In the Hour of Chaos: Hip Hop Art and Activism with Public Enemy’s Chuck D

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

In the Hour of Chaos: Hip Hop Art & Activism with Public Enemy’s Chuck D" highlights the transformative power of Hip Hop with some of the nation’s most insightful thinkers on the art form’s social, cultural, political, and educational significance. Guided by Chuck D himself, the film tells the story of how artists, activists, and academics came together at UCLA to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop cultural history. The all-star line-up of guests explores the profound impact of an arts movement that revolutionized the world. This panel will screen the film (43 minutes) and engage in a discussion with CHUCK D of Public Enemy along with two of the film's directors, H. Samy Alim and Tabia Shawel, as well as Robin D. G. Kelley, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and Lauren Leigh Kelly. In line with this year's theme, "Unforgetting histories and imagining futures," as we consider over half a century of the Hip Hop arts movement, we must also chart out paths for the culture's future, as well as the futures of Hip Hop Studies, Black Studies, and education research.

Over much of the last four decades, Chuck D’s music and activism have taught so many of us. This film captures Chuck D at his best, engaging leading public intellectuals on the social origins of Hip Hop culture and its continued evolution. The film covers a range of topics, including Black radical movements, Hip Hop feminisms, and the global circulation of the culture within the ever-evolving, and ever-predatory, music and entertainment industries. Narrated by Chuck D, this film follows his tenure as the UCLA Hip Hop Initiative’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence. No other film captures this journey, at this critical juncture in our history, as we celebrate and critique Hip Hop with one of its most important and globally-recognized voices. And no other artist speaks so powerfully and eloquently about Hip Hop’s continued relevance in today’s “hour of chaos.”

The film features leading Hip Hop voices like Joan Morgan, Robin D. G. Kelley, Jeff Chang, Davey D, Cheryl L. Keyes, Scot Brown, Gaye Theresa Johnson, Bryonn Bain, Maya Jupiter, Adam Bradley, Geneva Smitherman, Tabia Shawel, Samuel Lamontagne, and more.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• H. Samy Alim, University of California - Los Angeles

Panelists

• Chuck D, Public Enemy

• Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Robin D. G. Kelley, University of California - Los Angeles

• Lauren Leigh Kelly, Rutgers University

• Tabia N. Shawel, University of California - Los Angeles