We're back! And back from an awesome night of knowledge-gathering...



Wish we could get this sort of attendance at an AAA event...

"Beyond Beats and Rhymes", which brought together tonight distinguished guests such as Talib Kweli, Piper Anderson, Lumumba Bandele, La Bruja, and Tim'm West (as well as our very own Bryan Mercer, honorary PC member!) was smashing success. Sixty minutes of documentary film and sharing truth with an all-star panel of hip-hop and spoken word artists... events don't get much better than this.

What did we take away? Among all of the complaints in contemporary America about misogyny, homophobia, and violence in the world of rap, very is little is talked about masculinity in communities of color. For the first time, these qualities in hip-hop are deconstructed not as the faults of a culture but the effects of persistently being on the short end of the power stick. (Think: What would you do if a highway built by your city destroyed your neighborhood? Disenfranchised by your country? How would you assert yourself?)

Of course, the dynamics of this pressured identity associated with assertion and virility plays out differently in Asian American communities, but the logic is absolutely the same - the gangs in schools and ethnic enclaves, domestic violence against wives and children, and overcompensation against constant emasculation... all the effects of similar issues. Think about it.

P.S. There was another hip-hop related event tonight at NYU - the Magnetic North concert. I'm not sure who on The Blaaag went, but I doubt it could have been anything less than spectacular.