ONLINE: Turn Up the Volumes: Hip-Hop Experience

press release: From generation to generation music has been utilized by the Black Community as a form of activism, healing, and freedom of expression. From the use of negro spirituals to uplift the spirits of enslaved peoples, to the arrangement of contemporary hip-hop tracks to call out systemic racism and oppression, throughout generations music has been used by Black people to reflect their internal and external situations.

This year, the UW community will celebrate the theme Music as Medicine: Evolution of Music in the Black Community by presenting a cohesive set of programming designed to highlight the various forms of Black music such as Negro Spirituals, Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Hip Hop/Rap, Gospel, R&B, and more. We will also discuss the influence of those often ignored for their contributions to music, such as women in genres dominated by men.

Feb. 17: Come learn about Black music (via zoom) in the context of the evolution of Hip-Hop. We will have Shannon Jones II step in and teach the basics of beat and song making. There will be an emphasis on how Hip Hop was used as an outlet and communication media during the 1980s-1990s.