Hip-Hop Experts Take ‘Rap Sessions’ On The Road

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 […]

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 W###, (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.