We Are Indigo

In his documentary, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes, Filmmaker and self-described “Hip Hop Head,” Byron Hurt, takes an in-depth look at masculinity and manhood in the world of rap and hip-hop. I’m a bit late coming onto this, since it was released back in 06, but we just watched a clip from it last night in my Dialogues on Race group. In the film, Hurt explores the industry of hip hop, where creative genius collides with misogyny, violence and homophobia, exposing the complex intersections of culture and commerce. Are the media and music industries really to blame for this? Where do we place the responsibility… on the artists, the listeners, society as a whole? I think it’s a little bit of everyone really. I think, though I may be generalizing, that this is an issue many hip-hop fans struggle with. At least, I know I do.

Hurt says…

“The more I grew and the more I learned about sexism and violence and homophobia, the more those lyrics became unacceptable to me,” he says. “And I began to become more conflicted about the music that I loved.”

The film comes in 6 parts. I highly suggest you watch the whole thing…

Also, if you want a rough brush up on your hip-hop history, take a look at this Timeline of Hip-Hop.

Tags: documentaries, hip-hop, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, stereotype

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 19th, 2010 at 10:37 pm and is filed under We are Euphonic, We are of the World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.