Critically-acclaimed
author and Hip-Hop activist Bakari Kitwana has collaborated with the Community
Technology Foundation of California to kick-off Rap Sessions, the first national
tour that explores race and Hip-Hop.
Rap Sessions presents a multiracial panel of Hip-Hop experts who will tour the
nation to engage youth and community leaders in candid, compelling conversations
about the Hip-Hop cultural movement and the emerging racial politics of our
time.
“What the nation witnessed in the 2004 presidential election relative to
youth was only the beginning,” Kitwana said. “This is a generation
of young people that is deeply concerned about the future of the nation and
wants to get involved. These community dialogues are designed to give young
people a forum and to help them find ways to expand the Hip-Hop movement beyond
the traditional confines race.”
The tour is geared toward targeting the Hip-Hop generation, young Americans
who have lived their entire lives in post- segregation era, and engaging them
in discussions around the new paradigm of race relations and social justice
as expressed through Hip-Hop arts.
The groundbreaking tour will conduct interactive community dialogues in ten
cities across the nation.
Panelists include
authors: Hip-Hop journalist and ethnic studies professor Oliver Wang, (Classic
Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide); Tufts University sociology professor Raquel
Z. Rivera (New York Rican From the Hip-Hop Zone); Spoken-word poet and novelist
Adam Mansbach (Angry Black White Boy); and award-winning Hip-Hop photographer
Ernie Paniccioli (Who Shot Ya?: Three Decades of Hip-Hop Photography).
The 10-city tour starts March 8, 2006 in Buffalo, NY. For more information about
Rap Sessions, log onto: www.rapsessions.org.
