For the many students on campus who enjoy listening to hip-hop, and others who may wish to learn more about the musical tradition, The Pan Afrikan Student Organization (PASO) will be hosting ‘Rediscovering Hip-Hop.’
Some upperclassmen and members of the Gustavus community may remember the event, which was held annually until several years ago. This year, it will be making a return on Friday, May 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Alumni Hall. Admission to the event is free, and open to all.
The evening will include a range of performances. Additionally, Senior Sociology and Anthropology Major Sherick Francois, one of the organizers of the event, said that the evening will explore educational aspects of hip-hop.
Junior Imani James is the co-chair of the event, and she described the range of the performances.
“We wanted ‘Rediscovering Hip-Hop’ to be more student based, so I started by gathering students who were interested in doing singing, spoken word, poetry, dancing, and just things that would exemplify the hip-hop culture,” James said.
English Professor Phil Bryant has also been invited to share some of his poetry, and he said that he will deliver some of his performance based pieces.
Bryant is currently leading a class on Pan African poetry, and while he said he has only touched on hip-hop briefly in class, he explained the origins of the musical development.
“It’s a continuation of certain aspects, core aspects of African American culture. Particularly when it comes to spoken word and oral tradition, spoken word tradition which goes all the way back to slavery, so hip-hop is just an extension of that. It’s an urban variation of something that is part of a continuum that goes back to the plantations and slavery,” Bryant said.
Ray LaCrooks, a Minneapolis based hip-hop artist, will also perform.
James noted that while LaCrooks’ name may not be immediately familiar to many on campus, she hoped that his visit to campus may increase exposure.
“Individuals out here that are right next to our city are doing very powerful things with their music, and I think it’s really important to be open to discovering new people and new things and what they’re doing, because I think you can do so many cool things with music in general, and we really are doing a lot in our generation with our music,” James said.
Francois also noted that one of the goals of the evening is to redefine how some view the musical genre.

“We wanted Rediscovering Hip-Hop to be more student based, so I started by gathering students who were interested in doing singing, spoken work, poetry, dancing, and just things that would exemplify the hip-hop culture.”—Imani James

“We know now in today’s media, the image of hip-hop is very negative, you know, there’s this stereo[typed] connation of it’s just about drugs, women, the objectification of women, but we’re kind of trying to go back to the grassroots to understand where hip-hop came from and basically show that hip-hop is not just what we see in the media today,” Francois said.
James said that a component of “Rediscovering Hip-Hop” will also explore the differences between hip-hop and other music.
“I know a lot of people on this campus listen to rap music and I know a lot of people listen to hip- hop, and I think that it’s very important to educate the campus and people individually on what identifies both of those type of genres,” James said.
Francois added that the event will ultimately seek to blend learning and entertainment.
“Although this is educational, at the same time it’s a fun event. It’s really to get an understanding of what hip-hop is and where it comes from, so I would encourage students to come and keep an open mind and support an organization on campus, support fellow students, fellow Gustavus community, as well as faculty, and just be able to witness some great performances and some great individuals,” Francois said.

-Libby Larson