Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes

Itvs.org
http://www.itvs.org/outreach/hiphop/

Filmmaker Byron Hurt, a life-long hip-hop fan, was watching rap music videos on BET when he realized that each video was nearly identical. Guys in fancy cars threw money at the camera while scantily clad women danced in the background. As he discovered how stereotypical rap videos had become, Hurt, a former college quarterback turned activist, decided to make a film about the gender politics of hip-hop, the music and the culture that he grew up with.

“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 result is HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a riveting documentary that tackles issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture.

Sparking dialogue on hip-hop and its declarations on gender, HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes provides thoughtful insight from intelligent, divergent voices including rap artists, industry executives, rap fans and social critics from inside and outside the hip-hop generation. The film includes interviews with famous rappers such as Mos Def, Fat Joe, Chuck D and Jadakiss and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons; along with commentary from Michael Eric Dyson, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Kevin Powell and Sarah Jones and interviews with young women at Spelman College, a historically black school and one of the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions.

The film also explores such pressing issues as women and violence in rap music, representations of manhood in hip-hop culture, what today’s rap lyrics reveal to their listeners and homoeroticism in hip-hop. A “loving critique” from a self-proclaimed “hip-hop head,” HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes discloses the complex intersection of culture, commerce and gender through on-the-street interviews with aspiring rappers and fans at hip-hop events throughout the country.

The violent and hypersexual imagery in hip-hop has been a topic of heated debate on school campuses, in civic organizations, legislative sessions, women’s magazines, churches and homes. These debates stir strong emotions, with particular resonance among African Americans, arguably the community most affected by the negative messages and stereotypes reinforced by the music. Some defend the right to self- expression or argue that hiphop encourages entrepreneurship; others link it to an increasingly nihilistic youth culture that supports violence against women and homosexuals. Missing from the debate are tools to help communities lead and sustain productive conversations that engage all sides.

HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes examines representations of manhood, sexism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture through the eyes of an adult fan, an African American male and anti-sexism trainer. Instead of offering simple conclusions about hip-hop’s fans and creators, the candid voices in the film describe the cultural and political environment in which the music is created, commercialized and consumed.

Parents, educators, artists and other professionals can use the film and the resources of this campaign to engage both young consumers and media makers in discussions about gender, race and community values. To support media literacy, facilitators can also encourage young men and women to reflect on the impact of violent and sexual imagery on themselves, their relationships and their communities. The film and guide can also inspire intergenerational conversations on an increasingly violent, materialistic and sexually explicit American culture using hip-hop as a point of reference. As each generation expresses itself in a new musical genre, hip-hop is the voice of today’s youth. With these resources viewers can better listen, understand and respond.