The Story
The phenomenon known as Hip Hop encompasses a global, multiethnic, grassroots culture committed to social justice and selfexpression through performance. Hip Hop Theater emerged from that culture, mixing spokenword performance with music and dance and marked by Hip Hops strong sense of activism and resistance. Hip Hop Theater is engaged with questions of identity culture, heritage, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and differencenarrating the experiences of historically marginalized peoples and putting them in dialogue with other oppressed communities.Say Word! Voices from Hip Hop Theater collects eight works by contemporary artists who confront todays compelling issues, ranging from racial profiling and police brutality to womens empowerment and from the commercial exploitation of Hip Hop to identity politics. Editor Daniel Banks has assembled work by Abiola Abrams, Zakiyyah Alexander, Chadwick Boseman, Kristoffer Diaz, Rha Goddess, Antoy Grant, Joe HernandezKolski, Rickerby Hinds, and Ben Snyder, augmented with an extensive introduction and other informative commentary. The book also includes a roundtable moderated by Holly Bass and featuring Hip Hop pioneers Eisa Davis, Danny Hoch, Sarah Jones, and Will Power, a conversation that traces the roots of Hip Hop Theater and imagines its future directions.
Description
The phenomenon known as Hip Hop encompasses a global, multiethnic, grassroots culture committed to social justice and selfexpression through performance. Hip Hop Theater emerged from that culture, mixing spokenword performance with music and dance and marked by Hip Hops strong sense of activism and resistance. Hip Hop Theater is engaged with questions of identity culture, heritage, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and differencenarrating the experiences of historically marginalized peoples and putting them in dialogue with other oppressed communities.Say Word! Voices from Hip Hop Theater collects eight works by contemporary artists who confront todays compelling issues, ranging from racial profiling and police brutality to womens empowerment and from the commercial exploitation of Hip Hop to identity politics. Editor Daniel Banks has assembled work by Abiola Abrams, Zakiyyah Alexander, Chadwick Boseman, Kristoffer Diaz, Rha Goddess, Antoy Grant, Joe HernandezKolski, Rickerby Hinds, and Ben Snyder, augmented with an extensive introduction and other informative commentary. The book also includes a roundtable moderated by Holly Bass and featuring Hip Hop pioneers Eisa Davis, Danny Hoch, Sarah Jones, and Will Power, a conversation that traces the roots of Hip Hop Theater and imagines its future directions.
