This year through the Hip-Hop Studies Consortium and our Intersectionality in the American South Mellon grant, we were able to invite two Hip-Hop fellows that embodied both a focus on Intersectionality and Diasporic cultural exchange.  We were able to welcome the multiple award winning South African breakdancer and founder of the pioneering breakdancing crew Pop Glide (1982), Hip-Hop group Black Noise (1988) and the Heal the Hood Project founded in 1998, Emile YX.  Through his lecture “The Breakdancer is Praxis, I Manifest my Thoughts into Reality: Hip-Hop Cultural Education and Activism, Emile YX was able to detail the intersections between South African culture and Black American culture as experienced through Hip-Hop, spirituals and other Black cultural avenues.  Emile was able to expand upon the meaning of intersectionality and its connections not only in the American south but also South Africa. He detailed the numerous ways the culture was utilized as a resistance mechanism and a tool of pedagogy to express cultural and historical information.  In addition to a public lecture provided by Emile YX, he was also able to attend a class on pedagogy and engage with students detailing the numerous ways he used his activism, knowledge and experiences within Hip-Hop culture to teach others.  While on campus, Emile YX was able to meet with faculty to discuss avenues of future engagement and potential partnerships.  In fact, Emile agreed to participate in our upcoming Read-a-thon bringing in a diasporic and cultural connection.  

In addition to Emile YX, we also welcomed Hip-Hop poet, producer, lecturer and activist Akua Naru to detail her research through her public lecture entitled “The Keeper Project:  Bringing the 50-year history of women and girls in Hip-Hop to Artists, Scholars, Activist and the Public.”  Through her lecture Akua detailed the project she is working on at Brown University with renown Hip-Hop scholar Tricia Rose, documenting the numerous women who have been involved in Hip-Hop culture.  Akua, examined the intersectional inclusion that women had to fight for and are continuing to fight for within Hip-Hop culture.  As an artist, Akua also detailed her own fight for inclusion within this male dominated culture and the importance of her work of preserving the legacy, impact and experience of women in Hip-Hop.  Akua Naru also had the opportunity to attend a production class at GSU to talk about her experience with Hip-Hop production including the barriers she faced.  Finally, Akua was also able to meet with faculty and another international poet/artist that was working with GSU’s Center for the Studies on Africa and its Diaspora.