was created. Through various speeches, including Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” address, and poets, including Maya Angelou, won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording, he realized the importance of elevating spoken word poetry as a genre. He wrote a proposal to the Academy to create the category, which was ultimately passed in 2022.
“I raised my hand because we were on Zoom,” J. Ivy said, recounting the moment the proposal was passed. “That raised hand went so fast, and I gave a speech of my life. … [This] is going to change how historic this is for generations to come. … And then when I finished, I had to cut my camera off because I just started bawling, and my whole body was shaking.”
Following the keynote address was the second session of workshops. “The Power in Our Story: Art as Resistance, Healing and Education” was hosted by Darnnell Dorvil. A Public Health Advocate by profession, Dorvil discussed how the power of storytelling, as part of his Haitian heritage, influenced his life and how it intersects with hip-hop as an avenue for social change.
Dorvil said that nobody can tell anybody else’s story, as only you can represent yourself and recount your lived experiences accurately. “You can’t tell me about me,” Dorvil said. “… My blackness is mine. It’s mine to define. My Black experiences have been my Black, not anyone else’s Black.”
Throughout his workshop, Dorvil referenced the gradual rise of hip-hop and other elements of Black art that it influenced, including emceeing and the film and fashion industry. In turn, it was influenced by poets such as Amiri Baraka, visual artists such as Faith Ringgold and other figures of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. Dorvil said that the holistic influences of hip-hop shaped it into a vehicle for social justice.
“Storytelling … is a fundamental component of hip-hop,” Dorvil said. “Hip-hop is what tells our story. It’s the easiest way for Black youth to tell their story as an act of resistance.”
Zaria Cain-Williams
Another session, “Beyond the Book: Using Hip Hop, Human Rights, and Diverse Children’s Literature to Cultivate Critical Consciousness in Elementary Classrooms,” was hosted by André Benito Mountain, a fifth-grade teacher at Alcova Elementary School in Dacula, Georgia.
Mountain makes current events relevant to his students by connecting them to various forms of art, including books. He emphasized the importance of making literature accessible to his students so they would develop a well-rounded sense of social justice. He focused on how promoting literature from diverse artists in elementary schools would raise awareness of social justice in children from an early age.
One book Mountain encourages students to read is “Promises to Keep,” the biography of African-American baseball legend and activist Jackie Robinson, written by his daughter Sharon Robinson. The book explores Jackie Robinson’s life and experiences as the first Black major league baseball player.
The third session of workshops was followed by remarks from Wallace, a performance by UMass Slamherst, the University’s first spoken word poetry team and a networking session. The event ended with a poetry slam.
“If anything, we’re adding on to [the Conference] because people’s energy will be so high from the moment that they arrive in the morning … until the moment that the last poet leaves off the stage at the Poetry Slam that evening, that we just don’t want anybody to miss anything if we can help it,” Wallace said.
One of the poetry slam contestants, Nehemiah, concluded by connecting the arts to the Conference’s overall theme of the arts as a means of revolution.
“Art is necessary for me for any movement, any resistance or liberation,” Nehemiah said. It helps us see a reality that does not yet exist but gives us the strength to fight for and endure the current reality that we are in.”
The Black Artistic Freedom Conference drew together various perspectives and various forms of art, from music and spoken word poetry to literature, tying it all to show how the hip-hop genre has long been used as means of revolution. Wallace highlighted the importance of bridging together these points of view with the significance of hip-hop and the arts in driving societal change.
“What better time to use your voice than now?” Wallace said. “… With the fear of being silenced, what does it mean to actually speak back and speak out during this time? So TV off. The revolution will not be televised.”
Kalana Amarasekara can be reached at [email protected].
