Ahead of an appearance at The Cincinnati Music Festival this weekend, a legendary hip-hop MC is stopping by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to discuss and celebrate hip-hop’s influence on the world.
Big Daddy Kane and The Ohio State University professor, Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, will form a discussion panel activated by the PBS documentary series Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World. The panel – moderated by WLWT reporter and the president of the Greater Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists, Jatara McGee – will feature clips from the documentary’s four episodes.
“Since its earliest days, hip-hop was used as a platform for resistance and simultaneously viewed as a threat to established systems of oppression and injustice,” a National Underground Railroad Freedom Center press release states. “Rappers, MCs, DJs, dancers and graffiti artists used hip-hop as their medium to express social and political struggles, and to express the harsh realities Black, Brown and disenfranchised communities around the world faced every day. Wrapped into the rhythm and lyrics of hip-hop are calls for justice that rally a generation in activism.”
In celebration of the genre’s half-century of influence, the event will begin with an hour-long set of hip-hop classics spun by DJ Guy Wes at 2 p.m.
Big Daddy Kane, a rapper, producer and actor who began his career in the late ’80s, is known for influencing a generation of musical artists. Rolling Stone named his hit “Ain’t No Half Steppin’” number 25 on its list of the 50 Greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time.
Jefferies was an advisor for the making of Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, according to the release. He’s also a professor of history and teaching courses on Civil Rights and Black Power movements.
The documentary is narrated and produced by Public Enemy’s Chuck D. It debuted in January and explores hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon and an activist movement that continues to impact society.
In partnership with Cincinnati’s Elementz, CET and PBS the discussion panel and screening of Clips & Conversation: Fight the Power is coming to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on July 20. Admission to the event is free with the purchase of a museum entry ticket.
To find out more about this event visit freedomcenter.org.
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This article appears in Jul 12-25, 2023.
