It only takes one weekend trip to the Underwood Room to realize the significant impact hip-hop has made on our generation. An integral part of our culture, hip-hop can be heard playing on radio stations and iPods across the United States. With February 1 marking the beginning of Black History Month and our own Black Arts Weekend, Andover’s Af-Lat-Am has been preparing to educate the community on the importance and relevance hip-hop has in this day and age. On Friday evening at 7 p.m., Af-Lat-Am is showing the documentary, “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.” Written and directed by hip-hop aficionado Byron Hurt, this hour-long film discusses the undertones of misogyny, homophobia and the ideas of manhood in hip-hop culture. Featuring famous rappers such as Busta Rhymes, Mos Def, Fat Joe and Nelly, “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” has been featured on PBS’s “Independent Lens.” Giving a unique commentary on issues that surround the music we listen to daily at school, Hurt’s inspection of this culture is sure to make us question what we really find appropriate. Immediately following the presentation of “Hip-Hop: Beyond the Beats and Rhymes,” Af-Lat-Am welcomes journalist, songwriter, poet, author and hip-hop historian Kevin Powell, to the Phillips Academy stage. While MTV enthusiasts might remember him from earlier seasons of “The Real World,” Powell is widely considered to be one of the leading voices of social activism in the 21st century. Growing up fatherless and in extreme poverty, Powell saw the harder side of life at a very early age. Now, Powell has published seven books and multiple essays on his life and his activism. In addition to this writing, Powell has been at the foreground of pop culture for many years, studying and interviewing rappers and their messages (most famously being the late Tupac Shakur). Along with performances by Britney Achin ’08, Jessica Cole ’08, and other student DJ’s, Powell plans on continuing the ongoing discussion on “hip-hop as a tool for social change.” With these two forms of Friday night entertainment, Black Arts Weekend is certainly going to start with a bang. Showing the positive and negative effects of hip-hop on our minds and our culture, “Hip-Hop: Beyond the Beats and Rhymes” and Kevin Powell’s presentation are sure to keep us talking. After all, what are we really listening to when we turn on our iPods?
