Hip hop culture: a closer look

Byron Hurt, a filmmaker, writer and anti-sexism activist, will visit Wheaton on Wednesday, February 25, to lead a discussion about hip hop music and its underlying messages on race, gender, violence, sex, and visual media.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5 p.m. in the Hindle Auditorium of the Science Center.

"Hurt's visit to the Wheaton campus will be influential to the students because hip hop culture is a part of our generation," says Solomon Odame, '11, who is the project manager, a HERO mentor, and vice president of United Men of Color (UMC).  "Hip hop music has received criticism for glorifying violence, misogyny and homophobia. However, messages of love, peace, anti-racism and human uplift are also common themes of this genre." Hurt's discussion on these issues will provide "a candid look into hip hop culture" and its connotations for our society, says Odame, who also serves as president of his class.

Since beginning the fund raising for the project last summer, Odame has teamed up with Ava Kahn-McQueen '10, a member of the Students against Rape and Domestic Violence house, and Ali Hussain '11 to organize the event. Fund raising for the event was carried out by UMC, which sponsors discussions and events to educate male students of color at Wheaton; by HERO, a student-run mentoring program; and by the Students Against Rape and Domestic Violence House, which works to create a safe environment for all students on campus.

In the last 15 years, Hurt, 37, has led hundreds of discussions on sex and gender violence prevention at conferences and college campuses nationwide. Included in his program at Wheaton will be a PowerPoint presentation with clips from Hurt's most recent film, a documentary called Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens, drawing 1.3 million viewers. A discussion will follow the presentation with time for questions.

Hurt makes it clear that he loves hip hop as a musical genre. "I grew up with this music," he says in the introduction to his new film, "I listen to hip hop to this day. I sometimes feel bad for criticizing hip-hop, but I guess what I am trying to do is get us men to take a hard look at ourselves."

The documentary explores the process of filtering the positive from the negative messages of hip hop, and how these messages influence societal attitudes and behaviors.

As the founding member of the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program (MVP), Hurt works to educate high school and college students and professional athletes nationwide about rape and domestic violence prevention. Hurt also created the first sex and gender violence prevention program in the United States Marine Corps. His first award-winning documentary, I AM MAN: Black Masculinity in America, explored African-American culture in over 15 American cities. Since then, Hurt has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines and on television news programs.

Byron Hurt's Web site, with film clips and educational resources, is located at http://www.bhurt.com.